Cal Thomas

In a speech announcing her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) reminded me of some of the great orators of the past. Her speech was measured in tone, substantive in content and delivered with conviction. Collins is no conservative. She has voted in favor of abortion and same-sex marriage while towing a more moderate line on economics. Her speech…

Who believes another FBI investigation of Brett Kavanaugh will be the end of it? If the FBI finds nothing to support Christine Blasey Ford's testimony that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school party, will it be enough for Democrats to vote to confirm him? Republicans say the investigation is limited to her charge and that of a third accuser, Julie Swetnick, whose allegations,…

At times Brett and Ashley Kavanaugh sounded rehearsed and overly cautious in their “exclusive” interview with Fox News host Martha McCallum Monday night. Brett Kavanaugh repeated verbatim lines about defending his character and allowing the “process” to play out. He said he would not withdraw in the face of unsubstantiated charges against him. At times their answers seemed coached, but then it is…

The Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus announced last year it was closing after a 146-year run, largely because of high operating costs, costly legal battles with animal rights groups and declining ticket sales, especially after elephants were retired from the show. Brett Kavanaugh's embattled nomination for the Supreme Court has become a circus, and it's time for the Senate…

Finding someone in Washington who is nonpartisan and puts the nation’s interests ahead of their own is so rare these days that he or she, if found, might well qualify as an endangered species. But once in a while — call it the law of averages — someone speaks the truth. It happened last week when Mark Penn, former adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, wrote a column for The Hill newspaper in which…

If you are frustrated by wait times to see your doctor, the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs, just wait until there may be no doctor to see. NBC News recently broadcast a story about how fewer young people are entering the medical profession. The network cited a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges that “projected a shortage of 42,600 to 121,300 physicians by…

What does a white boy from the white suburbs of Washington, D.C., have to say about the passing of soul singer Aretha Franklin? At 16, I was a DJ on a local radio station, playing the rock ‘n’ roll and doo-wop recordings of the day. Many of the artists were black. Richard Penniman (aka “Little Richard”) tells a funny story about white kids back then. In “Hail, Hail, Rock ‘n’ Roll,” the 1987…

Where have we seen this play before: A woman comes forward to accuse a conservative of inappropriate behavior in hopes of harming him sufficiently so he will be unable to achieve his policy objectives? People with even short memories will recall “act one” was Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, who in 1991 accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.…

Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the sci-fi movie classic “The Matrix,” which depicts powerful machines attempting to subdue the human race. Sometimes art imitates life, and sometimes it’s the other way around. On occasion, art can be prophetic. “The Matrix” is such a film. It warns of a future in which the power and worth of the individual is subsumed into one giant interconnected world…

Every president since George Washington has suffered from a critical press. John F. Kennedy canceled all White House subscriptions to the New York Herald Tribune because of coverage he regarded as unfavorable. President Obama, who was almost universally adored by mainstream media, sometimes complained he wasn’t getting all the credit he thought he deserved for his policies; never mind that in…

For the current generation, sometimes referred to as millennials, it appears one thing is more seductive than sex -- and that's socialism.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, winner of a New York Democratic primary, are the old and new faces of socialist America. Their platforms, it appears, hinge on the concept of shared wealth, in other words, handing out free…

If Alexander Hamilton had been nominated for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court today, Democrats would likely oppose him. About the court, Hamilton said: “[A] limited Constitution ...can be preserved in practice no other way than through the medium of courts of justice, whose duty it must be to declare all acts contrary to the manifest tenor of the Constitution void. Without this, all the…

Much of Europe was asleep, or in denial, when the Nazis took power and began rebuilding their military in violation of the Versailles Treaty that brought World War I to an end. Now, after years of virtually unlimited migration from predominately North African and other Muslim regions, some European nations are awakening to what this could mean for their countries and are responding, hoping it's…

Bob Corker, the outgoing Republican senator from Tennessee, recently compared supporters of President Trump to members of a cult. The Washington Post quoted Corker as saying: “It's becoming a cultish thing, isn't it? It's not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president that happens to be of -- purportedly -- of the same party.”