Yeah, it's another stupid traffic post

For months now, Sweden has been No. 10 on the all-time visitors list, even though it has been several years since anyone from Sweden came by. I have occasionally prodded the United Kingdom to send more visitors my way, since the UK used to be kind of high up in the Top 10. Anyway, to no avail. Last week, Romania roared out of nowhere with nearly a thousand visitors in one day and took over the 10th spot on the all-time list. While I am grateful for the visits, I suspect they were looking for porn, as I include just enough language in my posts referring to porn, pron, pr0n, and how I don't post pictures of naked women so that search bots looking for porn sometimes come by here. Hey, traffic is traffic. Still, I kind of hope the UK will step up and overtake Romania, mostly because I like seeing them on the top 10 list. Also, I cannot help but note that Denmark continues to close in on Germany for the No. 3 spot, France is charging hard and threatening to overtake Denmark for the No. 4 spot. I mention this only so that my Denmark readers can take note and step up their game. Just sayin'.

Denmark is closing in on Germany, but . . .

For several years, tiny Denmark has been closing in on much larger Germany in the total visitors count. That trend continues, and I could see Denmark passing Germany in the next year or so if trends continue. On the other hand, France, also much larger than Denmark, has been surging in recent months and is now much closer to Denmark than it has been in I don't know how long. My advice to Denmark is to kick it into gear. Just sayin'. Maybe a little advice on what Denmark should do to France:



Hit it, Denmark.

Germany is looking over its shoulder

Germany, with nearly 83 million residents, is number three on the list of most frequent visitors to Eff You, behind the U.S. and Russia. Naturally, virtually all of the Russian visitors are looking for porn or some way to steal other people's money. I have no money, but I throw in things like "hot naked Russian babes" every now and then to draw in the traffic that is looking for porn. Traffic is traffic, after all.

But Germany's hold on third place is getting a little shaky. Slowly but surely, Denmark, with less than 6 million residents, is closing in on the Teutonic juggernaut. Still a ways behind, but Denmark is closing the gap. If this blog goes on long enough, Denmark will take over the No. 3 spot.

Of course, my European correspondent lives in Denmark (haven't heard from him in a while -- hint, hint) but that can't explain the traffic we're seeing from Denmark. I guess the Danes know quality when they see it? Quality what? Damned if I know.

Could it be that Germany's vaunted Leopard tank actually sucks?

Apparently, the answer is maybe. It might not suck at the purpose for which it was originally designed -- stopping vast numbers of Soviet tanks pouring through the Fulda Gap and across the coastal plains of northern Germany (the U.S. was mainly responsible for the Fulda Gap back then) -- but it apparently has problems dealing with the realities of warfare in a less conventional battlefield:

Germany’s Leopard 2 main battle tank has a reputation as one of the finest in the world, competing for that distinction with proven designs such as the American M1 Abrams and the British Challenger 2. However, that reputation for nigh-invincibility has faced setbacks on Syrian battlefields, and placed Berlin in a uniquely awkward national-level dispute with Turkey, its fellow NATO member.

. . . .

The Leopard 2 is often compared to its near contemporary, the M1 Abrams: in truth the two designs share broadly similar characteristics, including a scale-tipping weight of well over sixty tons of advanced composite armor, 1,500 horsepower engines allowing speeds over forty miles per hour and, for certain models, the same forty-four-caliber 120-millimeter main gun produced by Rheinmetall.

Turkey, a NATO member that is maybe less than dedicated to the same human-rights principals that Germany applies in restricting its arms exports, is a Leopard 2 customer. Turkey used to employ the M60 Patton tank, a U.S. tank first employed in 1960. The Patton was woefully obsolete, and in the early 2000s Turkey bought a bunch of  Leopard 2A4 tanks. Despite being obsolete themselves, they were a big upgrade from the M60. Those tanks still make up the bulk of Turkey's armored forces.

It is rumored that the sale of 2A4s was conditioned on not using them against the Kurds. Nobody has ever confirmed that, but the Leopards were kept out of action against the Kurds for many years. In 2016, though, about a dozen of Turkey's M60 tanks were destroyed in action against the Kurds and ISIS, and Turkey sent in Leopards. That didn't go well.

