Tea at Trianon: The Laughing Judge

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

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

The Laughing Judge

From The Federalist:

The lawsuit piles on to the cascade of litigation handed down to the former president during his third run for the White House. Beyond civil fraud charges wherein conviction would expel him from doing business in New York, Democrats are seeking jail time with 91 counts across federal and local indictments. The fraud charges, on their own, represent how Democrats have turned to lawfare to strip political opponents of livelihoods.

Last week, 74-year-old Justice Arthur F. Engoron of the New York Supreme Court 1st Judicial District in Manhattan found the Republican presidential frontrunner liable for illegally inflating assets in a summary judgment. In his ruling, Justice Engoron claimed the former president’s finances “clearly contain fraudulent valuations.” One such valuation, Engoron concluded was inflated, was the Trump palace at Mar-a-Lago, the only property at Palm Beach to face the waterfront on both the ocean and the waterway. While Trump valued the property between $426 million and $612 million, the judge in New York claimed the estate was only worth between $18 and $28 million.

The New York Post outlined how the breathtaking devaluation stunned Palm Beach real estate insiders who claim the property is worth far more than the Manhattan judge’s estimate.

“One prominent Palm Beach real estate broker, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Post, ‘It’s utterly delusional to think that property is only worth $18 million,'” the paper reported. “If that property were on the market today, I would list it at around $300 million, minimum … at least. He also has the separate golf course minutes away,” the broker added.

Engoron relied on an appraisal from the Palm Beach County Assessor to make his claim. Much smaller properties in Palm Beach, however, have sold for far more than the local assessor’s evaluation. Rush Limbaugh’s former residence, for example, which rests on less than 3 acres, sold for $155 million despite being appraised at $51 million. Trump’s property at Mar-a-Lago spans 20 acres of prime real estate. (Read more.)