Tea at Trianon: Regressive

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

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

Regressive

From Fox News:

The All-American swimmer who became an outspoken advocate for women's athletics after competing against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas is supporting Sen. Rand Paul's re-election bid, and says Paul is "not afraid to fight for fairness" in a new campaign ad.

"I trained from an early age, giving it my all to achieve my dream," Riley Gaines says in the 30-second ad. "And I accomplished it, becoming a 12-time All-American swimmer at the University of Kentucky. But for girls across America that dream is being taken away by men competing in women’s sports. Sadly, few stood up for me."

"But Rand Paul is not afraid to fight for fairness for women and girls, and that’s why I’m supporting him," she says. The Kentucky Senator has been an outspoken critic of transgender athletes competing in sports corresponding with their gender identity. "I will always fight for fairness," Paul says in the ad.

Gaines competed against Lia Thomas, the transgender swimmer for the University of Pennsylvania, in her senior year at the 200-meter race at the NCAA Championships, one of the most competitive events in swimming. After tying with Thomas down to the hundredth of a second, Gaines said Thomas was given the trophy for "photo purposes" while Gaines had to wait for hers to be sent to her in the mail.

Gaines told Fox News Digital in an interview she thinks the Biden administration is "absolutely not pro-women" and is pursing "regressive" policies.

She said Paul’s support "makes you a lot more confident as someone who is in this position to speak your mind. It means a lot to have someone in his position willing to do that for female athletes, willing to do that for people’s daughters."

"No one wants their daughter in the situation that myself and other female athletes have been in," Gaines said. "So to have someone willing to fight for that, it really means a lot." (Read more.)

Terrible that young women should be forced to use the same locker room as a man.