Joel B. Pollak - Page 324

Astonishingly low rainfall. Low snow levels on the mountains. Rivers at two to three percent of normal levels. And yet–plenty of water for the state’s farms, lawns and gardens. It’s not California, where Gov. Jerry Brown has warned residents to

The Obama administration’s latest diplomatic flub involves Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, who told the U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine to “f— the E.U.” in his efforts to assist the Ukranian opposition in its confrontation

Iranian state television aired a simulated airstrike on Israel and on American targets on Friday, as a warning of the kind of response that could be expected if either country attacked Iran’s nuclear program. The broadcast needs to be taken

The latest edition of Politico Magazine features a profile of California Gov. Jerry Brown and his ambition–now more than three decades old–to bring high-speed rail to the state. The happy coincidence of Barack Obama’s enormously wasteful and ineffective stimulus allowed

When Breitbart News first noted on Jan. 21 that Iran was sending its first warships to the Atlantic, the mission was presumed to be a mere tour of the open seas. On Feb. 8, however, Iran’s Northern Naval Fleet Commander Admiral

The push for new sanctions on Iran in the event that the interim nuclear deal fails to stop the regime’s nuclear program has been abandoned.  The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the country’s leading pro-Israel lobby, had pushed for

Left-wing Jews may hope that their increased willingness to criticize Israel might spare them some of the worst of anti-Israel hatred from Palestinian advocates and antisemites. Not so, sadly. The Jewish Journal of Los Angeles reports that a beautiful mural

Sandra Fluke, who is now running for state Senate in California’s 26th district rather than for the congressional seat being vacated by Democrat Henry Waxman after forty years, says that while people should not vote for her because she’s a

Tom Bevan and Carl Cannon take Ezra Klein for a spin in the latest edition of RealClearPolitics’ “Morning Commute.” The duo has posted several clips of their interview with Klein, but one this morning is particularly strange. They ask Klein

When the Congressional Budget Office announced on Tuesday that Obamacare would now prompt 2.5 million workers to leave the labor force in the next ten years, the left howled in unison. Shaking their fists at the media, they insisted they

A new poll by Israel’s Geocartography Institute found that 70% of Israeli Jews do not trust the U.S. to protect Israeli security interests in negotiations with the Palestinian Authority, according to the Jerusalem Post. The poll, which was conducted among 500

When Lisa Ebiner Gavit, president of Students for Life at the University of Southern California, arrived at the famous Tommy Trojan statue last month to take down her organization’s display commemorating the 41st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, she

Comedian Stephen Colbert took a swing at Breitbart’s own Michael Patrick Leahy on Monday evening, setting him up as the target in a liberal pushback against conservatives who criticized Coca-Cola’s commercial during the Super Bowl. The 60-second spot features children

Meet the next wave of drone technology: unmanned surface vessels (USV), otherwise known as marine drones. Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled the Katana on Tuesday, and the “unsinkable” boat can function either as a drone or as a manned combat vessel.

The New York Times announced Thursday that operating profits had fallen 12% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the same period a year before. Earnings per share dropped by roughly two-thirds, from $0.76 to $0.24. Total revenues were down

Amidst deteriorating relations between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government, the State Department has criticized Israel for approving the construction of over five hundred housing units in Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem that are across the pre-1967 lines, when East

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University has devoted its latest edition of Strategika, its online military history journal, to the question of drones. Drones have been important to our national security strategy since the late years of the Bush administration,

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN’s Jake Tapper that France had been placed “on notice” for its violations of sanctions against Iran, according to an interview to be broadcast Wednesday on The Lead with Jake Tapper. Kerry said:

The New York Observer has made a huge splash with an investigative story by editor Ken Kurson on internal tensions at the New York Times. According to Kurson’s story, the Times‘ reporters have growing contempt for the “tyranny and lethargy” of the

Sandra Fluke, the controversial birth control advocate who became an icon of women’s rights during the 2012 presidential election, has pulled out of the race to replace retiring Rep. Henry Waxman in California’s 33rd congressional district. The Los Angeles Times reports

The Los Angeles Times reports that once Obamacare customers navigate the confusing websites and pay the (often higher) premiums, they face a new problem: many doctors do not accept Obamacare insurance policies. It tells the story of a cancer patient who was

Meet Mona Liza Abdo, a Christian Arab who volunteered to serve in the Israel Defense Force (IDF).  My job as a commander in the IDF is to prevent terrorist attacks, smuggling operations and illegal entry into the country. I think

Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post is the latest to defend President Barack Obama’s use–past, present, and future–of executive orders to circumvent Congress. She argues that his “push-the-envelope moves” are “within the bounds of the modern presidency.” Marcus is not alone

The Nation, which foamed at the mouth with righteous liberal outrage during the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman controversy of 2012-3, has declared Woody Allen guilty of sexual assault because he and his alleged victim fit the right profiles. The verdict was

A sniper attack in April 2013 that disabled several transformers at a substation near San Jose, CA was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred,” according to officials, and may have been a

White House spokesperson Jay Carney is not known for his honesty or command of the facts. So it is hardly a surprise that he would use misleading statistics in an attempt to dismiss a Washington Post report that the federal government’s

Marisa Gerber of the Los Angeles Times has an interesting piece Tuesday about how the gentrification of the Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park has forced the gangs out of what was once a notorious crime-ridden neighborhood. Normally, that would be

Sandra Fluke has made it official: she has filed to run for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) after 40 years.  The birth control advocate who shook up the 2012 presidential campaign does not live in the

National Security Advisor and former UN Ambassador Susan Rice took to Twitter on Monday night to blast Israel for widespread recent criticism of Secretary of State John Kerry by Israeli government officials. The torrent of tweets ran from at 8:14

President Barack Obama’s home state, which has been governed by Democrats throughout his national political career, has slipped in the rankings and now has the third-worst unemployment rate in the nation. Though the jobless rate was the same in December

The Obama administration is not expecting to meet its April 29 deadline for introducing a framework for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, owing to persistent differences between the two sides, the Jerusalem Post 

Tevi Troy, former Bush administration official and pop culture aficionado, has noted in Forbes that President Barack Obama’s reference to Mad Men in his State of the Union address last week continues the president’s habit of using such symbols to connect

Salon.com is a reliably left-wing media outlet given to regular outbreaks of radical pique that earn top billing on MSNBC’s prime-time panels. Yet even a hawkish outlet like Salon can go too far. On Sunday, Salon’s Jesse Myerson published an

Californians suffering from the state’s worst drought in memory are turning to desperate measures. Some are letting their lawns die. Some are showering with friends. And some are gathering for rain dances.  The San Juan Intertribal Council has staged Native