Author: Cal Thomas

The Obama administration is reportedly considering airstrikes in Syria against the terrorist group ISIS. The New York Times quotes “a top national security adviser” to the president as saying the U.S. is “‘not going to be restricted by borders’ to protect its interests…” What about American cities? If ISIS attacks one or more U.S. cities, […]

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — U.S. airstrikes that have helped Iraqi and Kurdish forces recapture a strategic dam and halt, at least temporarily, the advance of ISIS terrorists on the Kurdish capital of Erbil are a welcome pushback against a relentless enemy that for a time seemed invincible. But it may be of no more strategic […]

It was in a college theater class that I learned about a genre called “Theater of the Absurd.” These were plays written mostly by European playwrights between the 1940s and 1960s, as well as a certain style that flowed from their work. What reminded me of this is now “playing” in Ferguson, Missouri, following the […]

Robin Williams made me cry. Like his mentor, the late Jonathan Winters, Williams, who committed suicide Monday, made me laugh so intensely tears would come to my eyes. Williams’ death made headlines and led TV newscasts. His comedic genius diverted us from stories about terrorism and other sadness in the world. That’s what comedy does. […]

When liberal Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the conservative former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich agree on something, attention should be paid. Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said last Friday that the U.S. must confront the jihadists who call themselves the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or ISIL). “It takes an […]

On the occasion of this week’s 40th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency, The Washington Post sponsored a reunion featuring Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Watergate reporters who “brought down” the 37th president. In fact, Nixon committed political suicide. He thought he could get away with what other politicians had done, but […]

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, England — “Neither a borrower nor a lender be; for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.” — “Hamlet,” Act I, Scene III William Shakespeare is not known for his economic expertise, but the advice he gives through Polonius in “Hamlet” may be the best counsel ever […]

NEWBURY, England — World War I began as most wars do with patriotic fervor and predictions of a quick end. It lasted four years. While the match igniting the “war to end all wars” was lit by the assassination of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, formal declarations of war occurred 100 years ago […]

With his approval numbers sinking to 39 percent a week ago, according to the Gallup tracking poll, President Obama isn’t alone in having a bad summer. So is Hollywood. Entertainment Weekly calls gross receipts for what should have been a blockbuster July 4-6 weekend “downright terrifying.” Writes EW, “Not only were grosses down 45 percent […]

The anti-Semitic “tradition” of blaming Jews for the world’s problems mostly took a temporary back seat in light of the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. Major newspaper editorials condemned Hamas, but their condemnation was hedged by calls for “restraint” on “both sides” and “proportionality” in Israel’s response to the attacks. […]

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas plans to order 1,000 National Guard troops to his state’s border with Mexico in an effort to stem the tide of immigrants illegally entering from Central America, dispersing around the country once they’ve made it into Texas. Critics will call it a stunt and accuse Perry of showboating, but at […]

The anti-Semitic “tradition” of blaming Jews for the world’s problems mostly took a temporary back seat in light of the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel by the terrorist group Hamas. Major newspaper editorials condemned Hamas, but their condemnation was hedged by calls for “restraint” on “both sides” and “proportionality” in Israel’s response to the attacks. […]

It may be too soon to label it a trend and there is insufficient data to confirm it, but President Obama and his party may be losing their iron grip on their most loyal and enthusiastic voting bloc: African-Americans. Last Friday in Chicago, a group of black residents of the city’s South Side, staged a […]

At last, an Obama administration official has come out in favor of a fence. He promises it will bring security to people on both sides of the border. Unfortunately, Philip Gordon, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf, was not speaking of a border fence between the United States […]

Frank Sinatra’s song about Chicago, “My Kind of Town,” “a the town that won’t let you down,” seems dated in light of last weekend’s shooting spree that left 16 dead and dozens wounded in 53 separate incidents. According to the Chicago Tribune, “The victims were among 82 people shot between Thursday afternoon and early Monday.” […]

The cab driver taking me to the Washington Nationals baseball game on July 4 is from Bangladesh. I ask him how he got here. He said his father “won the immigration lottery” some years back, was admitted under U.S. immigration law and eventually became a citizen, as did his son. He is proud to be […]

Prior to Memorial Day, 2011, Louis Zamperini visited Washington, D.C., where I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing him. The man was as sharp as the proverbial tack. He inscribed Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling biography, “Unbroken” to me with “Be Hardy.” And he was. This is the column I wrote about him and what he […]

There are many ways to lose freedom — conquering armies, surrendering without a fight. Unfortunately, we are currently surrendering our freedom, not to a foreign power, but to our own government.   The growth, reach, and cost of big government is happening before our eyes and eroding our liberty, largely because too many Americans are […]

President Obama appears to have forgotten — or ignored — why we have elections. One reason is to stop, or slow down, an agenda the public doesn’t like. When polls began reflecting buyer’s remorse about Mr. Obama in 2010, voters elected a Republican majority in the House of Representatives and might well have done the […]

People who refuse to drink the Kool-Aid known as global warming-climate change are not just “deniers”; we are guilty of a “nihilistic refusal” to address the issue. So says a Washington Post editorial commenting favorably on Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that allows the Environmental Protection Agency, under certain limits, to proceed under the Clean Air […]

It is a line I have used to open speeches on the lecture circuit for years and it never fails to get a laugh: “I’m happy to be here tonight from Washington, D.C., where the only politicians with convictions are in prison.” That’s only partially true. Democrats have convictions. They know what to do with […]

George W. Bush never claimed to be prescient, but here he is in 2007, warning us what would happen if the United States prematurely pulled its troops out of Iraq before Iraqi forces were sufficiently trained, equipped and motivated to defend the country we gave back to them after the ouster of Saddam Hussein: “To […]

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain…” (The […]

I expected nothing but effusive praise from major media for Hillary Clinton’s new book, “Hard Choices,” much like the mass exaltation it showered on Barack Obama, America’s first African-American president. Initially that seemed where the reviews were headed. Prior to the book’s official release June 10, the “journalists” on CBS “This Morning” spent nine minutes […]

Defenders of President Obama’s release of five Taliban terrorists from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl cite as justification Israel’s history of swapping hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for one or two Israel soldiers. As strong an ally and example of democracy as Israel is, especially in a […]

Given the numerous studies revealing how American education lags behind instruction in other countries in disciplines once thought to be essential, it should come as no surprise that on the 70th anniversary of D-Day, a lot of people are clueless about central elements of the Allied invasion of the European continent on June 6, 1944. […]

Euphoria over the Taliban’s release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was quickly tempered by media reports that Bergdahl had abandoned his post and that his father made comments opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bergdahl’s father tweeted, “I am still working to free all Guantanamo prisoners. God will repay for the death of every […]

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — While Tea Party candidates underperformed against establishment Republican incumbents in recent U.S. primary elections, in Europe their conservative cousins have just scored some spectacular victories. Commentators are calling elections for seats in the European Parliament and local council seats in Britain a “political earthquake” and “revolution” as strongly conservative candidates made […]

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — In the 1970s, while working as a low-paid cub reporter in Houston, Texas, I always looked forward to the annual Christmas catalogs from Neiman-Marcus and Sakowitz, a local luxury department store. Both contained outrageously expensive things that only the super-rich could afford — his and hers Thunderbirds stick in my memory. […]

PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland — President Obama Wednesday replayed a familiar scenario when dealing with scandal, in this case delays for treatment, deaths, alleged cover-ups and other acts of malfeasance reported at Veterans Administration hospitals in the United States: first express outrage, next announce an investigation and then say he won’t comment on the scandal until […]