In December 2016, it became clear that ISIS managed to take out about 10 Leopard 2s with relatively low-tech weapons. Since then, Turkey has asked for upgrades to the Leopard 2s it has. Germany, while upgrading its own fleet of tanks, has declined to sell upgrades to Turkey. That may be because Turkey is not the kind of customer Germany wants in terms of human rights. It also could be because Germany doesn't want the Leopard 2 to suffer further embarrassments. Having fought in a similar non-conventional battlefield in Iraq, the Abrams did not suffer the same kind of defeats the Leopard 2 apparently has. Germany might be seeking to avoid damage to the export market for the Leopard 2.

Traffic comment

Eff You topped 200,000 visits a little while ago, but the top 10 visiting countries hasn't changed much in the last couple years. Sweden bumped the U.K. out of the number 10 spot a couple years ago, and since then, no changes have taken place.

Not in the order, anyway. The top five remain U.S., Russia, Germany, Denmark and France. But in the last year or so, Denmark has pulled closer to Germany -- about 2,500 visits behind now, rather than the 3,000 visits Denmark was behind Germany at about this time last year. Denmark also has opened the gap between itself and France. The French, of course, are cheese-eating surrender monkeys, so it doesn't surprise me to see them losing. But Denmark is kicking ass.

I suppose the fact that my European correspondent is Danish has a little to do with this, but there are clearly other Danes involved in the effort. Still looking for more content from my European correspondent, by the way (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Anyway, tiny Denmark, land of exploding wind turbines, rocks. They haven't been this dominant since they took over England in 1013.

The Marines are going to Germany

I found this pretty interesting. Apparently, a meaningful number of young Americans living in Germany -- most, I would assume, are the children of Air Force and Army personnel stationed there, as there are pretty much no Marine personnel in Europe -- tr to enlist in the Marines. Previously, they have had to go to the U.S. to do so. No longer, though, as the Marines are opening a recruiting office in Germany:

For Americans living in Germany, it’s about to get a lot easier to join the Marine Corps.
Starting on Feb. 15, the Marine Corps will operate a recruiting substation at Kleber Kaserne, a U.S. Army base in Kaiserslautern, Germany, said Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Nieves, who is assigned to the facility.
A Marine stationed in Germany had suggested opening a recruiting facility because Americans were returning to the U.S. to enlist in the Corps, Nieves told Marine Corps Times on Thursday.

Sounds good to me. We need the Marines, and making it easier to enlist, wherever you are, is a good thing.

Gosh, it seems like the Religion of Peace is launching attacks in Europe almost every day.

Of course, it seems that way for a reason, as the Religion of Peace is launching attacks in Europe almost every day. From Heatstreet, via Ace, we have this helpful graphic:

Naturally, Heatstreet has some commentary on this trend:

In the previous week in Germany alone there has been a fatal machete attack, an axe attack on a train, a suicide bombing and a shooting rampage in a shopping mall.
It is twelve days since crazed trucker Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel mowed down 84
people – ten of them children – in Nice.
It was only late March when three suicide bombers killed more than 30 people in Brussels, which in turn came months after the larger-still rampage in Paris – about which horrors are still emerging.
Most are linked to the Islamic State, some are not, some could yet be.
German police yesterday made clear the scale of the problem when they said they had 410 separate leads on potential terrorists.

Most of the attackers have been "refugees" from Muslim countries. But I'm sure this kind of stuff could n ever happen here, right?

Sanity returning?

Well, maybe to Europe, at least. No sign of the Obama regime giving up on its watermelon fantasies (green on the outside . . . ). First, we have this:

Britain’s new government abolished its Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Thursday morning, ridding the country of its global warming bureaucracy.
Officials stated that the DECC has been abolished and U.K.’s environmental policy is will be transferred to a new ministry called the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Some former DECC’s functions will be outright abolished, while others will be handed back to the new ministry.

