Free Republic

It’s often said that art appreciation is wholly subjective. Aesthetic tastes naturally differ, de gustibus non est disputandem, etc… And if art is a matter of taste, and not subject to critical scrutiny, then so it is with music, which is simply a subset of art. In one sense, the people who posit this argument are correct. There’s no objective, non-arbitrary measure by which you can judge the quality of a musical composition, artist, or genre. In another sense, these people are completely wrong. I hew to the Adam Carolla theory of musical appreciation. That is, there is a distinct,...

One simple word which encapsulates the sum of the aspirations harbored by Iranians throughout the world, both those in exile and those living, and suffering, in the land of their birth. It was one of the demands invoked repeatedly throughout the pro-democracy demonstrations which took place last week at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. These protests were held against the backdrop of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s last speech before the United Nations General Assembly, evoking memories of the election he purloined in order to remain in power.

Most New Yorkers-especially natives-are inured to the daily spectacle which makes their city something of a super-sized freak show. However, most of the time that sideshow is of the sort one normally expects to see in Coney Island, i.e. entertaining enough as a diversionary pursuit, but not so garish or mind-altering as to force you to reconsider your general opinion of humanity. However, every year the United Nations General Assembly-the Mos Eisley Cantina of international diplomacy-convenes in Turtle Bay so that ostensible heads of state from around the world can make pompous, almost universally forgettable speeches before an assembled crowd...

One of the more remarkable aspects of President Obama’s political career – and this is not a novel observation on my part – is his inability or unwillingness to sacrifice political capital on behalf of his ostensible allies. A perfect illustration of the lack of reciprocity between Barack Obama and his putative friends is his relationship with organized labor. Despite the fact that he most likely would never have been elevated to high office were it not for the efforts – and millions of dollars in campaign contributions – of the Service Employees International Union and AFL-CIO, his assistance in...

I attended Tuesday's small, yet spirited, rally against the decision by the Board of Health-at Chairman Bloomberg’s urging-to prohibit the sale of sugary drinks above 16 ounces at restaurants and food carts throughout New York City. There were many civically-minded New Yorkers in the crowd-such as the man seen above-brought together by the capricious whims of our current mayor.

It’s difficult to gauge the ultimate impact of this past week’s Supreme Court decision invalidating much of Arizona’s landmark immigration enforcement law, with the exception of Section 2(b), i.e. the clause empowering local police to ascertain someone’s immigration status if ”reasonable suspicion” exists when he or she is detained. Even this seeming bright spot is obscured by Justice Kennedy’s muddled opinion, which seems to invite future litigation by the usual suspects, who will have their cases heard before the same judge who has thwarted the implementation of the bulk of SB 1070 for the past two years. Heather Mac Donald,...

The issue of immigration-or even the mention of immigration enforcement-has been wholly neglected by the presumptive nominees of this country’s two major political parties. Even as prominent politicians find new ways in which to exploit ethnic divisions for the sake of political expediency, the perverse incentives of America’s federal immigration policies remain unaddressed. While Democrats seek to harvest what they expect to be a political windfall from Hispanic voters, Republicans pander, or hispander as some deem it, to what they view as an ascendent voting bloc, even going so far as introducing a bill eerily similar to one the GOP...

Even as California increasingly seems intent upon sinking into the abyss, there is some encouraging news to report from the Golden State. Most of you are familiar with the tragic story of Jamiel Shaw Jr., a bright, energetic young student-athlete from Los Angeles who was indiscriminately killed by a criminal alien while his mother was serving her country overseas. After four painful years of pursuing justice, the Shaw family can now take some comfort in the knowledge that the illegal alien gangbanger who murdered their son has been convicted by a California jury. I urge you all to listen to...

Here's a followup from Joanna Marzullo, president of New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement, describing the events surrounding her assault at the hands of pro-illegal alien thugs during the May Day march to Foley Square. Unfortunately, the banner seen above is no more. However, the spirit of defiance it embodies lives on. Here's Joanna's report: Hi NY ICers,Thank You.I can barely keep up with my emails of encouragement that I have received from people throughout our country who have viewed the footage of NY ICE, which, at the point of filming, was down to just 3 members being mobbed...

This month’s Rattle brings us a host of stories that the mainstream media didn’t cover sufficiently-preferring instead to shower accolades upon the man responsible for abandoning immigration enforcement in the name of political opportunism. We’ll cover everything from the latest spate of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens to Barack Obama’s continued roll out of administrative amnesty, which now includes directives to ignore both interior enforcement and border security. But first, we’ll examine this administration’s ongoing obstruction of Congress’s investigation into the ever-broadening gun-walking scandals. Courtesy of Sipsey Street Irregulars-whose coverage of Fast and Furious is non pareil-we learn that...

