Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Nov 03 2023
The Biggest Picture
The exchanges of rhetoric over the IDF invasion of Gaza have already breached the ludicrousness threshold and are rocketing toward utter insanity. The tweet embedded here lays the matter out plainly. And as I said immediately below that, wars of extermination have no rules. No amount of hand-wringing will change the fundamentals here. …
Nov 02 2023
Pray For Whom Or What?
It’s All Souls’ Day, the day we the living are supposed to pray for our beloved dead who might be in Purgatory enduring a last purification before finally reaching Heaven. (See also this piece.) I’ve got a fair number of beloved dead to pray for, but just now my attention is on another sufferer …
Nov 01 2023
Give No Quarter To Those Who Seek Your Blood (UPDATED)
I was pleased to read this, from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: While Israel is doing everything to get Palestinian civilians out of harm’s way, Hamas is doing everything to keep Palestinian civilians in harm’s way. Israel urges Palestinian civilians to leave the areas of armed conflict, while Hamas prevents those civilians from …
Oct 31 2023
Allhallowtide
If you’re a Gentle Reader who comes for the political tirades but leaves when I start to rant “Catholic stuff,” here’s your heads-up: It’s time to go, hero. Fran’s boiler is lit once again. Not many other commentators are likely to mention this. Hallowe’en, which has become one of the most “celebrated” days …
Oct 30 2023
Stories Told In Song
I love a song that tells a good story. Here’s a traditional, performed by Pentangle: In Bruton town there lived a farmer Who had two sons and one daughter dear. By day and night they were contriving To fill their sister’s heart with care. One told his secrets to no other, but to his …
Oct 30 2023
A Writer’s Crosses
Have you wearied of the door-to-door religious solicitors who insist that you really need to learn about the Latter Day Saints, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Seventh-Day Adventists, or what have you? You find them annoying, do you? Well, that’s perfectly understandable, especially if you’re comfortable with your faith and don’t feel a …
Oct 29 2023
Second Attempt
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. – old maxim Oh sure. We know the importance of perseverance in the pursuit of what one seeks. It “should” be equally “obvious” that the more imperative is a particular goal, the greater must be the perseverance with which one pursues it. This is …
Oct 28 2023
Hate Scam Jamboree
In these days of trillion-dollar budgets, a mere $110 million looks like a rounding error. But it is not so; it’s a huge amount of money that someone, or some organization, would immediately put out its claws to snag. So any rationale under which a government could appropriate $110 million is something to be …
Oct 26 2023
Things Have Been Getting Too Heavy
…so let’s have some music. Here’s Emmylou Harris, from her Stumble Into Grace album: God bless you, Emmylou.
Oct 26 2023
The Question That Perpetually Goes Unanswered
I was musing over problems of veracity tests and identity management – in less highfalutin’ terms, truth and trust — and spontaneously remembered something I wrote back in 2015, at Liberty’s Torch V1.0. I reproduce it below, in its entirety. I’ll rant on from there. The GTOFTS Gazette: Audiences (No points for guessing …
Oct 25 2023
What’s Coming
A few nights ago, some friends asked for my predictions about what’s going on in the Middle East. Specifically, they wanted to know “How big will it get?” I led off with the old mutual-fund disclaimer: “Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.” A prognostication must stand independently of its prognosticator. No matter …
Oct 25 2023
For This Disease There Is Only One Cure
There cannot be peace with persons such as this: A phone call by a Hamas terrorist in Israel who called his parents in Gaza to boast how he killed 10 jews. “Dad, be proud of me!” Part of this recording was played by Israeli FM Eli Cohen at the UN today. pic.twitter.com/TaflXJkeSf — Moshe …
Oct 25 2023
I Think That I Shall Never See…
…a better condensation of my attitude toward airliners than this: Nervous of flying? Don’t be. As long as 2 million parts in a plane work perfectly while traveling at close to the speed of sound as sharp metal blades rotate at supersonic speeds in temperatures of -65 degrees 7 miles above the earth …
Oct 24 2023
They Want You To Notice
It’s been a while since the term studied insult was common in American discourse. Yet the thing itself has been much with us these past few years, so it’s well to understand what the term signifies: studied insult: An insult carefully designed to pertain to a particular person or group, such that the insulted …
Oct 23 2023
Clerical Missteps
The news in religion today focuses on the “Synod on Synodality” currently being held in the Vatican. Many Catholics are seriously concerned about what’s being discussed by the assembled clergy. Longstanding teachings of the Church appear threatened. Of course we won’t know what will come of it all until it’s over and its deliberations …
Oct 22 2023
New Fiction (Sticky; Scroll Down For Updates)
It’s finally available: Paul Larsen’s B&B in Ogunquit, Maine is running him off his feet. Desperate for someone to share the load, he hires pretty, appealing Carol Holm as his assistant manager. Carol is desperate to be gone from Onteora County, New York, where she’s made some highly placed enemies. As time passes …
Oct 21 2023
Assorted
Did I really just cite weekends as a time to relax? What on Earth was I thinking? *** 1. “It’s Islam.” Daniel Greenfield has compiled a record of serial brilliance for his essays, especially when he addresses matters in the Middle East. His most recent offering rips the false facade away from the …
Oct 20 2023
The Sons Of Martha
First, a little music: Well I’m on the Downeaster Alexa And I’m cruisin’ through Block Island Sound I have charted a course to the vineyard But tonight I am Nantucket bound We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner’s Bay Like all the locals here …
Oct 19 2023
Beauty And The Engineer
No, the title is not a joke. Please indulge me for this morning. I have a need to rant about things that are a bit off the beaten path. I won’t be able to get to trivia such as world wars and the banality of evil until it’s off my chest. *** No …
Oct 18 2023
Who Is Really Speaking?
Yesterday was a rollercoaster ride: far too much to do and too little time to do it. You don’t need to hear the details. One consequence was that I “missed” my afternoon Rosary interval. Being on the go with mundane things can do that to me. Worse, I didn’t even realize it until the …
Fran’s Recent Novels
Margaret’s Recent Novels
