ArcaMax

That was some chaotic scene in the White House Rose Garden Monday. After lunch with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the president assured combative reporters and the country that the two are...Read more

If a metaphor could be used for this White House, it might be a two-sided coin with President Trump the head and Vice President Mike Pence the tail.

The president tends toward the bombastic to get people's attention and make his points, while his vice president is calm and measured in his response to questions, sometimes resembling a ...Read more

If it were a plague, the government would rush to quarantine the infected, as occurred during Europe's Black Death in the 14th century.

An immigration debate at Seattle University School of Law is a plague of a different sort, but deadly in a different way. The victim here is the right to free speech.

politics/fromtheright/calthomas/s-2007079">Read more

"Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom's instruction." (Proverbs 29:18)

Ancient wisdom from a Higher Authority, which is available to anyone who takes the time to consider it, was provided to constrain people like Harvey Weinstein from acts he has been accused of committing.

In an age ...Read more

Responding to the recent Las Vegas concert shooting that killed more than 50 people and injured hundreds more, President Trump described the act as one "of pure evil."

One definition of "...Read more

In school, I liked math the least and history the most. Both can be useful in the coming debate over President Trump's proposed tax reforms.

The one thing I learned in math class is that if the formula is wrong, the answer will be wrong. In history class I learned we are not the first people to occupy the planet and that the experiences of ...Read more

If you like professional sports, a major reason -- perhaps THE reason -- you attend games, or watch them on TV, is that it helps you escape from whatever occupies your mind the rest of the week. You certainly don't want the issues of the day encroaching on your enjoyment.

The recent exchange of insults between President Trump and some in the <...Read more

"The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plain." -- Sen. George McGovern (D-SD)

Filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick have performed a vital public service in making their documentary "The Vietnam War" for PBS. Given the division that war caused ...Read more

While campaigning for the presidency, Donald Trump more than once referred to the United Nations as a "useless"...Read more

At a National Archives ceremony last Friday in Washington, D.C., 30 immigrants became naturalized U.S. citizens. In a video, ...Read more

What just happened? President Trump cut a deal with Democrats to pay for hurricane damage relief and raise the debt ceiling without getting anything in return, except the temporary avoidance of a government...Read more

ROME -- I spotted them on my way to dinner with a friend near Castel Gandolfo. They are migrants from Africa, sitting by the side of the road outside a "temporary" residence that, for many, appears to have become permanent. They all have cellphones. They all seem oblivious to us as we pass by.

My friend, a Sicilian by birth, says they are ...Read more

BUDAPEST -- Congress has returned to Washington after another unearned vacation and faces at least two immediate challenges, in addition to the familiar ritual of raising the debt ceiling.

President Trump has called the indecipherable U.S. tax code "politics/fromtheright/calthomas/s-1995257">Read more

ISTANBUL -- Coming from the airport into this city of about 15 million people and 5 million cars, as my driver describes it, I pass ancient Roman ruins and blocks of upscale shops; an old hotel where Agatha Christie penned "Murder on the Orient Express," smoke shops and modest restaurants, and luxury car dealers. It is a metaphor for the choices...Read more

President Trump's pardon of Joe Arpaio, the former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, has drawn predictable responses. The left, which long ago exceeded its sell-by date when it comes to ideas that work, denounced the decision as racist (that's all they have) and a perversion of justice. Some moderates, like Sen. John McCain and Sen. Jeff ...Read more

What is it about the month of August that finds so many celebrities dying?

Just this month we've seen the passing of Glen Campbell, Barbara Cook, Dick Gregory and Jerry Lewis. Thomas Meehan, who wrote the book for the musical "Annie," died last week.

Marilyn Monroe died in August 1962 (though she "lives" on in so many ways). ...Read more

President Trump is not the first U.S. leader to pivot when it comes to foreign policy. His speech Monday night before American military personnel at Fort Myer in Arlington, Virginia, was in stark contrast to ...Read more

"The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history." -- Friedrich Hegel

We will learn even less from history if we wipe it clean, as some are trying to do by removing statues of ...Read more

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un appears to have blinked and President Trump can claim a foreign policy victory and justification for his strategy.

Reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan's "peace through strength" approach to deterring adversaries, President Trump stood up to the blustering despot and forced him to back down from his threat to...Read more

In the South during the Jim Crow era, the "one-drop rule," codified into law, asserted that if a person had just one drop of African-American blood, they were considered "black." I wonder what we'd learn if we gave former KKK leader David Duke and the "white nationalists" who caused havoc in Charlottesville last Saturday a DNA test to determine ...Read more