Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Jan 16 2022
Every Time You Think They’ve Hit The Bottom…
…they pull out their shovels and dig like giant moles on meth: It’s possible that this isn’t a first – that at some time in the past, unknown even to me, there have been presidents and Supreme Court justices unacquainted with the concept of enumerated powers, unaware of the significance of the Tenth …
Jan 15 2022
Even The Greatest Men Are Sometimes Wrong
Men are fallible. We make mistakes. Some of us are wrong more often than right. And yes, “men” includes women, so no smirking, ladies. Especially since the majority of you react worse to being criticized than to being publicly groped. The history of Christianity knows few mortal figures to compare with Saul of …
Jan 14 2022
More Anarchy, More Tyranny
I’m in a particularly dark mood this morning. It derives from several causes, most of which my Gentle Readers would deem irrelevant to them. However, there is one that’s worth a mention. Though I disapprove of the linguistic hijacking that has conflated anarchy with chaos, I can do little about it. Worse yet, …
Jan 13 2022
A Brief, Bitter Tale
Forgive me, Gentle Readers. I have a great need to vent about a semi-personal matter, and this is my only outlet for it. As you probably know, I sell my fiction through Amazon. Like it or not, Amazon commands approximately 85% of the eBook market, so a writer who seeks to move his …
Jan 13 2022
Is Comment Required?
There are days when even an idiot would easily draw the moral: In this purported hot sauce incident, a few weeks back, Drake had allegedly met up with some model on Instagram at a party, and the two ventured back to his hotel room. Reports note that Drake and this woman engaged in …
Jan 12 2022
Ultra-Quickies: Conical Pizza?
I sometimes lament my memory. It’s too good; it forces me to remember things I’d rather forget. But then something like this comes along: A lot of people like to make rules around what pizza is and isn’t. From where a pizza is made to what toppings are on it, a pizza can …
Jan 12 2022
Patterns Redux
Long, long, LONG ago, I wrote a half-satirical essay about patterns in the lives and doings of public men. It’s in the “Baseline Essays” section, which should tell you a wee bit about what I think of its significance. Before proceeding here, I exhort you to go thence and read it, even if you …
Jan 11 2022
Formulas
Enough of the political / current events crap for today. Maybe Linda or the Colonel will ring in with something later. My mind is on matters fictional. I’ve ranted several times, here and elsewhere, about the priority I place on originality. Even before the “indie explosion,” original ideas and approaches in novel-length fiction …
Jan 10 2022
We Need Some Music Around Here!
And so we shall have some: Last night I dreamed about you I dreamed that you were older You were looking like Picasso With a scar across your shoulder You were kneeling by the river You were digging up the bodies Buried long ago Michelangelo Last night I dreamed about you I dreamed you …
Jan 10 2022
The Lash Indirect
I’ve written on several occasions about the Left’s power-tropism, and how it targets organizations to garner more of it. Every “formally organized” organization – i.e., one with by-laws or a charter, a hierarchy, and a procedure for becoming and remaining a member – offers a kind of power to those who can rise within …
Jan 09 2022
Immanentizing the Eschaton of the Republic
“Don’t let them immanentize the eschaton!” – William F. Buckley, 1966 It has been said, and truly, that whatever the Left accuses the Right of doing is what the Left is already doing, or planning to do in the immediate future. In today’s political battlespace, that has a particularly large force. Have …
Jan 08 2022
Miscellany
You Have To Wonder Dept. Just how blatantly can a Democrat lie and still get away with it? From the Supreme Court oral arguments over federal vaccine mandates: Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers, representing the coalition of GOP-led states opposing the OSHA rules, was quizzed by Justice Sotomayor on the mandates — which …
Jan 07 2022
Knives
Circus knife throwers go through a lot of beautiful young assistants in scanty costumes. That’s not because they “miss” all that often; obviously not, or their unique occupation would have been banned long ago. Rather; it’s because the young beauty’s fear that sooner or later the day will come eventually wears her down. She …
Jan 06 2022
Anarcho-Tyrannical America, The Continuing Story
It’s beyond the possibility of dispute today. Consider the following short video: Stephen Miller of America First Legal has stated the matter perfectly. But it’s not just medical care that’s at risk: Manhattan’s new DA has ordered his prosecutors to stop seeking prison sentences for hordes of criminals and to downgrade …
Jan 05 2022
The Devolution Of The American Female
Among the truly stupendous lies of the decades behind us, this one is near the top: Ladies: You Can Have It All. It’s shorthand, of course. “All” is an abbreviation for “all the fulfillments and satisfactions known to Mankind, without limit and without cost.” It was one of the inducements for young American …
Jan 04 2022
The Search For Exculpations
It continues. I admire Maura Dowling. She’s done terrific work at her site for many years now, which has put her on my twice-daily reading list. Besides, she’s one of the only two Long Island bloggers in the Dextrosphere, which makes her special indeed. So the following should not be interpreted as an …
Jan 03 2022
Threatening Or Heartening?
I’m in the habit of sending out “Happy New Year” notes to my friends, cordial acquaintances, and other regular correspondents. Those who reply usually just echo the wish, perhaps with a few words of personal news attached. However, this year one friend, whom I’ll call Smith, included in his response that he’d decided to …
Jan 02 2022
Crisis: The Agar Of Leviathan
[A repost from four years ago. It came to mind when I read this John Hinderaker piece. History might not be perfectly cyclical, but its “greatest hits” surely do get a lot of replays. — FWP] *** You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it’s …
Jan 01 2022
Alert! Alert!
They killed him! The wisest man on Earth, a godlike being with superior intelligence who has absolute evidence and proof of his theory. He could not have expired from any natural cause. He’s been taken from us by the Worldwide Single-Day-Time Conspiracy! To gauge the immeasurable height, width, and depth of what we …
Dec 31 2021
Free Fiction!
On January 1, 2022, my new Onteora County romance The Discovery Phase will be a free download at Amazon! One day only, so get yours while it’s free! And by the way, Happy New Year!
Fran’s Recent Novels
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