Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
May 30 2023
Memorial Day 2023
For many years, I was reflexively patriotic in the naïve sense. I would immediately jump down the collar of anyone who chose to denigrate these United States or its military involvements. I had my reasons, of course; don’t we all? But many of them don’t look so good to me these days. Today …
May 29 2023
Evil Policies Part 2: Underlying Motivations
The previous piece on this subject evoked some unusually revealing responses. As I remain unwilling to condemn anyone by name, I’ll say only that some of my Gentle Readers aren’t very Gentle after all. They expressed a willingness to countenance deliberate harm to innocents for the sake of a good tactic. That’s not on, …
May 28 2023
Gifts
Not long ago, I encountered the following passage in a secular novel: “Things should make sense. If they don’t, there’s no point to anything. It wouldn’t even be worth trying to figure things out any better. Why would our universe make sense with rules that make things like this ship work among other …
May 27 2023
When We Need A Miracle…
…God, who always knows what we need, will provide one: The small rural Missouri town of Gower has become an unexpected pilgrimage destination after a nun’s exhumed body showed no visible signs of decomposition — four years after her burial. Hundreds of people have been flocking to the town 40 miles north …
May 27 2023
Evil Policies
I have something to say that a lot of people, possibly including you, Gentle Reader, are not going to like. You could be one of them, so make sure you’re securely seated and your seat belt is fastened. The end does not justify the means. That’s it, friends. Just seven words. Easy …
May 26 2023
In Business, Good Causes Are Bad News
Among the critical open secrets of America’s commercial culture is this: High corporate executives are obsessed with their public images. They don’t just want to “make money,” as if operating profitable organizations that provide oodles of jobs while making things people want were somehow trivially dismissible. They want to Leave Their Footprints In The …
May 26 2023
The Pre-Memorial Day Overload Edition
Commentators have two counterpoised problems: “There’s nothing to write about!” “There’s way too much to write about!” I’m in the throes of Problem #2 at the moment. So here goes nothing…or everything, depending on your perspective. *** Banks usually don’t have a great deal of cash on hand. A branch VP will …
May 25 2023
In Other News
…my decision to leave Blogger has been justified. Specifically, the Grundies at Blogger have gotten around to Liberty’s Torch V1.0 and are slapping “Sensitive Content” warnings on a lot of the pieces there. So far: Sulva Come To Earth Just Read Your Job Description Synthetic Outrage Shamans Redux …have all been labeled sensitive. …
May 25 2023
The War And The Bastions
I do like that word bastion. A form of it, Bastian, is also a man’s name, and a most complimentary one at that. A bastion is a stronghold, a difficult-to-assail redoubt that stands athwart the enemy’s campaign. The enemy must be sure to reduce such strongholds completely before continuing on with an invasion, for …
May 25 2023
Some Vigilance Committees Are Pretty Small
Yet they can still be effective: A Dollar General store in California could be on the hook for a substantial sum of money after an employee appears to have flouted the state’s monopoly on violence by going after an accused shoplifter on her own – and hitting him with her car. Remember …
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 …
Fran’s Recent Novels
Margaret’s Recent Novels
