Latest / 20 Percent Berlin Podcast / #22: Islamist terrorist, Heimstaden gouging and drug lab thwarted, 1 million trees not thwarted

Transcript

#22: Islamist terrorist, Heimstaden gouging and drug lab thwarted, 1 million trees not thwarted · 20 Percent Berlin Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: All right, hello and welcome to the 20% podcast.
0:08
I am Andrew Boakley,
0:09
co-founder and writer of 20% and I'm joined as always by
0:13
Maurice Frank.
0:19
Andrew,
0:19
the name of our podcast is 20% Berlin,
0:21
by the way,
0:22
as is the name of our newsletter.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: What did I say?
0:24
SPEAKER_02: Facts matter.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: What did I say, 20%?
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Facts matter.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've just got too many things going on today.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: All right.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: We're doing this remotely.
0:31
I'm doing it remotely from my office in Pensabank,
0:34
and Maurice is joining us from Tempelhof.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, my co-working space.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: You know, the town founded by the Knights Templar.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: The neighborhood, not the airport.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: Exactly, yeah.
0:51
SPEAKER_02: Well, sort of southern Tempelhof, yeah.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Is Tempelhof the airport officially in Tempelhof, the neighborhood?
0:57
SPEAKER_02: That's a really good question, Andrew.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: I think you digress.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: We'll save that for the next podcast.
1:06
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what's up?
1:07
SPEAKER_02: What do we want to talk about today, Andrew?
1:09
SPEAKER_02: How are you doing?
1:10
SPEAKER_02: You called this meeting, Maurice.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: Is this a meeting?
1:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, this is a podcast.
1:13
SPEAKER_02: No.
1:14
Yeah,
1:16
there were some subjects in today's newsletter that I thought
1:19
we'd talk about.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: The terrorist attack.
1:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, there was no attack.
1:25
SPEAKER_02: They thwarted a terrorist attack.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: Non-terror terrorist attack.
1:29
SPEAKER_02: Allegedly,
1:31
the police raided an apartment in Zonaleh in Neukölln and
1:37
apparently found
1:39
SPEAKER_02: bomb-making equipment as well as evidence that this young man,
1:46
SPEAKER_02: who was,
1:46
SPEAKER_02: I believe,
1:47
SPEAKER_02: 21 or 22,
1:47
SPEAKER_02: a Syrian national,
1:48
SPEAKER_02: that he was
1:51
SPEAKER_02: Planning an Islamist-inspired suicide attack.
1:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure we're going to get,
1:56
first things we're going to get an email about why is his
1:58
nationality important.
1:59
SPEAKER_00: That's the first email.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: Every time we use a nationality on one of these,
2:03
SPEAKER_00: somebody writes us to say,
2:04
SPEAKER_00: why is his nationality important?
2:08
SPEAKER_02: Oh, God.
2:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: Let's not go there right now.
2:11
SPEAKER_02: Let's just stick to the facts for now.
2:15
I think a really interesting aspect of this story is that the
2:22
police were acting on
2:24
SPEAKER_02: a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency.
2:29
Well,
2:29
to be fair,
2:30
German intelligence agencies are very handicapped by
2:34
Dattenschutz stuff.
2:36
So they have to depend on these other intelligence agencies
2:39
just filtering email
2:41
SPEAKER_00: traffic for keywords to get information.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: And also, how good are the Berlin police really?
2:48
SPEAKER_02: I mean, who's in charge of monitoring potential terrorist attacks?
2:52
SPEAKER_02: I mean, who does that?
2:54
Who,
2:54
I don't know,
2:55
who's like doing the sort of like cyber sleuth type activity?
3:01
SPEAKER_00: It does seem more like a Bundespolizei thing, more than just the guys.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of Tempelhof, just the LKA in Tempelhof, the Landeskriminalamt.
3:11
SPEAKER_02: What about it?
3:12
SPEAKER_00: No,
3:12
it does seem like monitoring potential terrorist attacks inside
3:16
Germany is not
3:17
SPEAKER_00: necessarily the job of the local police.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: It seems like it's more the job of the federal police.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't think they really know, Andrew.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: I don't think they really know.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: That's the thing about Germany.
3:26
It's this sort of federal system and there's a lot of overlap
3:30
about who does what.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: I guess whoever gets the information first, right?
3:35
SPEAKER_02: Well, I know it's definitely not the Verfassungsschutz.
3:39
You know,
3:39
I met somebody who works at the Verfassungsschutz the other
3:42
day.
3:42
SPEAKER_02: That was super interesting.
3:43
But he actually couldn't tell me anything about his job other
3:45
than that he worked there.
