The man you see (indistinctly) in the photo above is Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who spoke before a packed crowd at the Women’s National Republican Club last night on a variety of subjects. Although the invitation I responded to billed the evening as a discussion of sanctuary cities, Vance did not address the topic until prompted by an audience member during the question and answer session, approximately 40 minutes or so after he began speaking.

I can’t say I was surprised by his reluctance to address the subject, despite its topicality. The New York County District Attorney’s office is charged with the prosecution of those who violate the laws of New York State. Those who violate federal law are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York-a point Mr. Vance emphasized when I pressed him on a recent decision to release a violent, self-declared member of MS-13 who was in this country illegally from prison.

That said, his office does occasionally come into contact with illegal immigrants through their encounters with the New York Police Department, which he implicitly acknowledged when he spoke of protecting the status of those who had been victims of crimes while residing in this country illegally. Putting aside the circular logic of this argument, i.e. aren’t predatory criminal aliens, such as the illegal day laborer who murdered acclaimed actress and director Adrienne Shelly, protected under the same umbrella sheltering domestic abuse victims, there is another objection to be raised. Namely, there is already a federal program, known as the U Visa, which ostensibly protects these individuals.

The idea that New York City needs to codify policy which directly conflicts with federal law in order to protect the safety of those in this country illegally is the height of absurdity. To the contrary, these directives actually imperil the lives and safety of those they ostensibly seek to protect-as well as the lives of American citizens-as those criminal aliens who abuse and terrorize their partners and children are given blanket immunity for crimes which would otherwise place them in the deportation pipeline and out of the reach of those whose lives they have destroyed. In fact, after Mr. Vance’s talk had concluded, a (legal) immigrant shared a personal anecdote with me about a hairdresser whose husband had attempted to suffocate her to death, but was allowed to remain in this country-illegally, naturally-even after being brought to the attention of the relevant authorities.

It should be said in Mr. Vance’s defense that he stated categorically that illegal aliens who had committed violent crimes should be deported, which is a far cry from Mayor De Blasio’s stance. However, it’s worth noting that the Manhattan DA is a political post, which is dependent upon the will of the voters, which in this case happened to be a group of New York Republicans. Just as his avowal of support for stop and frisk might have been downplayed before more progressive venues, it’s possible that he might have temporized even more on this subject if speaking to a group like the National Council of La Raza, or the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus.

Overall, the audience was surprisingly receptive to DA Vance’s message, which in retrospect probably shouldn’t have been that surprising. The Republican Party of New York City, but particularly the desiccated husk of a party which still exists in Manhattan, is run primarily by the Rockefeller and Lindsay Republicans who once exercised real power in this city and state. Adele Malpass, who delivered some introductory remarks before Cyrus Vance stepped up to the podium, praised the District Attorney’s efforts to kill a bill which would have prevented the arrest of innocent New Yorkers carrying gravity knives. I’m sure the GOP mainstay who asked him later in the evening what he was doing to crack down on gun dealers appreciated this bold stance against individual rights, but I was left rather unimpressed.

For what it’s worth, I thought the event was worthwhile, despite my many disagreements with Mr. Vance, including his apparent belief that compulsory voting, along the lines of Australia, could serve as a civic inducement. Having a public official willing to submit himself to cross-examination, however circumscribed, by the public is increasingly rare and worthy of praise. Hopefully, the officials responsible for some of the problems we encounter in this city on a daily basis will embrace this willingness to engage the public, but I won’t be holding my breath.

Even as events conspire to make hash of the narrative contrived by Hillary Clinton and the national media, i.e. Vladimir Putin’s exposure of the awfulness of the Democratic Party is the true threat to American democracy, the politically correct variety show in Philadelphia proceeds apace. Before tonight is over you will have endured the entire spectrum of Democrat hideousness, from the not quite prime-time address by career limousine Marxist Bill de Blasio, to the condescending stylings of golf aficionado Michael Bloomberg, to the capstone of the evening, an address by the POTUS himself, Barack Obama.

No doubt we’ll be treated to more effusive praise of the ongoing dissolution of this country’s borders and erasure of our sovereignty. You can view the proceedings, a national examination of America’s decay, here.

Update: The passenger from Lagos who died on an Arik Air flight to New York recently suffered from cardiac arrest, and is not believed to have contracted Ebola, according to the CDC. 

