Utopia, you are standing in it!

August 05,2022

Denmark’s government is being criticised for its plans to eradicate disadvantaged neighbourhoods. A set of laws, controversially called the ‘ghetto package’, was introduced in 2018. It aims to transform areas with high rates of crime and unemployment. But rights groups say immigrant communities are being unfairly singled out. Denmark has been tightening its rules for immigrants and asylum seekers, including revoking the resident permits of some Syrian refugees. But are accusations of racism justified?

Presenter: Mohammed Jamjoom Guests: Muhammad Aslam – Chairman, Mjolnerparken Residents’ Association. Fatma Tounsi – Co-founder of Almen Modstand, an organisation campaigning against the ‘anti-ghetto laws’.

Bill Barr’s latest stop on his redemption tour as he seeks to justify himself. Not impressed by Peter Robinson in this episode. Some elements of self justification were nauseating.

Update: see this re Dana Milbank article in WaPo debunking Barr

Recorded May 17, 2022

William P. Barr is one of only two people to have served as attorney general of the United States under two presidents and the only one to have done it in two different centuries (under George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and under Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020). In his new book, One Damn Thing after Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General, Barr goes into great detail about the chaos, the troubles, and the triumph that occurred during the time of his service under President Trump. This wide-ranging interview covers Russiagate, the COVID outbreak, civil unrest, the impeachment, and the 2020 election…

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire occurred de facto on August 6, 1806, when the last Holy Roman Emperor, Franz II of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, abdicated his title and released all imperial states and officials from their oaths and obligations to the empire.

Since the Middle Ages, the Holy Roman Empire had been recognized by Western Europeans as the legitimate continuation of the ancient Roman Empire due to its emperors having been proclaimed as Roman emperors by the papacy. Through this Roman legacy, the Holy Roman Emperors claimed to be universal monarchs whose jurisdiction extended beyond their empire’s formal borders to all of Christian Europe and beyond.

The decline of the Holy Roman Empire was a long and drawn-out process lasting centuries. The formation of the first modern sovereign territorial states in the 16th and 17th centuries, which brought with it the idea that jurisdiction corresponded to actual…

During July we welcomed year 12 student Thomas O’Donoghue to the History of Parliament office, to carry out a work experience placement with our research and outreach teams. During his time, Thomas worked with Dr Robin Eagles, editor of our Lords 1715-1790 project, to explore an attempt in 1741 to topple Sir Robert Walpole from power.Here Thomas writes about the impact of two key speeches given in the Houseduring this year…

On 13 February 1741, Sir Robert Walpole’s enemies made their most daring assault on the man who had dominated British politics for two decades: they proposed a motion in the House of Lords calling for a “Humble Address” to King George II. This address suggested that Walpole should be removed “from His Majesty’s Presence and Councils for ever.” While this motion was ultimately handily defeated – sources agree it was by at least 40 votes – it…

Plenty start out as fans of wind and solar power and turn against it, but it’s hard to find opponents who later become supporters.

Present the facts to reasonable people, and they’ll want to know how the wind and solar scam got started in the first place and why it hasn’t been stopped in its tracks already?

On that score, there has been plenty of ‘road to Damascus conversions’ amongst environmentalists, originally hoodwinked by the allure of energy sources designed to run on nothing but sunshine and breezes, and meant to save the planet from every possible threat, not least a (naturally) changing climate.

Michael Shellenberger – who started out as a passionate eco-warrior – has since become one of the wind and solar scam’s loudest critics, and the most forceful advocate for nuclear power, there is. He has slammed intermittent renewables as worse than useless – and has gone…

Since I went to the archives for a video yesterday, let’s do the same thing today. Here’s my 2009 video about the close link between the size of government and the level of corruption.

I’m recycling this video because President Biden and his allies in Congress are poised to enact a revised version of the “Build Back Better” plan to expand the burden of government.

The legislation has all sorts of awful provisions, such as shoveling more money at a corrupt IRS, hurting jobs with higher taxes on “book income,” price controls on prescription drugs, and green-energy pork.

But today’s column will focus on process rather than policy.

To be more specific, I want to emphasize the video’s message about bigger government leading to more corruption.

And I’m going to cite an unexpected source – a left-leaning news outlet – to make my point.

In an article

The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire occurred de facto on August 6, 1806, when the last Holy Roman Emperor, Franz II of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, abdicated his title and released all imperial states and princes from their oaths and obligations to the empire.

Franz II-I, Holy Roman Emperor and Emperor of Austria

The empire was dissolved following a military defeat by the French under Napoleon at Austerlitz. Napoleon reorganized much of the Empire into the Confederation of the Rhine, a French satellite.

Emperor Franz survived the demise of the Holy Roman Empire by continuing to reign as the Emperor of Austria.

Holy Roman Empire in 1806

In 1804 Emperor Franz united his hereditary lands as Archduke of Austria and Kings of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia into The Austrian Empire. Prior to the creation of this empire the Habsburg Holy Roman Emperors ruled these lands in person union and…