Tea at Trianon: Schumer’s Shutdown Gamble:Van Hollen & Alsobrooks Follow Him Off the Cliff

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

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Schumer’s Shutdown Gamble:Van Hollen & Alsobrooks Follow Him Off the Cliff

From Direct Line News:

Politics is about choices. And right now, Democrats are making the worst possible one. They’re marching straight into a shutdown showdown that doesn’t merely risk short-term political pain but threatens to inflict permanent structural losses on the government programs they claim to cherish. At the front of this parade is Chuck Schumer—dragged leftward by activists who threaten him with a primary. And right behind him, dutifully following in lockstep, are Maryland’s own Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks.
The New Weapon: Shutdown as a Reset
This is not your typical government shutdown. The White House has revealed a far sharper tool. A memo from Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, instructs federal agencies that if the government closes, they are not to merely furlough workers but to prepare permanent layoffs for employees in discretionary programs that don’t align with administration priorities (PBS NewsHour).
Shutdowns used to mean inconvenience—workers sent home, then brought back when funding resumed. Not this time. This strategy transforms the shutdown into a restructuring event, providing an opportunity to permanently reduce the federal workforce. The administration already expects roughly 300,000 fewer federal employees this year (Reuters). A shutdown accelerates that mission. (Read more.)