Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
May 24 2022
A Must-Read 2022-05-24
Gerard Van der Leun has long been one of the brightest lights in the firmament of the Blogosphere. His casual toss-offs are better than 99.9% of what I encounter in my morning circuit of news and opinion-editorial sites. His best stuff…words fail me, Gentle Reader. But perhaps you’re already aware of that. Yesterday, …
May 23 2022
One For The Nerds, The Geeks, And The Dweebs
If you’ve been wary about the cryptocurrencies, you’re in good company – mine. Crypto, regardless of the “brand,” is a mathematical construct implemented in a rule-based system. And a certainty upon which you, I, and everyone can rely is that it will have a vulnerability in it somewhere. Porretto’s Pessimistic Principle of Engineering applies …
May 23 2022
Mourn The Death Of The “Sports Hero”
Time was, we were told they were men: Yankees designated hitter Josh Donaldson made a comment to Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson that Anderson contends was “racist.” The benches cleared, tempers were short, and the controversy is still raging; Major League Baseball officials have begun an investigation. Oh my! So words …
May 23 2022
Is Anyone Sincerely Surprised?
Honestly, now: The Wuhan Institute of Virology assembled a monkeypox virus genome, allowing the virus to be identified through PCR tests, using a method researchers flagged for potentially creating a “contagious pathogen,” The National Pulse can reveal. The study was first published in February 2022, just months before the latest international outbreak …
May 23 2022
The Era Of The Illiterate
Apologies, Gentle Reader. I have no better word than illiterate with which to describe this sort of locution: “No I do not,” [New York City Mayor Eric] Adams said when asked at the “Bans Off Our Bodies” demonstration in New York City whether there should be any limitations on abortion. “I think …
May 22 2022
The War Of The Words
Yes, the title has been used by others. But the motif is critical to political combat in our time. Words are weapons. Words are tools. Define or be defined! — Michael Emerling I read in this morning’s news sweep that a Republican Congresswoman, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), has introduced a “Women’s Rights” …
May 21 2022
Saturday Smorgasbord
I feel like the Flying Dutchman: if I stop blogging, either I’ll die or the world will end, whichever would be worse. So here we go again. *** According to Jazz Shaw at Hot Air, the smash-and-grab robberies in California are not ending. I hadn’t imagined otherwise. Indeed, my response upon reading the …
May 20 2022
Decline And Fall
At each election we vote in a new set of politicians, insanely assuming that they are better than the set turned out. And at each election we are, as they say in Motherland, done in. – H. L. Mencken Among the things I’ve been missing lately are the penetrating and erudite essays of …
May 19 2022
The Normalization Of Fear
Are you afraid? You’re meant to be. Influential people in many high places have decreed that you shall be. And they’re putting a lot of effort into getting you there. One of the most important enduring features of the American milieu – for virtually the whole of our history – has been …
May 18 2022
What Must Not Be Said
A little-known incident in the early years of World War I comes to mind this morning. (Actually, most Americans know absolutely nothing about World War I, so much so that the entire conflagration, which cost nearly twenty million lives, could be called “a little-known incident.” But I digress.) Like the deputies in Paris, …
May 17 2022
“That’s Racist!”
First, a thematic cartoon: Got the idea? Well, then let’s proceed. One of the critical conduits for the prescription of attitudes among Americans, and possibly among Westerners generally, is our entertainment stream. This is unlikely to surprise my Gentle Readers, several of whom have complained about it to me – privately, of …
May 16 2022
From Blue To Red To Purple To Blue
M. B. Mathews has posted something of a cri de coeur at American Thinker: There has been a huge influx of blue state people to red states in the past three years. This is a good thing because the Democrat voters, the blues, see what is happening in their own states and …
May 16 2022
No, It Wasn’t A Hoax
Some just couldn’t believe it. They were sure it’s some kind of put-on. But it’s really happening, Gentle Reader. “They” are doing their damnedest to normalize pedophilia. If you need more evidence, here it is: Johns Hopkins University has hired a female-to-male transgender academic who has called for pedophilia to be “destigmatized.” Despite …
May 15 2022
Do Mine Eyes Deceive Me?
Three men gang-raped a minor, filmed it, and were sentenced to probation? WEST JORDAN — Two men accused of raping a 14-year-old girl who was in and out of consciousness and another man charged with videotaping the sexual encounter were sentenced Wednesday to 48 months of probation. Third District Judge Douglas Hogan …
May 15 2022
The Vice President Of These United States In This Year Of Our Lord 2022…
…should have better sense than ever to speak in public: KAMALA: “We will work together, and continue to work together, to address these issues, to tackle these challenges, and to work together as we continue to work operating from the new norms, rules, and agreements, that we will convene to work together…We will work …
May 15 2022
Determinism And Its Antecedents
Were you aware that the hottest issue in the physical sciences today is whether there’s really such a thing as causality? Actually, it’s been the hottest issue for several decades already, ever since the codification of measurement uncertainty and quantum level indeterminacy. Physicists struggle to work with quantum systems that defy classical conceptions of …
May 14 2022
The Great Othering
I’m sure my Gentle Readers are familiar with the neologism othering. It’s been used in connection with common allegations that some minority group has been targeted for elimination. Supposedly, the targeted group is slathered with propaganda designed to convince the majority that “they are not like us – they are others.” This is used …
May 13 2022
Since No One Else Is Doing So…
…it falls to me to commemorate the 105th Anniversary of the Apparition of the Blessed Virgin at Fatima: Our Lady of Fátima is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary based on the famed Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria, in Fátima, Portugal. …
May 13 2022
“Tapping The Wires”
The Gentle Readers of Liberty’s Torch will probably already know what I’m about to say, yet its significance might be greater than any of us have yet imagined. Even so, I shall eschew large font for it. I’ll restrain my desire to shout. This once, anyway. The mainstream media are largely the mouthpieces …
May 12 2022
When What You Want To Say Would Come Out As A Scream
…it’s best to say nothing. Just now, the patience of real Americans – patriots who love our country and are agonized by what’s happening to it – is being tried to its limits and beyond. In less than two years, the Usurper Regime has brought this nation to the brink of the abyss. …
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