ArcaMax

The Gallup World Poll recently released its latest rankings of the happiest countries, based on survey data collected from 2022 to 2024, and Finland landed in the No. 1 spot for the ninth year in a row. One definitely has to wonder what it is about the Finns that causes many of them to enjoy their lives so much. The findings indicate that they ...Read more

Note to editors: A version of this column was last distributed by Cagle in 2025.

I can only imagine how President Trump would have handled three mischievous beavers that attacked Washington, D.C.’s beloved cherry trees in 1999.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival is underway in Washington. Some 3,700 cherry trees — a gift from Japan in ...Read more

Some Supreme Court justices are so eager to demonstrate their independence, President Donald Trump complained last week, that they "openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them." A few days later, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who was confirmed this week as secretary of homeland security, explained why he had called Sen. Rand Paul (R-...Read more

Two weeks after the start of the Iran War, the picture is coming into focus. Why would a president who promised countless times not to start new wars have leapt into this conflict? As always in the age of Trump, it's necessary to separate the president's motives and mindset from the old ways we used to decide questions of war and peace, tariffs,...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Is Cesar Chavez too big to cancel? Apparently not. The cancellations are happening with lightning speed.

In fact, in a major rebuke, California lawmakers said Thursday they intend to rename the March 31 state holiday commemorating the labor leader's birthday from "Cesar Chavez Day" to "Farmworkers Day."

Disturbing allegations ...Read more

On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump criticized a Wall Street Journal article about an Iranian attack on U.S. refueling planes in Saudi Arabia. Three hours later, Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, responded to the president's complaint by warning broadcasters that they "will lose their ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- President Donald Trump has blown up every bridge he built to Latinos and many of those who pulled the lever for him now have a bad case of voters' remorse.

In November 2024, on his way to being elected to a non-consecutive second term, Trump got as much as 48% of the Latino vote.

Yet, Trump's job approval rating among Latinos is...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- This is definitely Marco's moment.

When you have a president who makes foreign policy his jam, his secretary of state is sure to be at center stage -- especially when he moonlights as national security adviser.

-- On Feb. 28, just hours after the United States had launched strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump was holding ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Americans are living in the Age of Obstinance. When it comes to politics, we're single-minded and we double down.

We take a stance, and we dig in. We're reluctant to admit that we voted for the wrong person, or that our position on an issue is no longer valid. We're taught to bluster and pontificate. We're also taught to never ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- I bet Kristi Noem needs her comfort "blankie" right about now.

The Homeland Security Secretary was fired Thursday by President Donald Trump, who showed repeatedly in his first term that he will not hesitate to cut loose an employee who makes him look bad -- and that he reserves the prerogative to do so in a most humiliating ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Even a broken president can be right once or twice.

As a result of the United States attacking Iran -- with help from Israel -- these are scary times. But they're also complicated times. Discount anyone who claims to have it all figured out.

In politics, there are two things that are difficult to do. One is to take someone whom ...Read more