
I’m writing this particular piece on the southbound Amtrak from Los Angeles to San Diego. My daughter and I are on our way to pick up my wife from her Navy base, where she’s on reserve duty at the moment.
by Joel B. Pollak23 Mar 2014, 12:54 PM PST0
In March Madness, you live and die by the upsets. And that’s what happened to the “brainy bracket,” my attempt to pick the winners based on their academic ranking in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. I picked Stanford
by Joel B. Pollak23 Mar 2014, 11:49 AM PST0

Far-left KPFK, otherwise known as Pacifica Radio, has been broadcasting progressive propaganda throughout California, and across the world, for many years. (In South Africa, where I lived for several years, you could hear archival Pacifica broadcasts by Noam Chomsky and
by Joel B. Pollak23 Mar 2014, 6:23 AM PST0

The Los Angeles Times‘ Evan Halper documents what attendees at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, D.C. also noted: namely, that there is a sharp rise among conservatives in enthusiasm for, and interest in, liberalizing marijuana laws. Conservative
by Joel B. Pollak23 Mar 2014, 5:25 AM PST0

Scott Olsen, the Iraq war veteran who suffered a fractured skull and related injuries when he was hit with a projectile fired by police on the front line of the Occupy Oakland protest in October 2011, has reached a $4.5
by Joel B. Pollak23 Mar 2014, 4:59 AM PST0

The perpetual amnesia of the mainstream media regarding much of what President Barack Obama never ceases to amaze. In Sunday’s New York Times, Jason Horowith previews Obama’s meeting later this week with Pope Francis by exploring the president’s early work
by Joel B. Pollak23 Mar 2014, 4:27 AM PST0

In Los Angeles this week, three city council members blamed fracking for an earthquake, though they are not actually certain whether any fracking has occurred. In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio is continuing his fight to crush charter schools that
by Joel B. Pollak21 Mar 2014, 1:36 PM PST0

How desperate are Democrats to sell Obamacare? So desperate that they’re adopting the Tea Party’s beloved symbol, the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, to sell it, as per this tweet by Democrat strategist Christine Pelosi (yes, that Pelosi family).
by Joel B. Pollak21 Mar 2014, 8:23 AM PST0

Half of those who called Covered California for help in enrolling in Obamacare in February and March hung up after waiting on hold, Chad Terhune of the Los Angeles Times reports. The California program, which is touted by Obamacare’s supporters as
by Joel B. Pollak21 Mar 2014, 6:39 AM PST0

University of California-Santa Barbara Professor Mireille Miller-Young, who teaches “Pornography; Sex Work; Black Film, Popular Culture and Art,” among other topics, has been charged with vandalism, battery and robbery after stealing a pro-life poster from a demonstration on campus and
by Joel B. Pollak21 Mar 2014, 5:09 AM PST0

As the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament continues, the “brainy bracket“–in which I chose winners based on their academic rankings by U.S. News & World Report–remains largely intact. Harvard’s upset win over Cincinnati preserved their Elite Eight
by Joel B. Pollak20 Mar 2014, 10:16 PM PST0

Michael Madigan, the all-powerful Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, announced Thursday that he would direct the Democrat-controlled state legislature to place a referendum on the November ballot that would raise taxes on millionaires by three percent. The measure
by Joel B. Pollak20 Mar 2014, 9:57 PM PST0

We love Twitter, but it’s losing over $1,000 every minute. That’s according to a new website called “Turning a Profit,” which is hosted by worldpayzinc.com, a mobile credit card payments company. The site allows users to click a stopwatch and
by Joel B. Pollak20 Mar 2014, 2:38 PM PST0
Israel’s Minister of Defense, Moshe “Bogey” Ya’alon, has been forced to apologize to the U.S. for the second time this year. His crime: telling the truth–again. Earlier this week, he said that Israel would have to face Iran alone because
by Joel B. Pollak20 Mar 2014, 6:22 AM PST0

BERKELEY, CA — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) received a warm welcome from a packed audience at the University of California-Berkeley on Wednesday afternoon, as he addressed the Berkeley Forum at International House. Paul’s message of investigating and restraining the Central
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 5:10 PM PST0

BERKELEY, CA — Sen. Rand Paul sips a latte and looks over at my mint tea. “What did you get?” he asks. “They don’t just have ‘coffee’ here,” an aide remarks. “Everything is some kind of special roast.” “Well, it
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 3:21 PM PST0

The left is having a collective giggle-fit over the nomination of Suzanne Atanus as the Republican nominee to challenge Jan Schakowsky in the 9th district of Illinois. I was the Republican nominee in 2010–and Atanus ran then, too. She was
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 2:44 PM PST0
Lt. General William G. “Jerry” Boykin is a man of controversial opinions, but antisemitism isn’t one of them. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) seized on a joke Boykin made to an Israeli reporter at Breitbart News’ “Uninvited II” conference
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 1:05 PM PST0
It’s time for the “manchildren” inside the Obama administration, and waving the pom-pons around it, to plug in their iPads, because they’re going to have to work overtime to defend this one. “But… but… What would Mitt Romney do?” isn’t
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 6:39 AM PST0

Though they do not actually know whether there is any hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) happening in Los Angeles, three members of the city council have introduced a resolution that blames tracking for Monday’s 4.4-magnitude earthquake, the Los Angeles Times reports. Last month,
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 5:48 AM PST0

On Tuesday evening, Loyola University of Chicago became the first Catholic institution, and the first from the state of Illinois, whose student government has passed an anti-Israel divestment resolution. The resolution, which a source says was not announced in advance,
by Joel B. Pollak19 Mar 2014, 5:20 AM PST0

A new twist has emerged in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, as a newspaper in the Indian Ocean nation of the Malvides has reported that residents of the remote island of Kuda Huvadhoo report having seen
by Joel B. Pollak18 Mar 2014, 10:44 AM PST0

Vladimir Putin seizes the Crimea, so we blockade the Bosporus. Iran defies the UN, so we sink its Persian Gulf fleet. China expands its air defense zone, so we start downing Chinese fighters. North Korea fires some missiles, so we
by Joel B. Pollak18 Mar 2014, 8:10 AM PST0

In 2012, when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney visited Poland to show solidarity with the newly free democracies of Eastern Europe, the American media mocked him. “What about your gaffes?” a journalist shrieked as Romney left a war memorial in
by Joel B. Pollak18 Mar 2014, 6:41 AM PST0

Ramadan Shalah, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization, which is funded, armed and controlled by Iran, lamented at a recent conference in Tehran that Jews love the disputed city of Jerusalem more than Palestinians and Muslims do,
by Joel B. Pollak18 Mar 2014, 6:18 AM PST0