Francis W. Porretto

Mount Sinai, NY USA

Author's posts

“Essential Services”

     The fires currently destroying Los Angeles have resurrected the old subject of “essential services.” Most Americans regard police protection, firefighting, and road maintenance as essential: the justification for the existence of state and local governments. Yet throughout this nation they’re the services most neglected by those governments. At the federal level, “essential services” would …

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Music From The Dark Side

     The Police were a highly unusual band. Their songs, the majority of which were written by bassist / vocalist Gordon Sumner (a.k.a. Sting), ranged from moody to black as night. Yet despite that dark and often cutting edge, they were immensely popular during the Seventies and early Eighties. They seemed to have tapped into …

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Crisis And Opportunity

     For more than a century, the Democrats have used crises – real or imaginary, organic or contrived – to expand American governments and intrude upon the freedom of American citizens. The outline of that strategy has been clear for many decades, but it wasn’t until Rahm Emanuel stated it clearly and openly that most …

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A Contentious Proposal

     “In times of economic uncertainty, never ever fuck with another man’s livelihood.” — Joe Pantoliano as “Guido,” in Risky Business      It seems that a Constitutional amendment that would put term limits on federal legislators has been proposed by Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Ralph Norman. While I heartily approve of this proposed amendment …

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Keeping House

     Joy Pullman’s excellent article on home cooking and family health got me thinking about some other consequences of American women’s transition from homemakers to office workers. In particular, I noticed a correlation between the departure of the homemaker and the amount of time minor children spend outdoors. Both mothers-as-homemakers and kids playing outdoors have …

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Politics And The Presumption Of Benevolence

     It’s been said many times that trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Also, trust once lost is even harder to regain. When the subject is political trust, deep motives and the suspicion thereof are involved. A political party or organization that forfeits the public’s trust will usually find that it has …

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Building An Aristocracy

     Do you remember this piece, Gentle Reader?      A class is defined by its legal and social privileges. The aristocrats of medieval times were not distinguished by their lineages or their deeds, but by the things they were allowed to do, without penalty, that commoners were not. There is reason to believe that the …

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Hiatus

     Happy Epiphany Sunday. I’ll be away for a while. Yesterday evening I fell down a flight of stairs. I can’t sit at the computer for a long period just now. Bring any Administrative stuff to Linda. Back whenever.      All my best,      Fran

The Real Terrorist Threat

     The central, all-important question of our age is Cui bono? Who benefits from what has just happened, or what has just been proposed? There’s no more reliable way to trace the genesis of events.      About ten years ago, I wrote a column delineating my fears as I was about to enter upon retirement. …

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Some Music For Your Early Evening

     Way, way back when, when I was much younger than I am today, I was greatly enamored of the old PlayStation game Tomb Raider. One of the reasons that game got into my blood was the associated music. At that time, video-game music wasn’t a highly advanced art form, though in recent years it’s …

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The Most Dangerous Times…

     …are times of transition. Times when things are in flux. Especially when the “from” side of the flux is angry about being replaced.      If you were alive and aware in 1980, you may remember that a group of Iranian savages had stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and taken a lot of Americans …

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Solved At Last!

     I’m sure it will thrill the Gentle Readers of Liberty’s Torch to read that your Chief Content Provider, by dint of fearless and untiring research, has at long last penetrated to the flaccid heart of America’s socioeconomic problems. Yes, friends, relations, and assorted creditors, I have finally figured out what’s been going on. And …

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So Much For X

     I had hopes that it truly had become a free-speech platform, but apparently disagreeing with Elon Musk about H1B visas gets you shushed:      Something very interesting and openly obvious is happening amid the backlash that Elon Musk and the Silicon Valley network are facing to their H1B position.      Effective December 26, Elon …

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A Great Returning Part 2: Mythos And Ethos

     My first piece on this subject was “a view from a height.” It addressed no particulars. That was by design. The particulars require particular attention.      As I’ve written before, a religious creed will incorporate both a theology about the supernatural realm and its relation to our temporal reality, and a code of conduct …

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A Great Returning?

     Quoth Chris Queen:      We’ve heard a prevailing narrative that Americans are drifting away from faith in general and Christianity more specifically. For a long time, we’ve seen interviews with celebrities who grew up in Christian homes but now consider themselves “spiritual but not religious.” Surveys make a big deal out of how many …

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Winter Wonderings

     No, not “winter wonders.” This will not be a rhapsody about the splendor of the white-mantled hills, the frosty sparkle of snow-covered dogs, or the power of frozen car batteries to awaken us to the glory of Nature. I have another subject in mind.      At this time of year, especially in the run-up …

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Missing The Point

     I try to retain respect for other commentators, even when they write things I completely reject. But I do expect people who take a hand in guiding popular opinion to ask the right questions and demand that they be fully and honestly answered. Intelligent people must not allow themselves to be spoon-fed an erroneous …

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The X Travesty

679 Mount Sinai – Coram Road Mount Sinai, NY 11766 December 26, 2024 X Corp. 865 FM 1209 Building 2 Bastrop, TX 78602 Dear Sirs and Mesdames:      On December 23 of this year, you suspended my fully paid-for Premium-Plus X account. The email announcing that suspension gave as the reason “Inauthentic accounts.” Yet I …

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A Thought For The New Year

     If you haven’t yet read The Alpha Strategy, John Pugsley’s excellent treatise on shielding yourself against the ravages of inflation, please do so. However, for the moment I have a snippet from that fine tome for your consideration. In it, he uses as a demonstrator a fictional island occupied by two and only two …

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A Christmas Present I’d Like To Return

     X has done it to me again:      Twice in less than a month – and whatever their “careful review” might consist of, if the above is literal, then I’m out over $180 for the Premium-Plus access I’ve already paid for.      What’s their reason for this bit of larceny?      And it’s apparently …

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