3:46
SPEAKER_02: So I guess it wasn't that interesting.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: I would think, I mean, realistically, it would be the Bundestag, right?
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Like, it would be the German intelligence services.
3:54
SPEAKER_02: Maybe the spies.
3:56
I'm guessing it would be a country like the United States or
3:59
Britain or Israel that
4:02
SPEAKER_02: gave them this tip-off.
4:03
SPEAKER_02: People who have those capabilities.
4:05
And then they pass it on to the national German version of the
4:09
CIA,
4:10
which is BND.
4:11
I mean,
4:13
they have a formidable building in Mitte,
4:15
so I'm assuming they are capable of something.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, we're the ones that supplied information.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
4:21
SPEAKER_00: we,
4:21
Germany was the ones that supplied all the information about
4:23
Saddam Hussein back in
4:24
SPEAKER_00: the day.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: So they're obviously doing.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: They were,
4:27
SPEAKER_00: they said like,
4:27
SPEAKER_00: uh,
4:28
SPEAKER_00: they were the ones who said he might have chemical weapons,
4:31
SPEAKER_00: but the source we're using is not reliable.
4:33
SPEAKER_02: The thing is,
4:34
SPEAKER_02: data protection doesn't apply when you're spying on foreign countries,
4:39
SPEAKER_00: especially ones outside of the EU,
4:40
SPEAKER_00: right?
4:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but that's what I mean.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: I think the Berlin police,
4:43
SPEAKER_00: they are subject to data protection,
4:45
SPEAKER_00: plus they're lazy,
4:46
SPEAKER_00: so they use data protection as a reason to not really investigate.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: They don't have the tools to go after these guys.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: That's why I don't think local police...
4:53
How could you expect a Berlin police to know this guy is
4:55
getting bomb-making
4:56
SPEAKER_00: materials from Syria or wherever he got it from?
4:59
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
5:00
SPEAKER_00: You mean Amazon?
5:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean like the plan.
5:04
SPEAKER_02: You can build a pipe bomb with stuff you buy on Amazon.
5:07
Yeah,
5:07
or you can probably build a pipe bomb with stuff you buy at
5:09
Obie,
5:09
you know.
5:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
5:10
SPEAKER_00: the Toderspiegel article says the information usually comes from USA,
5:13
SPEAKER_00: from America or Israel.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
5:16
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
5:16
SPEAKER_02: I think this,
5:17
SPEAKER_02: I don't know,
5:18
I just had the thought that maybe this is also one reason why
5:22
Germany is quite
5:24
SPEAKER_02: reluctant to criticize what's been happening with Israel and Gaza.
5:28
SPEAKER_02: You know, not that we want to wade into that topic, but
5:31
This is just could be a,
5:32
this could actually be a,
5:35
an element to it,
5:36
you know?
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, that's huge.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: The America,
5:39
obviously a lot of the Western governments have been using
5:41
Israel as a de facto
5:44
SPEAKER_00: foreign policy vehicle.
5:45
I mean,
5:45
even Matt said it,
5:46
they're doing the dirty work nobody else wants to do.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: Right, and that is pretty wild, yeah.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: And we also bought an arrow anti-missile air defense system,
5:59
SPEAKER_02: which is out there in Sachsen-Anhalt,
6:01
SPEAKER_02: defending the skies over Berlin.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: But to be fair, you should probably draw the line at genocide.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Just trying to wipe out of people.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's where you draw the line.
6:12
SPEAKER_02: That's a fair point, Andrew.
6:14
SPEAKER_02: I'm with you here.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Let's not open the door to Israel right here.
6:17
uh anyway glad they got the guy glad there was not another
6:20
terrorist attack in
6:21
berlin uh i think it's okay yeah i mean i'm always like kind of
6:25
paranoid about
6:26
these things like like like how much do they really know about
6:29
it i don't know like
6:30
do you should do you have faith in the the police and the
6:32
intelligence agencies
6:34
SPEAKER_02: that they they know what they're doing here
6:35
SPEAKER_00: The weird thing is I do have faith in intelligence agencies.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're right.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: They can go break people's rights.
6:42
They can take people's rights away a lot quicker than a police
6:44
agency can.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: I think the intelligence guys,
6:47
I think those are like fairly highly educated people with some
6:51
level of standards,
6:52
SPEAKER_00: ethical and moral standards.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
6:56
SPEAKER_02: As opposed to local police, as opposed to local police.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: I don't trust the Berlin.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: There's a bar right here that's obviously selling coke.
7:04
SPEAKER_00: You can see them do it.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: There's no way I'm tipping the Berlin police off about it, man.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: I do not trust them.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure my email would go straight to the Remo clan.
7:11
SPEAKER_00: Like a different kind of chip off.
