Tea at Trianon: Free Derek Chauvin!

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, August 23, 2026

Free Derek Chauvin!

From Tierney's Real News:

Derek Chauvin’s attorney, Gregory Joseph, has filed a new motion seeking the dismissal of Chauvin’s state convictions, alleging that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office engaged in “illegal” and “fraudulent” conduct.
Joseph argues that a grand jury was never convened to review or indict Chauvin on the enhanced murder charges. Under Minnesota law, severe charges like first-degree murder typically require a grand jury indictment, though lower-level murder charges (like the second-degree unintentional murder Chauvin was convicted of) are frequently initiated via a prosecutor’s criminal complaint.
Joseph contends that the initial, lesser charges brought by Hennepin County were bypassed due to immense political and public pressure. He claims Governor Walz overstepped by transferring the case to AG Keith Ellison, who subsequently e-filed a second, “unfounded” complaint that included the elevated murder counts to satisfy public demand rather than following appropriate statutory boundaries.
“Because Hennepin County’s unlawful charges against Mr. Chauvin were not severe enough for the mob, Walz referred the case to Keith Ellison, who signed and e-filed a second unfounded complaint against Derek Chauvin that included the murder charge.”
Chauvin is currently serving a 22.5-year state sentence concurrently with a 21-year federal sentence for allegedly violating Floyd’s civil rights, with a projected release date in 2037. State prosecutors have not yet filed a formal response to these specific grand jury allegations. (Read more.)