Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Feb 13 2022
Curmudgeonry In A Nutshell
[As I’m coming off an unsatisfactory book giveaway, and the question “Why do you style yourself a curmudgeon?” has been asked afresh, I shall give myself an easy day by reposting this exegesis, which first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 in March of 2020 — FWP] *** Long time Gentle Readers are aware …
Feb 12 2022
Free Fiction!
For today, February 12 only, until Midnight Pacific time, the most daring science fiction novel since Stranger in a Strange Land: is a free download at Amazon! When the remnant of the anarchist Spooner Federation fled Earth before the genocidal wrath of the States, the fugitives had only the slimmest chance of …
Feb 11 2022
When Enemies Are Revealed As Allies
You may have already heard about this offer of assistance: U.S. officials have offered to help the Trudeau government end an anti-vaccine mandate protest blockade that is sending ripple effects through the American economy and causing increasing concern in Washington. The White House says U.S. officials had multiple conversations on Thursday with …
Feb 11 2022
Arrogance
“Only one thing do I know, and that is that I know nothing,” – Socrates of Athens “All this has the disadvantage of being clean contrary to the observed laws of Nature,” observed MacPhee. The Director smiled without speaking, as a man who refuses to be drawn. “It is not contrary to …
Feb 10 2022
The Pipes Are Playing Us, Cont’d
You know, this quoting-other-novelists business is fun: “We’ve waited a long time to get something on you. You honest men are such a problem and such a headache. But we knew you’d slip sooner or later—and this is just what we wanted.” “You seem to be pleased about it.” “Don’t I have good …
Feb 09 2022
The Pipes Are Playing Us
The following comes from an old novel: Robert Sheckley’s The Status Civilization. I believe it will be illuminating to persons struggling to understand why the Usurper Administration is effectively promoting the consumption of the most dangerous recreational drugs: *** “Let the prisoner rise,” a voice said from behind the screen. The voice, thin, …
Feb 09 2022
The Longer The Lunacy Goes On…
…the harder it gets to say anything much about it. Consider these two developments: Too Many People Are Speaking Freely! Away With All That Disturbing “Freedom” Stuff! The “president” and his Homeland Security thugs are appalled that millions of Americans have reached evaluations and opinions that differ from the Official Story. This must …
Feb 08 2022
Chronicles of the Collapse, Continued
If your insanity meter hasn’t pinned yet, it will after you read this: The Biden administration is set to fund the distribution of crack pipes to drug addicts as part of its plan to advance “racial equity.” The $30 million grant program, which closed applications Monday and will begin in May, will …
Feb 07 2022
The Cruelest Consequence
“Death is the price we pay for life, and for all life.” — Ursula Le Guin It is so. All that lives must die. Whether it’s by accident, disease, violence, or simply old age, all that lives must die. Realists know it. We know it couldn’t be any other way. That doesn’t …
Feb 07 2022
America Neofascistica
Someone, at some time in the past, said something similar to this: “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” The original source is heavily disputed, so let’s not go there. The core of the sentence is perfectly plain: To impose an alien ideology …
Feb 06 2022
Censorings And Shapings
‘I don’t understand your viewpoint,’ she said. ‘You broke his nose, yet he had done you no harm of any sort. You expect me to approve that?’ ‘But Persephone,’ he protested, ‘you ignore the fact that he called me a most insulting name.’ ‘I don’t see the connection,’ she said. ‘He made …
Feb 05 2022
Practical Reasons
“Tell your men to sheathe their blades, my lord. Else I shall collapse the whirligig upon them, and Anam will be once more without a balance.” The baron’s eyes lit with understanding. His hand retreated from his sword. “Practical considerations, sorcerer?” “Just so.” “Will you take my realm from me, then?” …
Feb 05 2022
One Week From Today
…on Saturday, February 12, Which Art In Hope, the first novel of the widely praised Spooner Federation Saga, will be a free download at Amazon. Mark your calendar.
Feb 04 2022
A Completely Uncoded Message
If you’re not aware of them, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is one of the few organizations actively fighting for freedom of communication in today’s media, especially the Internet. They’ve made the unearthing, publicizing, and combating of threats to communications freedom and privacy their sole priority. They’re very good at it. So when the …
Feb 03 2022
History And Its Lesson
“The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.” – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel I sometimes envision History as a teacher standing before a classroom filled with squalling teenagers. The kids are entirely uninterested in what Miss History has to say. Who cares about all that old …
Feb 02 2022
Right Ways And Left Ways
Time was, soldiers had a saying: “There are three ways to do anything: the wrong way, the right way, and the Army way.” It was facetious, of course; an Army that refrains from doing things the right way as a matter of policy wouldn’t last very long. But the saying expresses some of the …
Feb 01 2022
Authority And Reality
One of the giveaways that an authority – of whatever kind – is evilly motivated is an attempt to suppress divergent convictions. George Orwell’s 1984 expressed this through its motifs of doublethink, its motto “Ignorance is Strength,” and Oceania’s Ministry of Truth. That last organ of the State labored continuously to “correct” the record …
Jan 31 2022
Why I Wrote And Promote The Spooner Federation Books
Regular Gentle Readers have noticed that I’ve been indirectly touting this novel recently. A couple have expressed curiosity about it: “If you’re going to sneak pitches for your novels into your op-eds, why that book? It’s one of your oldest.” One, whom I know more personally than most of my other readers, went even …
Jan 30 2022
Conditional Property
Have you ever seen the phrase above? I’ve encountered it only once, and that was in a fictional context: “What made you think that I’d accept a gift of this kind?” “It is not a gift, Mr. Rearden. It is your own money. But I have one favor to ask of you. …
Jan 29 2022
Trust: What It Can And What It Can’t
I feel certain that my Gentle Readers have all, at some time, heard the acidly funny line, “What are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes?” It’s not really funny, of course. Nevertheless, it alludes to a condition that has become almost as pandemic as the Kung Flu: the determination of politicians …
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