7:13
yeah i just don't i uh don't i i think the berlin police are
7:17
okay you know they'll
7:18
protect you if there's like something bad happening but do you
7:21
know how many times
7:22
i've called the berlin delete like okay i've called like three
7:24
times and every time
7:26
they're like they try to talk you out of how come they're not
7:28
responsible like they
7:30
really don't want to come yeah but you know then then you'll
7:33
have like something
7:33
really minor traffic incidents and then they'll be there in
7:37
like four minutes
7:38
SPEAKER_02: This thing where you have to fill out a form for the insurance.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: That reminds me I have to fill out a form for insurance.
7:45
SPEAKER_02: Today, I was stuck in a traffic jam.
7:51
SPEAKER_02: In my cargo bike, I was wedged between a bus and a car.
7:56
SPEAKER_02: I squeezed the cargo bike between the bus and the car.
7:59
SPEAKER_02: It actually scuffed the back bumper of the car.
8:02
SPEAKER_02: I basically did a hit and run because the car was stuck in traffic.
8:06
SPEAKER_02: I'm just...
8:07
SPEAKER_02: It was really a scuff though.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: It was probably just the tire.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: But the cops never came, right?
8:14
SPEAKER_02: Well, no.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
8:15
I was like a mile away within like two minutes and the car was
8:18
still stuck in a
8:19
SPEAKER_02: traffic jam.
8:20
Because you launched that story saying the police...
8:24
You couldn't turn around.
8:25
SPEAKER_02: The car was like totally surrounded by other cars.
8:28
SPEAKER_00: You started that story by saying the police show up within minutes.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: And then you finished it by saying they actually didn't show up.
8:34
well i just fled the scene completely i'm sorry dude if there
8:37
are children
8:37
listening out there do not do this at home okay what else we
8:41
got on on tap whatever
8:42
what other crimes are you committing today um the crime of i
8:47
don't know flooding
8:49
people's inboxes with my hasty writing i don't know um there
8:53
was a uh yeah i wrote
8:55
SPEAKER_02: today in the newsletter i also wrote about
8:57
the Swedish property company which you call Heimstel Heimstel
9:04
even and they are the
9:06
second largest property or the second largest landlords in
9:12
Berlin or privately
9:13
SPEAKER_02: owned landlords they have 29,700 units in Germany and
9:19
Like Airbnb reported that like several hundred people have been
9:23
able to get
9:25
SPEAKER_02: significant reductions on their rent from Einstein.
9:30
I was surprised to read that,
9:31
that like a corporate landlord is that much of a dirtbag.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: Like they're actively using this,
9:37
SPEAKER_00: you know,
9:37
we've upgraded your apartment to modern standards so we can
9:40
charge you whatever we
9:41
SPEAKER_00: want.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: My opinion was like,
9:46
SPEAKER_02: hey,
9:46
we're going to charge you 21 euros per square meter in vetting
9:52
because we added a
9:54
SPEAKER_02: bathtub.
9:56
And apparently it has to be for them to get out of the rules
10:02
stipulated by the rent cap.
10:04
um you have to really like fix up the place so it's as good as
10:10
new basically it's
10:10
as good as a new build like new electricity stuff new um new
10:15
plumbing uh a nice new
10:17
SPEAKER_02: floor all that stuff that's the
10:20
SPEAKER_02: comprehensive modernization.
10:22
I just would have thought that the lawyers in the company would
10:25
have been saying,
10:25
SPEAKER_00: hey,
10:25
SPEAKER_00: we're not doing enough.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: You can't charge this extra.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: You can't use that clause.
10:30
I'm surprised you said,
10:31
I mean,
10:31
why should I be surprised that companies are dirtbags?
10:34
SPEAKER_00: But I don't know why.
10:34
I just thought that they would be at least attempting to adhere
10:38
to the laws.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, you're a landlord, aren't you?
10:43
SPEAKER_02: We talked about this.
10:45
SPEAKER_00: I was not aware you could raise rent.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know.
10:48
I thought once you had a contract,
10:49
that rent stayed for the duration of the renters.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: Because it says in the contract what the rent is.
10:55
But you're actually legally allowed...
10:56
You can raise the rent based on the local Mietspiegel.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying, I have no reason to... Why should you overcharge people?
11:07
SPEAKER_00: There's no reason.
11:08
i'm not that green i mean they're okay they're you know like to
11:11
play the devil's
11:12
advocate is that some people rely on this as their retirement
11:16
income and that's all
11:17
they have they have a couple claps here well then sell one of
11:20
them i mean like
11:21
that's no reason to be like you you're the you're the one that
11:25
decided to take the
11:26
uh risk you know the financial risk it's on you as an investor
11:30
not on the no renter
11:33
SPEAKER_02: this is like you're being a boy you're being the voice of reason
11:35
SPEAKER_02: It's called noblesse.
