Cal Thomas stories, Page 2
Cal Thomas: Bad political theater in Newark
Political theater extends back to the Greeks. William Shakespeare wrote about politics in “Coriolanus” and other plays. A personal favorite of mine was “Fiorello!,” a 1959 musical about New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. What happened in Newark last week was political theater at its worst. New Jersey Democratic Reps....
Cal Thomas: Faith and government
Last week, President Trump announced the establishment of a White House Faith Office. Its purpose, as described in a White House announcement, is to “… empower faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship to better serve families and communities.” Don’t they already have access to a higher power? There...
Cal Thomas: Time to stamp out the post office
Better buy your “Forever” stamps now, because the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has announced another price increase. On July 13, the cost of a first-class stamp is scheduled to rise from 73 cents to 78 cents. The plan is to raise prices four more times by 2027. Meanwhile, it appears...
Cal Thomas: Tax Day, time to again feed the insatiable beast
America’s annual rituals and observances include days we usually celebrate together (July Fourth, Memorial Day, Veterans Day) or as members of special groups (Passover, Easter and Christmas). The one annual ritual it can be safely said most Americans despise is April 15, when the half of us who pay federal...
Cal Thomas: Injustice in Nashville
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There is a man who has spent nearly 30 years on death row in a Nashville prison for murders that substantial evidence shows he did not commit. His name is Kevin Burns (KB, as he is...
Cal Thomas: Let us prey — a heretic in the White House
For the evangelical Christians who have given — and still give — overwhelming support to President Trump while refusing to criticize him for language and behavior they would presumably denounce in a fellow church member, here’s an easy one for you. There’s a heretic inside the White House. For those...
Cal Thomas: Due process for all, or none
President Trump is using an 18th-century law, the Alien Enemies Act, to justify the deportation of hundreds of people he says are members of a vicious Venezuelan gang. That law was last used during World War II by the Roosevelt administration to justify the internment of Japanese Americans. The government...
Cal Thomas: Putin on the blitz
The cliche has been that the ball is now in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s court. Not any longer. Putin has responded to U.S. appeals for a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine with a strong backhand, rejecting a ceasefire in his unprovoked invasion. Now the ball is in President Trump’s...
Cal Thomas: Ukraine ministers speaking truth
While President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy were duking it out in the Oval Office in a rhetorical version of the Ultimate Fighting Club that Trump loves, six Ukrainian Christian ministers from different denominations were coincidentally (or prophetically?) down the street telling guests at...
Cal Thomas: A warning about pride for Trump
“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” — Henry Kissinger President Trump is on a roll, claiming victory after victory against the “swamp.” Some of his decisions are being challenged in court, but others, like closing the border and deporting migrants with criminal records, are likely to be sustained. Polls show they...
Cal Thomas: A ‘constitutional crisis’?
Democrats are raising an alarm about what they call a “constitutional crisis.” If there is one, they should know because they are to blame for it. That’s because their party, since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, have been violating the boundaries and restrictions on government set forth in our founding...
Cal Thomas: No substitute for victory
In his 1951 farewell address to Congress and the American public (known as the “old soldiers never die, they just fade away” speech), Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur said something the Trump administration should recall as it seeks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine: “… once war is forced...
Cal Thomas: Demise of the penny makes cents
President Trump has ordered the Treasury Department to stop minting pennies to save money. It costs almost four cents to make one and as the president seeks to reduce federal spending, the penny is a good, if largely symbolic, target. The nickel is even more expensive. It costs nearly 14...
Cal Thomas: The good and the bad in Trump’s first days
When President Trump threatened to slap tariffs on Colombia if President Gustavo Petro did not accept criminal migrants deported from the U.S., he did not get the initial response he expected. Instead of immediately caving to Trump, Petro countered with plans for his own tariffs on U.S. goods coming into...
Cal Thomas: The second time around for Trump
According to the Frank Sinatra song, “Love is lovelier, the second time around.” We’ll see how that works out in the second coming of Donald. J. Trump, now president of the United States for a second time, following a four-year “intermission.” The two terms will be a contrast in policy,...
Cal Thomas: Trump’s second inaugural address
Who remembers Donald Trump’s first inaugural address? Probably not very many, unless they have Googled it, as I did. That’s likely because after the speech Trump became fixated on the size of the crowd, which he repeatedly claimed was larger than official estimates. As I reread it, I was surprised...
Cal Thomas: Prison reform can save money
President-elect Trump and nominees for his upcoming administration often speak about cutting spending in order to reduce the debt. Some of the targets are familiar, but one that is never mentioned is the amount of money that could be saved by releasing, or not incarcerating in the first place, nonviolent...
Cal Thomas: Lessons of 1925 for 2025
Political and other prognosticators are busy as usual predicting the future. Never mind calculating how wrong they have been in the past, our desire to know what’s coming sometimes overcomes sound thinking, ignorance of history and an understanding of human nature. Recall the number of times climate alarmists predicted we...
Cal Thomas: Oh, Christmas tree!
When Washington politicians speak of a Christmas tree this time of year, they are not referring to an actual tree. It means they’ve loaded up a bill with another kind of “green,” the kind that’s decorated with money. The “bipartisan” bill passed just before midnight last Friday, minutes before a...
Cal Thomas: Biden-Trump, the worst transition ever
The soon-to-expire Biden administration is behaving as if an invading foreign power is about to take over and the house must be burned down to keep the “invaders” from succeeding. In the past few weeks, the cynicism meter has ticked up several notches because of the decisions made by the...
Cal Thomas: Pardoning the unpardonable
Media reports say President Biden is about to issue a slew of blanket preemptive pardons for people associated with his administration to thwart any “revenge” the incoming Trump administration might take against them. While the Founders intended presidential power to be nearly unlimited (there is an exception for a president...
Cal Thomas: Institutions vs. We the people
New York Times columnist David Brooks, who is about as close to a conservative as that liberal newspaper publishes, wrote something last week that gets to the heart of why Democrats, especially, but also some Republicans, fear a second Trump administration. After extolling what he believes to be the personal...
Cal Thomas: Fluoride — good or bad?
Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo has joined Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in opposition to fluoride in the water supply. Ladapo cites controversial studies that claim the additive poses a risk to developing brains. I shall resist the temptation to draw a link between such studies and our politicians. The...
Cal Thomas: Trimming obese government
Fifty years ago when Ron Paul (father of Sen. Rand Paul) was running for Congress from Texas, a billboard featured an obese Uncle Sam with the caption “let’s put big government on a diet.” Since then, the federal government has grown even more obese. To seriously address the problem, President-elect...
Cal Thomas: Trump’s chance to change taxation
If any constitutional amendment can be hated, it would be the 16th Amendment. Passed by Congress in 1909 and ratified by the states in 1913, it allowed Congress to “levy income taxes without apportioning them among the states based on population.” At first the collection of revenue came from the...
