Joel Pollak
Politics • Lifestyle • News • Travel • Writing
I will share my thoughts about American politics, as well as current events in Israel and elsewhere, based on my experiences in the U.S., South Africa, and the Middle East. I will also discuss books and popular culture from the perspective of a somewhat libertarian, religiously observant conservative living in California. I will also share art and ideas that I find useful and helpful, and link to my content at Breitbart News, Amazon, and elsewhere.
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What's the strategy for victory?

Joe Biden has never been interested in winning in Ukraine -- neither in deterring Russian invasion, nor in "reversing" it, which Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday was the administration's new goal.

The clearest signs: Biden lifted sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline last year; Biden essentially gave Russia a green light to invade by saying Putin had to do so; Biden created an absurd system of "tranches" of sanctions that all but admitted Putin would invade; Biden refuses to sanction Russia's energy industry; and Biden has ruled out the use of troops to help Ukraine.

What they've opted for, instead, is a set of sanctions that Putin has easily ignored in the past, and efforts to embarrass Russia on the international stage, which Putin has clearly demonstrated do not move him in the slightest way.

All Russia has ever understood is force, and the challenge is that force could trigger a nuclear confrontation. Trump's approach was to use limited, yet overwhelming, displays of force that helped avoid larger clashes. Putin decided the risk of incurring Trump's unpredictable wrath wasn't worth it.

Now we are the ones trying to figure out an unpredictable Putin, amid fear that he might go nuclear or somehow cause a Ukrainian nuclear "accident."

What is the strategy for victory? We've never had one. I think it begins by finding some indirect way to bleed Russia -- not economically, but literally -- such that Putin pulls back in Ukraine. What's the target -- Russian forces in Syria? Disputed islands in the western Pacific? Creative thinking needed.

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Posts
Time-lapse sunrise at Temescal Falls
00:00:17
This is what is left of my special place in the forest

Burned, then covered in mudslides and rockslides. The river still flows through it. But we have lost so much. I have to believe the spirit still lives on.

00:00:16
The drive home 💔
00:00:46
Weekly Torah reading: Noah (Genesis 6:9 - 11:32)

The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.

Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?

One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).

Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).

Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.

https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2473477&p=complete&jewish=Noach-Torah-Reading.htm

Closing all subscriptions

Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.

Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!

Breitbart News Sunday: show rundown (October 19, 2025)

An interesting weekend -- one of the last of Daylight Savings Time -- in which there is much to celebrate, much to contemplate, and a bit to worry about.

The Gaza peace deal is shaky, but holding, after the living hostages returned; the shutdown is still going on, with no end in sight; the China trade war is heating up; and the confrontation with Venezuela continues to escalate.

The "No Kings" protest was a dud, despite the media's attempt to inflate it. What I find fascinating is that the Democrats have basically stolen the rhetoric and the imagery of the Tea Party protests, circa 2009. They claim they are defending the Constitution -- just like the Tea Party did.

On the one hand, this is good. How wonderful to have a political system in which both sides, bitterly opposed though they are, articulate differences through the Constitution -- and not, as in so many other countries, outside it.

On the other, this is sheer hypocrisy for the Democrats. Not only did they malign the Tea Party as ...

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