ArcaMax

The Wall Street Journal editorial board has delivered its share of idiocies over the past few years, but its response to the capture of Nicolas Maduro has set a new standard. Calling the military intervention "justified" because Venezuela had allied with "Russia, China, Cuba, and Iran," the board then declared triumphantly that "Mr. Trump is ...Read more

I promised my dad that his kids -- my brother, sister and I -- would take him on one last trip. Today, we're keeping that promise. We're taking him home to visit family and old friends.

Growing up in farm country around Okies and Mexican farm workers, one of the first poets I fell in love with was also one of the Valley's favorite sons -- ...Read more

Venezuela is well rid of Nicolas Maduro, a corrupt, oppressive and illegitimate leader who presided over that country's continuing decline after succeeding Hugo Chavez in 2013. And judging from what happened after the 1989 invasion of Panama, when U.S. forces nabbed a similarly odious strongman who likewise faced a federal drug indictment, the...Read more

How quickly things change. Before President Donald Trump toppled former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, most Americans probably never gave our neighboring country a thought. Now, everyone is an expert with an opinion.

To make sure your opinion is an informed one, here are 10 things to keep in mind:

-- Liberal Democrats and other Trump ...Read more

The year 2025 passed pretty quickly, almost in the blink of an eye. It began with tragedy as soon as January hit, with 14 people being killed in New Orleans when a driver rammed his truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street. A similar deadly incident happened in Las Vegas when an active-duty U.S. Army Green Beret exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside...Read more

As we move into the new year, let's look forward at where we're headed. But first, let's take one last look backward at where we've been.

What America needs most desperately is a deep cleanse. Apart from whatever joyous moments may have occurred over the last 12 months in the personal lives of everyday Americans -- i.e., promotions, weddings,...Read more

On his way out the door last January, then-President Joe Biden issued broad, preemptive pardons for several relatives and political allies. Those stay-out-of-jail cards set an alarming precedent that could undermine the accountability of government officials by encouraging future presidents to shield underlings from prosecution for criminal ...Read more

As 2025 comes to an end, I want to thank my readers who have emailed me throughout the year with encouraging and kind words. I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness put into every message. Due to my teaching and grading load, I am not able to respond to every email, but I am deeply moved that people would take the time to write me. I'm also ...Read more

In the course of his losing race with the teleprompter during his Oval Office address on Dec. 17, President Donald Trump returned to a theme that obsesses him -- respect. Even before his entry into politics, Trump was convinced that "weak" leaders including Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Obama were despised by other nations and that the U.S. was a ...Read more

Nearly four decades ago, Francis Young, chief administrative law judge at the Drug Enforcement Administration, concluded that marijuana did not belong in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, the law's most restrictive category. Although Young was ultimately overruled by DEA Administrator John Lawn, he was belatedly vindicated last week...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The worst thing about the immigration debate is not the divisiveness. It's the dishonesty.

After more than 36 years of covering this rhetorical shoving match, I can tell you this much: The whole bloody thing is replete with lies. I've compiled a list of the top ten untruths.

Incidentally, the biggest whopper of them all -- No. 1...Read more

With Christmas near, many people are excited to exchange gifts with family and loved ones. Children are especially enthusiastic on Christmas morning as they open their presents under the tree, hoping they received everything they asked for. They could be getting the latest technological gadgets or fashionable clothes that represent current ...Read more

When I go to synagogue, I always smile and wave at the armed police officers stationed outside. I want them to know they're appreciated, but also, at some level, I guess it's fair to say that I'm trying to ingratiate myself so that the cop will want to put his or her life on the line to save us if a gunman decides to open fire on or torch our ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- My holiday wish for my fellow Americans is that we should all be so lucky in this life as to find someone who loves us as much as President Donald Trump loves Donald Trump.

I realize this is not breaking news. We've known for decades that the billionaire real estate developer and former reality TV star has an ego the size of ...Read more

Priscilla Villarreal was not arrested for "merely asking questions," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton insists in a brief urging the Supreme Court to reject the Laredo news vlogger's petition for review of her First Amendment case. Yet that is literally what happened to Villarreal in 2017, and the precedent set by that incident poses a threat ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- The word of the day is reverberating through the world of college football: "Heismendoza." And it's powerful.

As a Mexican American, my father was always excited to see a brown face in a high place. We'd be watching the news, and he'd spot a Spanish surname. He'd point at the screen like a little boy on Christmas morning and ...Read more

Absorbing the news about the brutal treatment of detainees, to say nothing of the outright murder of "suspected" drug runners in the Caribbean, I think back to a conversation I had in February of this year. My interlocutor was a Trump voter who had just had a friendly encounter with an African immigrant striver -- the kind who came from poverty ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- Once the Trump administration started attacking Venezuelan drug boats that appeared to be traveling to the United States, it was inevitable that Americans would be pulled back into a conversation about the much-ballyhooed War on Drugs. Just as it was predictable that, once we were enmeshed in that dialogue, we'd lose our bearings ...Read more

I have a riddle for you. If we call a drug smuggler a combatant, how many combatants died when SEAL Team 6 killed 11 men on a cocaine boat near Venezuela on Sept. 2?

Zero, because calling a drug smuggler a combatant does not make him a combatant. That reality goes to the heart of the morally and legally bankrupt justification for President ...Read more

SAN DIEGO -- All Americans want for Christmas is for things to cost less. Is that asking too much?

It is if they're making the "ask" of President Donald Trump. When it comes to fulfilling his 2024 campaign promise to be the "affordability president," he is way out of his depth. How is Trump supposed to battle inflation if he doesn't even ...Read more