Tea at Trianon: Maryland Senate Republican Leaders Demand Accountability

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

Monday, September 22, 2025

Maryland Senate Republican Leaders Demand Accountability

From Direct Line News:

Maryland Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey and Minority Whip Justin Ready have called out what they described as an alarming trend of mismanagement and failure under the leadership of Governor Wes Moore, following three damaging state audits that have come to light in the past two weeks.
“These are not isolated mistakes – they are colossal failures that point to a Governor who either doesn’t know what’s happening in his own agencies, or worse, doesn’t care to find out,” Hershey said in a statement. “Normally it would speak volumes that we haven’t heard from the Governor about the failure of his agencies being outlined in these audits however, we know once we do, we are assured it will be just his blaming of these findings on the prior administration. Governor Moore should spend less time focused on the politics of Washington, D.C., and more time on the inter-operations of his government agencies. Maryland families deserve a government that can perform its basic functions and protect its most vulnerable citizens.”
Ready added: “Taxpayers have a right to expect their dollars will be spent responsibly, but even more importantly, Marylanders must be able to trust that their government will safeguard children and those who cannot protect themselves. These audits show a disturbing lack of oversight and leadership at the highest levels of the Moore Administration. This is not about partisanship – this is about whether the Moore Administration is doing its job for the people of Maryland. Right now, the answer is clearly no.” (Read more.)