Discussion

German police probe student poster slur against Merz

tim-kt: Technically, the slogan says "Lick balls Merz" (any balls are fine).

asmor: except the "balls" used here would mean "eggs" if you apply "any x are fine"

mirekrusin: Isn't it "Merz lick eggs"?

sourcegrift: Europe is going totalitarian everywhere. Just yesterday Hungary arrested 7 private individuals for carrying gold. Granted it was a big amount $40m but there was no probable cause for arrest.

helge9210: These were not private individuals. This was an official cash/good transfer between Austrian bank and Ukrainian bank.

_ink_: While I am happy to see that this causes Streisand, I am not sure why this reaches the frontpage of HN. Is there anything special?

scoot: > According to Germany's Criminal Code, defamation statutes apply when someone knowingly asserts or disseminates untrue statements about another personIt seems more likely to be under the Insult clause of that statute:> Insult (§185 StGB): Covers disrespectful, demeaning, or contemptuous statements made to or about someone, including public insults.That's a pretty heavy handed law.

wqaatwt: Lack of freedom speech in the largest (remaining) democratic country in the western world seems concerning?

xyzal: It is a "probe".When I report to the police UFO landed in my backyard and I feel my life is threatened, the police are obliged to probe into it. Not that anything may come out of it.

cubefox: The translations in this article are wrong.

pistoriusp: You're confusing "freedom and speech" and democracy. They're not the same. You cannot even give someone the middle finger in Germany.> showing the middle finger (Stinkefinger) is illegal in Germany and considered a criminal offense under Section 185 of the Criminal Code (StGB). Known as an insult (Beleidigung), this gesture can lead to fines, or in severe cases, up to a year in prison.

Silverquark: Hungary is led by a dictator. There’s a huge difference between Germany and Hungary

lima: And Hungary is pretty much a rogue EU state - their government did go full authoritarian and is aligned with Russia.

croes: An investigation isn’t going totalitarian.A conviction would be totalitarian.But a solicitation can’t be an untrue statement.

unethical_ban: Name-calling and specific accusations that cause damage are so different. This is really a blight on Germany's system, if this is considered slander.

cinntaile: Authoritarian winds are blowing all over the world, but I would be more worried about the US than the EU to be honest.

fschuett: My prediction is that the US war with Iran will lead to severe oil / gas shortages, which will be devastating for the German industry (think job loss, not necessarily people freezing to death). This year the winter started at 75% gas reserves and we're currently at 20% and we're lucky to have a warm winter. Now, next year Germany wants to exit completely from Russian gas (currently still served via Turkish pipelines) and LNG imports will have even more shortages thanks to the Iran war. So, analysts predicted that we can at most fill our gas reserves to 50% this summer, which will basically make the reserves go to 0% or negative in the next winter period. It's basic physics / geopolitics and there's little that any party can do at this point. Which will repel any industry first this year (even worse job market than last year), and then hit people at home later with energy / food / gasoline prices. Expect official government propaganda to be denying everything until the last second.The German government fudged the official propaganda numbers on gas statistics now or are straight up lying because it would be bad for elections this year. I'm personally not voting because I consider the situation as hopeless either way, no matter what party you look at it's not a problem that voting can fix.As it is more likely, "we" (I'm German, sadly) will this/next year go to war with Iran "to defend democracy", so they'll re-introduce the draft in 2027, etc. In any case, I'll have to try to switch countries this year as I'll hopefully have the ability to move abroad this year. If German politicians think they're above physics then I wish them good luck, this is just a heads up comment for other Germans who don't know what's going on.

dongecko: Naaa, you have to think of the poster in options. Like, "would you want to have some extra publicity with your poster for an extra 100 bucks?"

dragonwriter: The tweet cited by the article says that the charge investigated was Section 185 “ïnsult”.

mahkeiro: Are you American? A country that is using something called civil forfeiture? I think the joke is on you.

bdangubic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United...