Joel B. Pollak

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Articles by Joel B. Pollak

Obama on Garner: ‘My Tradition is Not to Remark on Cases’

In his remarks Wednesday on the non-indictment of the New York police officer who allegedly choked Eric Garner to death during a routine arrest, President Barack Obama claimed that he does not involve himself in such controversies. “My tradition is not

Obama on Garner: ‘My Tradition is Not to Remark on Cases’

Netanyahu Gambles on New Elections

Israeli voters will go to the polls next year to elect a new government after the coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu collapsed this week. The government fell after internal bickering among the various ministers and party leaders became

Netanyahu Gambles on New Elections

Majority of Californians Expect Children to be Poorer

A new poll has found that a majority of Californians expect their children to be poorer than they are. That result comes despite a generally positive outlook on the state and positive ratings for re-elected Gov. Jerry Brown, according to

Majority of Californians Expect Children to be Poorer

Ferguson Protests Target Black Police Officers

In the second incident of its kind, demonstrators ostensibly angry about the Ferguson, Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict former police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown have targeted black police officers for abuse. It

NPR Continues Its Anti-Israel Bias

For the past several years, National Public Radio earned a reputation for anti-Israel bias–so much so that even some liberal supporters began mocking it as “National Palestinian Radio.” That sad tradition continued Monday on NPR’s Morning Edition, in a report

NPR Continues Its Anti-Israel Bias

Ya’alon is Israel’s Indispensable Man

The State of Israel is politically adrift. As it reels from a new wave of violence incited by Palestinian leaders, and debates a new bill that would define the country formally as a “Jewish state,” the coalition government of Prime

Ya’alon is Israel’s Indispensable Man

Columnist Backs Mayor Johnson’s Absurd Ferguson Comments

Marcos Breton, columnist for the Sacramento Bee, has defended Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson’s absurd comments on the Ferguson grand jury’s decision not to indict former officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.  Breton says that Johnson is

Columnist Backs Mayor Johnson’s Absurd Ferguson Comments

O for Oxy: All Students Volunteer for Dems, All Lose

Students who volunteered for political campaigns for course credit at Occidental College are learning a hard lesson in defeat after every single one of them joined a Democratic candidate in 2014–and all of them lost. The sole survivor, Sen. Mary

O for Oxy: All Students Volunteer for Dems, All Lose

Brown Friday: Ferguson Protestors Shut Down Oakland BART

Dozens of demonstrators opposed to a Ferguson, Missouri’s non-indictment of police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown disrupted public transit in Oakland on Friday, shutting down the West Oakland BART station and slowing traffic to and

Brown Friday: Ferguson Protestors Shut Down Oakland BART

Blue State Blues: Thank You, Chuck Schumer–Sort of

New York’s Sen. Chuck Schumer has been one of the Tea Party’s most enthusiastic enemies. No sooner had the new conservative class arrived in D.C. in 2011 than Schumer began spoiling for a fight. He was virtually begging for a

Blue State Blues: Thank You, Chuck Schumer–Sort of

Koudelka at the Getty: Homage to Resistance and Freedom

Josef Koudelka, the Czech-born photographer whose smuggled images defined the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet bloc in August 1968, is the focus of a visiting exhibition, Nationality Doubtful, at the Getty Center in Los Angeles through March 22, 2015.

Koudelka at the Getty: Homage to Resistance and Freedom

Video: White Ferguson Protester Lectures Black Cop on Racism

On Tuesday evening, in the midst of the Ferguson protest outside the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), a group of protestors confronted a black police officer and challenged him. One young woman, who identified herself as a UCLA student and

Video: White Ferguson Protester Lectures Black Cop on Racism

Ferguson Protesters March Through L.A. (Updates)

On Tuesday afternoon, several hundred demonstrators voicing their outrage at the refusal of a grand jury to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown marched through south central Los Angeles.  The march was peaceful, but

Ferguson Protesters March Through L.A. (Updates)

Cheaper Oil Is Squeezing Iran

The recent drop in oil prices is making American consumers happy as they enter the holiday season. As fuel prices go down, consumer confidence and spending go up, and the economy strengthens. The opposite is true in Iran, where both

Cheaper Oil Is Squeezing Iran

Quiet Riot: California Protests Ferguson, (Mostly) Peacefully

As Ferguson, Missouri exploded in rioting following the announcement that a grand jury had elected not to indict former police officer Darren Wilson in the August shooting death of Michael Brown, protests erupted throughout California. Though some of the demonstrations

Quiet Riot: California Protests Ferguson, (Mostly) Peacefully

Mike Honda Aims at Rand Paul–and Misses

Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) issued a statement on Monday blasting Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) for comparing President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty to the internment of Japanese-Americans by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II. The Bay Area “Political Blotter”

Mike Honda Aims at Rand Paul–and Misses

Hagel Firing Will Make Things Worse

I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but firing Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense is probably the wrong thing for President Barack Obama to do. Hagel should never have been appointed in the first place, much less confirmed. (That