11:37
SPEAKER_02: It's not how human beings function, is it?
11:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I guess.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I was surprised.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: But it's so good.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, it's out there.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: Then everybody knows this.
11:43
They have Heimstaden as a landlord to,
11:45
you know,
11:47
either join a Mieterverein or talk to a lawyer.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: But don't talk to the lawyer.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: You know what I love about this story?
11:52
SPEAKER_02: What I love about this story is that,
11:54
SPEAKER_02: like,
11:55
SPEAKER_02: for once,
11:56
SPEAKER_02: like,
11:56
SPEAKER_02: the Swedes and the Scandinavians were getting a bad rap.
11:59
You know,
11:59
they're always just like,
12:00
oh,
12:00
we Germans always,
12:01
we love Sweden.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: Everything is perfect.
12:04
SPEAKER_02: And actually, they're just as bad as other people.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
12:07
SPEAKER_00: the thing is,
12:08
SPEAKER_00: like a year ago or whenever it is that you moved to Copenhagen,
12:12
SPEAKER_00: you were saying the same thing.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: You were singing the praise.
12:14
SPEAKER_02: That was not a year ago.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: That was like five years ago.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: And I'm back, right?
12:20
Every other message was how great Copenhagen is and how crappy
12:25
Germany is.
12:26
SPEAKER_02: Well, you know, on paper, it really is.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: You know, like something works there.
12:30
SPEAKER_02: You know,
12:30
SPEAKER_02: like they have bike lanes that work that are not dangerous,
12:33
SPEAKER_02: and they have digitalization that works.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: But they also have Heimstein, which they pronounce in Denmark.
12:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm still, I'm still.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
12:46
SPEAKER_00: They're little islands.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: They're basically islands.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: They think they're part of mainstream global happenings.
12:51
In fact,
12:51
they're just tiny little islands with natural resources and
12:55
good shipping companies.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: Well, I mean, Sweden is quite a force.
13:02
SPEAKER_02: They have IKEA, they have H&M, they have Spotify.
13:06
SPEAKER_02: I mean, they're not nobody's.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: No,
13:07
SPEAKER_00: no,
13:07
but they act like they're a part of everything that's happening
13:10
in the world is
13:11
SPEAKER_00: happening there,
13:11
SPEAKER_00: but they're not.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: They're on the edge of civilization, realistically.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: They're on the Arctic, so they're essentially islands.
13:17
The UK is an island,
13:19
but it's actually more a part of day-to-day global happenings
13:24
than Sweden.
13:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: No, it's on the edge.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is up there on the edge.
13:27
SPEAKER_00: And they forget that, and people forget that about them as well.
13:30
And that's why you actually have this crazy racism that nobody
13:33
talks about,
13:34
SPEAKER_00: because they're not involved in it,
13:35
SPEAKER_00: really.
13:37
One of my pet peeves is Scandinavia acting like they're so
13:39
great when you're like,
13:41
SPEAKER_00: dude,
13:41
SPEAKER_00: you don't have a zone in LA.
13:43
SPEAKER_00: Shut up.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, I don't know if I explained it.
13:48
SPEAKER_02: What else were we talking about?
13:52
SPEAKER_02: There was a dinner shop and it was called Berlin Dinner.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: And you could get a dinner for 12 euros.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: Were they good donors?
13:59
SPEAKER_00: I've never had a decent dinner outside.
14:02
SPEAKER_02: I don't like dinner, but as far as dinner goes, it was fine.
14:05
SPEAKER_00: I was going to do that on my subway takes.
14:07
I was actually going to have say that there's actually no such
14:09
thing as a good dinner kebab.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: There's just your dinner kebab.
14:12
Like everybody likes their place,
14:14
you know,
14:14
but it's actually not that great.
14:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
14:17
SPEAKER_02: I, I realized that I used to eat them a lot.
14:20
Um,
14:20
when I first moved here,
14:21
but basically it's just because I'm from good.
14:24
SPEAKER_02: Great.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, there was that story last week.
14:27
We should talk about the,
14:28
the drug lab,
14:29
which you wrote about the drug lab out in Brandenburg.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, of course they're there.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
14:37
SPEAKER_00: like,
14:37
SPEAKER_00: the funny thing is,
14:38
SPEAKER_00: right,
14:38
SPEAKER_00: like,
14:38
SPEAKER_00: a half an hour by car is this place called Neuropeen,
14:41
SPEAKER_00: which,
14:41
SPEAKER_00: like,
14:42
SPEAKER_00: basically some dudes in a bar,
14:45
SPEAKER_00: like,
14:45
SPEAKER_00: went to Amsterdam trying to find a couple of pills,
14:47
SPEAKER_00: like,
14:48
SPEAKER_00: some ecstasy,
14:49
SPEAKER_00: you know,
14:49
SPEAKER_00: to sell,
14:49
SPEAKER_00: like,
14:50
SPEAKER_00: for their friends.
