Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Jan 17 2023
Charles Manson Might Have Called It Accurately
You have to be fairly old, and have an unusually good memory for atrocities involving celebrities, to remember the details of the Manson Family murders. One that tends to slip recall is the prophecy Charles Manson laid upon his followers: Manson believed in what he called “Helter Skelter”, a term he took from …
Jan 17 2023
Statist In A Cleft Stick Dept.
Men of good will should celebrate every event that compels the evil-minded to show their true colors. This is nowhere more important than when an individual right is under threat. An episode of this kind occurred just yesterday in upstate New York: That’s all the specific information I have on this incident. The …
Jan 16 2023
Allies And Enemies Of Nature
A dynamic is a tendency powered by natural needs and drives, and the incentives that pertain to them. Of course, there’s quite a bit of static thrown about concerning what’s natural and what isn’t. However, the people who claim that drives built into our bodies and minds are merely the consequences of our upbringing …
Jan 16 2023
BRRRING!
Good morning, Gentle Readers! Today is a very special day, for several reasons. For one thing, it’s Martin Luther King Jr, Day. On the third Monday of January each year, we commemorate the life and achievements of that famous icon of plagiarism and philandering that helped to make the Sixties a decade to be …
Jan 15 2023
Courtesy Of A Brave And Forthright Colleague
…by the moniker of the Feral Irishman: Read and reflect. You may not have a lot more opportunities.
Jan 15 2023
Necessities
Not that the count was a drone. At last reports, he had been involved in some highly esoteric tampering with the Haertel equations—that description of the space-time continuum which, by swallowing up the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction exactly as Einstein had swallowed Newton (that is, alive), had made interstellar flight possible. Ruiz-Sanchez did not understand a …
Jan 14 2023
Crisis!
Help, Gentle Reader! I’m in a crisis. Yes, a new one. It’s not categorically new — I’ve been here before — but it’s unprecedentedly intense. You see, I don’t know what to fear. The choices are too many. The fear-peddlers have overwhelmed my ability to apportion my fear energy. I’m starting to “thrash” …
Jan 13 2023
Those Stubborn Things
Among the many campaigns being conducted all around us, I deem this one to be critical: the war against immutable facts. You don’t have to be an intellectual giant like Thomas Sowell, one of the most important public intellectuals of the century behind us, to understand that facts trump any and all theories, …
Jan 12 2023
Tales From The Bearded Spock Universe
There’s no point to writing satire any longer. As soon as a satirist produces a fresh item, our crazies decide to make it happen in real life: “The world is facing a looming existential threat caused by exploitative habits and intentional human negligence.” That is how Brandon Edwards-Schuth and Marco Cerqueira, a …
Jan 11 2023
Perhaps It Was Inevitable
After all, what the Left accuses the Right of doing is almost always what the Left has already done: Attorney General Merrick Garland has assigned the U.S. attorney in Chicago to review documents marked classified that were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, two sources with …
Jan 11 2023
That “How?” Question
It just keeps coming back. Jim Jordan has trumpeted the intentions of his “Weaponization of Government” subcommittee. They’re exactly what I would have expected from Jordan, one of the few genuinely laudable persons in Congress: Lauren Boebert, another admirable Representative, has added her concurring opinions: Applause, but…how? What do you propose …
Jan 11 2023
“Stop! Stop! Danger Will Robinson!”
We have all – well, most of us – known the frustration of trying to scrape a thick sheet of ice off a windshield. It can test the patience of the most patient man, especially if the temperature and the snow are still falling and he forgot to bring gloves that day. Continental New …
Jan 10 2023
Taking Exceptions
Let’s spin up with a Blinding Flash of the ObviousTM; The bottom line is that if you don’t have control over what gets injected into your own body, you have no meaningful freedom in any sense of the word. Any state that does not safeguard the right to full autonomy over what pharmaceutical …
Jan 09 2023
Rhetorical Trends Dept.
There’s a new buzzphrase being bandied about, Gentle Reader. If you’re as news-obsessive as I, you’ve surely heard it. Perhaps you even reflected on its mendacity. But as not everyone is as attentive as you and I, let’s put it right out there in front of God and everybody. The ominous phrase is …
Jan 08 2023
An Epiphany Story
I’m fairly sure all my Gentle Readers know the story of the Magi and their gifts to the Christ Child. Today – the first Sunday after New Year’s Day – is the day when Catholics celebrate the Epiphany, which includes that momentous visit to the Holy Family from three of the most learned men …
Jan 07 2023
How About Something…Strange?
This is the final track of Earth Opera’s first album. Listen at your own peril: once you’ve heard it, it will stay with you for days: I decree that her death be by rumor the skull gleamed And creaking sat back in its chair In agreement the room full of white teeth all clicked …
Jan 07 2023
Trust And Its Enemies
This morning, Cold Fury co-contributor SteveF has posted an excellent piece on a subject of great importance: trust. (Yes, I’ve ranted about it too.) Steve delves into the developments that allowed dishonest behavior to explode: One is the increasing population and increased concentration in urban areas. When everyone in a small town knows …
Jan 06 2023
Conversations
This just in: The C.S.O. made our morning decaf and alerted me to its readiness. I naturally scampered to the kitchen and poured a cup. A few minutes later I returned for my second cup, and the following exchange ensued: CSO: Back so soon? FWP: I finished my first cup, so I’m here for …
Jan 06 2023
The Uses Of Licensure
Divemedic has written insightfully on the grift we call licensure. Indeed, he’s done so more than once. I’m confident that many who read those pieces will come away disturbed but not convinced. Disturbed, because the evils Divemedic cites are indisputable; unconvinced, because licensure has been a part of Western ways for long enough that …
Jan 05 2023
The Obfuscation Game
The Left has adopted a new tack in its campaign against the right to keep and bear arms. A recent article in The Atlantic, a left-inclined publication, contended that the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is a “mystery” whose meaning is uncertain. While the article refers to several considerations (some …
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