Tea at Trianon: Nancy Mace's Speech

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, February 13, 2025

Nancy Mace's Speech

Thanks to Congresswoman Mace for taking a stand against the abuse of women and girls. From the New York Post:

Rep. Nancy Mace accused her ex-fiancé and three business partners of committing “depraved” sexual crimes against herself and a dozen other women — including underage girls — in explosive remarks in the House of Representatives on Monday.

The South Carolina Republican pol said she came forward with the shocking allegations of rape, voyeurism and other sexual abuse after uncovering a trove of more than 10,000 videos and other photographic evidence contained on the phone of her former husband-to-be Patrick Bryant.

“I accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable — we are talking about rape, nonconsensual photos, nonconsensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated exploitation of women and girls in my district,” Mace said in her House floor speech.
“Today you will hear about the depraved men behind these gutless, evil acts,” she added. “These men didn’t just harm their victims; they recorded their depravity as if it were a badge of honor." (Read more.)