Joel B. Pollak - Page 330

As heads of state from around the world begin arriving in South Africa on Monday for the memorial and funeral to the late President Nelson Mandela, another great South African hero will be buried: Colin Eglin, the leader of parliamentary

Last week, former George W. Bush strategist Matthew Dowd offered up an archetypal example of what Harvard literature scholar Philip Fisher terms “nightmare envy,” calling for the U.S. to face an Arab Spring-style uprising against economic inequality–or, as he called

The only thing more pathetic than the mainstream media focusing on Facebook trolls is conservatives falling for the bait. On Sunday’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union, host Candy Crowley asked Newt Gingrich to respond to comments on his

California’s state-run Obamacare health insurance exchange, Covered California, is touted by the Obama administration as a model of the policy’s success. That was, in fact, the political strategy all along, as Obama’s non-profit organization, Organizing for Action, focused on helping

President Barack Obama will be visiting South Africa for the second time this year to attend Nelson Mandela’s memorial services. So, too will all other living past U.S. presidents–including Jimmy Carter, who worked with Mandela after the latter retired from

By far the best tribute to Nelson Mandela that I have read was not made in the past few days but fifteen years ago, when Mandela was about to leave the presidency. It was delivered in the Parliament of South

Agence France-Press, a global news service to which many publications (including Breitbart News) subscribe, whitewashed the crimes of jailed Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti on Friday, in publishing his tribute to the late South African leader Nelson Mandela. Nowhere in AFP’s article

With the passing of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratically-elected president, Americans have tried to understand what he meant for that country, and for the world. While some are drawn to Mandela’s role as a leader in the struggle against

The left media has continued exploiting the death of Nelson Mandela to attack conservatives. The latest version is Sam Kleiner’s attack at Foreign Policy and the Huffington Post, “Apartheid Amnesia: How the GOP conveniently forgot about its role in propping up

Rev. Jesse Jackson appeared on Fox News’ Special Report on Thursday to comment on the passing of Nelson Mandela–and to exploit Mandela’s death for his own campaign against “voter suppression,” i.e. laws requiring photo ID at the voting booth on Election

We knew the left would go there, and MSNBC’s Chris “Chicago is racist” Matthews, of course, was among the first, along with his colleague Al Sharpton, who is, of course, an icon of racial reconciliation in his own right. Matthews

Among the many dramatic events that dominated the headlines this week was an event of a private but no less dramatic nature: I survived a major car crash on Monday evening. I was driving through the calm streets of Santa

The comparison is so crude as to be laughable, but given the mainstream media’s immediate linkage of the two, and President Barack Obama’s insistence on talking about himself in his eulogy for Nelson Mandela, it must be said: Obama is

On Thursday evening, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews–a noted Barack Obama fan–will be interviewing the 44th president at one of the lowest points in his presidency. Mockery of Matthews has already ensued, especially after he promised to include some “easy” questions. Yet

The Wall Street Journal has lambasted the recent bipartisan deal in the Illinois state legislature to tackle the state’s enormous pension problem, one of the worst in the nation. The Journal cites several problems with the deal, including the fact that only 5%

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is attempting to force hospitals in California and Oregon to allow it to organize workers by using ballot initiatives that would cap executive pay and charges to patients, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The

With the Christmas retail sales season off to its worst start in years, the search is on for explanations. Some blame a still-sluggish economy–though Gross Domestic Product did actually pick up a bit last quarter, despite the federal government shutdown. 

The U.S. is withdrawing from leadership in the Middle East. At the same time, the U.S. is becoming less dependent on Middle East oil. Luke Rodeheffer and Lewis King, both graduate students at Istanbul’s Koç University, conclude from these two

This Thanksgiving was more politicized than any in recent memory. More than the last one, after Barack Obama won re-election after four disappointing years. More than the 2008 Thanksgiving, which happened right after that bitterly contentious campaign, and when Slate.com

The Obama administration has been forced to admit that the nuclear deal to which Iran agreed last weekend in Geneva, Switzlerland has not actually been finalized. In the interim, Iran is continuing its enrichment of uranium, as well as continuing

“Black Friday” sales began early this year, with many retailers opening on Thanksgiving, and lines forming outside many others. Earlier sales meant earlier brawls, with a fight breaking out at a Rialto, California Wal-Mart at 6:45 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day,

A new poll released by Rasmussen on Wednesday indicates that Americans narrowly oppose the nuclear deal with Iran, 43% to 41%–a result within the 3% margin of error.  That result contrasts sharply with the results of a poll released by Reuters/Ipsos

President Barack Obama and outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have both tried to nudge their way into America’s Thanksgiving (or Thanksgivukkah) dinners, with talking points about Obamacare and gun control, respectively. Not only is introducing contentious political issues into

Illinois lawmakers in the Democrat-dominated state legislature have adopted a pension reform plan based on Republican ideas, after years of dithering and delay.  According to the Chicago Tribune, the deal will raise the retirement age for state employees, trim cost-of-living

The Obama administration has entered secret talks with the Hezbollah terrorist group, mediated by Great Britain, according to a report in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai, as relayed by the Jerusalem Post Wednesday. The State Department lists Hezbollah as a terrorist

That’s the question Micah Zenko poses at Foreign Policy. It’s partly a rhetorical question meant to highlight a perceived double standard in how Israel’s nuclear program is treated differently from Iran’s–a double standard that isn’t really one at all, since