Princesse de Lamballe in Films

 

  From Frock Flicks:

French Queen Marie-Antoinette had two key ladies-in-waitings who were favorites, and skimming the Marie-Antoinette (1975) miniseries had me wondering how much they’ve been on screen (result: not enough!). The first was Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe (1749-92). 

The Princesse de Lamballe grew up in Turin, now northern Italy but then part of Savoy. She married Louis Alexandre de Bourbon-Penthièvre, a grandson of Louis XIV‘s legitimised son (and thus great-grandson of Louis). She then moved to Versailles, where after only a year, her husband died. She was left a rich widow and became a fixture at the court.

When Marie-Antoinette married the dauphin, the Princesse de Lamballe was of the correct rank — and was very kind and welcoming — and the two became very good friends. Eventually Marie-Antoinette named Lamballe the Superintendent of the Queen’s Household, an official government post, making her the highest ranked lady-in-waiting. Lamballe was an introvert and eventually was displaced by the Duchesse de Polignac as the first in the queen’s favor; the two ladies never got along. (Read more.)

Share

What Happened in DC?

 From Tierney's Real News:

This is the latest timeline I could find of the DC crash. The Blackhawk helicopter is called a PAT-25 and the American airlines plane is called a AA5342 CRJ (Canadian Regional Jet.)

PAT-25 is the designation for a Priority Air Transport flight operated by the Department of the Army. Priority Air Transport (PAT) is a United States Army (USAPAT) program that provides executive air transportation for senior military leaders and government officials.

On January 29, 2025, the PAT-25 Blackhawk helicopter flew into the American Airlines CRJ AA5342 aircraft over the Potomac River near Reagan National Airport.

Here is the most accurate view of the collision:

https://x.com/PriscillaMirage/status/1885337679161942143

Here is a step-by-step timeline of the DC plane crash based on available information. I will add more detail as it comes available.

January 29, 2025:

• 6:18 p.m. EST: American Airlines Flight 5342 departs from Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport (ITC) in Kansas, heading towards Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).

• 8:15 PM: The aircraft left 37,000 feet for an initial descent.

• 8:39:10 PM: Potomac Approach cleared the airplane crew for the Mount Vernon visual runway one approach.

• 8:43:06 PM: The airplane crew made initial contact with the DCA tower. The tower controller asked if the crew could switch to runway 33.

• 8:45:27 PM: The autopilot was disconnected.

• 8:46 p.m. EST: Air traffic controllers instructed Flight 5342 to land on Runway 33, and the pilots acknowledged the instruction.

• 8:46:01 PM: A radio transmission from the tower was audible, informing PAT-25 (the Black Hawk) that traffic just south of the Wilson Bridge was a CRJ at 1,200 feet circling to runway 33.

• 8:46:29 PM: The airplane crew received a 1,000-foot automated callout.

• 8:46:47 PM: DCA Tower cleared other jet traffic on runway 1 for departure with no delay.

• 8:47 p.m. EST:

  • ATC: "PAT-25, do you have the CRJ in sight?"

    • This query from ATC was to confirm whether the helicopter pilot could see the Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, known as American Airlines Flight 5342, which was on approach to land.

  • ATC: "PAT-25, pass behind the CRJ."

    • Here, the controller instructed the helicopter to maneuver to pass behind the jet, indicating an effort to manage the separation between the two aircraft.

  • Text from helicopter Pilot: "PAT-25 has aircraft in sight, request visual separation."

    • The helicopter pilot confirmed that they had visual contact with the CRJ700 and requested to maintain visual separation, implying they would manage their own distance and altitude based on seeing the jet. In other words, the text from helicopter said they had it all under control. Right. Earlier, the Blackhawk pilot was advised to return to base 3 times, but didn't.

• One second later, the airplane crew received an automated traffic advisory stating "traffic traffic."

• 8:47:42 PM: A radio transmission from the tower was audible, directing PAT-25 to pass behind the CRJ. No response from PAT-25.

• 8:47:58 PM: The airplane crew had a verbal reaction, and FDR data showed the airplane beginning to increase its pitch.

• 8:47:59 PM: Sounds of impact were audible, followed by the end of the recording.

• 8:48 p.m. EST: The control tower sounds an alarm to alert responders to the crash. The last transmission from both the jet and the helicopter occurs around this time.

• 8:51 p.m. EST: Departures to DCA are grounded due to the aircraft emergency.

• 8:53 p.m. EST: Washington Metro police receive calls about the crash.

• 8:58 p.m. EST: First responders, including DC Fire and EMS, the Metropolitan Police Department, and multiple federal agencies, arrive at the scene to begin coordinating search and rescue efforts.

• 9:30 p.m. EST: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and law enforcement confirm the aircraft collision and crash.

• 10:19 p.m. EST: Emergency responders coordinate recovery efforts in the Potomac River.

