Tea at Trianon: Strait Flush

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

Monday, April 13, 2026

Strait Flush

From Tierney's Real News:

My view is that the Iranians would never publicly accept any agreement at the end of these talks because that would mean admitting defeat. My guess is they’ll go back to their hidey holes and issue propaganda spinning the talks differently and then agree quietly to whatever Trump wants.
The good news is that Iran just admitted for all the world to hear that they want nukes and JD Vance confirmed it. That, to me, was worth the trip.
Meanwhile, the Strait is open for business because of America. The U.S. military has officially begun a mine-clearing operation in the Strait of Hormuz as of Saturday, April 11, 2026, under Operation Epic Fury.
Everything else you’re hearing is fake news.
Two guided-missile destroyers, the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), have already transited the Hormuz Strait to establish a safe passage and begin the clearance process.
Their objective is to remove over a dozen Iranian naval mines (specifically Maham 3 and Maham 7 limpet mines) that were placed in the Strait by rogue IRGC small boats in the past few weeks.
The Navy is employing a layered, robot-heavy doctrine to clear the mines without risking sailors in the water:
Before robots enter, U.S. forces (including A-10 Warthogs and destroyers) continue to hunt and destroy remaining Iranian mine-laying vessels and coastal depots to prevent new mines from being deployed during the operation.
CENTCOM reports destroying over 44 mine-layers and 120+ vessels so far.
MH-60S Seahawk helicopters fly over the strait equipped with the ALMDS (Airborne Laser Mine Detection System), which uses blue-green lasers to scan the shallow water column and create 3D images of floating mines.
MK-18 Kingfish unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and AQS-20C towed sonar systems map the sea floor to find bottom mines.
New autonomous assets like the Manta Ray and Lamprey UUVs are also reportedly on standby for long-endurance scouting. (Read more.)