In Germany, the pandemic emergency has now been declared over by a new law. But instead, the government can now just use all the measures, and more, whenever they want. Not even the parliament needs to approve.

Today, a new pandemic law was passed in Germany, so naturally, we’re going to half to talk about it on The Private Citizen.

Also: Check out the forum.

Once again, I need to apologise for this episode being a day late, even though I said last time it won’t become a habit. I’m still working on getting back on track for next week. Work on my novel has once again thrown a spanner in the works.


This podcast was recorded with a live audience on my Twitch channel. Details on the time of future recordings can usually be found on my personal website. Recordings of these streams get saved to a YouTube playlist for easy watching on demand after the fact.


Another IfSG Change

The traffic-light coalition in the German parliament – which doesn’t even officially exist yet – has passed a law today to again change the Infektionsschutzgesetz (IfSG). This was needed, because the “epidemische Lage nationaler Tragweite” (see episode 47 of the show) is ending on 25 November. Instead of prolonging this, they passed a new law that now allows the state to enact coronavirus-related matters without an emergency situation of a pandemic being necessary. This change also enshrines victim blaming and discrimination against unvaccinated people into law under the guise of the terms 3G and 2G, which are basically euphemisms for immunity passports.

For now, the concrete measures last until March. But the damage to the rule of law and people’s constitutional freedoms is already done, it seems as the law passed with a good-sized majority and only modest protest from the conservatives in the opposition.

→ c.f.: Video on the topic by lawyer Christian Solmecke

Producer Feedback

Mike Small comments on episode 93:

Another thought provoking episode. Thank you.

It raises a feeling I’ve struggled with for years when hearing news of the Arab Spring protesters, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Reality Winner and other whistleblowers and dissidents.

I bring up the Arab Spring because I used to share clips with my sister at a time when her husband took part in some protests in their own country. Their president was not so scary as a Mubarak but still she was worried and angry at her husband for putting himself at risk, he being a father. I must have sounded stupidly optimistic because she pointedly expressed concern for the Egyptions' welfare as her main reaction to it all, a factor I was pretty blind to.

Later this left me with an impression of protesters and whistleblowers – while being honorable and brave – as being partly like soldiers wanting to be part of WWI, being afflicted by romanticism and the wish to be a heroic figure. It isn’t right maybe, but I also think of the scene in the movie Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) when the invisible angels sat with the man until he threw himself off the building. I don’t mean to dishonour their ideals or downplay the value of what they do. It’s just I struggle wondering who deserves to get, say, what Reality Winner gave. I sure as hell don’t. I’m no angel watching her make her sacrifice, that much is clear.

Just from the sketch you can find online one can see she is special. Apparently she had a thing for languages and learned Farsi, Dari and Pashto as she grew up in Texas. I don’t know Texas but that sounds pretty extraordinary.

So they took this person and threw her in jail for five years for some relatively harmless leak. GRU gained so much from that no doubt. But as you point out, it’s likely only the egos of the goons in these so called intelligence agencies that were harmed, these very important people. In prison she contracted COVID-19 while having health conditions adding to her risk and was sexually assaulted by a guard.

Maybe we can now all say in unison “fuck the NSA.” And fuck Woodrow Wilson and the fucking Espionage Act. Is our country so fragile that we need to do this to people? If that’s really so then to hell with that too.

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Podcast Music

The show’s theme song is Acoustic Routes by Raúl Cabezalí. It is licensed via Jamendo Music. Other music and some sound effects are licensed via Epidemic Sound. This episode’s ending song is Tell Me Something New (Tigerblood Jewel Remix) by Wellmess feat. Van Psyke, Tigerblood Jewel.