Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Dec 26 2021
Saint Stephen
Today, December 26, is the feast day of Saint Stephen, one of the first (some accounts make him the very first) martyrs to the Christian faith. Here’s what this morning’s missive from the Catholic Company has to say about him: St. Stephen (1st. c.) was one of the Church’s first deacons in Jerusalem …
Dec 25 2021
The Big Whys
Why do you do what you do? Apart from the autonomic stuff such as breathing, and the instinctive stuff such as chasing cute girls, that is. As far as I can tell, there are only three categorical reasons for any consciously chosen action: Desires; Fears; Beliefs. Virtually everyone understands the first two …
Dec 23 2021
For Real Americans Everywhere: Lest We Forget
Just a quick reminder, before I go offline for the Christmas weekend: Government kills. All governments, at all levels. All elements of government, whatever their nominal function. Killing is the only thing they’re good at. The events of January 6? Capitol police officers killed three protestors. All three were …
Dec 23 2021
Some Early Christmas Presents To Indie Colleagues
Here we are: December 23, only two days from the Feast of the Nativity, Christianity’s second-biggest holy day. But many Americans’ thoughts remain on entirely secular matters, especially the purchasing and wrapping of presents for others. As one of my parish priests put it, this is the time of year we go running around …
Dec 22 2021
Tribalism Ascendant
I’ve written about tribalism on several occasions, mainly at Liberty’s Torch V1.0. Because of associations that link tribe with race, it’s a subject that induces considerable trepidation in persons who dislike being called nasty names. Yet it’s a real phenomenon, it has deleterious effects on a society, and when allowed any latitude it can …
Dec 20 2021
Shibboleths And Scare Talk
Political talk is mostly hot air, of course. Among other influences, politicians almost unanimously regard their own voices as the sweetest sound in the universe. They’ll fill whatever space is provided to them with as much blather as they can get away with – and it won’t necessarily mean anything in particular. So …
Dec 19 2021
Christmas, Children, and Christ
If you have young children (I don’t), or were once a young child yourself (I wasn’t), you’re probably familiar with children’s Christmas frenzy. It’s all about the presents. (Well, maybe a little about the decorations.) The religious aspects of the holiday are virtually impossible to communicate to them. The origin of the gift-giving tradition …
Dec 18 2021
Bits Of Fun
Christmas is a week away. What point is there in writing about politics and current events at a time this joyous? Shut ‘em out with me, at least for today, and see if we can amuse one another. (Amuse, not abuse! Get your mind out of the gutter.) *** I saw this …
Dec 17 2021
Preparing For Armageddon
A funny way to open a column in the second half of Advent, eh? But it’s what’s on my mind. The eighteen entries in my “Future Columns” folder can wait another day. Here is the stimulus for today’s exercise in futility: Please take the twelve minutes and watch it. It’s one of …
Dec 16 2021
Conquest’s Second Law In The Saddle
You remember Robert Conquest’s Second Law of Politics, don’t you? Any organization not explicitly right-wing Will sooner or later become left-wing. This is the consequence of a powerful dynamic: the dynamic of power-seeking. It’s a fairly simple progression, yet there are persons who fail – or refuse – to understand it: Any organization …
Dec 16 2021
URGENT: Mike Hendrix of Cold Fury in Critical Condition
I just received this from Big Country Expat: Mikes in the Critical Care/ICU. I’m waiting to find out -where- exactly. I just got word that my brother-from-another-mother Mike Hendrix, late of the famed rockabilly band The Belmont Playboys and more recently of the Blog “Cold Fury” has gotten seriously hemmed up medically …
Dec 15 2021
Assorted
These grab-bag pieces have always helped me to de-escalate in the past. Let’s see whether this one follows the pattern. *** A few days ago, the New York Times published a piece about rising French politician Eric Zemmour that was hysterical even by that paper’s standards. John Hinderaker at Power Line provides a …
Dec 14 2021
Brutal But More Likely Than Not
Yes, I’m back. I needed a few days off, in part to get The Discovery Phase released, but in larger part to flush the static out of my head. Anyway, it’s hard to type with your fists. Puts a lot of stress on the keyboard, too. This morning, I encountered an unusually frank …
Dec 12 2021
New Fiction
Loren was good looking, well mannered, and highly intelligent. He was broadly competent in applied mathematics, the physical sciences, and computer technology. He could fix almost anything, and would do so happily. Yet for years he’d spent most of his days doing janitorial work at a state college. While at age forty-eight he had …
Dec 12 2021
Presented Without Comment
I hadn’t paid much attention to Jesse Watters before this. I will henceforward.
Dec 10 2021
Intentionally Untitled
“When it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and acts like a duck, I call it a duck. Call it a bunch of roses. It still quacks.” – Robert A. Heinlein, Glory Road Some pieces need no titles. Others can’t abide them. As for the quote above, hang in there. …
Dec 09 2021
Monopolies And What They Want
I’ve got news for you, Gentle Reader: You are a monopoly. Surprised? It’s true, though: You are the one and only source for goods and services made by you. Because of the 13th Amendment, you have absolute control over the source of those goods and services. Assuming you’re not incarcerated for a felony …
Dec 08 2021
The Speculations Of Unbelievers
Many persons who lack faith claim to be disturbed by those of us who have it. In some cases, this is because the unbeliever fails to understand the nature of a religious faith. In others, the unbeliever misunderstands or misconstrues an important characteristic of religious faith: inasmuch as it is unprovable by its nature, …
Dec 07 2021
Separations
(No, not “reparations.” Spelling matters at Liberty’s Torch. We’re carful about it. We proofread very carfully, both for spelling and to make sure we don’t any words out.) These days it seems like every noisy group in America wants “our own space.” That means different things to different people, of course, but the …
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