14:51
And it turned into,
14:51
like,
14:52
this connection to Holland turned into this major drug hub.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, they were...
14:57
the Dutch people like latched onto it and started routing
15:00
cocaine through Neuropein to Berlin.
15:02
So I wonder if these guys half an hour away building this drug
15:05
lab are related to that.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: Hey, do you remember, remember like 10 years ago or so?
15:09
I've heard these rumors of somebody in Berkheim selling fair
15:13
trade cocaine.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: I did not know about that.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: I did not hear that one.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:17
SPEAKER_02: People,
15:18
SPEAKER_02: somebody back on was selling fair trade cocaine,
15:19
meaning it was like grown in sustainable conditions by nice
15:23
people in Colombia.
15:25
But in a way,
15:25
if you think about it,
15:26
like this lab in that one,
15:29
it's local.
15:30
SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, there's, you know, there's no international smuggling.
15:35
SPEAKER_02: It's,
15:35
SPEAKER_02: they're basically making 3CMC and 4CMC,
15:39
which stuff you can basically build in a lab with stuff you buy
15:42
on Amazon.
15:43
SPEAKER_02: In a way, that is fair.
15:46
SPEAKER_02: It's local.
15:47
SPEAKER_02: It's like getting meat from the local bio farm.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
15:55
SPEAKER_00: Then it's too bad they busted them, I guess.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it sounds like they found $200,000 in cash just sitting around.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: Right.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: You should hide your cash.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: 100 kilos of drugs.
16:09
I don't think people realize how much drugs are being consumed
16:13
in Berlin,
16:13
or maybe they do.
16:14
SPEAKER_00: I think there's all those clubs.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: I think it's really,
16:18
SPEAKER_02: I don't know,
16:19
I've noticed a major uptick in just witnessing people in
16:25
bathrooms and stuff.
16:25
SPEAKER_02: And I'm old, and I don't go out that much, but even I have witnessed it.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: I was hosting a comedy show,
16:30
SPEAKER_00: I won't mention the club the other night,
16:32
SPEAKER_00: and the guy even outed himself as a management consultant.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And then he gets up in the middle of a comedian's set,
16:39
SPEAKER_00: and you could see him grab his jacket as he stood up.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: He grabs his jacket,
16:43
SPEAKER_00: stands up in the middle of a comedian's set,
16:44
SPEAKER_00: walks over to his friends who were sitting somewhere else,
16:47
SPEAKER_00: and then drops his jacket off and went to the bathroom.
16:49
And it was so obvious that he had to take his jacket because
16:52
that's where whatever
16:53
SPEAKER_00: drug he was taking was in his jacket.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why he didn't just take his jacket to the bathroom.
16:57
SPEAKER_00: If he hadn't dropped the jacket off, it wouldn't have been so obvious.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: Was he rubbing his nostrils?
17:02
SPEAKER_00: No,
17:02
but it was weird that he couldn't wait until the end of the
17:04
comedian's set to go to
17:05
SPEAKER_00: the bathroom.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: And then he made a big thing out of grabbing his jacket.
17:09
SPEAKER_00: And I just see that comedy a lot.
17:10
You see a lot that suddenly two guys disappear and then come
17:13
back together.
17:14
SPEAKER_02: Well, you're living the high life, man.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: Backstage in the green room with all the hot young comedians.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: It's such a myth.
17:23
SPEAKER_00: It's so funny what you think backstage is before you hang out in them.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: And then when you find out most of them smell bad.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: It's like a disgusting stained sofa.
17:32
Yeah,
17:33
if it's actually a concert venue,
17:34
like a place where they smell horrible.
17:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
17:37
SPEAKER_02: I used to organize concerts for ex-filter parties.
17:41
SPEAKER_02: I mean, it was horrible.
17:42
And then you get these local bands who are not even known
17:46
outside of Kreuzberg,
17:47
SPEAKER_02: and they'd have these writers and be like,
17:49
SPEAKER_02: hey,
17:49
SPEAKER_02: we want sushi,
17:51
SPEAKER_02: we want...
