ArcaMax

WASHINGTON -- After two years of stonewalling about its theft of Gerardo Serrano's 2014 Ford F-250 pickup truck, the government suddenly returned it. It sparkled from having been washed and detailed, bumper to bumper, and it had four new tires and a new battery. The government probably hoped that, mollified by the truck's sprucing-up, Serrano ...Read more

Open borders tour guides in Mexico illegally shepherding 1,500 Central Americans to the United States border declared victory this week. Mexican officials reportedly are offering humanitarian visas to avert a showdown. But the parade of immigration lawlessness marches on -- with reckless aiding and abetting by churches across the U.S.

Pueblo ...Read more

Let's imagine the following statements were part of a public opinion poll. How many people would agree to these assertions?

1. "(W)e're concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media."

2. "More alarming, some media...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Conservatives like to preach that people should take responsibility for their actions and not play the victim.

Thus, it is not a good look when they themselves refuse to take responsibility for their actions and instead play the victim.

The latest right-wing victim is Laura Ingraham. The Fox News host is steadily bleeding ...Read more

Once upon a better time, a wiser president of these less than United States of America made certain that the representatives of all contending views were separately but equally represented in his circle of advisers. Happily, a natural and beneficial rivalry exists between any modern president's national security adviser (John Bolton as of ...Read more

Many years ago, I attended a dinner at a wealthy man's New York City condo with, among others, one of the most prominent and influential conservatives in American life. I admired this man then and I admire him now (he has since passed on). He was a major force for good in America.

At one point, the subjects of God and religion came up, and I ...Read more

KEY LARGO, Florida -- At dinner with friends, I was asked what is wrong with Washington. The question presumes a standard by which "wrong" can be defined.

I am frequently asked this question by people who do not live in "the swamp." They don't behave like Washington politicians. If a disagreement arises in their personal or professional life, ...Read more

On many issues -- naming Scalia-like judges and backing Reagan-like tax cuts -- President Trump is a conventional Republican.

Where he was exceptional in 2016, where he stood out starkly from his GOP rivals, where he won decisive states like Pennsylvania, was on his uniquely Trumpian agenda to put America and Americans first -- from which the ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- As an exercise in both empathy and grand strategy, try to imagine being a pro-American Syrian.

Perhaps you saw two of your children killed when a tank attacked your home. Perhaps your street was leveled by barrel bombs. Perhaps your neighborhood was surrounded and slowly starved into submission. Perhaps you watched your daughter ...Read more

EDITORS: Note quoted language in 11th graf.

SAN JOSE -- Mexican-Americans are doing a stint in our own version of purgatory. It's called the Trump Era.

After all, Donald Trump's ascension into the world of politics -- his campaign, election and presidency -- has been filled with mean-spirited insults toward Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

And...Read more

For many years now, the celebrated thespian Sean Penn has been one of the wackiest activists in the pantheon of the Hollywood left. When we last observed him in his unnatural habitat, he was warmly interviewing the murderous drug lord "El Chapo" for Rolling Stone and insisting the drug lord is demonized in the war on drugs.

Now Penn thinks he ...Read more

Haven't we been here before? It all feels so familiar, even comfortable. Once again, the world is conveniently divided between east and west, freedom and tyranny, them and us. You can almost feel your way around in the darkness cast by the fear of a thermonuclear confrontation between old enemies. No more playing palsy-walsy with The Bear That ...Read more

Donald Trump woke up on Friday, March 23, and realized that a deficit-ballooning $1.3 trillion "omnibus" spending bill was awaiting his signature. The law increases defense spending but otherwise completely fulfills the spending priorities of the Democratic minority. Some have even said that the omnibus was "Barack Obama's budget."

Suddenly ...Read more

"Pope Declares No Hell?"

So ran the riveting headline on the Drudge Report of Holy Thursday.

Drudge quoted this exchange, published in La Repubblica, between Pope Francis and his atheist friend, journalist Eugenio Scalfari.

Scalfari: "What about bad souls? Where are they punished?"

Bad souls "are not punished," Pope Francis is quoted, "those...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Is it time for anti-Trump conservatives to recognize that they have lost the political and policy battle within the GOP and to accommodate themselves as best they can to an uncomfortable reality?

This is the argument of the Ethics and Public Policy Center's Henry Olsen, one of the most thoughtful political analysts on the right. ...Read more

Some days, the Republican Party seems on the verge of splitting up. Its congressional majorities couldn't produce a health care bill and passed an omnibus spending bill its president regretted signing. Prominent never-Trumpers call for the creation of a new political party. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who carried seven counties outside his home state...Read more

Among the several ways to judge a person's fitness for office are the enemies he has made.

In the case of John Bolton, President Trump's choice to become national security adviser, those who oppose his appointment -- liberals, neocons and some Republicans all with differing worldviews and questionable foreign policy experience -- appear to say ...Read more

"There'll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow. The 2 o'clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work. The empty bus will leave at 5 o'clock."

-- Dave Bristol, Milwaukee Brewers manager, 1972

WASHINGTON -- Everyone needs extra work to prepare for the season. So, name the player or players who:

1) Is ...Read more

At last the president of these all-too-divided United States of America has found a national security adviser whose top priority, sure enough, is the security of this country. His name will be well known to those who follow televised news and opinion, for he's been around for what seems like forever, and brings to the job a well-honed set of ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Free Libby!

The three amigos of immigration enforcement -- President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Thomas Homan -- are shamelessly vilifying Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.

That's odd. These bullies usually only terrorize lowly Mexican immigrants. The power ...Read more