ArcaMax

I recently interviewed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos who claimed the president's proposed $4.8 trillion budget includes "a significant step toward returning flexibility to the states through a proposal to block grant all of the elementary and secondary education funds ... and let (states) prioritize where those funds are going to be best ...Read more

For 68 years the National Prayer Breakfast has been a political oasis, a chance for Republicans, Democrats, national and world leaders to assemble and pray for each other and the nation.

Not this year.

One could tell where things were headed when President Trump arrived later than most other presidents and held up two newspapers with the ...Read more

The president's State of the Union speech Tuesday night resembled a campaign rally. Some Republicans shouted "four more years" as he approached the lectern. Democrats mostly looked glum, shook their heads, pursed their lips, ...Read more

Just because the Senate is about to acquit President Trump of charges Republicans believed never rose to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors," don't think Democrats will raise the white flag of surrender. They (and their media allies) have only just begun.

Next is a campaign to defeat enough of the 23 Republican senators up for re-...Read more

Twenty years ago, President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO leader Yasser Arafat met at Camp David where Barak offered almost all of what Arafat asked for in exchange for making peace with the Jewish state. Arafat rejected...Read more

I love Ireland for its natural beauty, its people, its food (some of it), its music, its writers and especially its elections, which are shorter, less costly and designed to engage citizens and boost voter turnout.

On January 14, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar ...Read more

I love definitions because they help focus the mind. For decades, we are said to have been in a culture war. As in any war, it helps to know one's enemy.

One online dictionary defines culture this way: "the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, ...Read more

The contrast could not have been starker. One picture showed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi smiling as she signed (with numerous pens) two articles of impeachment against President Trump. She passed out the pens like souvenirs to fellow Democrats. They were embossed in gold with her signature and rested on silver trays.

The other picture was of ...Read more

The latest protests in Iran by people angry over the Iranian military's missile launch that "unintentionally" downed a Ukrainian jetliner killing many Iranians, Canadians and others, is different from past protests over ...Read more

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's strategy of holding on to the two weak articles of impeachment against President Trump was starting to rattle some Democrats, who felt they were losing the political battle. Last Wednesday, Sen. ...Read more

Prior to Iran's missile attacks on U.S. bases inside Iraq, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said, "We are not seeking war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one." Esper said the U.S. prefers a "...Read more

Addressing the British Parliament in 1982, President Ronald Reagan outlined a plan for placing the Soviet Union and Marxism-Leninism on the "ash heap of history." It is an objective President Trump might pursue against the mullahs in Iran, who are subsidizing ...Read more

It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago.

On Jan. 2, 1920, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 108.76. Today it is over 28,000 points.

In 1920, the U.S. had become an economic power, which is remarkable considering the bloody "war ...Read more

Like swallows returning to Capistrano, socialism makes an appearance on a regular cycle.

The current presidential campaign features self-confessed socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who doesn't self-describe as a socialist, but whose policies closely resemble those of Sanders.

Sanders has the luxury of condemning...Read more

"There's a grief that can't be spoken.

There's a pain goes on and on.

Empty chairs at empty tables

Now my friends are dead and gone." -- Marius, from the musical "Les Miserables"

"It's the most wonderful time of the year," Andy Williams reminds us over tinny speakers in crowded shopping malls. It may be wonderful for the majority, but for ...Read more

While watching "Jeopardy" the other night, I had a fantasy. Suppose Alex Trebek had a Final Jeopardy category called "The Ultimate Impeachment Hypocrite"?

Here's how I thought it might go.

Trebek: "We go first to Joe, who is in third place, and he wrote, 'Who is Bill Clinton?'"

"No, that's wrong, but a good guess. politics/fromtheright/calthomas/s-2306656">Read more

"Blowout" was how one UK newspaper described the decisive victory of Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party in last week's election.

How decisive was it? Not only did conservatives win an 80-seat majority in Parliament, a constituency in Blythe Valley in Northeast England elected a conservative member for the first time since its creation 40 ...Read more

If it walks like a duck ... you know the rest.

Following a shooting attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola by a Saudi national identified as 21-year-old Mohammed Alshamrani, the FBI issued a statement saying it presumes the incident was a terrorist attack.

What might have given them that idea?

...Read more

Apologies to Elton John, but in Washington and throughout so much of the country, can you feel the hate tonight?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked by reporter James Rosen if she hates President Trump. She responded with an "if looks could kill" fire in her eyes and denounced Rosen for his question while claiming she doesn't hate Trump.

...Read more

Not many people think of the Ten Commandments these days, unless some group is trying to fight a legal battle to place them on public property.

Still, these laws of God, which may be familiar to some only through the Cecil B. De Mille classic film starring Charlton Heston as Moses, contain worthy guidelines that are applicable to today.

When ...Read more