17:52
a liter of whiskey and a crate of beer and insane like i
17:57
actually thought back then
18:00
i was naive i was like oh we actually have to get this stuff or
18:02
they won't play but
18:04
not even true yeah they're just trying so you know i have to
18:07
say the best band we
18:08
had um was cobra killer they were amazing this is i mean this
18:12
is like ancient
18:13
history um but they actually took one of the bottles of wine
18:16
that they ordered on
18:17
SPEAKER_02: the rider and then
18:19
SPEAKER_02: They just poured the wine over themselves during the performance.
18:22
SPEAKER_02: That was...
18:24
SPEAKER_02: That was fantastic.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: Red wine, no less.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Synthetic drug lab, that's a very funny point about being a fair trade.
18:33
Synthetic drug lab is now no longer...
18:36
Cocaine is super problematic,
18:39
right?
18:41
Not just for your health,
18:42
but in terms of the whole network of global crime behind it.
18:48
SPEAKER_02: It also makes President Trump mad.
18:50
And it also actually encourages the heinous crack epidemic we
18:55
have right now
18:56
because there's so much cocaine flooding in here that a lot of
19:00
it is just going
19:01
SPEAKER_02: into being turned into crack.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: It's ruining vetting.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: Leopold Platz.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: What else do we...
19:11
Do you want to talk about the million trees that Berlin passed
19:13
this thing for a million?
19:14
SPEAKER_00: We're going to have a million trees.
19:16
SPEAKER_02: You're so jaded.
19:19
SPEAKER_02: My mother liked that.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: She even commented on that article.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: She likes trees.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: What's wrong with a million trees?
19:27
SPEAKER_00: What enforcement?
19:30
SPEAKER_00: It's fine.
19:30
They can say,
19:31
hey,
19:32
we're going to double the number of trees in Berlin by
19:34
whatever,
19:35
2035.
19:35
SPEAKER_00: What's the cap? 2040.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: The thing is,
19:40
the interesting thing about this is that it was a citizens'
19:43
referendum campaign
19:45
where a group of people started collecting signatures for this
19:49
whole climate
19:51
SPEAKER_02: adaptation kind of agenda.
19:54
And a lot of that,
19:55
the main thing about it is to plant more trees so we have more
19:58
shade.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: But anything political in the city, then you can't just pass.
20:03
They're just kicking the can down to somebody else to say,
20:06
actually,
20:06
we're not going to do it.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: That's all that's going to happen.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Because if this was real,
20:10
SPEAKER_00: if this was real,
20:11
they would have a set up plan like these are the trees we're
20:13
going to plant this
20:14
SPEAKER_00: year.
20:14
SPEAKER_00: These are the trees we're going to plant next year.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: This is the park we're going to unseal this year.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: This is the park we're going to unseal next year.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: And here's the money to do it.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: And none of that is in there.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: This is just purely PR.
20:24
SPEAKER_00: This is just saying we're going to pass this.
20:26
SPEAKER_00: We're going to pass this.
20:27
And the next administration is going to come in and say,
20:31
well,
20:31
there's no money to do it.
20:32
SPEAKER_00: So what, Craig?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for passing it.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: We're not doing it.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: Right, who's against trees, right?
20:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
20:37
SPEAKER_00: but if you don't have a concrete planet and you don't have funding in it,
20:40
SPEAKER_00: it's not going to happen.
20:41
SPEAKER_02: You know what, though I have one objection about trees.
20:44
SPEAKER_02: As a cyclist,
20:47
the bike lanes are often kind of destroyed by the roots of
20:51
trees that are right
20:52
SPEAKER_02: next to the bike lane.
20:53
SPEAKER_00: No, it's weird.
20:54
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to help you, Mr. Tree, and you're not helping me.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: It always feels unfair.
20:58
Especially these bike lanes where they're made out of tiles,
21:03
which are as stupid as bike lanes.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: It comes back to like,
21:05
there was one time I was complaining about other bikes and
21:08
other bike riders.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Like I was like, this is the worst.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: In the spring, I was riding to my job at Handelsblatt.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: And I was like,
21:13
this is just the worst because now all these people are out
21:14
there on their bikes.
21:15
SPEAKER_00: They're just in my way.
21:16
And then one of my coworkers very astutely pointed out that the
21:19
problem is not the
21:20
SPEAKER_00: other bike riders.
21:21
SPEAKER_00: The problem is not the trees.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: The problem is the lack of infrastructure for cyclists.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: There you go.
21:26
You have to stop answering WhatsApps on your phone while you're
21:29
using it because
21:30
SPEAKER_00: your big,
21:30
SPEAKER_00: goofy fingers just keep blocking the camera.
21:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to figure out how much time is left on that Zoom meeting.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: It looks like a giant fleshy spider is walking across your desk.
