What now? Forget civil discourse. Never mind empathy. So long to compassion.

In the scorching summer weather, which lasts roughly from Easter to Thanksgiving in East Texas, if you want to avoid morphing into an extra-greasy (and slightly hairy) strip of bacon, escaping the heat and humidity is a necessity.

NFL owners have managed to obfuscate a legitimate protest against police brutality that had, at least briefly, heightened the nation’s consciousness about a serious issue.

With Trump on foreign soil attacking the free and independent press (CNN “has been faking news for a long time,” while NBC “is equally bad”), I’m recommending that you read The New Yorker’s richly-detailed article about The National Enquirer.

Democrats just lost another election, this time in Montana.

A Harvard study published May 18 reveals what thoughtful Americans already knew: Extreme anti-Trump bias runs rampant in corporate media.

Remember when late-night TV used to be entertaining – and actually funny?

For conservatives, the election of Donald Trump, while not ideal, represents the first chance in a long time to take the country back from the infestation of liberal ideology, and especially one world government globalism.

At my age I’m pretty sure I don’t need maternity care.

I was an eighth grader in a tiny little county school in Indiana when the little school of Milan, Indiana, won the state basketball championship in 1954.

If your New Year’s resolutions crash and burn, don’t despair.

If Jill Stein and die-hard Democrats get their way, recounts in three key states will take the presidency away from Donald Trump and hand it to Hillary Clinton.

Why does the March for Life, a rally that attracts tens of thousands of anti-abortion Americans to Washington, D.C., every year get less prominent media coverage than a fringe neo-Nazi gathering?

There were plenty of agitated and even hysterical reactions to Donald Trump’s election victory, but none more surprising than the one expressed in a direct mail letter I got a couple of days afterward.

Boosting federal investment in infrastructure has never had so many enthusiasts. During the presidential campaign, it was the rare chorus that Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could all join in singing.

It’s all over. So why are people still arguing about something Donald Trump said three weeks ago?

I am uplifted by Tuesday’s presidential election results because I believe we have a good chance to start turning things around in the country for the better, from economic issues to social issues and matters of national security and the rule of law.

In my Nov. 1 column, I looked at the presidential election through the lens of the old children’s radio show “Let’s Pretend” — examining how things would look if it turned out that Donald Trump ends up winning.

It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to, Donald Trump tweeted at the reasonable hour of 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

After the Drug Enforcement Administration announced an “emergency” ban on kratom at the end of August, a spokesman for the agency said “our goal is to make sure this is available.”

There is a perverse symmetry on display in Afghanistan right now.

So, it has come to my knowledge that Mrs. Monica Gates wasn’t quite the “people’s choice” in two of her three elections.

One of the shrewdest American politicians I both know and like, a man who has actually managed Republican presidential campaigns, was openly discouraged after the first debate between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

A recent essay in The Wall Street Journal described Donald Trump thusly: “Rather like the crazy boy-emperors after the fall of the Roman Republic, he may have problems with impulse control – and an uncontrolled, ill-formed, perpetually fragmented mind.”

I left the University of Southern California forum where I watched the debate Monday night with an overwhelming sense of unease. And I’ve been trying to figure out why.

I’m old enough to remember 2015, when many in both parties opposed the specter of another Bush or another Clinton precisely because of weariness with all that they represent.

Before taking his seat at Monday night's presidential debate, Lester Holt confided to the audience in the hall that his knees were shaking. Ninety minutes later, shaky would be an overly kind way to describe Holt's performance as moderator.

For the millionth time, Trump is not a fiscal conservative. He is a populist. And his near-embrace by many evangelicals notwithstanding, New Yorker Trump with “New York values” is likely pro-choice and pro-gay marriage.

Britain’s vote to leave the European Union sparks speculation on where the United Kingdom might turn for new trading partners. How about NAFTA?

Snowden put them in jeopardy, through disclosures that did not justify the risk. National security is a central responsibility of our government.

This election year makes a mockery of past complaints about the “lesser of two evils.” That cliche has been trotted out in every election of my lifetime.

We, the American People, should pat ourselves on the back for having survived a multitude of presidential battles this year.

Imagine the outcry if Hillary Clinton was outed for taking more than a quarter of a million dollars in other people’s money – donations to the Clinton Foundation, donations that were intended to be used for charitable purposes – and spent it instead on herself, in a breach of federal tax laws, in order to settle all kinds of lawsuits filed against her. And to buy several paintings of herself.

We, the American People, should pat ourselves on the back for having survived a multitude of presidential battles this year. So far we've ducked mud thrown during the Little Hands Wars, the Naked Wives Wars, the Bigotry Wars, the Qualification Wars, the Crazier than a Wombat in a Centrifuge Wars, and now a brand new phase: the Health Wars

The explosives going off in the dumpster in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea was not a major terrorist event – except on the TV news channels.

On August 24, leaders of the “nominally Marxist” Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia agreed to what they called a “definitive ceasefire” with the pro-U.S. Colombian government they once vowed to topple.