• The FBI announced that there was no indication of terrorism in the DC plane-helicopter collision near Reagan National Airport on January 29, 2025. This was reported by various news outlets and posts on X, with the earliest mention from the FBI's Washington Field Office to NBC News happening on the night of the crash.

• 10:30 p.m. EST: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators arrive on the scene.

• 11:07 p.m. EST: American Airlines confirms 60 passengers and four crew members were on the aircraft, with three soldiers aboard the Army helicopter involved in the collision.

• January 30 evening: NTSB investigators announce the recovery of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the submerged jet, which were taken for analysis.

(Read more.)

Share

Cannabis Use Reduces Brain Activity in Key Memory Regions

 From Neuroscience:

A study of over 1,000 young adults reveals that both recent and heavy lifetime cannabis use reduce brain activity in regions critical for working memory, including the prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. This reduced activity correlates with poorer performance on memory tasks like following instructions or solving problems.

While other cognitive areas showed minimal impact, the findings emphasize the potential risks of cannabis on decision-making, memory, and attention. Researchers highlight the need for more long-term studies to explore the effects of cannabis on brain function across different age groups and usage patterns. (Read more.)

Share

Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg

 Queen Victoria's granddaughter and Queen of Spain. From Tatler:

She spent her childhood flitting between the royal residences at Balmoral, Windsor Castle, and Osborne House. Nicknamed ‘The Jubilee Baby’ because her birth coincided with the 50th year of Queen Victoria’s reign, Victoria Eugenie was a firm fixture in royal life, serving as a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousins, the future King George V and the Duchess of York, in 1893. But it was her relationship with her grandmother that defined Ena’s upbringing. Queen Victoria adored her, with Ena later writing that the monarch was ‘like a second mother to us … very kind but very strict, with old fashioned ideas of how children must be brought up.’ For her own part, the Queen called her namesake ‘the little treasure’, writing: ‘I love these darling children so, almost as much as their own parent.’ She taught Ena some of life’s most important lessons. For one: a princess never ‘goes to bed’, she simply ‘retires’.

But it was at Buckingham Palace that the next chapter in Victoria Eugenie’s life would unfold. King Alfonso XIII of Spain was on an official visit to meet King Edward VII, and the palace was holding a banquet in his honour. The King was one of Europe’s most eligible bachelors, with much of the court assuming that he would marry Victoria Eugenie’s cousin, Princess Patricia of Connaught. She, evidently, was not particularly interested, as during the state dinner King Alfonso asked his hosts the name of the girl with the almost white hair. Despite sitting between Queen Alexandra and Princess Helena, the King of Spain had been taken by Victoria Eugenie – and her platinum blonde tresses. (Read more.)

Share

The Senate’s Confirmation Process Is a National Disgrace

 From Amuse on X:

The Constitution grants the Senate the power of “advise and consent” to ensure that presidential appointments meet a basic standard of competency and ethical fitness. The Founders, ever wary of unchecked executive power, designed this process as a check against cronyism. They did not, however, intend for the Senate to function as an obstructionist body that rejects qualified nominees solely based on partisan animus.

In the early days of the Republic, confirmation hearings were private affairs. Senators genuinely sought to understand a nominee’s character, asking probing but respectful questions. The process was swift—George Washington’s nominees were often confirmed in a single day. Even controversial picks, like John Marshall for Chief Justice in 1801, were debated earnestly rather than subjected to personal destruction.

That began to change in the late 19th century, when the Senate grew more partisan. By the mid-20th century, confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justices became political battlegrounds, with ideology taking precedence over qualification. The modern era, beginning with the destruction of Robert Bork in 1987, has cemented a new standard: If the opposing party controls the Senate, expect a brutal and disingenuous inquisition.

Tulsi Gabbard’s hearing was a textbook example of how the Senate has abandoned its duty. A former Democratic congresswoman who became a political independent, Gabbard is no stranger to standing up to her former party’s orthodoxy. But her apostasy was precisely what made her a target.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse demanded that she answer for statements she never made, cutting her off whenever she attempted to clarify. Senator Richard Blumenthal repeated falsehoods about her past remarks, only to ignore her when she offered a direct rebuttal. Senator Mazie Hirono, in her usual performative outrage, lectured her on supposed disqualifications that she conveniently ignored when Democratic presidents nominated radical leftist activists to key intelligence positions.

What was clear from the start was that the decision had already been made. These senators were not there to advise. They were there to obstruct. The hearing was a performance for the cameras, not an attempt to assess whether Gabbard was fit to serve as the nation’s top intelligence official. (Read more.)