The public face of the Ebola epidemic, now that Thomas Eric Duncan has expired, is unquestionably Thomas Frieden, the current head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the media regularly tout his role in stemming a tuberculosis outbreak in India-and addressing a similar proliferation of the disease in New York City-there is little discussion of his actions as this city’s Health Commissioner, particularly the more controversial aspects of his tenure.

I only raise this because of the perplexing behavior and words of Dr. Frieden in recent days, which, if anything, have only increased Americans’ suspicions that the government doesn’t know what it is doing. Perhaps the most bizarre statement to be issued by him thus far is the assertion that preventing foreign nationals from the three African nations decimated by the Ebola crisis from entering the United States would actually cause the virus to spread. Over a hundred people from West Africa land in this country every day, and as the Daily Signal points out, the State Department is still processing visas from non-American nationals in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, to the consternation of the current Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. This, despite the fact that those with Ebola presumably continue to board flights seeking medical treatment in the United States.

Only after a sustained public outcry has this administration even considered a possible travel ban, which might or might not be enacted. Keep in mind, this is a federal government that exhausts its seemingly illimitable resources trying to prevent the importation of perilous pumpkin seeds, deadly Steinways, and contraband queso. Yet people who might transmit one of the deadliest infectious diseases known to mankind are still being cavalierly waived through Customs.

It’s hard to believe that this laissez-faire attitude is born of any genuine conviction that freedom of travel and commerce is paramount, considering the actions described above. It’s even harder to believe that Mr. Frieden is concerned about the civil liberties-however broadly that phrase might be applied to non-Americans trying to enter this country illegally-of those from Ebola-infected nations. As Health Commissioner for New York City, he exhibited no such qualms about encroaching upon the privacy and circumscribing the rights of ordinary New Yorkers, so long as these crusades served the greater good. From an involuntary diabetes registry from which patients could not opt out, to an effort which did away with written consent for H.I.V. tests, to his tireless campaigns to extirpate the scourges of tobacco smoke and trans fats-heedless of any concern that these crusades might impinge upon people’s freedoms-there was no chapter of Thomas Frieden’s career as a public health czar in this city which could be even charitably characterized as civil liberties-friendly.

Why then is he exhibiting such concern for the theoretical travel freedom of those in West Africa who might infect thousands of unsuspecting Americans with a lethal disease? The only conclusion reasonable people can draw-as Ilana Mercer already has-is that our government’s suicidal devotion to open borders has occluded its vision of what poses a legitimate public health risk. What other rational explanation is there for a policy that consciously endangers the health and lives of American citizens while offering no countervailing public health or economic benefits? We’ve reached the point where radio and television personalities call for a prohibition upon the importation of bushmeat-which is already illegal-but don’t question the wisdom of an immigration policy which encourages the importation of people for whom bushmeat is a regional delicacy.

Like every other response of the White House to the growing threat posed by the Ebola outbreak, from the decision to appoint a Democratic fixer as the new Ebola czar-a choice in keeping with this administration’s subservience to political donors and party apparatchiks-the reluctance to confront the danger posed by migration from those nations devastated by Ebola is a purely political reaction. It’s bad enough that pre-20th century plagues which had been eradicated in the United States have returned-and expanded because of immigration from third world nations-but to invite individuals into this country who might be infected with a disease whose mortality rate ranges between sixty and eighty percent is the very definition of insanity.

If the recent Ebola crisis, and our government’s tragicomic response to it, teaches us anything, it is that the demise of this country will not come at the hands of Al Qaeda, ISIS, Russia, Iran, or any of our well-publicized enemies. It will come from a slavish obeisance to political correctness.

This is Election Day in New York City-among other localities-which means that we will be choosing a replacement for El Bloombito-who has other priorities-as well as numerous members of the City Council. For those readers living in Astoria, we recommend Daniel Peterson. Seeking the seat of outgoing councilman Peter Vallone Jr., Mr. Peterson has spent years trying to improve his community, most of it in the private sector-unlike most of those seeking to run our lives-and is, I readily concede, a good friend. Those seeking a capable representative, and a good steward of their tax dollars, could do much worse than electing him to represent their interests.

Another candidate from Queens who merits consideration is Craig Caruana, who has mounted a spirited challenge to the Crowley political machine, a wholly baleful influence upon the civic culture of that borough. If the  loathsome history of the Crowleys weren’t enough to persuade you to vote for Mr. Caruana, the crusade against his candidacy by militant open borders fetishists should put undecided, patriotic voters firmly in his camp. Which brings us, finally, to the potentially disastrous consequences of a Bill DeBlasio mayoralty. Although we make no endorsement in the mayor’s race, the ostensible allies of Mr. DeBlasio leave us queasy, to say the least.