21:40
Okay,
21:40
but that's not going to be in the recording because we don't
21:42
have a YouTube podcast.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, but they should just be imagining the site.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: It's a good thing,
21:46
SPEAKER_00: too,
21:46
because the podcast would be a picture of either your plywood
21:50
ceiling or your
21:51
SPEAKER_00: double chin.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: It's either those.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, now I turn off the camera.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: All right.
21:55
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm there.
21:56
SPEAKER_02: God, man.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: Such criticism, you know?
21:58
SPEAKER_02: Where's the love?
21:59
SPEAKER_02: Because I'm looking at your double chin the whole time.
22:01
SPEAKER_02: My double chin.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: It's only double if you look at it from below.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: Usually it's a single chin.
22:07
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so the one million thing, it's fine, but it's just lip service.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: There's no teeth to it.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: There's no guarantee it's going to happen.
22:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, my mother loves this.
22:16
She's one of these people who actually waters the trees during
22:20
the summer if there's a drought.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, maybe the trees don't need to be in the city.
22:24
Maybe they just be out in the country,
22:27
just plant more trees out in the country.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: No,
22:28
SPEAKER_00: there are streets,
22:29
SPEAKER_00: you know,
22:30
SPEAKER_00: there are streets or vetting where there are no trees and it's so awful.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: My street has too many trees.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: It's just like full,
22:36
SPEAKER_02: there's just like,
22:37
SPEAKER_02: you're like knee deep in like branches and leaves and stuff.
22:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm okay with that.
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Did you find out how much time we've been talking?
22:48
SPEAKER_02: No, I didn't.
22:49
SPEAKER_02: Do you have a bear's knees?
22:57
SPEAKER_00: I do have a bear's knees.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: You know what?
22:59
SPEAKER_00: The thing is, I don't know if it's getting older or whatever.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: I'm starting to really like, in Berlin, they're called Eckknife, right?
23:04
There's just kind of these bars that have been there for like
23:07
100 years,
23:07
you know?
23:08
SPEAKER_00: And I have to admit, the ones in the West are a tiny bit nicer.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: They're a tick nicer.
23:13
SPEAKER_00: Totally.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: I like them.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: They're just kind of harmless.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: When you get in them, they all feel a little like an Irish pub.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: For some reason, they paint the walls green a lot.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why they do that.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, this one called Zum Freispruch in Charlottenburg.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: I was there with some friends.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're doing like Bears in the East West today, right?
23:32
Well,
23:32
you wanted me to,
23:33
and I happened to be in this place,
23:34
Winscheitstraße 29.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: It's just a bar, man.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: It's just a bar.
23:39
SPEAKER_02: Can you get like a Bowen food stick there?
23:42
SPEAKER_00: There's no food.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: There's no food.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: It's just drinks.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: It's just a shitty normal bar.
23:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the bartender might be nice to you.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: They also might not be nice to you.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: You don't know.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:54
SPEAKER_00: But it just is what it is.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: It is what it is.
23:56
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
23:58
SPEAKER_02: I went to a great bar, actually.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: But it was... Where was it?
24:03
SPEAKER_02: I have to look it up.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: But we keep talking about your bar first.
24:08
SPEAKER_00: There's not that much to say about this.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: That's what's so great about it.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: It's just a bar in Charlottenburg.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: There's two or three in that street.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: And you just go in there and you just drink.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: You just drink.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: You're not there for the atmosphere.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: You're not there for the cocktails.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: You're not really even there for the bar.
24:21
SPEAKER_02: That sounds really depressing.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: It's good, though.
24:25
SPEAKER_02: It's good.
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Are you there for the sort of attractive...
24:30
SPEAKER_00: young pub crowd?
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Come on, man.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Come on.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Stop.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: No.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean stop?
24:36
SPEAKER_00: You're there because they have people there.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: Attractive old crowd.
24:40
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
24:41
SPEAKER_02: Whatever.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: No, that's the point.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: It's just like a neighborhood, like a pub.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: You know what a pub is.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
24:45
SPEAKER_00: Except that these bars are not as nice as what I think a British pub is.
24:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know.
24:49
SPEAKER_02: Why can't gentlemen have us be the nicest pubs?
24:51
SPEAKER_02: Like, real pubs.
24:52
SPEAKER_02: London, like, pubs in London are amazing.
24:55
SPEAKER_00: Although the one,
24:56
SPEAKER_00: when I worked at Bloomberg and we were in London,
24:57
SPEAKER_00: we'd go to this one and the floor was,
24:59
SPEAKER_00: like,
24:59
SPEAKER_00: so old and so much beer spilled on it that,
25:02
SPEAKER_00: like,
25:02
I'm pretty sure the rug was somehow holding the tiny pieces of
25:05
wood underneath it
25:06
SPEAKER_00: together and it squid.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: Like,
25:07
SPEAKER_00: when you walked,
25:08
SPEAKER_00: it,
25:08
SPEAKER_00: like,
25:09
SPEAKER_00: it pushed down,
25:10
SPEAKER_00: like,
25:11
SPEAKER_00: several centimeters wherever you walked across this bar.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: That was a little weird.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's just like that.
