Their health services guy, RFK Jr., admits to sniffing cocaine from public toilet seats. MAGA’s immigration shot caller, Stephen Miller, is a proud white supremacist. And Trump pardons criminals who make the Mafia seem like the Mickey Mouse Club. But the smell of MAGA rot is in the air. Even MAGA super-star Marjorie Taylor Greene says that MAGA “was all a lie.” How does MAGA lie? MAGA misdirects by mimicking Las Vegas illusionists. They pull “whataboutisms” from a hat to cha

Note: Because this Opinion is long, I have asked The Madera Tribune to publish it in two pieces, the remaining part in next week’s paper. This question, in this letter, is primarily for Christians, any denomination, very active, not practicing, whatever. Others are invited to consider the message herein and see how the question relates to them. Again: Why are you a Democrat? That’s the bait question. Here’s the hook question — who do you associate yourself with? As a person w

Fifteen million viewers held their breaths while Avery Mason, the 24-year-old anchor of American Events, the most popular newsmagazine on television, sat in the driver’s seat of a Honda minivan, perched on a hydraulic lift above a high-school swimming pool. When the restraint was released, the car rolled at the angle that a car veering off a highway and into a river or lake would fall. Avery had completed a week of instruction from experts on how to escape a sinking automobi

It's been part of the American ethos that we talk informally, but we write in "formal English." I don't know who introduced that rule or why it exists. Perhaps it's a "vestigial remnant" from a time when only the elite had any formal education. But it seems to me that it is a self-defeating custom. In a way, it's kind of like being bilingual in one language. When I was a junior in high school, my English teacher told me that once people begin to write correctly, they will sta

For the second time in a row, congressional Democrats let their hatred of Donald Trump expose their true nature to the entire world. In 2025 they crouched angrily like so many Black Widow spiders in your underwear drawer, holding little signs that read FALSE; LIES; and MUSK STEALS (yeah, the world's richest man needs your money). They refused to stand or applaud for citizens introduced by Trump, whose personal stories rivaled the Hallmark Channel for drama. Last night, 2026,

Over the past decade, Madera County’s total budget has grown dramatically, rising from roughly $266 million in the mid‑2010s to approximately $578 million in the 2025‑26 fiscal year. At first glance, such growth might suggest a massive expansion in government staffing or services. But a closer look shows that staffing increases have been modest, and much of the growth is tied to federal and state funding streams, not local taxes. Staffing growth vs. budget growth County budge

Harlan Coben currently has 80 million books in print, circulating in at least 40 countries.His novels are perennial best sellers, topping the New York Times lists.He has won numerous awards for his fiction, some of his books have been the basis for television series in France, and he is the creator of the British crime/drama television show, “The Five.” Many Americans, both readers and non-readers, are familiar with his work through Netflix series.In 2018, Coben signed a mul

Stated simply, the price of housing is dependent on the number of houses available and the number of people who would like to purchase a home. When the number of vacant houses exceeds the number of potential buyers, the cost of housing is relatively inexpensive. When the number of potential buyers exceeds the number of houses for sale, the price is steep. That, in a nutshell, is the dynamic called “supply and demand.” Levittowns As a rule, when the population of an area is ex