ArcaMax

SAN DIEGO -- At the intersection of religion and immigration, you'll find the bogus sanctimony of St. Nancy of San Francisco.

Recently, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was outraged when James Rosen of Sinclair Broadcasting did something that members of the media typically don't do with Democrats: He challenged her. In questioning her motives for ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Let's hear it for public shaming.

If you follow the after-hours antics of politicians, you may have heard that former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley recently tore into Ken Cuccinelli at an Irish bar in Washington.

The Trump administration's acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security went to The Dubliner for a Guinness, he later ...Read more

By RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.

SAN DIEGO -- Before I succumb to the holiday spirit, I'm having an Ebenezer Scrooge moment.

Americans gripe about how immigrants want handouts, but the folks that I most often see panhandling appear to be native-born. They stand at intersections and hold up signs that read: "Will work for food."

I think to myself: "...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Does anyone know the year of the California Civil War?

It was 1994. And while you won't find any monuments commemorating the battles, the term "civil war" aptly describes what was happening in the Golden State 25 years ago.

Families were split. There was a hostility in the air.

All because the most populous, and most productive, ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- This holiday, I'm thankful that I've learned how to fail.

Stop right there. If you're the kind of person who always gets what you want, never gets turned down, has never lost a job, and has never failed at anything, this column is not for you.

My peeps are different. We know from painful experience that life roughs you up good ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Kellyanne Conway is giving me a case of whiplash. One day, I defend the outspoken counselor to the president. The next day, I criticize her. Then, before you know it, I'm back to defending her again.

It all depends on the facts, the circumstances, how Conway is being treated, and by whom. That's fair, right?

I admit that "fair" is...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Julián Castro could lose his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination and still come out a "winner."

How is that? Because, as we learned as children on baseball diamonds and volleyball courts, what matters is how you play the game.

For Castro, the game is winding down. The former secretary of housing and urban development ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Even as a Mexican American who has spent three decades defending immigrants, I'm done with DACA.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is back in the news, but the Obama-era program is perhaps not long for this world. Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments about whether President Trump had the power to end it in September ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- There is a familiar stench coming from south of the border. It's the smell of lies and spin, cover-ups and fairy tales offered up for public consumption.

Brace yourselves. I think the Mexican government is not being totally honest. Shocking, right?

You know that horrible story from a week ago about the brutal slaughter of nine ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Donald Trump's border wall: $10 billion to $25 billion. Cordless power saw: $100. Reports that human traffickers have cut through the wall like toy scissors through crepe paper: Priceless.

My friends joke that what MAGA really stands for is: "Migrants Always Get Across." They may be onto something. Migrants are natural problem ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Bye bye, Beto. Or, as they say in the universe of cultural appropriation, adios.

Last week, Robert Francis O'Rourke -- who had been interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, profiled in an HBO documentary and featured on the cover of Vanity Fair declaring that he was "born" to make a White House bid -- announced that he was leaving the ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- As White House counselor, Kellyanne Conway has a simple job that is often -- because of clown shows and self-inflicted wounds -- not so simple: She has to make the president look good.

As of late, however, Conway is making herself look bad. As a former congressional aide and pollster, she knows a lot about politics and public ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- As the saying goes, God doesn't give with both hands. He gave me the skill to communicate but not even a smidgeon of artistic ability.

My friend Kathy Cano-Murillo got my share -- and then some.

Just ask the 30,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, or the thousands of others who have -- over the last 20 years -- bought one of ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Imagine being so convinced you have something valuable to say that you'll pay a fortune to say it.

That's where Julián Castro finds himself at the moment, as he tries to meet the fundraising threshold to qualify for the next Democratic debate. That matchup -- co-sponsored by The Washington Post and MSNBC -- will take place in the ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- A few years ago, after I wrote a column listing 10 mistakes that journalists have made in the Trump era, my first newspaper editor tracked me down. He had seen the column, and he was not pleased. He said I should lay off our profession. These times are tough enough for media companies and the people who work for them.

Sorry, Boss. ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- I feel better. As a Mexican American journalist who has written about the immigration debate from ground zero -- i.e. the Southwest -- for three decades, and who has watched closely as Donald Trump turned that conversation into a dumpster fire, I was so relieved to have journalists in New York and Washington "white 'splain" to me ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- October must be a confusing month for critics of so-called identity politics. It has to be difficult to separate those things that promote "tribalism" from harmless celebrations of culture and heritage.

As Hispanic Heritage Month was being ushered out -- having run from mid-September to mid-October -- here came Columbus Day on Oct....Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Who would have thought that we would get to the point where Ellen DeGeneres would be free to marry someone of the same sex -- but not free to sit and watch a football game with someone who has different political beliefs?

We all know that the NFL can be rough. But it turns out the bruises can extend to those in the stands.

...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Not widely known for their math skills, Hispanics have nonetheless mastered division.

And President Trump -- like President Obama before him -- is taking full advantage of the eagerness of Hispanics to divide themselves into factions.

Obama deported 3 million people, most of them Hispanic. Trump seems determined to make life for ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- When all is right with the universe, Harvard beats Yale. And now my alma mater has beaten the rap.

As you may have noticed, the merit system is constantly on trial these days. Whether it is wealthy parents cheating the college admissions process with bribes and fraud to get their kids a spot, or the children of politicians trading ...Read more