Why the media will lift Trump up and tear Clinton down  —  It now seems all but certain that the presidential election will see Donald Trump face off against Hillary Clinton.  —  We find ourselves at the tail end of a brief period of clarity.  For the past few months …

AN OPEN LETTER TO MAJORITY AMERICA  —  TO: Those who think both leading presidential candidates are dishonest and have little chance of leading America forward:  —  (...or, stated more simply)  —  TO: The majority of America:  —  Note: If you are one of those rare souls …

New Electoral Scorecard Ratings in 13 States  —  This has been an exceedingly unpredictable year.  Although we remain convinced that Hillary Clinton is very vulnerable and would probably lose to most other Republicans, Donald Trump's historic unpopularity with wide swaths of the electorate …

Tow truck owner said he refused service to woman because she supports Bernie Sanders  —  A local tow truck driver said he refused to tow a woman's car after he saw Bernie Sanders stickers on the vehicle.  —  Kenneth Shupe said he was called to pick up a woman stranded on I-26 in Asheville on Monday.

McCain on tape: Trump damages my reelection hopes  —  Publicly, John McCain insists Donald Trump will have a negligible effect on his campaign for reelection.  But behind closed doors at a fundraiser in Arizona last month, the Republican senator and two-time presidential hopeful offered a far more dire assessment to his supporters.

Hacker ‘Guccifer’: I Got Inside Hillary Clinton's Server  —  The Romanian hacker who first exposed Hillary Clinton's private email address is making a bombshell new claim — that he also gained access to the former Secretary of State's “completely unsecured” server.

F.D.A. Tightens Rules for E-Cigarettes in a Landmark Move  —  WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration made final sweeping new rules that for the first time extend federal regulatory authority to e-cigarettes, popular nicotine delivery devices that have grown into a multibillion-dollar business …

The Best of New York Times Columnist Ross Douthat's Incorrect Predictions That Trump Would Lose the GOP Nomination  —  The demises of Ted Cruz and John Kasich's primary campaigns almost certainly assure, in the absence of some intervening event or act of God, that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for President.

San Andreas fault ‘locked, loaded and ready to roll’ with big earthquake, expert says  —  This simulation by the Southern California Earthquake Center shows the shaking that could be felt by Los Angeles during a possible magnitude 8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews Caught on Hot Mic Ogling Melania Trump … ‘Hardball’ anchor has long history of sexist comments  —  During the network's coverage of Donald Trump's Indiana primary victory speech, MSNBC's Chris Matthews was caught on a live microphone commenting on the appearance of Melania Trump, the Republican nominee's wife.

New Trump Finance Chair Has Given Twice As Much To Democrats As To The GOP  —  Donald Trump has hired a Wall Street tycoon who has donated more than twice as much to Democrats as to Republicans to be his campaign's finance chairman, according to a review of Federal Election Commission filings.

KFC, With New Nail Polish, Redefines Chicken Fingers  —  HONG KONG — Assume, for the sake of argument, that KFC's fried chicken is, as advertised, “finger lickin' good.”  —  Would you really want it to remain on your fingers?  Indefinitely?  —  These are just two of the salient questions raised …

Social Security moves to block the mentally ill from purchasing guns  —  The Social Security Administration (SSA) is proposing to report people who receive disability benefits and have a mental health condition to the FBI's background check system.  —  The proposal, which stems from a memorandum …