Tea at Trianon: Web of Lies

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

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Web of Lies

From The New York Post:

A fresh start and a chance to build a better life was all the Doggett family was looking for when they moved to Wenatchee, Washington. Instead, they became entangled in a monstrous child abuse scandal that pinned neighbor against neighbor in the mid-’90s. With 43 parents arrested on heinous molestation charges that resulted in dozens of children being forced into the foster care system, this series of incredible real-life events quickly became known as the Wenatchee Witch Hunt. It is the subject of Fox Nation’s newest docuseries: In The Valley of Sin.

This six-part series examines how police uncovered a horrifying child sex ring known among its members as ‘“The Circle.” Local authorities alleged that dozens of children were raped in the bedrooms of their parents, in the homes of their neighbors and at ritualized orgies on the altar of a church. In The Valley of Sin follows several families involved in these allegations along with how the truth finally came to light — that there was no sex ring after all.

The series dives into the lives of several key characters in the case, including Pentecostal pastor Roby Roberson, who was among the first to recognize the innocence in the accused. But as the series continues, and Roby sets out to fight for the innocent, he and his wife find themselves in the center of this controversy. (Read more.)