We recommend visiting our good friends at The Silent Majority No More, who have some disturbing video of the amnesty crowd’s wish list for the presumptive incoming mayor of New York City. Regardless of how you vote later today, keep in mind the potential consequences of your decision. As we’ve learned repeatedly, election results matter.

Later tonight I’ll be a guest on the David Webb Show’s Founding Fathers Forum. I’ll be speaking at approximately 10 PM-the second hour-about the potential passage of S.744, the possible consequences of another mass amnesty, and what we can do to stop it. You can find the specific details of my appearance on this Facebook page, where you can also RVSP for the event. Or, you can listen to the program live on SiriusXM Patriot’s website.

It should be an illuminating discussion.

The shortcomings of Sean Hannity as a cable news host and interviewer are widely known, yet he deserves some credit for interviewing Dennis Michael Lynch, despite his network’s seeming embargo of any information critical of its CEO’s dogmatic open borders agenda, on the day America celebrated its independence from its colonial master, Great Britain. You can view part of this interview, and read a rush transcript, on the FNC website.

I urge you to pay particular attention to the discussion of the well-organized campaign by Soros-bankrolled, La Raza affiliates like Casa de Maryland to impute racism to the dissent expressed by patriotic American citizens. This tactic will be employed with increasing frequency as the cheap labor lobby and its allies redouble their efforts to push the Gang of Eight monstrosity over the finish line in the House of Representatives. Kudos to Sean Hannity for bringing this issue to the attention of a national audience, however belatedly.

Let’s hope this is the beginning of  a trend.

Update: You can also read coverage of the event by the Staten Island Advance.

The events of the past week have prevented us from discussing an issue dear to the hearts of many of our followers. Namely, the continuing, deliberate assault by public officials upon the intrinsic liberties of Americans. Specifically, the right to defend our lives and property from unprovoked aggression. We know what happens when citizens surrender their individual rights to the state; the burning fields in Mexico and the  inferno in Sweden illustrate why entrusting your security to the guardianship of the state-which in many cases is responsible for placing you in peril in the first place-is such a monumentally foolish idea.  

Unfortunately, that is precisely what public servants-who almost never serve the interests of the public-across the nation have embraced as a response to the most recent, horrific mass shootings. The most widely publicized attempt to circumscribe our right to self defense has been New York’s SAFE Act, a hastily-written, arbitrary, and capricious bill that was stampeded into law under the most questionable of circumstances and with virtually no debate.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that resistance to implementation around this state is widespread and growing. In addition to district attorneys who refuse to prosecute individuals who have run afoul of this unconstitutional, ex post facto law, there are numerous counties which have called for its repeal. In addition to these tangible demonstrations of opposition to Governor Cuomo and the legislature, there have been mass rallies, demonstrations and marches staged across the state rejecting the notion that New Yorkers who choose to exercise their constitutional rights are no better than common criminals.

One such protest was held in Eltingville, Staten Island this past weekend by Gun Rights Across America and the Richmond County Tea Party Patriots, a local counterweight to the drearily statist political forces that dominate both the borough and city.

As you can see, the rally took place in the midst of a monsoon. Nevertheless, the inclement weather was not an impediment for the several dozen Second Amendment supporters in attendance, nor the Tea Party leaders who took the platform in order to describe why the SAFE Act must be repealed.

Bobby Zahn, president of the Tea Party Patriots, was the first to address the crowd. He began his speech by describing the application process his organization went through in order to obtain a permit to gather that day. Unsurprisingly, they were initially denied by city bureaucrats, whose superiors have repeatedly attempted to thwart New Yorkers from exercising their 1st Amendment rights. Notwithstanding the fact that we live in a city that was once the nation’s capital, there is probably no city or town in this nation whose elected officials and bureaucrats are more implacably hostile to expressive speech.

A perfect illustration of this antipathy to one of the most indelible aspects of our constitutional republic can be seen in Governor Cuomo’s reaction to law enforcement officers and county sheriffs who pointed out the impracticality and unenforceable nature of the SAFE Act. Instead of meeting with them and asking for suggestions on how to modify this law, he told them to shut up. This is why resistance to Cuomo and the legislature’s actions is so vital; once we’ve yielded to assaults upon one of our inalienable rights the entire covenant of liberties is imperiled. The reason the Bill of Rights exists in its current form, a charter of enumerated rights, is to prevent our freedom from being litigated in the court of public opinion, or subjected to curtailment and/or revocation by a democratic majority.

