Joel B. Pollak

Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) distanced herself from comments by former Vice President Joe Biden in the presidential debate Thursday night, after he pledged to “transition from the oil industry.” Biden made the comment as he attempted to defend his record on fracking, a technique that allows oil and gas to be extracted by breaking up rock formations deep underground. During the Democratic primary, Biden pledged to […]

A focus group of “undecided voters” convened by pollster Frank Luntz for the Los Angeles Times chose President Donald Trump overwhelmingly after watching the final debate of the presidential election on Thursday night. Though many participants complained about Trump’s “personality” in general, many also felt he had been more “presidential” on the night. And many complained that Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden seemed vague and elusive in […]

Tony Bobulinski, a former Biden family business partner who confirmed that he was the recipient of one of Hunter Biden’s emails linked to investment with a Chinese energy company, said Thursday he will give all of his materials to the FBI. Fox News Channel White House Correspondent John Roberts initially reported Thursday afternoon that Bobulinski “will turn his electronic devices and records of business dealings with […]

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-3 on Wednesday to grant a stay against “curbside” voting in Alabama, which would have allowed disabled Americans to avoid the additional risk of exposure to coronavirus posed by voting inside a polling place. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the conservative majority, in contrast to another Supreme Court decision earlier this week, in which he sided with the liberal minority […]

New studies suggest that politics, not science, is driving local policies on school closures and re-openings. According to the non-partisan education news website The 74, the two factors most closely correlated with school re-openings are the share of the local vote that went to President Donald Trump in 2016, and the degree to which teachers belong to unions. Lower support for Trump tends to be correlated […]

“America was an idea.” Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted that statement Wednesday evening, describing the country he wishes to lead — in the past tense. Source link

CNN media reporter Brian Stelter lost his temper during a BBC Radio 4 roundtable at the suggestion that mainstream media newsrooms had shown poor ethics and a double standard in their breathless reporting of the “Russia collusion” hoax. The panel discussion discussed the controversy over censorship of the recent story about Hunter Biden’s emails, which many newsrooms ignored and the Silicon Valley social media companies actively suppressed. […]

The Wall Street Journal editorial board published a demand Tuesday evening that former Vice President Joe Biden answer questions about his son Hunter’s “influence-peddling” and “his own financial dealings — notably regarding China.” The editorial cites recent reports in the New York Post that Hunter Biden was exploring a lucrative business deal in 2017 with the CEFC China Energy Co. in which “the big guy” — allegedly Joe […]

Former Vice President Joe Biden told a Wisconsin reporter Tuesday evening that there is “no basis” for the accusation that his son, Hunter Biden, profited from foreign business partners by selling access to his father during his tenure in office. Adrienne Pedersen of Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN 12 News’ interviewed Biden, who was at his home in Delaware after “calling a lid” for several days leading up […]

Republican challenger Jeanne Ives appeared alone on a local televised “debate” in Chicago on Tuesday evening after her opponent, Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), pulled out of the event. Casten represents the 6th congressional district, in the western suburbs of Chicago, where he has faced criticism from constituents after backing the impeachment of President Donald Trump last year. Ives and Casten have debated before, and were to […]

More than 50 former intelligence officials, led by Obama-era Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, have signed an open letter alleging that the newly-released Hunter Biden emails are “Russian disinformation” — even if they are real. Clapper, who helped push the conspiracy theory that there had been “collusion” between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russian government, was joined by others — including former CIA Director John […]

Yashar Ali, a contributor to New York magazine and HuffPost who is a ubiquitous presence on Twitter, alleged Monday evening that he was sexually harassed by Rick Jacobs, a key political advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. In July, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Officer Matthew Garza sued the city, claiming that Jacobs had sexually harassed him by touching him inappropriately and making offensive remarks — sometimes […]

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Republican application to stay the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to grant the Democratic Party’s request to make several changes to mail-in voting that critics have decried as vulnerable to fraud. As Breitbart News reported last month, “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled … that ballots received three days after Election Day will still be counted — even if there […]

When “social democrat” Bill de Blasio was elected mayor in 2013, he was “anointed … as the standard-bearer for a new progressive movement,” the left-wing magazine The Nation recalled in 2016. New York under de Blasio was to provide a model for the rest of the nation about what “progressive” or “democratic socialist” governance could look like. And he certainly governed as New York’s “most progressive mayor in […]

Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered his stump speech in Durham, North Carolina, on Sunday, repeating two familiar hoaxes that have become staples of his rhetoric on the stump, during interviews, and even on the debate stage. Biden jogged out to the podium at a drive-in theater, wearing a mask, as cars and trucks honked. He slammed Trump for claiming that the U.S. was “turning the […]

Tim Murtaugh, the spokesperson for President Donald Trump’s campaign, said Sunday that the news media should ask Democratic rival Joe Biden “red, flashing, glaring” questions about allegations about his son, Hunter Biden, “selling access.” Murtaugh noted that the Biden campaign had not denied the substance of reports that Hunter Biden had arranged meetings between his business partners in Ukraine and China and with then-Vice President Biden. […]

President Donald Trump told a rally crowd in Macon, Georgia, on Friday: “Lock up the Bidens.” Trump was referring to reports that then-Vice President Joe Biden, his Democratic opponent, met with Chinese and Ukrainian business figures allegedly paying his son, Hunter Biden, to facilitate introductions to senior U.S. officials. Trump appeared to be joking: Trump: But they thought it was very unfair that Sleepy Joe who cannot […]

