Tea at Trianon: Scholar Vindicated

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

Friday, September 12, 2025

Scholar Vindicated

From The College Fix:

A sociologist who conducted a comprehensive study showing the harms to children of growing up in a household with gay parents has once again been vindicated by a statistical test used by Cornell University experts.

The results, published in a statistics textbook by Cornell Professors Cristobal Young and Erin Cumberworth, uses something called “multiverse analysis” to test how “robust” a study is. While many other studies failed the test, one in particular passed.

University of Texas-Austin Professor Mark Regnerus first generated controversy in 2012 when he published a study showing “children whose parents had a same-sex relationship experienced more negative adult outcomes compared with children from intact biological families,” according to a summary by the Heritage Foundation.

The study came at an inopportune time for the LGB lobby, as it was trying to convince federal courts to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.

The results generated significant controversy in the academic community, which really does not believe in free and open debate but instead only wants research published when it supports their pre-existing viewpoints. Following a complaint, the University of Texas investigated Regnerus (pictured), based on allegations merely being a Catholic might have tainted his research. The university cleared him, as detailed by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

The latest victory came earlier this year when the Cornell textbook came out and included the Regnerus study. The scholars initially expected their test to confirm the arguments of Regnerus’ critics.

Instead, sociologist Paul Sullins writes, “not one of the two million significant alternatives resulted in positive outcomes for LGBT-parented children.” (Read more.)