Tea at Trianon: ‘Staggering’ Ineptitude, Lack Of Empathy

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, December 18, 2022

‘Staggering’ Ineptitude, Lack Of Empathy

From The Daily Wire:

The family of the second girl assaulted by a Virginia teen broke its silence Monday to say that her plight could have been avoided if not for the “ineptitude” of Loudoun County school officials who kept the skirt-wearing assailant in school even after he was charged in an earlier bathroom rape. The comments came after the indictment of Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard and former Superintendent Scott Ziegler for allegedly false statements.
The father of the first victim, Scott Smith, was thrust into the limelight after he was arrested at a June 22, 2021 school board meeting where Ziegler denied awareness of any bathroom rapes, despite having intimate knowledge of the attack on Smith’s daughter a month prior. But the second girl, who was dragged into an empty classroom, choked, and sexually assaulted in October 2021 at Broad Run High School, has remained silent publicly except for remarks at the assailant’s sentencing in court. On Monday, her family issued a searing statement through their lawyer, Patrick Regan, saying that no school board members or officials had ever reached out to their daughter to ask how she was doing or express sympathy.
“With the release of the Grand Jury report, the public now knows what we have suspected since the start of this tragic event – that what happened to her on October 6, 2021 could have and should have been prevented,” the statement read.
“Over the last 14 months since our daughter was assaulted, not one member of the school board, LCPS administration, or even our local high school leadership has reached out to check on how she is doing, lend any type of support or even apologize for what we are going through as a family. That alone speaks volumes to what we have endured throughout this ordeal.”
The 15-year-old victim showed more courage than school officials when she reported the incident to the Sheriff’s Resource Officer, the family’s statement said.
Ziegler, who was fired last week, was indicted for allegedly making a false statement at the June 22, 2021 school board meeting. Byard was indicted for alleged felony perjury. Hours after the May 2021 bathroom rape, Byard wrote an email to parents–attributed to the school’s principal–that told them there was no threat to student safety that day, and that police were on campus to deal with an unruly parent. That was a reference to Smith, who came to the school after being told of his daughter’s assault, and was unhappy with the school’s handling of it. The email offered counseling to students who were traumatized by having to see police or Smith–a marked contrast to what the second victim’s family says it was offered.
Ziegler allegedly made his false comment about bathroom rapes as part of remarks intended to dismiss parental concerns about a transgender policy the school board wanted to pass. While the school board appeared to have its own reasons for hiding the incident, neither family wanted to come forward because of the sensitive and personal nature of their children’s ordeals. Ultimately, Smith refrained from explaining his reasons for being unruly at the school board meeting even after he was splashed on the front pages of leftist media outlets who were demonizing him.
He agreed to tell his story in The Daily Wire, which broke the story of the rape coverup, only when the second assault convinced him that the system wasn’t working.
Critics said the revelation that partisan school officials were willing to jeopardize student safety and lie to parents to push an ideological transgender agenda played a role in the election of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, in November 2021. Youngkin and his attorney general, Jason Miyares, called for a special grand jury of citizens to investigate the school system’s conduct, which unsealed the indictments Monday. (Read more.)