That, of course, is Roy Beck, the founder and executive director of Numbers USA, which-as I’m sure my readers are well aware-is the single most effective grassroots organization lobbying on Capitol Hill for immigration enforcement. I had the pleasure of listening to a fascinating address he delivered at the Penn Club in Manhattan last month, the penultimate in a series of lectures sponsored by the Center for Immigration Studies-events that attempt to cultivate journalists, writers, and intellects living and working in New York who share a common interest in the subject of immigration. Mr. Beck’s speech focused largely upon the...

In today’s Rattle, we cover everything from the Obama administration’s continued dismantling of border security and immigration enforcement, to the trivialization of the Civil Rights Movement by the open borders left, to congressional oversight into Attorney General Eric Holder’s obstruction of justice in the Fast and Furious probe. But first, we look at the increasingly misnamed Southern Poverty Law Center, which continues its progressive slide into buffoonery with a report into the national security threat posed by purportedly misogynistic weblogs. As Mark Krikorian explains in The Corner, the SPLC has adopted new hate objects now that its demonization of patriotic...

Monday night I had the honor of attending a tribute to the late Andrew Breitbart held in Hell’s Kitchen. I’m not sure what I was expecting from the evening, but what happened is something that can’t quite be put into words, although I’ll try my best. Over the course of three hours, over a hundred people filtered into a cramped, slightly raucous Manhattan bar that-as one of my friends remarked at the time-Andrew himself might have enjoyed. After all, he spent more than a few pages of Righteous Indignation cataloguing the extracurricular activities he engaged in while matriculating at a...

A man dying in the prime of his life, even as he was ascending to the summit of his vocation, is something that rarely occurs in this country. Even my paternal grandfather, and his son, i.e. my own father, whose lives were tragically cut short by bad genes-as well some unwise personal decisions-lived long enough to see their children graduate from college, and in some cases, bear children. That was not the case, unfortunately, with respect to Andrew Breitbart, someone who was kind enough to inscribe my copy of Righteous Indignation-his stirring memoir cum polemical call to arms-and provide me...

As those of you familiar with this website well know, Pamela Hall is not only a great photographer, videographer and documentarian, but a good friend of American Rattlesnake. And like American Rattlesnake, her websites, The Silent Majority No More and No Mosques At Ground Zero, extend political discussion into the important realm of culture. One of the more recent subjects she's explored is the intersection between a highly politicized, doctrinaire interpretation of Islam with traditional American institutions, e.g. our constitutional and common law, freedom of association and religion, and national security prerogatives. The video below is the first installment of...

Months of strenuous campaigning, millions of dollars in political advertising, and countless days of retail politicking will culminate in just a few hours, when a select few will decide who will be awarded the first presidential delegates of the 2012 Republican race for President of the United States. Although not always an accurate gauge of who is ultimately nominated by the Republican Party-a fact pointed out rather inelegantly by Jon Huntsman-the Iowa caucuses do have a significant impact upon the results of future contests, particularly the New Hampshire primary. That’s why it’s important that we scrutinize the words and deeds-and...

One of the most persistent divides between traditional conservatives and their libertarian/anarcho-capitalist counterparts involves a fundamental philosophical disagreement about immigration. While most conservatives view immigration primarily through the lens of preserving American culture by only accepting those immigrants who are assimilable and will tangibly benefit our society in the future, a view expressed repeatedly during debates over illegal immigration in this country, many libertarians view the subject in an altogether different light. For them, the question is not so much whether a particular cohort of immigrants will be an asset to the United States but whether we have any right...

Sunday, as most of you who’ve followed the past few updates probably know by now, was the day when Occupy Wall Street demonstrators decided to link up with open borders advocates a few blocks from City Hall. Of course, a number of speakers invited to the event were themselves illegal aliens, including the young girl sporting a disfigured American flag fashioned into a graduation gown. She was entreated to deliver a ten minute-long speech which-if the consequences were not so grave-would have been jaw-droppingly hilarious. In addition to lamenting the misfortune that has befallen her family merely for consciously and...

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the latest installment in the Half King’s weekly reading series. It’s only fitting that the guest of honor that evening was intrepid, English-born, Mexico City-based journalist Ioan Grillo, since the bar is owned by renowned journalist and documentarian Sebastian Junger. Junger is probably best known for his reporting from war zones, specifically Afghanistan, and there is a plaque in the bar honoring his former collaborator on the film Restrepo, the late English photojournalist Tim Hetherington. Mr. Grillo was there in order to share some anecdotes and observations related to his newly released...

Such was the title of a debate held at the Asia Society, sponsored by Thomson Reuters, which I attended several weeks ago. Coming at a time of agonizing societal fissures arising from debates over austerity, stimulus, and the wisdom of government intervention into the economy, this event pitting the backers of a Hayekian view of economics against those who espoused a Keynesian model seemed incredibly timely. After explaining to the audience the general structure of the debate and how it would be judged-spectators were given gadgets similar to those distributed at IQ2 debates, which they were to use to vote...