VIDEO: Ferguson Protestor Has Phone Stolen–While Live-Streaming Riot

Bassem Masri, a pro-Palestinian activist who is live-streaming the violent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, had his smartphone stolen as he was live-streaming the action (at 2:34 in the video below). The thief’s escape was broadcast to some 90,000 viewers around

VIDEO: Ferguson Protestor Has Phone Stolen–While Live-Streaming Riot

Obama: Hostage-Taker on Immigration

The term “hostage-taker” has been thrown around quite a bit lately, most often at Republicans in Congress, whom President Barack Obama accused of holding the country to ransom in last year’s shutdown fight over Obamacare. The latest and most brazen

Obama: Hostage-Taker on Immigration

Hagel Firing: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

The New York Times reports that President Barack Obama is about to dismiss Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. The reason given? That the White House recognized that “the threat from the Islamic State would require a different kind of skills than

Hagel Firing: Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

Iran Talks Likely Extended; The Least-bad Option

The nuclear talks between Iran and the international community have failed to reach a deal by the Nov. 24 deadline, and will reconvene next month, according to Reuters and other sources. (Update: The new deadline is the end of June

Iran Talks Likely Extended; The Least-bad Option

Ackerman: Obama’s Executive Amnesty Is Like the Emancipation Proclamation

Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi compared President Barack Obama’s declaration of executive amnesty for millions of illegal aliens to President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War. In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Yale constitutional scholar Bruce Ackerman does the same. Just

Ackerman: Obama’s Executive Amnesty Is Like the Emancipation Proclamation

Obama’s Executive Amnesty: We Are All Californians Now

While President Barack Obama’s executive amnesty is unpopular nationwide, and only enjoys 47% nationally among Latino voters, Californians surveyed in August were broadly supportive of the measure. That marks a remarkable turnaround since Proposition 187, which sought to exclude illegal

Obama’s Executive Amnesty: We Are All Californians Now

Chesler’s ‘The New Antisemitism’: A Timely Warning, Renewed

You can’t say she didn’t warn us.  In 2003, the liberal feminist Phyllis Chesler published The New Antisemitism. It was partly a reaction to the events of 9/11, partly a protest against the left’s anti-Israel posture posture amidst the terror

Chesler’s ‘The New Antisemitism’: A Timely Warning, Renewed

The Left Doth Protest Too Much: The Benghazi Scandal Remains

The left and the media greeted Friday’s release of the House Intelligence Committee report on Benghazi with glee. “#Failghazi,” the Huffington Post proclaimed. And yet, as Shakespeare wrote, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” For though the report contradicted

The Left Doth Protest Too Much: The Benghazi Scandal Remains

5 Truths About Immigration Reform

In declaring his executive amnesty on Thursday evening, President Barack Obama made the case for seizing what he once described as imperial powers. He said he had been compelled to do so because of the “broken” state of the country’s

Obama Calls Lindsey Graham’s ‘Impeachment’ Bluff on Gitmo

On June 4, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned that President Barack Obama could face “impeachment” if he continued to release terror detainees from the military prison facility at Guantánamo Bay without Congress’s explicit approval. On Thursday, however–the same day that

Obama Calls Lindsey Graham’s ‘Impeachment’ Bluff on Gitmo

Ferguson: From Amnesty to Anarchy

The media were agog Thursday with feigned outrage at the suggestion, made by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), that President Barack Obama’s unconstitutional executive amnesty could lead to “anarchy” and “violence.” CNN host Brooke Baldwin was particularly aggrieved–oddly, since she kept

Ferguson: From Amnesty to Anarchy

No Mention of ‘Constitution’ in Obama’s Amnesty Speech

In declaring his executive amnesty on Thursday evening, President Barack Obama did not use the word “Constitution” once. He cited the supposed precedent of previous executive orders by earlier presidents, and he spoke about law enforcement, but he never once

No Mention of ‘Constitution’ in Obama’s Amnesty Speech

Congress Should Cancel the State of the Union Address in 2015

Congressional Republicans are searching for ways–short of impeachment or shutting down the government–to respond to President Barack Obama’s seizure of arbitrary power over immigration law and enforcement. One way would be to cancel the State of the Union address next

Congress Should Cancel the State of the Union Address in 2015

Hours After Jerusalem Terror, UCLA Students Vote to Divest from Israel

The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) student government voted late Tuesday to recommend that the university divest from companies that are alleged to profit from Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The motion passed

Hours After Jerusalem Terror, UCLA Students Vote to Divest from Israel

The Psychosis of Palestinian Nationalism

The Jerusalem Post‘s inestimable Arab correspondent, Khaled Abu Toameh, argues that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the terror attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem–equivocally, and reluctantly–only because U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had called him “twice over the past few days

The Psychosis of Palestinian Nationalism

Barack the First Crowns Himself with Executive Amnesty

Emperor Barack Obama will crown himself on Thursday, Nov. 20 by revealing to the nation his plan to grant “amnesty” to millions of illegal aliens by an executive order delaying their prosecution indefinitely. The title “emperor” is one he himself

Barack the First Crowns Himself with Executive Amnesty