Tea at Trianon: Biden in the Bunker

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

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Biden in the Bunker

From The Post-liberal Order:

The second destructive action that Biden undertook was the prophylactic pardoning of his son, Hunter Biden, at the beginning of December. Superficially we might be able to attribute some positive motive to this decision by the president. Although by all accounts a vile individual, Hunter is still Joe Biden’s son, and the president may feel a fatherly need to protect him. But any understanding of the issues surrounding Hunter Biden soon puts this to rest. It appears that Hunter was the president’s own “bag man” in his potentially corrupt dealings with the Ukrainians. That is, Hunter was ultimately engaged in criminal acts at the behest of his father. The pardon then cannot be read as a modern-dayversion of the prodigal son. Rather it is as much about protecting Joe Biden himself as it is about protecting Hunter. The Biden family is not a normal family with bonds forged exclusively out of love, but rather a business enterprise where kinship relations are infused with monetary significance. (Read more.)