Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Mar 22 2024
Inversions
The C.S.O. does most of our grocery shopping, which insulates me against certain data that would otherwise arrive regularly in my awareness. However, now and then we go together to a “warehouse” style discount store for items we know to be available there in bulk, usually less expensively than at a commonplace supermarket. On …
Mar 21 2024
The Anarcho-Tyranny Chronicles
[Apologies, Gentle Reader. Another repost is upon us. I’m so frazzled that to produce something new would require an intervention from God. So please ponder this piece, which first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on Saint Patrick’s Day of 2017 — FWP] If you’ve been a Gentle Reader of Liberty’s Torch for a …
Mar 20 2024
Argument, Rhetoric, And Ethics
[The following comprises two pieces that first appeared at the old Palace Of Reason in early 2004. They’re relevant to our current national discourse…such as it is. Sorry, the embedded links no longer work. Something to bear in mind as you read: a judge in Hawaii recently ruled that “the spirit of aloha” …
Mar 19 2024
A Diagnosis
Here’s the diagnosis: Good morning. Shared from a friend…couldn’t be more true DAVE RAMSEY… “This morning, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, lives are never going to be the same. I have been confused by the hostility of family and… — Carissa …
Mar 18 2024
Attention!
There’s been a flood of “spam” comments that keep me busy deleting them, such that my time for other things is seriously reduced. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, comments will only be possible for registered, logged-in users. If the “spam” flood does not abate, this may become a permanent policy. Your understanding and …
Mar 18 2024
Shamelessness As A Political Weapon (UPDATED)
The key political asset of our time is the ability to tell any lie, however outrageous or absurd, with a perfectly straight face: eyes straight and flat, no lifting of either corner of the mouth, and no tightening of either nostril. Moreover, the liar must be able to maintain that solemn-as-a-judge expression through a …
Mar 17 2024
The Meek And The Grand
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, Gentle Reader! A summary of the great Irish saint’s life and work: St. Patrick (387-493) was born in Kilpatrick, Scotland, to Roman-British parents. He was kidnapped by Irish raiders at the age of sixteen and sold as a slave to a Druid high priest. He worked as a shepherd …
Mar 17 2024
When The Writing On The Wall Is This Large…
…there’s no ambiguity about the connecting link: This is only part of the pattern of Usurper-in-Chief Joe Biden’s first days in office. He also reversed all of President Trump’s executive orders on securing the border. Never let anyone tell you the Democrats sincerely want the border controlled. They want that flood of …
Mar 16 2024
Restatements
The Future Columns folder is full again, but I find that I can bring myself neither to write about all of it nor to delete any of it without first writing about it. So, as a pale substitute for one of my habitual tirades, here are a few links: How to change the corporate …
Mar 15 2024
The Easiest Sin
Happy Ides of March, Gentle Reader! If you enjoyed your Pi Day – we did – then perhaps you’ll also enjoy this commemoration of the day, in 44 B.C., when a group of civic-minded patricians decided to take an aspiring dictator “off the ballot” in a rather final and unappealable way. It’s a recipe …
Mar 14 2024
No Deposit, No Return
Does anyone else remember seeing that on the label on a soda bottle? I mean, I know I’m old, but still…! *** We tend to value things according to their costs. It’s a natural thing; we remember what we paid to acquire the item, and – perhaps more dimly – the work we …
Mar 12 2024
Day Off
I’m exhausted. I have an essay subject in mind – working title “When Presumably Decent People Write Hateful Things” – but in my current state I’d surely make a hash of it. So please allow me a day’s rest. With luck and a little cooperation from my wife and my four-footed dependents, I’ll be …
Mar 11 2024
Is It Really That Bad Out There, Guys?
I’ve been “out of the game” for more than thirty years, so I don’t really know what it’s like to be unwillingly unmated. I do know that there are a lot of men, from young adults all the way up to my age and beyond, who are either in that category or in an …
Mar 10 2024
Never…Well, SELDOM On Sunday
I don’t awaken to a lot of news-rich Sundays. Generally, that’s to the good, as Sunday tends to be the busiest day of my week. Still, it’s nice to have something to rant and rave about. A news-deprived day is a blogger’s definition of frustration. *** 1. Vending Machines. The C.S.O.’s morning begins …
Mar 09 2024
If You Remember Paul Harvey…
He once composed a piercing piece called “If I Were The Devil.” The following video, a Trump campaign ad, borrows its structure from that piece: Video created by the Dilley Team for Trump. Do not skip this one. If I were the Deep State.pic.twitter.com/MfQvFubUUm — Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) March 8, 2024 Pass …
Mar 09 2024
Evil: The Frontier
I’ve been exploring evil as an abstract, categorizable phenomenon for decades. It’s one half of the most important question in all of human life. I sketched the edges of the other half of that question in this brief piece. To save you a mouse click: Primary authority is the sort possessed by him …
Mar 08 2024
“Let The Bodies Hit The Floor!”
Nothin’ wrong with me… Nothin’ wrong with me… Nothin’ wrong with me… Nothin’ wrong with me… Oh fudge…who do I think I’m kidding? *** Courtesy of Ace’s long and detailed piece of yesterday, I’ve only just become aware of what he’s styled “GamerGate 2.0.” You may recall the original …
Mar 08 2024
What Must Be Said
If we can’t bring back the idea of personal agency and responsibility for one’s actions, along with a societal moral code of right and wrong, we are doomed. — Weird Dave at AoSHQ Bravo. It cannot be said too often or too loudly. But note that the Left, principally through its “DEI” and …
Mar 07 2024
Inconceivable Yet Real
Writers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror – the three main speculative genres – face challenges that don’t trouble mainstream fictioneers. We’re supposed to strive to be original, constantly looking for a new conception, a new scientific or technological development, a new evocation of wonder or terror. The flattest and least refutable of all …
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