Tea at Trianon: Democrats Defund DHS

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

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Democrats Defund DHS

From AMAC:

Democrats seem determined to undermine homeland security – now defunding DHS, which includes a wide swath of federal law enforcement. The potential for national disruption is high. Democrats target ICE enforcement of administrative warrants and deportation orders, but most Americans want rule of law.

In a credible February poll, 73 percent of Americans think entering the US illegally is “breaking the law,” 61 percent support “deporting” illegal aliens – 95 percent of Republicans, 64 percent of swing voters – and 58 percent reject Democrat calls to “defund ICE,” with 54 percent expressly supporting ICE.

In states like Maine, a Democrat-dominated “sanctuary” state, citizens support ICE, 84 percent in one poll supporting ICE across the state. Yet Democrats persist.

Democrats are now blocking all DHS funding – including for ICE, Customs and Border Patrol, Transportation Security Administration, US Secret Service, US Coast Guard, FEMA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, National Infrastructure Protection Center, National Infrastructure Advisory Council – which advises the president on national cybersecurity threats.

While “essential personnel” continue to work unpaid, Democrats have adopted a lose-lose posture. They seem content to allow threats to proliferate as and if manning falls, to attack federal law enforcement – ICE – which has public support.

As of Monday, February 16, the Associated Press is reporting neither congressional Democrats nor the White House see “signs of compromise … in their battle” over ICE, which has now triggered another indefinite “partial government shutdown.” (Read more.)