Insight: Chronicle editorials from 12 intense months.

American hero: Sen. John McCain, who died Saturday at 81, was the ultimate public servant.

Border wall: We now have a manufactured border crisis of the Trump administration’s own making, promises to incarcerate many more migrants for an indefinite amount of time, and thousands of innocent children ...

Parkland: And so, once again, a nation endures the heartache and the furor inflicted by a deranged individual with weaponry that does not belong on our streets.

G.H.W. Bush: The gracious note he left to his successor in the Oval Office — “Your success now is our country’s success . ... I am rooting hard for you” — spoke volumes about Bush’s sense of decency and commitment to American ideals that transcend partisan alliances or personal rivalries.

Nancy Pelosi: Despite vilification by the party opposite and unrest within her ranks, she is in a commanding position to reclaim the speaker’s gavel. And she’s earned it.

Helsinki summit: President Trump’s performance at his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was an unmitigated disaster.

Supreme Court hearing: Kavanaugh was emotional and cagey by comparison. He tearfully invoked his parents, daughters and friends and angrily defended his right to drink beer.

Aretha Franklin: With her remarkable power and range, the Queen of Soul filled tiny rooms to great halls with joy, with poignancy, with spiritual lift — and, of course, with dancing.