Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Mar 20 2025
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Did you ever wake up an ungodly hour and find yourself muttering “It’s going to be one of those days, isn’t it” — ? Has that happened to you lately? It’s been happening to me rather frequently. I tried my best, Gentle Reader. Really and for true. I got up, lit the lights, …
Mar 19 2025
Creeping “National Security” Syndrome
Americans must keep an eye on this practice: United States District Judge James Boasberg of the District of Columbia ordered the Trump administration to turn around two planes the White House says were carrying members of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang to El Salvador. Homan strongly defended Trump’s decision to use …
Mar 19 2025
Conversations
Mine is a rather silly household: CSO: What’s your plan for today? FWP: Plan a Wednesday? Naah. They’re too easy. Now Fridays, those I have to plan. CSO: When do you do that? Late Thursday? FWP: No, Friday morning, the moment I get out of bed. CSO: Sounds risky, doing that before you’ve had …
Mar 19 2025
The Awesome Power Of Cheese
I like cheese. Quite a lot, actually. I eat cheese virtually every day. And not just a few common varieties, mind you; over the course of a calendar year, I chow down on the cheeses of many nations. But until Scampydog at AoSHQ sent me to this story, I’d never truly appreciated cheese’s potentials …
Mar 18 2025
The Tactic They Thought Would Never Fail
Word gets around. I must have said and written that millions of times by now. Yet those who most need to remember it often seem unwilling or unable to do so. Barbara Tuchman defined folly as “knowing better but doing worse.” As a historian, she had plenty of examples to study. They continue …
Mar 17 2025
Fraud In Depth
There are days when I read the news and ask myself “How could they have missed something as obvious as that?” But there are other days when I read the news and ask myself “How could I have missed something as obvious as that?” Yes, Gentle Reader: Certified Galactic Intellects have bad days …
Mar 16 2025
To Transfigure And Prefigure
On the second Sunday of the Lenten season, we read of the episode called the Transfiguration: And it came to pass about eight days after these words, that he took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray. And whilst he prayed, the shape of his countenance was …
Mar 16 2025
Concerning “Criticism”
About an hour ago, I saw a Facebook post that consisted of a single graphic. That graphic said: There are 194 other countries than the United States. If you hate America, just leave for one of the others. To which actor Kevin Sorbo replied that “Criticism is not hatred.” Now, Sorbo’s statement is …
Mar 15 2025
Causes And Rackets
Eric Hoffer’s oft-misquoted gem: What starts out here as a mass movement ends up as a racket, a cult, or a corporation. …points to a dynamic propelled by greed. The greedy – i.e., they who seek wealth but shun effort – will strive to exploit any opening that might yield them what …
Mar 14 2025
Stupid Or Evil: The Only Possible Terminus
Despite the dichotomy in the title, Leftist activists have all but uniformly decided that we in the Right are evil. And of course, when in combat with one who is evil, there are no rules. Anything is permissible. The most favored tactics are those that incite terror among the evil one’s supporters: Two …
Mar 13 2025
Stupid Or Evil: The Ongoing Saga
Time was, politically engaged Americans generally understood that it’s possible for intelligent, well-meaning people to disagree about the merits of a proposed policy or policy change. They could dispute what it would bring about without either side being provably wrong. Indeed, they understood that even after the consequences of the change have arrived, some …
Mar 12 2025
How Did These Guys Slip Past Me?
Regular reader Abbe Faria has just introduced me to the most original and impressive musical combo I’ve encountered since I first stumbled over Glass Hammer: Future of Forestry: This chest is full of memories, of gold and silver tears I’ll give you more to own than all of this And I’ll give you more …
Mar 12 2025
Frontiers In Intolerance: Indie Publishing
While writers who’ve elected to go independent, exploiting the 21st Century’s gatekeeper-free outlets for publishing our fiction, have a variety of reasons for doing so, the retention of control over our works is prominent among them. Conventional publishers seldom permit a writer that degree of control. They demand changes of all sorts, ostensibly to …
Mar 11 2025
Mask Droppings
Villains must give themselves away by the end of the story, or there’s no climactic confrontation: Teacher union chief Randi Weingarten made a recent media appearance during which she admitted the real reason she doesn’t want the Trump administration to shut down the Department of Education. It’s all about school choice. She …
Mar 10 2025
Open War Is Upon Him (UPDATED)
…and I’m sure he knew he’d risked it: As previously reported, social media platform X was down on Monday morning. Thousands of users reported issues with logging in and posting. According to Down Detector, there were at least four or five outages reported by users. Later Monday morning Elon Musk …
Mar 10 2025
The Eyes May Not Have It…
…but they want it: Dog owners know those eyes. We face them daily, usually at dinnertime but often at lunchtime as well. And take it from me, Gentle Reader: those eyes are compelling. I once had to stop the C.S.O. from setting a place and filling a plate for our Newf Joy – …
Mar 09 2025
Day Off
Good morning, Gentle Reader. I’m rather under the weather today – I don’t think it has anything to do with the time change – and need a day to myself. Perhaps my Co-Conspirators will keep the place hopping. See you tomorrow. All my best, Fran
Mar 08 2025
Some End-Of-Winter Music
This seems appropriate, as the last snows melt away and those of us with tragically long memories remember lost opportunities and lost loves. Cherish your wounds, Gentle Reader. And be well.
Mar 08 2025
Oh Those Bloodlines!
One of the themes that’s been used to stir controversy and fear in the body politic is the prospect of a political dynasty. I encountered that some years back over the candidacy of George W. Bush for the presidency. His father had been a Congressman, CIA director, and president for a single term. His …
Mar 08 2025
He Who Dares To Question The Official Line…
…had better watch his back: This is about the extraordinary case of Rev Dr Bernard Randall and the latest developments in his story. In 2019, Dr Randall, an ordained Church of England (CofE) minister, was working without any issues at Trent College in Derbyshire. The college had a CofE chapel and a CofE …
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