Free Republic

“From its inception in the 1920s, the Palestinian movement has drawn inspiration from rabid Jew haters in Europe, and Germany in particular,” writes David Horowitz. “In the 1930’s the Muslim Brotherhood translated Mein Kampf into Arabic. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem – the George Washington of the Palestinian national movement – was an ardent admirer of Hitler. When World War II broke out, he moved to Berlin where he recruited an Arab legion for Hitler and laid plans to create an Auschwitz in the Middle East.” The Nazi link is well established and a cult film provides insight.In The Big...

A feud is playing out between two public agencies in Southern California this week over beach access. The accusations started on Friday evening when the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) — a public agency dedicated to preserving parklands and coastal access in and around Los Angeles — accused the city of Malibu of tearing down its signs directing visitors to “hidden” public beaches along the famous coastline. “It can be very difficult to find this public access down to this hidden beach,” the MRCA’s Edgar Del Campo said in a video shot on Broad Beach Road, near Lechuza Beach....

LOS ANGELES — Anthony Grigore is a Democrat. But as he waited Thursday at an In-N-Out Burger in El Segundo for his meal, Grigore made it clear party loyalty would only go so far. Just hours earlier, the head of the California Democratic Party called for a boycott of the famed burger chain after a public filing revealed that the company had recently donated $25,000 to the state’s Republican Party. “Eating at In-N-Out is such a standard thing to do across California,” Grigore said, dismissing the boycott idea as a bit silly.

On March 6, 1998, a little movie called “The Big Lebowski” opened in half-empty theaters across the country, and anyone expecting the Coen brothers to get serious for their follow-up to the Oscar-winning “Fargo” was in for a very chill surprise. A dopey but profound slacker noir about a guy — a conscientious objector to all human conflict — whose quest to avenge a soiled rug unravels into a wild goose chase involving all sorts of inherent vice, “The Big Lebowski” may not have been much of a hit at the box office, but it took on a life of...

Full title: Actor Jon Polito, known for roles in Coen brother films 'The Big Lebowski' and 'Miller's Crossing,' dead at 65 Actor Jon Polito, who was best known for his roles in Coen brother films like "The Big Lebowski," "Miller's Crossing" and "Barton Fink," has died. He was 65.

NEW YORK - Philip Seymour Hoffman, who won the Oscar for best actor in 2006 for his portrayal of writer Truman Capote in "Capote" and created a gallery of other vivid characters, many of them slovenly and slightly dissipated comic figures, was found dead Sunday in his Greenwich Village apartment. He was 46 years old, and leaves behind a longtime partner, Mimi O’Donnell, and three children. While the cause of death has not been made official, a drug overdose is believed to be responsible. Hoffman was found dead in his Manhattan apartment after a 911 emergency call from a friend...

-- snip -- Watching The Big Lebowski in 2008, it becomes clear that appreciating Walter is essential to understanding what the Coen brothers are up to in this movie, which is slyer, more political, and more prescient than many of its fans have recognized. Perhaps that's because Walter, with his bellowing, Old Testament righteousness and his deeply entrenched militarism, is an American type that barely registered on the pop-culture landscape 10 years ago. He's a neocon -- snip -- Is this eerie foreshadowing of the second Iraq war coincidental? Not entirely. The Coen brothers created a character with traits...