Share

On Display at Palazzo Barberini

From Wanted in Rome:

An exhibition hailed as among the most important and ambitious showcases ever of Caravaggio's work will be held in Rome to coincide with the Vatican's Jubilee Year. Organisers say the exhibition at Palazzo Barberini will comprise an "exceptional number" of paintings by the Baroque master whose full name was Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. The exhibited works will include loans from prestigious national and international collections as well as two rediscovered masterpieces o n display for the first time together and some new discoveries. Organised especially for the 2025 Jubilee Year, the exhibition illustrates how Caravaggio (1571-1610) shaped the artistic, religious and social landscape of his era. (Read more.)

Share

Princess Charlene at Home

 From Tatler:

But the transition to life in this glittering enclave was challenging, painful and solitary. 'The people I mixed with in Monaco didn't relate to my South African mentality or humour,' she says. Then there was the inevitable language barrier - Charlene could not speak French. (She has, however, made a valiant effort to learn the language and is gaining fluency.)

It was also difficult for a sporty, informal South African girl to form genuine friendships in a highly protected, frosty community that expected Albert to choose one of its own as his consort. 'Of course I've been subject to jealousy, but that comes with the territory,' she says. 'Although I have met some wonderful people since I've been living in Monaco, I regard them all as acquaintances. I only have two people I consider friends here. Above all, my true friends are my family. My mother and two brothers are the only friends I need and the only people I trust. I'm very grateful to have them.' (Read more.)

Share

The Skies Aren’t Safe

 The following article originally appeared in July, with no connection to the recent disaster, which is still being investigated. But it seems the air traffic controller was dealing with helicopters and instructing planes, doing tasks usually meant for two. From Amuse on X:

For decades, the FAA utilized the Collegiate Training Initiative (CTI) program, an elite pipeline producing highly trained candidates with extensive coursework and aptitude testing. The selection process was rigorous, with applicants required to pass the Air Traffic Selection and Training (AT-SAT) exam—a test scientifically designed to measure an individual’s ability to excel in high-pressure, precision-demanding environments.

In 2014, however, the FAA upended this system. The AT-SAT was sidelined, and a biographical questionnaire replaced it. The goal was explicit: to increase demographic representation at the expense of skill. Over 3,000 highly qualified CTI graduates, many of whom had already demonstrated superior aptitude, were summarily dismissed in favor of candidates who better aligned with racial and gender quotas. It was an affront to meritocracy, and in a job where a momentary lapse could mean catastrophe, the implications were dire.

Since these changes, reports of runway incursions, aborted takeoffs, and near-midair collisions have risen at an alarming rate. The year 2024 saw a record-breaking 1,100 runway near-miss incidents, many attributed to controller errors. A few of the most harrowing examples include:

• October 2024: A Delta Air Lines Airbus A350 collided with an Endeavor Air CRJ-900 at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, resulting in millions in damages and a full-scale NTSB investigation.

• September 2024: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 was forced to abort takeoff in Nashville to avoid colliding with a Southwest 737 that was mistakenly cleared to cross the active runway.

• December 2024: A Delta jet at LAX nearly struck a private aircraft due to a controller’s miscommunication, narrowly avoiding a tragic disaster.

These incidents are not just statistical outliers. They represent a troubling trend: a growing cohort of underqualified controllers, fast-tracked into roles they are ill-equipped to handle, is increasingly making costly, dangerous errors. (Read more.)

 

From Fox News:

A New York Times report saying the air control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has been understaffed for years came amid a lawsuit claiming the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) discriminated against air traffic controller applicants based on their race.

The Times report said the tower at the airport was nearly a third below targeted staff levels, with 19 fully certified controllers as of September 2023, citing the most recent Air Traffic Controller Workforce Plan, an annual report to Congress that contains target and actual staffing levels.

The targets set by the F.A.A. and the controllers union call for 30.

The lawsuit represents nearly 1,000 individuals who went to school to become air traffic controllers . They passed the normal test to obtain the position right before the Obama administration said the class was too white and threw out the tests with the applicants, the suit alleges.

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who serves as co-counsel for Mountain States Legal Foundation, based in Colorado, is leading efforts for a lawsuit.

"When you travel and have a delay, it’s because there aren’t enough of these people," Laxalt told the Wall Street Journal last year. "When you see these near incidents in air traffic control, it’s because there aren’t enough people. There are only 14,000 air traffic controllers. A thousand were scrapped a decade ago, and the bottom line is they’ve never made up losing all of this pipeline." (Read more.)

From Coffee and Covid:

In the background of these instantaneous errors lies a fractured FAA having a slow-motion existential crisis. A class-action lawsuit continues grinding away in discovery, exposing the agency’s tragic 2014 decision to scrap merit-based testing when hiring air traffic controllers. Instead the FAA relied on a “biographical statement” that scored, you guessed it, totally irrelevant factors like skin color and ethnic background.

