Cal Thomas stories, Page 7
Cal Thomas: With Oxford shooter, the signs weren’t missed — they were ignored
As has been the case with so many other school shootings over several years, last week’s murder spree at Oxford High School in suburban Detroit might have been avoided if actions had been taken in the face of several obvious warning signs. Ethan Crumbley, 15, is charged with murdering four...
Cal Thomas: Isn’t it rich? Thank you, Stephen Sondheim.
The death of composer Stephen Sondheim at 91 is more than the end of an era. It is the end of a chain of great Broadway musicals dating back to the 1920s when Jerome Kern’s “Showboat” first dazzled theater audiences. I met him only once. It was at Barbara Cook’s...
Cal Thomas: Thanks for giving
For some, this Thanksgiving — like last year — is a more difficult occasion than previous ones. Perhaps a loved one has died from covid-19, or you feel isolated from relatives and friends due to lockdowns, quarantines, travel restrictions, vaccinations (or not), masks and “distancing” and might think you have...
Cal Thomas: The Rittenhouse verdict
Before the right to keep and bear arms is stated in the Second Amendment, the Founders wrote why they believed it necessary for people to arm themselves as part of a “militia.” They said it is a “necessity to the security of a free state.” The Founders knew that liberty...
Cal Thomas: Swindled again
Remember those “shovel-ready jobs” promised by the Obama-Biden administration in 2011? When many failed to appear after passage of this spending boondoggle, President Obama joked, “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.” That law, noted Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), cost $787 billion, of which $48 billion was supposed...
Cal Thomas: Threats of more lawlessness in New York
“Lawlessness is lawlessness. Anarchy is anarchy is anarchy. Neither race nor color nor frustration is an excuse for either lawlessness or anarchy.” — Thurgood Marshall Eric Adams, the incoming mayor of New York City, met last week with Hawk Newsome, a co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York,...
Cal Thomas: An American (vice president) in Paris
When past presidents have seen their approval numbers take a dive, they went on foreign trips. Sometimes this works, but more often it doesn’t, because failure at home often follows them abroad. World leaders can sense failure and its twin, weakness. Vice President Kamala Harris, whose poll numbers and favorability...
Cal Thomas: Winsome Sears, a nightmare for the left
The significance of Virginia Lt. Governor-elect Winsome Sears’ victory cannot be overstated. But her victory is significant not only because she is a Black woman and the “first” of her race and gender to hold the office of lieutenant governor in Virginia, but also because she has been described as...
Cal Thomas: Youngkin’s victory goes beyond Virginia
My how quickly things can change with the right message and the right messenger. Glen Youngkin’s impressive victory over Democrat retread Terry McAuliffe in the race for Virginia governor ought to be a reminder that kindness wins over name-calling and that issues are more important than personality. Parents in Virginia...
Cal Thomas: Where should evangelicals go now?
Evangelical Christians have unquestionably been a loyal and largely unmovable base of support for President Trump since he has been in office and in some cases before. Should the election results not be overturned by recounts or court decisions, where do they go and what should they do? Perhaps no...
Cal Thomas: It’s war — are we in it to win it?
Prior to Iran’s missile attacks on U.S. bases inside Iraq, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said, “We are not seeking war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one.” Esper said the U.S. prefers a “diplomatic” solution to the escalation of tensions in the region. Yes, that would be...
Cal Thomas: As we move into new decade, a look at life 100 years ago
It can be useful and instructive to observe the turning of a decade by looking back on what life was like in America a mere 100 years ago. On Jan. 2, 1920, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 108.76. Today it is over 28,000 points. In 1920, the U.S. had...
Cal Thomas: Whatever happened to teaching history?
According to a report by the National Assessment of Education Progress , the teaching of U.S. history to American students lags behind all other subject matters. The latest NAEP survey finds that proficiency levels for fourth-, eighth- and 12th-grade students are in the 20th, 18th and 12th percentile, respectively. Part...
Cal Thomas: The importance of ‘no men’
Shortly after Jim Bakker’s release from prison in July 1994, I invited the disgraced TV evangelist to my home. There was an important question I wanted to ask him. Some background: Bakker and his “Praise the Lord” (PTL) associates sold $1,000 “lifetime memberships” to people who were promised annual three-night...
Cal Thomas: Charlie Chaplin’s philosophy — no more billionaires
He was the Bernie Sanders of his day. Charlie Chaplin, the iconic actor and at the time a well-known political leftist (some said communist), delivered a speech in San Francisco in 1941 prior to America’s entry into World War II. As recounted in the biography of her parents, actress Fay...
Cal Thomas: The Hillary-Tulsi smackdown
A new wrestling league is being promoted during TV coverage of Major League Baseball’s post-season. The ad promises more action, more spectacle and includes women as well as men grappling with each other. I have two candidates for their consideration: Hillary Clinton and presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii. Last...
Cal Thomas: Ukraine, a political rerun
Back when reruns were a staple of summer programming, television networks aired repeats of their programs, giving viewers another opportunity to see what they had already seen. Democratic politicians are now conducting their own version of reruns. The same bunch who brought us the failed Russian “collusion” story, the sliming...
Cal Thomas: Faith & presidential authority
The debate about political power and authority among those who profess the Christian faith has raged since the first century. In modern America, the debate raged throughout Jimmy Carter’s presidency and more recently through the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. The debate now looms large for Donald Trump....
Cal Thomas: Dealing with the Taliban devil
PARIS — President Trump was right to cancel a “secret” meeting with leaders of the Taliban and the Afghan government following two bomb attacks by the terrorist group that killed 10 civilians, an American soldier and a Romanian service member in heavily fortified Kabul. The president is eager to fulfill...
Cal Thomas: Generations apart
There are people in every generation who believe the generation following theirs is either going to the dogs or will ruin the country. A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll lends credence to that way of thinking, especially where Generation Z/millennials (those born in the mid-1990s to mid-2000s) and Generation...
Cal Thomas: They’ve lost their minds in San Francisco
San Francisco, a city described in song for its natural beauty, is descending into an abyss of homelessness, the use of sidewalks as toilets and a place you might not want to visit, much less live. The latest, but surely not the last demonstration of insanity, is San Francisco’s Board...
Cal Thomas: Pick me or else, Trump tells voters
During a December 2015 debate among Republican presidential candidates in Las Vegas, former Florida governor Jeb Bush said to Donald Trump: “You can’t insult your way to the presidency.” Never mind. The question for next year’s election is whether the insulter-in-chief can use the same tactic to win a second...
Cal Thomas: Mass murders are a symptom
Politicians and pundits are promoting familiar explanations, excuses and demands following the tragic mass murders in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. From more gun laws to blaming President Trump, conservative talk radio and Fox News, we’ve heard it all before. A manifesto thought to be linked to the El...
Cal Thomas: A plan to fix Baltimore
Former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has urged President Trump and Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings to stop exchanging insults over conditions in Baltimore. Haley scolded Trump for his recent tweet that appeared to mock Cummings for an attempted break-in at the congressman’s Baltimore home, tweeting “This is...
Cal Thomas: End immigration to mend it
For safety reasons, fire marshals control the number of people who can occupy a building at any one time. We’ve seen what happens when crowds get too large and a fire breaks out, causing panic and often death. So why not control the crowd illegally entering America? We control water...