And then we have Germany realizing that its green energy plan is getting too expensive:

Germany plans to cap the expansion of offshore wind power at the start of the next decade to ensure the future growth of renewables keeps step with the construction of new power lines, according to a revision to a new energy law seen by Reuters.
Between 2021 and 2025 the government plans to limit offshore wind installations to 3.1 gigawatts (GW) of capacity since high-voltage power lines needed to carry green energy from the windy north to the industrial south will not be ready.
The reforms to the energy law are aimed at bringing down the costs of Germany's shift towards renewables sources of energy and away from nuclear power and fossil fuels known as the Energiewende.

OK, so what is driving this? Well, maybe it's because subsidies and forced use of "green" energy are driving consumer costs so high that they can't afford to heat or cool their homes:

Polling indicates that energy prices were so high that 38 percent of British households have cut back essential purchases, like food, to pay their energy bills. Another 59 percent of homes were worried about how they are going to pay energy bills.

Good plan, right? Maybe at least some nations are starting to realize that forcing expensive, inefficient energy technologies on people is not a good idea, especially when the "benefits" are unproven, to say the least.

The Religion of Peace strikes again, log-splitting edition

OK, he wasn't splitting logs:

An axe-man who stormed a passenger train and hacked at terrified passengers while shouting "Allahu Akbar" has been identified as a 17-year-old Afghan who entered Germany as a lone refugee.
The attacker was identified by stunned government officials after a huge investigation was launched just hours after the bloody attack exploded.

"Allahu Akbar," as everyone knows, means "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK," which explains the ax, I guess.

Yeah, so an Episcopalian refugee from Afghanistan boards a German train and begins hacking at citizens of the country that foolishly welcomed him.

Early reports claim he has left at least three people fighting for their lives, and a fourth with minor injuries.
At least 14 other passengers were being treated for shock.

At least they killed the little sack of shit. Thank God he was an Episcopalian and not a Muslim, else we'd be seeing headlines like this: [German] Muslims Fear Repercussions Over Tomorrow's Train Bombing.

Oh, wait.

Aaaaaaaand here comes Denmark on the outside!

If this is a horse race, Denmark is Seabiscuit, an underdog if ever there was one. And yet, after falling more than 200 visits behind France in recent months, Denmark is now only 9 visits down. Further, the Danes are slowly but surely closing in on the third-place Germans, despite Germany's obvious numerical advantage. Other than the Danish bright spot, traffic this month is in the toilet. Um, tell your friends to drop by, mmmmm-kay?

Did I mention that Denmark is creeping up on Germany?

It's true. On the other hand, at this rate, it could take a couple years unless the Danes really get busy. Let's face it -- there are a lot of fucking Germans, and a decent number of them stumble by here, probably searching for porn. Having used the words "porn" and "fucking," I probably can expect a spike in traffic from Germany. Sorry about that, Denmark.

Also, Happy 75th Anniversary of Germany Invading Poland to Start World War II Day

Not sure if anybody calls it that. I didn't call it "Krauts Invading Poland" out of deference to Germany being the third-most-frequent visitor to this blog, although I think it's just spambots seeking porn and so no one would be offended. But I digress.

Seventyfive years ago today, on September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and started World War II with Operation Fall Weiss. The last Polish forces, overwhelmed by a German invasion from the west followed shortly by a Soviet invasion from the east, surrendered on October 6, 1939. It was the beginning of a long, shitty period in Polish history, with the Nazi occupation followed by the Soviet occupation from 1945 through 1989 or so.

Today, Polish and German leaders gathered to mark the 75th anniversary:

German President Joachim Gauck is to join his Polish counterpart, Bronislaw Komorowski , on the Westerplatte peninsula in Gdansk on Monday, for the main ceremony to mark the beginning of World War II.
The two heads of state are to place candles at the graves of soldiers who lost their lives in the battle that marked the outbreak of the war, before laying a wreath at the memorial to the defenders of the Polish coast at Westerplatte.
. . .
The fighting began in the early hours of September 1, 1939, when the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein fired on the Polish fort of Westerplatte. The first battle of the Second World War quickly ensued.
The attack on Poland by Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime led Britain and France to declare war on Germany two days later.

Get ready for a lot of these anniversaries. Just because the U.S. didn't enter the war for more than two years doesn't mean it wasn't going on. It was. And with what Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine, anybody who thinks it could never happen again is whistling in the wind.