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Friday that absentee ballots must arrive by Election Day, November 3, to be counted — overturning a lower court decision that had extended the deadline by 14 days. DETROIT (AP) — Absentee ballots must arrive by Nov. 3 to be counted, the Michigan Court of Appeals said Friday, blocking a 14-day extension that had been ordered by a lower court […]

An adviser to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma suggested in an email in 2015 that Hunter Biden was expected to provide “deliverables” for the company, including the “ultimate purpose” of stopping “cases/pursuits into the company’s founder. The email, contained in a batch published by Ken LaCorte at the Media Action Network, is reportedly from the same laptop that has been the source for a recent series of articles […]

Former Vice President Joe Biden said during a town hall hosted by ABC News on Thursday night that eight-year-olds should be allowed to decide that they are transgender. Mieke Hacke, a voter from Pennsylvania, asked Biden the following “question”: Haeck: I’m the proud mom of two girls, eight and ten. My youngest daughter is transgender. The Trump administration has attacked the rights of transgender people, banning them […]

Retired federal appellate judge Thomas Griffith told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday that Judge Amy Coney Barrett had ruled against the tenets of her Catholic faith when the law and the Constitution required. Griffith, speaking in favor of confirming Barrett to the Supreme Court on the last day of confirmation hearings, said: I have seen firsthand that judges can and do put aside party and politics in a good faith […]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) announced Thursday morning that the Senate Judiciary Committee would subpoena Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to explain his company’s decision to suppress news about Hunter Biden and suspend the accounts of those sharing it. “Twitter is actively blocking — right now, this instant — stories from the New York Post alleging corruption and the Biden family receiving millions of dollars from communist China,” […]

The “1619 Project” of the New York Times, which falsely claimed that the American Revolution was fought partly to preserve slavery, has been named to the “Top Ten Works of Journalism of the Decade” by New York University’s journalism school. The Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute announced Wednesday that the “1619 Project” had made the decade’s top ten for “placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of […]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took Democrats to task on Wednesday morning for wanting to “pack the Court,” giving a concise definition of what the party aimed to do if it won control of the White House and the Senate in the upcoming 2020 election. Cruz said that “packing the Court” meant “expanding the number of justices to achieve a political outcome.” It did not, he added, […]

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, pronounced herself “really impressed” with Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s explanation of the doctrine of severability during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday. The issue is crucial to a current challenge to Obamacare that Barrett would hear if confirmed to the Supreme Court. In an exchange between the leading Democrat and the nominee, Barrett used a […]

CLAIM: Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said “the Affordable Care Act and its protections hinge on … the outcome of this hearing.” VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE. Barrett’s confirmation would likely not result in Obamacare being overturned, at least not now. Sen. Harris, the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President, used the bulk of her time in Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing on Tuesday to accuse the judge […]

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) questioned Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Tuesday on her use of the term “sexual preference” during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, instead of the politically correct term “sexual orientation.” The term “preference” implies a degree of choice, whereas current intellectual orthodoxy in the LGBTQ community considers sexuality and gender identity to be inherent. Earlier, Barrett had used the term “sexual preference” — […]

CLAIM: Abraham Lincoln made the “wise decision” to delay a Supreme Court appointment before an election. VERDICT: MISLEADING. Lincoln had no choice: the Senate was out of session. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said during the confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday: “The last time we had a vacancy so close to an election was when Abraham Lincoln was president. […]

CLAIM: Amy Coney Barrett “laid out the case for blocking” Judge Merrick Garland’s confirmation to the Supreme Court in 2016. VERDICT: FALSE. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) misquoted Barrett — and she fact-checked him on the spot. Sen. Leahy claimed during Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday: “You laid out the case for blocking President [Barack] Obama’s Supreme […]

Judge Amy Coney Barrett explained the judicial philosophies of originalism and textualism during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing on Tuesday, adding that Americans should expect her to express her own views within those approaches.” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) asked Barrett to explain originalism “in English.” She replied: “In English, that means that I interpret the Constitution as a law, that I interpret […]

California Republicans are defending their use of ballot “drop boxes” as a legal form of “ballot harvesting” after California’s Democratic state election officials sent them a cease-and-desist letter demanding that they stop using them. On Sunday evening, the Orange County Register reported that unsanctioned ballot drop-off boxes — many of them marked “official” — were appearing throughout the state, often at “local political party offices, candidate headquarters […]

Former Vice President Joe Biden, leading in the polls, reportedly has a short list of candidates for U.S. Attorney General — and it includes several candidates who would each pose an immediate danger to Americans’ basic liberties. Per @alaynatreene and @HansNichols, three names likely on Biden’s shortlist for attorney general:– Andrew Cuomo– Sally Yates– Stacey Abramshttps://t.co/75nyXWxYc5 pic.twitter.com/b0sQg0m4dd — Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 11, 2020 The candidates […]

Rioters toppled statues of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt in Portland, Oregon, on Sunday night — the latest attacks on monuments in several months of left-wing unrest. Statue being pulled down a bit ago, posted by this account, which seems to be Tracy Molina. https://t.co/h6xrGqOOtk #Portland pic.twitter.com/Z4vPsGdnht — Kitty Shackleford (@KittyLists) October 12, 2020 According to OregonLive.com, the statues in the South Park Block were […]