When it comes to individuals’ Constitutionally guaranteed rights, the lines are sharp and clear. The understanding of a right would not be possible otherwise, for a right divides the universe of actions into permissible and impermissible. Thus, it’s always possible to know when an individual’s right to his life, his liberty, or his honestly …
Category: rights
Sep 11 2023
Sovereign Immunity
[The following piece first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on June 14, 2016. And before you ask: No, I haven’t been to the kzinti homeworld since then. – FWP] Some years ago, a friend of mine who sought to pursue an action against his township for mistakenly demolishing his house was told, in …
Sep 10 2023
Where The Power Is
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. – William Pitt Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act. – The Talmud One of the most illuminating bits of the Game of Thrones series …
Sep 03 2023
The Drones Of Labor Day: An Unpacking
This tidbit should be inspiring more questions than it is at present: The New York Police Department will dispatch drones to monitor backyard parties and private social gatherings over Labor Day weekend in response to any complaints. However, some are saying that drone surveillance by police would be an invasion of privacy. …
Jul 04 2023
On Non-Payment Of Premiums
Have a few quotes from the greatest of all Americans, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson: “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.” “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a …
Jun 06 2023
The Imperative Question
Toward the end of Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden has a final meeting with the “looter elite” in which they propose a “Steel Unification Plan.” That “plan” is plainly just as vampiric as every other that emerged from the looter-ruled economy described in the novel. Yet the elite are solidly behind it…which causes Rearden to …
May 04 2023
The Plunderers Hunger Part 2: The Coin Of The Realm
Let’s start the day off with a little Ayn Rand: “Well, anyway, it was decided that nobody had the right to judge his own need or ability. We voted on it. Yes, ma’am, we voted on it in a public meeting twice a year. How else could it be done? Do you care …
Apr 19 2023
Wrong Turnings
Please don’t misinterpret what follows. I love my Church, despite my handful of disagreements with it. But now and then some of its notables go off the rails so dramatically that I’m compelled to take exception to it. The United States has a shortage of Catholic priests. Parishes from coast to coast find …
Jan 24 2023
There Are Days I Wish I Were A Journalist
…especially one who conducts interviews with politicians: U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) blamed the overturning of Roe v. Wade for the Republican party’s lackluster midterm showing during a recent appearance on Meet the Press. “It’s the reason we didn’t get more of a majority. We could have had a two dozen seat majority, …
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 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 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 …
Dec 13 2022
Accountability: A Conundrum
From the most recent dump of Twitter Files: 38. Outside the United States, Twitter’s decision to ban Trump raised alarms, including with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, and Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. 39. Macron told an audience he didn’t “want to live in a democracy where …
Oct 02 2022
Learned Soullessness
I scratched around for quite a while, looking for a title for this piece. The above is the best I’ve got, and not very good at that, so please bear with me. This is “Respect Life” weekend at my parish. We have the annual drive for funding for the local crisis pregnancy center, …
Jul 13 2022
Unmaking The Foundation
There are a myriad things I could write about this morning – you should see my “Future Columns” folder – but one has risen above (below?) the rest to evoke a balled-fist tirade from my underappreciated main computer. Courtesy of Dave Blount at Moonbattery, we have this piece of scrofulous garbage from LA …
Jun 30 2022
First California, Now New York
Remember what I said about the “may issue” states and their opposition to the right to keep and bear arms? Administrative processes can be made so painful and expensive that they deter effectively everyone from exercising their rights. California is tightening the screws one way: “Legal judgments of good moral character …
Jun 23 2022
Even When The News Is Good…
…it’s unwise to rely on the honesty or candor of the political class. A few hours ago, the Supreme Court struck down New York State’s “may issue” handgun-permit law: The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a restrictive New York gun law in a major ruling for gun rights. The justices’ …
Jun 05 2022
A Refutation
It’s looking like another brain-trying, body-exhausting day for me – yes, it’s that again — so allow me a quick squib before I go forth to challenge Mother Nature once again. The clip below should tell you what Democrats — any Democrat will do – really think of your right to keep and …
Jun 03 2022
Yes, Virginia, There IS a Great Replacement In Progress
And you are not permitted to obstruct it: I admire Paul Joseph Watson immensely. God alone knows how many people in the British Establishment would love to see him dead. The video above is the briefest taste of his oeuvre. All of it is worth watching. While he usually writes (and videographs) …
Apr 30 2022
Fetishes And Fears
Regard well: That’s a crucifix pendant. It’s a large one as such things go, because it’s meant to be worn outside the clothes. I don it when I leave the house. Does anyone else out there wear a crucifix pendant? Or a Miraculous Medal? Perhaps one of those cute “bracelet rosaries” that …
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Fran’s Recent Novels
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