While Mr. Zahn rightly condemned the pusillanimity of our representatives-who, with one exception, voted to send this bill to Andrew Cuomo’s desk-his speech left me questioning the viability of his strategy in seeking redress for this gross violation of our rights. Yes, we are law-abiding citizens, but that doesn’t mean that we are compelled to submit to laws that are clearly violative of the Constitution. After all, what is a law? If it’s simply a decree that we must submit to-regardless of whether or not it’s consonant with basic Constitutional principles-then what’s the point of political participation of any kind?

As Edmund Burke declared, All human laws are, properly speaking, only declaratory; they have no power over the substance of original justice.

As part of its mission statement, the Tea Party Patriots pointedly reject the notion of majoritarian rule; which is good, because as Mr. Zahn declared throughout his speech, people who share our beliefs are in the distinct minority in this state. As welcome as Andrew Cuomo leaving office might be-and as necessary as building opposition to his policies is-that doesn’t mean we should abdicate responsibility for defending our innate rights. Launching legal challenges to blatant encroachments upon our Constitutional rights is an important safeguard of our rights, as civil rights attorney Alan Gura has demonstrated  repeatedly, and needs to be part of any movement intent on thwarting statutes like the Safe Act.

However, nullification-whether on a statewide or city and county level-can’t be taken off the table. To the contrary, moves to nullify these laws-like the anti-SAFE Act resolutions passed by many counties in upstate New York-should occupy a prominent place in any political strategy designed to thwart their implementation. Fundamentally, this is a debate over whether the state is able to deprive you of your natural rights; whether these inerrant rights are subject to rescission by a majority of legislators.

It comes down to the question of whether we should yield to laws that are unjust and unconstitutional by their very nature.

That’s why the speech by Louis Adimando-who is arguably more knowledgeable of the law than those responsible for drafting the SAFE Act-was so refreshing. He contextualized Governor Cuomo’s attack upon the Second Amendment into the broader assault upon civil liberties and rights we’re currently enduring. The attempts by the Obama administration to undermine the 1st Amendment, including  freedom of the press, as well as its sustained assault on the 4th Amendment, pose no less of a threat than efforts by Cuomo and his fellow governors to deny individuals the ability to exercise their right to keep and bear arms.

That is what the debate, such as it is, over the SAFE Act boils down to. There are rights enjoyed by mankind which predate the creation of governments, and which were incorporated into the text of this nation’s founding documents because they are inalienable, i.e. incapable of being surrendered. Regardless of  how politicians interpret the Constitution, the words of that document represent real rights, not artificial constructs that are only intended to diminish the scope of our freedoms. These are rights that are universal, not delimited to uniformed officers, be they active duty or retired.

I have to commend Dino Longueira for not only urging people to join the National Rifle Association-which has a well-deserved reputation as a lobbying powerhouse on Capitol Hill-but smaller, grassroots gun rights organizations like Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership and Gun Owners of America. These organizations, although underfunded, are the first line of defense in the war to preserve our civil liberties and civil rights. These groups constitute the hemoglobin of a thriving republic’s bloodstream, and to the extent that the NRA resists temporizing its principles, they are responsible.

The right to defend your life, property, and liberty is a fundamental right, and it’s not simply a matter of keeping your guns. As long as tyrannical governments have existed, there have been attempts to disarm the population. The same arbitrary distinctions between ordinary citizens and those deputized by the state were invoked in past weapons bans having nothing to do with firearms. Even today, restrictions imposed upon the possession of defensive weapons can be found in nations across the globe, including the United Kingdom, which has some of the most draconian penalties for violating these restrictions on the planet, although I doubt the Lee Rigby’s family finds much solace in that.

The man who drafted the Declaration of Independence was correct when he wrote, 

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yeild, and government to gain ground.

However, that does not mean we can not and should not resist the impulse by the Cuomos and the Malloys to arrogate more power to the state even as they attempt to strip us of our liberties. The widespread and spontaneous resistance to the SAFE Act, as well as other attempts to erode the protections of the Second Amendment, is a sign that Americans are not as pliant as our authoritarian leaders and their political apparatchiks believe us to be.

For a transcript of the remarks at this rally by the Tea Party Patriots, Molon Labe by Legal, Political Processes, and to see a few of the (much better) photos taken by my friend Virginia Ross, check out this thread on Free Republic.

