Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
May 24 2023
Your Daily Outrage
It’s not just Chicago; the whole state of Illinois has decided to surrender to the savages: No charges for Chicago teens who killed 70-yr-old with stolen KIA, mayor fires police chief who asked questions Police in the village of Robbins, which is southwest of Chicago, announced that no charges have been filed against …
May 24 2023
A Fear That Protects
With all due respect to the late Frank Herbert, fear is an innate capability of the human animal. It’s not always purely negative; it’s often protective. In the latter instances, it might be best to respect and heed it. Of course, what it protects is the only valid measure of whether to face it…or …
May 24 2023
Dialogues To Come
If there are any left-liberal moonbats in your orbit, you’re bound to have a conversation with them, sooner or later, about “diversity.” There’s no way around it. They worship the word though they shudder and shy away from the reality. But even as they put their homes on the trading block in an effort …
May 23 2023
Restoratives
In Robert C. Townsend’s invaluable book of business advice Further Up The Organization, he proposes that every company institute a unique executive position: VP in Charge of Killing Things: It’s about eleven times as easy to start something as it is to stop something. But ideas are good for a limited time—not forever…. …
May 23 2023
Rights For Me But Not For Thee
Anti-gun activists in Tennessee have been harassing legislators and Second Amendment supporters. That’s part of the Left’s playbook, of course…but have a gawk at this little tidbit: On May 16, 2023, WTN 99.7 FM’s Brian Wilson delved into the revelations from a secretly recorded training session held by gun control advocates in preparation …
May 23 2023
Newspeak Might Not Prove Necessary
…if the Left can simply forbid us to use certain words and phrases: A college woman received a zero grade score on an assignment for using the term “biological women.” “I got a zero on my project proposal in class because I used the term biological women, which is apparently not allowed …
May 23 2023
Chronicles Of The Collapse, UK Edition
The C.S.O. and I usually watch British murder mysteries and police procedurals in the evening. (We subscribe to Acorn and BritBox.) By and large, they’re exactly what they’re billed to be. However, the more recent ones have been displaying a certain “tilt,” in particular toward the two features the Left has been touting most …
May 22 2023
A Misfire From A Brilliant Commentator
It does happen, you know. It’s certainly happened to me. Today, it’s happened to Roger Kimball: The business of Washington is to make government bigger—forever. That is not what the people, who pay for it, want. Well, it’s certainly not what I want. If you’re a regular Gentle Reader of Liberty’s Torch, …
May 22 2023
While We’re On The Subject Of Power-Lust
This morning at The Catholic Thing, Francis X. Maier reminds us about an old atrocity in the Sceptered Isle: On August 16, 1819, some 60,000 hungry, unarmed workers, with their wives and children, converged on St. Peter’s Field in Manchester to peacefully demand economic and political reform. Barely 11 percent of Britain’s people …
May 22 2023
George Orwell Was A Prophet
…though I doubt that he wanted to be: Joe Biden’s government is now planning for the Ukraine conflict to last years – “perhaps decades” – with no clear victor, according to insider claims. POLITICO – a German-owned outlet the “intelligence community” often uses to plant information – spoke to a number of …
May 21 2023
Yet Another Marker For Racism
Apparently, getting up early is a giveaway: Enslaved Africans were forced to work tirelessly from sunrise to sunset, and their white oppressors often used the rhetoric of hard work and discipline to justify their inhumane treatment. This created a false narrative that Africans were inherently lazy and needed the “civilizing” influence of their …
May 21 2023
The Strike
[A short story for you, inspired by an observation from retired World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. — FWP] *** “We’re not getting anywhere,” Percy growled. “Did you expect to?” I said. “I’d say that was rather the point.” “But why? “Don’t they have as much to lose from this as the …
May 21 2023
Questions That Go Unanswered
Some are asked by millions: Congress seems to be most effective as a machine for enriching its members. There are a great many members and former members who became hugely wealthy during their tenures there. How? A Congressional salary alone could never account for it. Does a seat come with some sort of …
May 20 2023
Testing The Threshold
You’ve surely heard about Cori Bush’s demand for $14 trillion in “reparations” to American Negroes. A little arithmetic makes that $350,000 for every Negro in the country. Well, as unlikely as such an award may seem to you, Gentle Reader, there are Negroes demanding a lot more than that: A local resident told …
May 20 2023
Pause
Normally, I craft my “big” essay for the day at an early hour. Sorry, not today; I have a meeting with my pastor that takes precedence. So if you’re accustomed to stopping by here early to catch my stuff soon after I write it, endless apologies for your disappointment. Stop by around midafternoon; I …
May 19 2023
The Follies Of Friday Columniating
By the time Friday gets here, I’m usually exhausted. Today is such a Friday. Atop that, I’m sort of in mourning. Holly, our beloved hot tub these past fifteen years, is scheduled to be cut up and hauled away this morning. So have a few links, with brief comments, and enjoy your weekend: 1. …
May 19 2023
The Perils Of Poor Enunciation
I must admit that I haven’t always liked my given name. One of the reasons I have it is (ulp) my paternal grandmother, an Italian immigrant whose name was Francesca. Another is that I was born in Saint Francis Xavier Hospital in the Bronx. It’s a rather off-putting thing to be named after a …
May 18 2023
Who Worries About Backlash?
Kurt Schlichter doesn’t: The Democrat cities are urine-soaked hellholes that reek of pot where criminals stalk unmolested while the full fury of what is supposed to be the law hangs over the head of any citizen who dares do something about it, and that’s good. The idiots who live there voted for turning …
May 18 2023
The Deniers And You
I do like that word denier. Its principal meaning, of course, is “one who refuses or rejects a particular assertion or proposition.” Its other meaning is about the fineness of the threads in a garment. Are there any other words with two completely disconnected meanings, according to context? Anyway, on to the main event. …
May 17 2023
Virtue Envy
I’ve ranted about the perniciousness of envy a huge number of times. It’s an inexhaustible topic. But there’s an aspect of its evil force that deserves more consideration than I’ve given it to date. Consider the completely immaterial occurrence of envy: the envy of someone who is: Not richer than you; Not healthier …
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