Cal Thomas

“I’m gonna live forever, baby, remember my name” – (from “Fame”) The death at age 54 of Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis, got me thinking again about the two-edged sword that is fame. Poems, books, even movies have addressed fame, how some people even lust after it and how it seems to ruin more lives than it helps. Once you have attained fame you can never live as normal people…

SYDNEY – Last July, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, visited Jakarta where he said China’s military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years. While the U.S. has seemed fixated on China’s growing verbal threats and military maneuvers around Taiwan, Milley and others, including some in Australia, are concerned that China’s…

HONOLULU – If one discounts Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, Hawaii is about as far – geographically and politically – from Washington, D.C., as one can get. There are just six Republicans out of 51 in the State House of Representatives and two out of 25 in the Senate. One of them is Rep. Gene Ward, who has spent a total of 24 years in the legislative minority. A mark of his effectiveness is that in…

After months of ignoring the problem and demonstrably false claims by his Homeland Security secretary that the southern border is “secure,” President Biden is finally visiting the area this week as part of a trip to Mexico. Last week, the administration announced it would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Why are laws…

Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.” – Herbert Hoover. “Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.” – Benjamin Franklin Eighteen Republican senators voted for the monstrosity known as the $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill, thus forever relinquishing their claim to belong to a party committed to less spending, smaller government, and…

In a theatrical performance the worst thing that can happen is to have a predictable outcome. That is precisely what occurred with the Jan. 6 Committee, which has referred former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution on four counts – “influencing or impeding an official proceeding of the U.S. government”, “conspiring to defraud the U.S”, “unlawfully,…

When King David ruled over all of Israel, one of the many Psalms he wrote included this verse: “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.” (Psalm 146:3-4 NIV) On Election Night last month, some TV anchors and commentators were already speculating over who would run for…

If you like cream in your coffee (if not, the analogy works with any other drink), keep pouring after you have reached what you would normally drink. If you pour the cream long enough it will replace the coffee. That is what is happening at what used to be our southern border before the Biden administration virtually eliminated any barriers to keep migrants and fentanyl from pouring in. It is…

NEW YORK – I was a teenager when I first visited New York. The flight cost $15 on the Eastern Airlines Shuttle from Washington, D.C. You could buy your ticket from a flight attendant on board. She (and it was always a she back then) would roll a cart down the aisle with a credit card device on top. New York in the ’60s was THE place to visit. There was Greenwich Village with folk music.…

Leaving aside any possible undeclared motives for leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an Independent, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema has said some things that have needed to be said for a long time. In an op-ed for The Arizona Republic, Sinema wrote, “Americans are told that we have only two choices – Democrat or Republican – and that we must subscribe wholesale to policy views…

Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures (Psalm 90:10). A TV ad for a dietary supplement features a woman who says, “Age is just a number and mine is unlisted.” Mine is not unlisted and a simple internet search can reveal it, so I will admit it. I was born Dec. 2, 1942, which makes me 80 years old on Thursday. President Biden and I now have something in common.…

We now know at least one of the priorities of the Biden administration during the remaining weeks Democrats control the House of Representatives. The president says he would try to “get rid of assault weapons.” Speaking to reporters at his Nantucket, Massachusetts, holiday house, Biden said: “The idea [that] we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick. Just sick. It has no,…

If former Vice President Mike Pence is ever in need of a character witness, he could not do much better than one statement former President Donald Trump made to him. In his new book “So Help Me God,” Pence quotes Trump as pressuring him to overturn the results of the 2020 election by rejecting electoral votes from the states. When he refuses, Pence says Trump told him “you’re too honest.” It…

MIAMI – If Republicans could not score their “red wave” victories predicted by many pundits – and even some Democrats – in these midterm elections, what’s next for them? All the issues were on their side – inflation, high gas and food prices, an open border, underperforming schools. If they couldn’t win with this gale wind at their backs, on what issues can they prevail?