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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Hillsdale, the Harvard of good ideas

I spent much of the day at Hillsdale College in rural Michigan, an institution that has become crucial to the conservative movement. I am involved in some projects there, together with my wife.

We spent an hour in a lecture on political economy. The professor was going over an exam -- a multiple-choice test. Sound boring? It wasn't. The test was about Hayek and Bastiat, two great thinkers.

I attended Harvard College for four years and studied political theory. I never once encountered Hayek or Bastiat, though they are crucial to the classical liberal tradition. I was assigned Marx about five times.

The first time I heard of Hayek was in South Africa, when working for the political opposition. I only read his writing at Harvard Law School, when it was suggested by a friend. I never encountered Bastiat.

I relate this to you at the risk of exposing the deficiencies in my own education to show you just how benighted our elite institutions are. Harvard trains the brightest students to hate liberty, and themselves.

Hillsdale is countering that by offering its students -- who are also among the best -- a true grounding in the thinkers and values that make our society the freest and most successful in the world.

The purpose of education is not to flatter the status quo (Hillsdale teaches about Marx, too). But it ought to transmit society's values while providing the tools to succeed. Hillsdale is in a class of its own.

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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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