In summary, DUMP CUOMO and stick to your guns!

As most you probably know, Edward I. Koch is no longer with us. After a protracted battle with pneumonia, among other ailments, the three term mayor of this city finally succumbed to the limitations of age. As well as being a career politician and often contrarian Democrat, Ed Koch was-as the photo above indicates-a decorated veteran of the Second World War.

One of the unfortunate legacies bequeathed by Mayor Koch was an executive order that gave de facto immunity to illegal aliens under the auspices of public safety, one which has been reaffirmed repeatedly by his successors in spite of its conflict with federal law. Although he was not the only New York politician to support inarguably harmful, counterproductive-and often lethal-policies, this part of his mayoralty did establish the precedent for city agencies flouting federal immigration law. A precedent that will inevitably be expanded upon if the current Democratic front-runner occupies Gracie Mansion this time next year.

That said, Edward Koch was a rational man-unlike so much of the governing class-and when confronted with inexorable facts he accepted them, which is why he vehemently opposed the Democratic Party’s wholesale amnesty push, and as late as this past November condemned the cretinous half-wits at the editorial page of the New York Times for  their craven attacks against those who support American sovereignty and law. Even though he couldn’t close Pandora’s box, his words and actions after leaving office demonstrate the depth of his humanity, something all but invisible to the current collection of vultures which populate Albany, Manhattan, and the nation’s capital.

As someone who cared about his country-and countrymen-Edward Koch is worth remembering.

Note: For those of you that would like to help the residents of Oakwood Beach who  have been devastated by Hurricane Sandy, my friend Tracy Diaz has established a chipin called the Oakwood Beach Rescue Fund, which will assist some of the people impoverished in this storm’s aftermath.

One of the tragedies of Hurricane Sandy, in addition to the enormous human and material cost it has exacted from our city, is the misery which the chronic inefficiency and incompetence of our government has wrought. From the economically incoherent and historically ignorant institution of price controls to the resuscitation of policies as intellectually vapid as the men who impose them, the specter of the state making the lives of those already suffering even more unbearable is everywhere.

Even the federal bureaucracies established to ostensibly aid people who have been the victims of natural disasters are woefully incapable of executing even the most elementary aspects of their missions. No one grasps this concept more acutely than the residents of Staten Island, who have seen firsthand why relying upon the generosity of government bureaucrats is such a risky proposition.

I’ve experienced the ineptitude of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at least once today when I encountered a group of no doubt well-intentioned FEMA volunteers who were canvassing my neighborhood. To what end? I honestly can’t answer that question. Granted, there have been sporadic power outages throughout the past two weeks-Internet connections are still patchy-and there aren’t many local gas stations in operation. However, I can’t think of anything in my town which necessitates emergency services-least of all those provided by a six billion-dollar federal agency, especially when there are blocks less than a five minute-long drive from my house which resemble ransacked villages.

Aside from handing out fliers advertising loan guarantees from the federal government and listing a phone number where you’re greeted with a pre-recorded message, I don’t see what exactly they accomplished in their brief tour of my neighborhood-other than wasting a few gallons of gas. Although I and my immediate neighbors were lucky enough to have survived Hurricane Sandy more or less intact-the worst damage my home received was a blow to its already partially disassembled gutters-some of my friends who don’t live as far inland were not as lucky.

Tina Sabella Downer, like many residents of Oakwood Beach, experienced an immeasurable loss when the home she and her family had lived in for nearly two and a half decades succumbed to the ravages of Hurricane Sandy. Her story illustrates the lunacy of depending upon the responsiveness of government officials, let alone relying or depending upon their munificence to protect you or your loved ones. This is a lesson that tens of thousands of New Yorkers-including scores of families living in NYCHA housing units-are experiencing in the most palpable way possible.

Tina’s letter is reproduced in its entirety below.

I need this story to spread, please help me get this out; I also need the media at 45 Foxbeach Avenue.

My husband and I purchased our home in 1988 in Oakwood Beach. It is a blue collar, working class neighborhood. Many residents are NYC Employees… all owner occupied, we take pride in where we live…though the homes are small, they are well kept, some residents such as myself loved it so much that we expanded instead of moving, because it is like living in a nature sanctuary, we are surrounded by wildlife, and the residents respect it.

Understand that America is God’s Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and re-forming! Here you stand, good folk, think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups, your fifty languages, and histories, and your fifty blood hatreds and rivalries.

