Author: Cal Thomas

Like two predatory animals circling each other, Republicans and Democrats are trying to sort out the meaning of last month’s election and plan strategies for the remaining days of the current Congress and the new one in which Republicans will hold majorities in both houses. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), soon to be chairman of the […]

There is nothing like a little heat from a third political party to get the attention of career politicians who wish to stay in office. Nigel Farage, leader of the upstart UK Independent Party (UKIP), has been turning up the heat on British Prime Minister David Cameron over the issue of migrants who come to […]

No matter whose side you are on in the upheaval following the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, everyone should agree on the profound sadness of it all: sadness that an 18-year-old boy-man walked a path that led to his destruction; sadness that a police officer felt the need […]

If Thomas Jefferson could be faulted for one thing in composing the Declaration of Independence, it might be his inclusion of the words “the pursuit of happiness” in the text. Happiness is a vapor that cannot be grasped; a temporary feeling based on transitory circumstances akin to the euphoria of a full-on sugar rush. Happiness […]

Addressing the nation last Thursday, President Obama sought to justify his misreading of the Constitution by unilaterally granting legal protection to 5 million illegal immigrants. In this, he reminded me of what Richard Nixon told David Frost in a 1977 interview. The exchange is worth recalling: “FROST: So what in a sense you’re saying is […]

“You’ve got to be taught to hate…” (Oscar Hammerstein, “South Pacific”) The murder on Tuesday of five people and the serious wounding of several others while they were praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem is only the latest in a continuing pattern of violence and hatred directed against Israel and the Jewish people. It also […]

President Obama is soon expected to issue an executive order that would make it possible for some illegal immigrants, many of whom are the parents of children who are American citizens, to live and work in this country without the threat of deportation, in effect granting amnesty to up to five million people. Beyond concerns […]

“Stupid is as stupid does” — Forrest Gump Unless you regularly follow conservative media, you may not have heard what one of the architects of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) thinks about you. Jonathan Gruber is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist who helped craft Obamacare. In a rare moment of unvarnished candor, […]

NEW YORK — At a dinner sponsored by the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation last Thursday (I am an unpaid national advisory board member), there was a debate about wealth redistribution. A team of Canadian students who think government should “spread the wealth around” faced off against a team of American students who think government has […]

Having missed a July deadline for reaching an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, the six world powers party to the talks — the United States, Russia, China, France, United Kingdom and Germany — have set November 24 as their new deadline. Iran says there will be no extension if a deal isn’t reached. […]

Forget the race “card.” In this election, Democrats have been playing the entire race “deck.” The Wall Street Journal has listed some of the more outrageous ads and flyers designed to frighten African-Americans into believing that all opposition to President Obama’s policies and to the Democratic Party is a sign that lynch mobs may soon […]

Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL.) is thinking seriously about running for president in 2016, according to his son, George P. Bush. According to Commentary magazine, Jeb Bush had an impressive record as governor, including tax reductions totaling $20 billion. Given that performance, why is Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, upset? Politico, and many […]

American Christians have been slow to the point of near silence when it comes to speaking out about the atrocities committed against their fellow believers by the Islamic State in Iraq (ISIS). The Jewish people are much better models in solidarity when Jews are persecuted. Members of ISIS have targeted Christian churches, destroyed symbols of […]

“Rabbi, is there a proper blessing for the czar?” He thinks for a moment and responds: “May God bless and keep the czar … far away from us!” — “Fiddler on the Roof” Today, “czar” is a term encouraged by the media to describe one who oversees a specific government policy. According to The Atlantic.com, […]

Houston recently passed an ordinance through its city council that has sparked quite a bit of controversy amongst conservative evangelicals. The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), a broad-sweeping, left-leaning law trumpeted by the City of Houston and its openly gay mayor, Annise Parker, is supposed to protect gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination. All […]

Some people I know refuse to watch the news or read the papers these days, and who can blame them? The headlines are depressing and no one seems to be in charge. The stock market rises and falls, playing “now you see it, now you don’t” with your 401k, the Ebola virus is on the […]

After World War II, the Marshall Plan helped rebuild a devastated Europe. The key word in that sentence is “after.” Last weekend at a conference of donor nations held in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss rebuilding Gaza, following the latest exchange of rockets between Hamas and Israel, Secretary of State John Kerry pledged an additional $212 […]

Three points need to be made about Monday’s decision by the Supreme Court not to decide whether the equal protection clause of the Constitution grants people of the same sex the right to marry. Point 1: While the court’s liberal wing probably wanted to accept cases banning same-sex marriage in five states that have been […]

The Ebola virus is not a threat, but ISIS is. That’s what some of our leaders tell us. Should we believe them? Do they have a track record for truth-telling that would lend them credibility? ISIS hasn’t (yet) invaded America, but Ebola has. We are bombing ISIS in Syria, but treating Ebola here as an […]

“No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday.” — Alexander Pope President Obama is known for wanting to “spread the wealth around,” but he has now gone a step further. He is spreading blame around for his […]

College freshmen are completing their first month on campus. According to the website The Other Freshman 15, “The first 15 weeks of college can be the riskiest for sexual assault. … One out of five students experience rape or sexual assault while they are in college, and in the great majority of cases (75-80 percent), […]

On his Fox News show Monday night, Bill O’Reilly suggested using mercenaries to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) instead of U.S. ground forces, which President Obama has repeatedly vowed not to deploy. The use of mercenaries is as old as warfare itself. Alexander the Great used them. King George III hired German mercenaries to fight […]

In the fairy tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” Ali Baba, a poor woodcutter, is in the forest when he hears a group of robbers approaching on horseback. Afraid, he climbs a tree and hears one of the men say, “open sesame.” A door opens in a rock and the men go in, the […]

After some hand-wringing over British citizens who have chosen to fight with ISIS, Prime Minister David Cameron said he thinks one reason for the defection is that too many of the defectors have forgotten what it means to be British. As a means of fighting the radicalization of young people, he wants all of Britain’s […]

Prior to his annual steak fry, retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said this about Hillary Clinton to Dan Balz of The Washington Post: “…she is much more progressive in her thoughts and her inclination than most people may think.” Liberals have embraced the word “progressive” because it sounds more forward-looking than “liberal,” which has a […]

The “indefinite suspension” of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice for knocking out his then-fiancée, now wife, in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino has again provoked debate about domestic violence and what the National Football League tolerates when it affects a star player. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who last spring testified to […]

The soap opera that played out in Richmond these last weeks and ended with the convictions of former Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy charges is a tragedy for them, their children and the voters of Virginia. By most objective standards, McDonnell did a good job as […]

The promise the Chinese government made to Britain and to the world as Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control at midnight on June 30, 1997, that China would abide by the “one country, two systems” plan, which would afford Hong Kong greater autonomy, except in matters of foreign relations and defense, was to last 50 […]

From 1948 to 1961, there was a show called “This Is Your Life,” hosted by Ralph Edwards. In it, an unsuspecting celebrity was lured to a place by a friend or family member where Edwards would surprise them. People from the celebrity’s past would then come out one by one and tell stories of the […]

CAIRNRYAN, Scotland — For Americans whose knowledge of this beautiful land is limited to kilts, whiskey, bagpipes and the film “Braveheart,” the forthcoming referendum on whether Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom or become an independent nation will come as a curiosity at best. The primary objection of those favoring separation is the […]