Reams of headlines over the last couple years have reported growing numbers of close calls at airports and an expanding crisis over staffing levels — a manpower crisis that festered even while the agency essentially refused to hire better-qualified white applicants, holding those jobs open for less-qualified minority applicants.

As bad as that sounds, it gets worse. The FAA’s critical staffing issues started —I am not making this up— with its mass layoffs in 2021 of controllers who refused to take the jabs. The agency has never recovered from that horrible mistake. It remains currently 3,000 controllers under normal staffing levels.

Thus, it is unsurprising that in its last survey in 2023, Pete Buttigieg’s DOT reported that 77% of critical air traffic control facilities were understaffed. The truth is probably closer to all of them.

In the same year, the New York Times reported that near-misses on airport runways (“incursions”) had climbed to an all-time high, and that overworked, burnt-out air traffic controllers were falling asleep on the job and getting drunk at work. To put a number on it, the FAA self-reported 1,750 runway incursions for each of the past three years. By comparison, in 2014, the year the FAA changed its testing standards, the agency reported only 1,278 incursions....

✈️ Yesterday evening, President Trump signed a brand-new executive order titled, “Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety.” The brief order identified some of the same problems I mentioned earlier and ordered the terrific new Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and the incoming FAA Administrator to review all Biden-era decisions and orders — and to promptly fire anyone below minimum, merit-based standards. (Read more.)

Meanwhile, at the Whitehouse...From The Vigilant Fox:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (27) just delivered her second press briefing. After winning over MAGA with her impressive debut, she didn’t disappoint—giving the media yet another dose of reality.

The press briefing started out with Leavitt announcing that, yes, President Trump will be imposing big tariffs, starting tomorrow, for “the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans.”

This includes:

• 25% tariffs on Mexico

• 25% tariffs on Canada

• 10% tariffs on China

“These are promises made and promises kept by the president,” Leavitt said.

(Read more.)

Share

America’s Earliest Martyrs for Marriage to be Beatified

 From First Things:

In the late sixteenth century, indigenous Guale Indians murdered five Franciscan friars in missions along the Georgia coast. It’s fair to call them the first martyrs for marriage on American soil, yet very few Catholics have ever heard of them. That changed yesterday morning, when the Vatican announced approval of the decree of martyrdom. Henceforth, they are to be called “Venerables.” The rite of beatification will be celebrated by Bishop Stephen Parkes in the Diocese of Savannah, with details to be announced. These martyrs died defending the sanctity of marriage, which makes their stories even more prescient for our own time.

Centuries before the familiar adobe missions formed along California’s coast, Catholic missionaries sailed to La Florida, a Spanish colony that included present-day Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina. Beginning in 1595, Franciscan friars were stationed in the Guale people’s territory, an area of marshland between the Ogeechee and Altamaha Rivers.

Friar Pedro de Corpa, known for his fluency in the local language, was assigned to Guale headquarters in Tolomato, near present-day Darien, Georgia. Two friars journeyed to a barrier island called St. Catherines—Friar Miguel de Añon, known for his captivating singing voice, and Friar Antonio de Badajoz, a lay brother. Friar Blas Rodríguez headed up the mission in Tupiqui, and Friar Francisco de Veráscola, a young athletic friar from a prominent Spanish family, built a primitive chapel on Asao.

For nearly three years, priests and natives lived in harmony. Archaeology professor John Worth likens the Franciscans to Peace Corps volunteers rather than conquerors. Indeed, archeological evidence unearthed by anthropologist David Hurst Thomas, who led three decades of research on St. Catherines for the American Museum of Natural History, paints a rich, nuanced portrait of symbiosis. Friars learned the Guale language, and the Guale studied Spanish. The Guale engaged in rigorous trade, exporting maize for international luxury goods. Priests embraced local dietary preferences. Indeed, they may have adapted their lives more to Guale traditions than the other way around. Guale culture and Christian practices intermingled. Guale masks adorned the mission, and Guale council houses bore a cross.

But the friars drew the line at compromising the doctrines of the Catholic faith, specifically teachings on marriage and monogamy. This led to an uprising known as “Juanillo’s Revolt” in September 1597. According to The Martyrs of Florida, the 1619 primary account adopted by most scholars, Juanillo, a baptized convert and heir apparent to the Guale chief, approached Fr. Corpa for permission to take a second wife. In Guale culture, wives held most of the wealth, thereby influencing succession. Angry at the friar’s refusal, Juanillo ordered his recruits to strike Fr. Corpa with a wooden club called a macana and display his head on a stake. Fr. Añon and Badajoz refused to abandon their mission even as the news of their brother’s death spread. A few days later, after celebrating Mass and praying for four hours, they too were clubbed to death. The war party proceeded to Tupiqui where they murdered Fr. Rodríguez after he said Mass. Fr. Veráscola, last to die, was killed as he exited his canoe upon returning from St. Augustine with supplies.  (Read more.)

Share