Tea at Trianon: New White House ‘Restricted-view’ Press Section

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 27, 2026

New White House ‘Restricted-view’ Press Section

The Daily B.S:

The White House restored access to CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Thursday, complying with a federal judge’s order by creating a new press section inside the White House with full access to the building and no discernible view of the president.
The three outlets were issued restored hard passes and assigned seats in the newly designated Brady Briefing Room Restricted-View Annex, located directly behind the briefing-room wall.

“The court ordered access to the White House, and they have access to the White House,” a senior administration official said. “They’re in it right now.”

The annex contains three folding chairs, a water cooler and a narrow opening in the wall through which credentialed reporters can hear approximately 70 percent of each briefing.

Officials said the opening was already there. CNN asked whether it could be enlarged. The request was denied.

Under the new arrangement, reporters wishing to ask a question may write it on an index card and slide it through the opening.

Questions deemed appropriate will be read aloud by a White House staffer. Follow-ups require a second index card.

Politico asked whether reporters would be permitted to enter the actual briefing room. “The judge ordered us to restore their White House access,” an official said. “Nobody said anything about a good seat.”

MS NOW objected that reporters could not see the podium from the annex. The White House responded Thursday afternoon by installing a mirror. (Read more.)