But you won’t be long like that, brothers, for these are the fires of God you’ve come to – these are fires of God. A fig for your feuds and vendettas! Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians—into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American.

–The Melting Pot (1908)

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy continues to inflict damage upon the Northeast, particularly the Tri-State Area. The communities of Breezy Point, and the Rockaways, as well as the coastal communities of the Jersey Shore bore the brunt of Sandy’s wrath-as we’ve detailed throughout this past week.. However, the devastation from this natural disaster, including the tragic deaths of nearly two dozen Staten Islanders and destruction of large parts of the barrier islands, has impacted the entire states of New York and New Jersey. Needless to say, our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who suffered, and continue to suffer, as a result of this unprecedented natural disaster.

One of the sights and sounds we’ve become inured to over the past week is the routine press conferences held by local public officials. Particularly, the current mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, who has used the platform of his office to do everything from dispense information about power outages, to order NBA Commissioner David Stern to call off the inaugural game of the Barclays Center, home to the Brooklyn Nets.

Mayor Bloomberg has also dispensed Spanish-language synopses of each address before the customary Q&A session with members of New York City’s press corps. While there has been much mockery of his stilted attempts at bilingualism, including a trenchant parody of the Mayor written by someone who goes by the online pseudonym El Bloombito, I think there is a much more substantive issue at stake than the Michael Bloomberg’s fluency en Espanol. Namely, the sort of ethno-linguistic fracturing and polarization that today’s modern species of politician excels at.

Undoubtedly, some see Mayor Bloomberg’s nasally stabs at communicating with monolingual, Hispanic New Yorkers as a commendable form of outreach to this city’s burgeoning Latino community. As an overture of friendship to disenfranchised citizens, legal permanent residents, or illegal aliens-of whom he’s so fond-who cannot comprehend this nation’s lingua franca. However, the truth is much more unsavory, and reflects the real priorities of Michael Bloomberg’s mayoralty.

This is a man whose primary political ambitions have not been eliminating public graft, political corruption, or blatant cronyism, nor improving the efficacy of public services, nor addressing our city’s dismal public education system, and certainly not relieving the burden upon middle class taxpayers. Rather, his focus has been on suppressing Americans’ right to keep and bear arms-while some of his own police officers smuggle stolen weapons-as well as crusading for the complete abolition of any immigration controls which still exist, in spite of the crimes, often heinous-sometimes lethal-illegal aliens inflict upon ordinary New Yorkers, and other Americans, each and every day.

Minimizing our common language  is simply of a piece with Mayor Bloomberg’s campaign to negate the essential characteristics we once shared as Americans. Communicating in Spanish is a transparently political ploy, not a sincere attempt to transmit vital information. There are already many Spanish-language television networks and radio stations which broadcast each address the mayor delivers, in its entirety, in Spanish.

Furthermore, this city has had a large Spanish-speaking population for the better part of a century-from the Dominican immigrants who came here at the turn of the last century  to the Puerto Rican transplants who came here after  Operation Bootstrap-yet despite this linguistic diversity, and the well known tendency of New York politicians to pander to various ethnic constituencies, no previous occupant of Gracie Mansion felt compelled to provide real-time translations of his press conferences in any other language.

What’s even more intriguing is that he doesn’t provide a precis of his speeches in languages other than Spanish, despite the fact that-as multiculturalists who oppose assimilation never tire of telling us-this city is a beautiful mosaic-some would liken it to the Tower of Babel-of foreign languages. There is no summary delivered in Korean, or Tagalog, Hebrew or Russian, although the way things are going, that might soon change. No press conference is interrupted in order to deliver remarks in Creole or Russian, despite the fact that many New Yorkers communicate in those tongues.

This lays bare the hypocrisy at the heart of the multicultural mindset and open borders dogma, which does not seek diversity so much as conformity. The tortured Spanish transliterations of Mike Bloomberg, like the Spanish stump speeches of Mit Romney’s son Craig, are calculated to appeal to a target demographic which the mainstream media, ethnic grievance industry, as well as its benefactors in office, have extolled as the only important slice of the American nation, whether it be in entertainment, employment, or political spoils.

Even though our dissatisfaction with Mayor Bloomberg’s mangled Spanish might seem like a petty quibble at a time like this, the persistent failure of bilingual education, which has squandered millions of dollars in New York City since its inception, demonstrates that there are consequences to this misguided policy, the worst born of them born by its intended beneficiaries.

Something to consider the next time El Bloombito decides to address the city’s press corps.