333 years ago today, Three women — Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba — were brought before town magistrates and interrogated for several days regarding some wild accusations from teenage girls who accused them of practicing witchcraft, thus beginning the Salem Witch Trials.
There are very few feelings I miss like I miss the feeling that something like the Salem Witch Trials could never happen again, on account of how we are so very evolved now. Because here, in the future, we still have people out here claiming that the Salem witches were actually guilty.
And literally running anti-witchcraft campaigns.
Anyway, your present for this morning is not a video, but THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PAINTING IN ALL THE WORLD, which I stumbled upon whilst caught up in something of a witch trial internet hole.
OK, so I don’t know which (because they all look alike), but one of those ladies is Catherine Charlotte De la Gardie, an 18th century Swedish Countess who is now my idol. The other ladies are her fellow “hovfröken” (maids-of-honor, which was like a step down from being a lady-in-waiting) to Crown Princess Lovisa Ulrika.
Via Atlas Obscura:
The painting was commissioned by Count Karl Tessin, who collected and commissioned art. The painting depicts six hens (single ladies) with a rooster in the background, which was meant to be Tessin himself. This painting was a private one, intended to be seen only by a narrow circle of people. Today the closest comparison might be pornography collection, but less erotic. Only slightly so however, as Tessin had a reputation as a peeping tom who allegedly got inspired after seeing the court ladies "in a sufficiently natural state, while they were to dress."
Sexy, sexy chicken ladies.
But back to Countess Catherine Charlotte De la Gardie! Like many Countesses, she was something of a trendsetter. The trend she started? The smallpox vaccine! After she became the second woman in the Swedish aristocracy to vaccinate her kids, De la Gardie set out on a campaign to get everyone, aristocrats and commoners alike, to vaccinate their kids, and it became the hip thing to do.
Our girl also was responsible for saving the lives of 13 women and 5 men by putting a stop to the very last witch trial in Sweden. Like, this one kind of rural area tried having a witch trial about 100 years after everybody else in Sweden stopped doing witch trials — and when De la Gardie got wind of that whilst traveling throughout the countryside, she was horrified and went back to alert the proper authorities. The Swedish parliament investigated and set all of the accused free and sent the Governor who had led the whole thing to prison. De la Gardie also paid for their legal help and got them some monetary compensation, as all the torture they were put through made it impossible for them to work.
Love her! Also love her sister-in-law, Eva Ekeblad, the scientist/salon hostess who helped seriously curb famine in Sweden and beyond and got everyone wasted by figuring out that you could make both flour and alcohol with potatoes. Her discovery led her to become the first woman admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Have you been struck with a sudden urge to shower us with money and jewels? If so, we are on Substack now so you can just go ahead and click subscribe! Click click click!!
Or if you’d just like to donate just once …
You can also join our Patreon, or buy our merch. Or we’re now partnered with Martie, where you can buy snacks!
You can even send us paper checks to:
Wonkette
PO Box 38273
Detroit MI 48238
Talk amongst yourselves!
𝗔𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗽, 𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝗰𝗼𝘁𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗨.𝗦.
When the German violinist Christian Tetzlaff returned home to Berlin after a recent performance in Chicago, he was distraught. The concert had gone well, but he was increasingly disturbed by political developments in the United States: President Trump’s embrace of Russia, the dizzying cuts to the federal work force and changes in policies affecting transgender Americans.
“I felt like a child watching a horror film,” he said in an interview.
On Friday, Mr. Tetzlaff, 58, a renowned violinist who frequently performs in the United States, said that he was canceling an eight-city tour of the country with his quartet this spring — including a stop at Carnegie Hall — and that he was unlikely to perform again in America unless the government reversed course.
“There seems to be a quietness or denial about what’s going on,” he said. “I feel utter anger. I cannot go on with this feeling inside. I cannot just go and play a tour of beautiful concerts.”...
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/arts/music/christian-tetzlaff-violinist-trump-russia.html
Related! I'm beginning a series of letters addressing aspects of genocide to be published this month on Pervert Justice. Here's the first one:
https://pervertjustice.substack.com/p/a-month-for-easy-conversations-hey