25:17
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I have a pub too.
25:20
SPEAKER_02: Zur Glühlampe.
25:21
SPEAKER_02: Do you know that place?
25:22
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
25:23
SPEAKER_02: Friedrichshain?
25:23
SPEAKER_02: It's in that weird part of Friedrichshain,
25:25
SPEAKER_02: which is sort of behind the Varchausstraße,
25:27
SPEAKER_02: sort of in between the train tracks and the Speer.
25:32
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, it's a football kneipe.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: It's an Eintracht Frankfurt football kneipe.
25:36
SPEAKER_02: And
25:37
SPEAKER_02: What they have there is apple wine,
25:40
SPEAKER_02: which is apple wine from the Frankfurt region,
25:42
SPEAKER_02: which is where my family comes from.
25:44
So I actually ended up going there last weekend with some of my
25:48
family and had some
25:50
SPEAKER_02: sour gespritzt.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: You know what that is?
25:53
SPEAKER_02: It's disgusting.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: So like vinegary, watery alcohol.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: You only really like if you're already drunk.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: So you start off with a couple of beers and then you switch over to Zawa.
26:03
SPEAKER_02: Zawa gespritzt.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: You can start off with Zawa.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: Zawa gespritzt is just, they just put bubbly water in it.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: That's Zawa.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: If you want a Zeus, they put Fanta in it.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: You make a rattler out of it.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Does it come in a bimble?
26:14
SPEAKER_00: No, they don't.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Do they get it in a bimble?
26:16
SPEAKER_02: What's a bimble?
26:17
SPEAKER_02: No,
26:17
SPEAKER_02: no,
26:17
SPEAKER_02: just like one of those kind of,
26:20
SPEAKER_02: like a glass with a sort of like diagonal hatching lines on them.
26:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
26:25
SPEAKER_01: but it's funny because it's a really,
26:28
SPEAKER_02: it's also like a really grimy like smoking bar,
26:31
SPEAKER_02: so it has sort of like
26:32
a mix of like,
26:34
like grimy Fridgetine nightlife and all the anti-fascist
26:37
stickers of the era.
26:38
SPEAKER_02: And then, but also like Eintracht fans.
26:40
SPEAKER_02: That's actually weird.
26:42
SPEAKER_02: How's Eintracht?
26:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:44
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea, man.
26:45
SPEAKER_02: I went to one of their matches like in the 1980s or something.
26:49
Um,
26:49
so is that my,
26:51
I guess that could be my,
26:52
that could be my,
26:53
uh,
26:53
bear's knees.
26:54
SPEAKER_02: I think that was why you were talking about it.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: They're in eighth.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: Cause it's also, it's in, it's in the East, unfortunately.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh,
27:02
SPEAKER_02: It's something for everyone there, unless you hate smoke.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: Eintracht is 8th place right now.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: Union 10th.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: So they're above Union, which is important.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, my son Pauli is in 15th right now.
27:17
SPEAKER_00: They're just sucking this year.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
27:19
SPEAKER_02: Don't start to me about football, man.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
27:22
SPEAKER_02: No opinion about any of this.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: All right.
27:24
SPEAKER_02: Go start a sports podcast, man.
27:26
SPEAKER_02: I don't care that much.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: Can I plug my event?
27:29
SPEAKER_02: Next week on Wednesday,
27:31
SPEAKER_02: November 12th,
27:32
SPEAKER_02: there's going to be 20% Berlin news quiz hosted by me,
27:36
SPEAKER_02: yours truly,
27:36
SPEAKER_02: Maurice.
27:38
SPEAKER_02: It's in the newsletter.
27:39
SPEAKER_02: You can sign up there.
27:40
SPEAKER_02: Beautiful.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Hamburg that night.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: The next night, the 13th, I'm doing my German one-man show.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: I'll plug it on Friday.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Congratulations.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: Hi, man.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: Hey, if you guys like this podcast, please tell somebody about it.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:55
SPEAKER_02: Like and share.
27:57
Andrew,
27:57
it's been a great pleasure as always to see you on a small
28:01
screen.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: I really enjoyed looking at your double chin.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: All right, man.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: And the lights on your plywood ceiling.
28:07
SPEAKER_00: Have a good afternoon.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: You too.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: Later.
28:09
SPEAKER_00: Bye.
28:24
you