In recent presidential years, Catholics and white evangelical Christians joined in favoring the Republican candidate. A key reason was a shared opposition to abortion. This time, Catholics appear to be deserting the candidacy of Donald Trump, and one can understand why.

A 2001 survey found 88 percent of Americans agreed that the Constitution ought to affirm the equality of women. Nearly 3 in 4 people thought it already did.

First of all, remember that when Trump’s con game is over, you’ll still be one of the people who defended an authoritarian thug.

This is a race to rock bottom to see which team ends up least wrecked, and right now they’re both jostling for pole position.

Being a muckraking political writer often makes me feel like a custodian in a horse barn, constantly shoveling manure.

A friend 15 years older than Hillary Clinton recently came down with a mild pneumonia that sounds just like hers.

Congratulations Ric Swats for an informative column (KDM 9-28).

On Sept. 2, the FBI released a lengthy explanation of its investigation of Hillary Clinton and a summary of the evidence amassed against her.

Republicans enter the fall campaign in moods ranging from grim foreboding to howling despair. They fear that Donald Trump will not only lose but lose so big he will take hordes of other candidates down with him, costing the GOP control of the U.S. Senate and even the House. This election could be the party’s worst debacle since 1964.

Walmart is seeing the future, and the future isn’t more shoppers driving through stop-and-go traffic to big boxes at the edge of town. It’s online shopping.

San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick won’t stand for the national anthem, because, well, we’re not exactly sure why.

Recent polls find a majority of Americans believe that “race relations,” since the election of the first black president, have gotten worse, not better.

Ask Dr. Politics! You are fair, and I am unbalanced!

For the past year, the Republican Party has behaved as though it is determined to abandon its best principles and alienate voters for years to come.

Do you ever get tired of defending Donald Trump?” a critic asked.

Even as a guy who won’t release his tax returns, Donald Trump has become America’s leading crime fighter.

A beach in France is likely to feature some sights that would shock many Americans, such as bare-breasted women and paunchy middle-aged men in tiny Speedos.

Serious acrimony has now broken out among conservatives regarding whether to vote for Donald Trump.

The Loathsome Cowboy rides again.

Poor Hillary Clinton. She’s trying so fervently to come up with at least one new and inspiring idea to jump-start a moribund economy and help the financially stressed middle class.

We’ve heard nonstop criticism of both the Democrat and Republican presidential candidates – for good reasons. So are their running mates any better? Yes.

Our quadrennial presidential sweepstakes regularly provides textbook studies in contrast. And 2016 raises the bar in disparity.

If there is anything on which Americans across the political spectrum agree, it is the inviolability of the Constitution. It is our national scripture, invoked by all and rejected by none.

Some corporations engage in such abusive consumer rip-offs that they’re just plain evil. But then there are some profiteers that dig even deeper into the dark void of their corporate souls to achieve the ultimate status: TRULY EVIL.

International trade figures heavily in the presidential race.

Last week, President Obama penned a ridiculous piece in Glamour magazine.

A few weeks ago the Daily Miner ran a story on the front page about Social Security and Medicare being in bad shape.

I am so frustrated with so much of what continues to go on with politics in our country.

I don’t want Hillary Clinton to be president. She’s a liar. But I can’t vote for Donald Trump. He lies almost as often.

Did Hillary Clinton actually propose raising middle-income taxes in a recent speech?

Some Republicans as well as Democrats have used the term “unfit to serve” about Donald Trump, based on things he said, and what they assume he might have meant.

So the conventions are over and we’ve entered the penultimate stage of this presidential demolition derby.

Alone in his bedroom on a dark and stormy night, Donald Trump was inventing some tax returns, when the devil appeared before him.

On the eve of the Democratic National Convention, WikiLeaks – the courageous international organization dedicated to governmental transparency – exposed hundreds of internal emails circulated among senior staff of the Democratic National Committee during the past 18 months.

Bronze Star and Purple Heart recipient Captain Humayun Khan died heroically. But his exceptional courage in Iraq and his Muslim father’s post-Democratic convention histrionics on TV do not erase the security threat posed by killer warriors of Allah infiltrating our troops.

Two recent news stories highlight how pernicious the welfare state has become in America today.

Many people dislike both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton – for good reason: Both are power-hungry threats to democracy and rule of law. But what can we do? What’s the alternative?

Forget about the heated battle between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for a second, and let your mind wander back to a Washington, D.C. in the rejuvenating throes of springtime.

The implosion is so big it’s drowning out the “he said this monstrous thing” or “that easily caught lie.” Donald Trump has moved from the chaos candidate to the kamikaze candidate to the crazy-as-a-loon candidate.

Striding onto the Philadelphia stage resplendent in a white pants suit like a heavenly sent business bride walking down the aisle to tie the knot with America, Chelsea’s mom jettisoned the “presumptive” and accepted the Democratic Party’s invitation to become their nominee in the 2016 race for the Presidency of the United States. And contrary to prior dire warnings, the gates of hell did not open up.