Tea at Trianon: The Battle For Chicago

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

Sunday, September 28, 2025

The Battle For Chicago

From AND Magazine:

In war, the enemy gets a vote. They make plans too. Just because you have decided on a course of action and want a particular result does not mean your opponent is required to cooperate. Witness what is happening in Chicago right now. President Trump has declared Antifa a terrorist organization and promised to destroy the nationwide networks that feed it and help it organize. In and of itself, that means nothing. Until this “crackdown” starts to produce concrete results, Antifa remains alive and well and is fighting back. Its immediate target is Chicago, where Antifa forces have encircled the Broadview ICE detention facility.
“Today, over 200 rioters blocked access to one of the gates in front of the Broadview Processing Center, and another 30 have swarmed another gate and are attempting to forcibly and illegally trespass on federal property. Rioters arrived with boxes of fireworks, N95 masks, gas masks, goggles, knee and elbow protection, and large quantities of food and water. These lawless rioters began chanting “Arrest ICE, Shoot ICE,” and one of the rioters was apprehended with a gun, and it was confiscated by law enforcement.”
Department of Homeland Security Press Release
The federal government called on Illinois Governor Pritzker to condemn the riots and call for their end. Pritzker is unlikely to help. He says that ICE is transforming the United States into Nazi Germany. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson calls ICE “secret police” who “are terrorizing our communities.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said late Friday she had ordered Justice Department agents to guard Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities and directed counterterrorism task forces to look into attacks against federal authorities. What exactly that means and what DOJ forces we are talking about remains unclear.
“At my direction, I am deploying DOJ agents to ICE facilities—and wherever ICE comes under siege—to safeguard federal agents, protect federal property, and immediately arrest all individuals engaged in any federal crime,” Bondi wrote on X. (Read more.)