Tea at Trianon: Neuroweapons

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, September 16, 2018

Neuroweapons

From The Hill:

Top defense officials were reportedly briefed Tuesday by researchers on the injuries suffered by 26 U.S. diplomats and their families in Havana, and the "neuroweapons" that could be responsible. Dr. James Giordano, chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program at Georgetown University and one of the three experts conducting the briefing, detailed the findings to CBS News. "We got a number of questions, all of them with regard to what could be going on, what's the nature of the stimulus, what was the nature of the damage, was this the only one like this, what other neuroweapons might be available," Giordano said. He added that there was some concern about the attacks constituting a new kind of warfare. "I think there was some interest in the idea of brain sciences as forming at least one vector to the new battle space that was of concern and of consideration," he said.

A spokesperson for Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford said that while the officials were "intrigued by the subject," they asked no questions. Although some agencies have reported that officials believe Russia is behind the Cuban attacks, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denied on Tuesday that any new information on these suspicions had been found.“We have seen sort of a firestorm of reports out there today assigning blame to the Russian government, according to some unnamed U.S. government officials. I would caution you all to be very skeptical of those officials’ statements right now," Nauert told reporters. (Read more.)