ArcaMax

About France and its submarines: Australia's decision to cancel a $60 billion contract to buy them and purchase American nuclear subs instead had to hurt. In response, France's foreign minister called the U.S.-backed move a "stab in the back," and President Emmanuel Macron recalled his ambassadors from both Washington and Canberra.

The ...Read more

Gov. Gavin Newsom's massive victory in California's recall election should spray some water on overheated predictions that Democrats will lose big in the 2022 midterm elections. And that's not the only source of hope for the Democratic Party.

Newsom's win surprised few in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2 to 1...Read more

"Biden's Stock Market Returns Continue to Trounce Trump's" reads a recent Forbes headline. Sophisticated investors know this, but most of the public may not because Democrats have this self-defeating aversion to boasting about bull markets during their watch.

That seems to have changed under President Joe Biden.

Recall how former President ...Read more

Let's be clear. No one has to get the vaccine. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states: "The federal government does not mandate (require) vaccination for people."

President Joe Biden did not change that policy when he announced stringent new regulations. Without a doubt, the rules strongly encourage -- one could say "pressure"...Read more

Rudolph Giuliani was always somewhat off-center, even in his glory days as New York City mayor. But people who recall him then were stunned by his decline into a conspiracy-mongering swamp creature of Trump world. The 20th anniversary of Sept. 11 lets us remember that on that day of horror, Giuliani was on the chaotic scene, passing out courage ...Read more

Texas has low taxes, which is nice. Its mild winter weather appeals to many in the snowbound north. And the cost of living there is certainly lower than that of the elite coastal cities. Also nice.

On the other hand, it has a political culture that launches serial attacks on voting rights and obsesses over transgender youth in high schools. It ...Read more

You know things are off the wall when even the FDA can't keep a straight face. What could the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say to Americans who refuse to get a coronavirus vaccine administered by medical professionals but instead go to a livestock supply house for a drug designed to deworm horses and cows? Ivermectin in big animal doses can...Read more

The surge in COVID-19 cases has prompted many companies to put off planned office reopenings, a delay that will undoubtedly be temporary. A lot of businesses, meanwhile, are adopting hybrid systems whereby some employees come into the office and others do their work from home or wherever.

Sounds like good news for those who really don't want a ...Read more

Beyond the human price of COVID-19 is the financial toll of treating the sick. Back in the day, conservatives touted fiscal responsibility -- that is, keeping the cost of government in check.

But now we have the extraordinary example of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, apparently looking to run for president in 2024, backing policies designed to ...Read more

I will not lie. I want lots of space placed between a beautiful duck gliding on the marshes and the duck a l'orange carefully arranged on my plate. And I'll never forget the jarring sight of a hawk plucking a baby duck from the water. Its pathetic little quacks still haunt my ears.

As you may guess, hunting is not my thing. But as a meat eater,...Read more

As the images of chaos at Afghanistan's main airport looped on the news channels, "disaster" quickly became the favored word of commentators, followed by "disgrace." What we saw was disturbing, especially the evidence that U.S. forces hadn't secured the airport early on.

But 20 years after the U.S. first sent its soldiers to police the country ...Read more

Latinos can be from the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Cuba, Spain and, of course, Mexico. They can be of any skin color, though social activists and other head counters often refer to them as "brown." The number of people claiming Hispanic ancestry rose 23% between 2010 and 2020, according to the new Census Bureau numbers. The ...Read more

When will mainstream Democrats start fighting back? When will they stop playing nice with a left fringe that regards them, not Republicans, as the opposition, if not the enemy?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's threat to kill President Joe Biden's hard-fought infrastructure deal should have been a last straw.

"Good luck tanking your own party's ...Read more

We're playing the tiniest of violins for Sam Kendricks, the champion pole vaulter from Mississippi who was thrown out of the Tokyo Games after testing positive for COVID-19. Everyone long knew that officials in Japan planned to isolate any infected athletes from other participants and the population at large.

Back in June, reporters asked ...Read more

That living carpet of green velvet in front of my house -- is it really mine? I never thought I'd have one of those manicured suburban lawns, much less become a maniac in its defense. In fact, I used to disapprove of them.

How did this happen? The insanity built up slowly.

It started with the ratty lawn my house came with. The unsightly bare ...Read more

With COVID-19 receding -- at least in vaccinated parts of the country -- but crime hanging on, law and order looks to be a leading issue in the 2022 midterm elections. And that desire for order extends to the border. Democrats should know this: The surge in undocumented migrants at the border could kill them at the polls.

President Joe Biden ...Read more

This is becoming another summer that didn't quite happen. It follows the bum summer of 2020, which was canceled by COVID-19.

In the West this year, summer is literally going up in smoke. Wildfires from Southern California to Washington state are burning out of control and clouding skies as far away as New England. The West Coast is seeing ...Read more

In the summer, boys dress for the warm weather, but girls dress hardly at all. Most high school guys are in baggy shorts, while many of the girls are wearing shorts so short that parts of their rear end remain exposed. The "distressed" versions -- with rips and ragged hems -- are often called Daisy Dukes, after a sexy character who wore them in ...Read more

Many of us spent the pandemic months obsessing over how our mug looked on Zoom and other video-chatting services. Poor lighting was a torment, and the lack of sunshine and exercise produced what's been dubbed "lockdown face."

At in-person meetings, we see only the people we're talking to. Video calls -- be it via Zoom, Skype, Google Meet or ...Read more

Antisocial behavior has reached pandemic levels. Disruptive airline passengers are punching flight attendants. Thugs are attacking Asians, gays and other minority groups. Criminals have grown more brazen in bringing violence to the streets and into American politics as seen in the savage invasion of the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Mental illness clearly...Read more