Tea at Trianon: Turn in the Fraud, Collect the Check

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, October 25, 2026

Turn in the Fraud, Collect the Check

From Tierney's Real News:

Today President Trump and Vice President JD Vance launched a new program called WHIP, the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program.
Here’s how it works. The Department of Justice is setting aside $25 million. If you send in a tip at fraud.gov and it leads to a conviction or a major enforcement action, you can get up to $30,000. The goal is simple: get ordinary people to report fraud in federal programs. Vance has led the administration’s fraud task force since March.
Trump also talked about a bigger idea. If a tipster helps recover a huge amount, like $1 billion or $10 billion, they could get a 1 percent “commission” cut, as long as they can prove the tip came from them. He said citizen journalists could qualify too.
Trump handed a $10,000 check to citizen journalist Nick Shirley for his work on Somali fraud. In 2025, Shirley made videos about Minnesota childcare centers that were getting federal money. His work led to investigations and arrests. Trump called the fraud in Minnesota a “horrible plague” in a “once beautiful state” and criticized Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Peggy Flanagan and Ilhan Omar. I’ve been reporting on Somali election and immigration and welfare fraud in Minnesota since 2018 - I wish I could collect for that! I’d be a multi-millionaire! (Read more.)