is there an end to the shutdown in the US today? The Democrats want to break the budget freeze that has been in place for over 30 days, at least until 8 February. Whether President Donald Trump and the Republicans get involved in it, is uncertain, because money for Trump's wall on the border with Mexico, the proposal does not exist.

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Issue 4/2019

Mogelpackung

Because of pioneers: Germany's recycling system is garbage

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Trump is under pressure to finally find a solution. The shutdown is increasingly becoming a security issue because of lack of airport staff and the FBI's money to pay for informants. In addition, Trump's popularity ratings are beginning to crumble.

On the other hand, the president has pushed the dispute to extremes so that he can hardly afford to give in again. What politics looks like without the art of compromise can be studied well in the USA. It is not a nice sight.

Reason in square brackets

DPA

At the moment, one of the most sensitive questions of German politics is how quickly the phase-out of lignite-based power generation succeeds. Everyone in the government is - in theory - clear that the already tilting climate targets can only be achieved if in the next few years several kilns go off the grid. Practically, however, there are elections this year in Brandenburg, where thousands of jobs still depend on the open pit.

On Friday, the coal commission of the government to meet again, and now there is for the first time a paper on which politicians and experts can bow. My colleagues Stefan Schultz and Gerard Traufetter have already taken a look in advance. It says that in 2030, the power plants will only be allowed to emit 84 to 92 million tonnes of CO2. If that were implemented, it would be a big step forward for climate protection; in 2016, 256 million tons were hunted through the chimneys. However, the numbers are still in square brackets, which means in the language of politics as much as: reasonable, but unfortunately not yet consensus.

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Pitfalls of identity politics

Diversity issues in companies and universities are power issues, it is about the distribution of posts and resources. The Berlin sociologists Jürgen Gerhards and Tim Sawert have recently published a remarkable essay in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". They come to the conclusion that - at least for students - the equality of women at German universities is reached, 48.5 percent are female. On the other hand, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are extremely disadvantaged. "The best opportunities to gain access to a university are people from an academic home who are both female and bisexual," write Gerhards and Sawert. The least chance would be heterosexual men with a migrant background, especially if the parents could not show a degree.

The verdict of the two sociologists is as sober as impressive: The university debate on discrimination had "largely decoupled from the existing inequalities".

Winners of the day ...

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... is Sigmar Gabriel . If you mean well with the former foreign minister, you can say that he unites the whole contradiction of the SPD in his person. However, his Goslar dialectics ultimately drove not only the party, but also Andrea Nahles insane, because she never got to know when standing up, whether it still applies what Gabriel had said the previous evening. In this respect, it was logical that once she put Gabriel down, when she assumed the SPD chairmanship in the spring of 2018.

On the other hand, Gabriel can not be accused of having lost interest in his party. He does not suffer from Morbus Merz, Gabriel is not too bad for any New Year's reception. However, it always raises the question of whether he can serve anyone else but himself. That many comrades discuss again whether Nahles is the right boss, Gabriel should not have escaped.

The latest news from the night

  • Power struggle in Venezuela: EU calls for new elections - and supports parliament
  • Quarrel with Nancy Pelosi: US President will hold speech on the state of the nation only after Shutdown
  • Explanation video for the name dispute over northern Macedonia: "betrayal of Greek culture and history"
  • Problems in Europe and China: Ford reports quarterly loss of 116 million dollars
  • Security staff at airports: Ver.di announces agreement in the wage dispute
  • Classroom in NRW: Teenagers beat up 17-year-olds with truncheons
  • Curious sea creatures: Researchers find 100 million years old hagfish

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I wish you a nice start to the day.

Your René Pfister