Tea at Trianon: Hegseth Delivers Operation Epic Fury Briefing

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, March 3, 2026

Hegseth Delivers Operation Epic Fury Briefing

From Overton:

That’s when Secretary Hegseth pivoted to the issue at the heart of global concern — Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
He said President Trump drew a line in the sand: radical Islamic regimes cannot have nuclear weapons.
Hegseth was not afraid to call out President Obama by name for his disastrous deal, which nearly allowed Iran to get one.
HEGSETH: “President Trump has also been very consistent, crazy regimes like Iran, hell-bent on prophetic Islamist delusions, cannot have nuclear weapons.”
“It’s common sense. Many have said it, it takes guts to enforce it, and our president has guts.”
“Iran’s stubborn and self-evident nuclear pursuits, their targeting of global shipping lanes, and their swelling arsenal of ballistic missiles and killer drones were no longer tolerable risks.”
“Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambition.”
“Let me say that again, conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions.”
Their missiles and drones were pointed directly at U.S. bases, personnel, and allies.
“Our bases, our people, our allies, in their crosshairs. Iran had a conventional gun to their head, trying to lie their way to a nuclear bomb.”
“It almost worked, under Obama and his terrible deal, but not under this president.”
(Read more.)