Orange County, one of the last bastions of Republicanism in California, has gone completely blue.

We had a fire drill Thursday at our new offices north of Bakersfield.

Reader: As much as I like Peter Wonderly, I must strongly oppose his suggestion that evangelical Christians should "Vote for the common good" (Community Voices, Oct. 30) by selecting Democrat candidates. Even if I agreed with Peter's talking points questioning the morality of Republican posi…

In the annals of great human migrations, this one is not especially noteworthy. Moses and the people of Israel from Egypt to the Holy Land — that was a migration. Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs from the partition of colonial India — definitely epic. Okies and Arkies from the environmental devasta…

Our Oct. 31 article on the dust-up in the Kern High School District race for the open Area 4 seat attracted some fiery criticism from two prominent Colebrook supporters, political consultant Cathy Abernathy and state senate candidate Shannon Grove.

Reader: The news media does an excellent job reporting the names of arrestees and their crimes. Why not report their immigration status also? This would provide factual information instead of emotional bias to help develop common immigration reform. Just kidding — that wouldn't be politicall…

In July the Arvin City Council voted to establish restrictions on new oil and gas operations within its borders.

Reader: I moved to Kern County in 1998 and when Kevin McCarthy first ran for the California Assembly in 2002, I supported him. At that time I was totally disinterested in politics. Fast forward to today's political atmosphere, with the ongoing devastation dividing the nation at the hands of …

Reader: I don't understand how TBC Media can endorse Mike Williams for the Kern High School District Board of Trustees, and I would like you to help me understand. A year ago Mike was angry with The Californian because you guys printed an opinion he didn't like so he threatened to pull the p…

Young citizens of voting age need to understand their rights and responsibilities in this democracy thing, and I’m always happy to give them a little shove in the right direction.

We've all heard about the fake news that propagandists in Russia, Macedonia, Romania and elsewhere dropped into America's scarcely regulated social media network in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Not a single vote has been cast in the closely watched race for 4th District Kern County supervisor, but Delano Mayor Grace Vallejo has a big lead in the second-most important measure of electoral success — money.

They were perhaps 500 feet apart when the shooting started: Three Bakersfield women, each unknown to the other two, at the same outdoor concert. Then, in that instant, they became forever bound by a shared horror: the same blind panic, the same logic-stifling terror, the same stark awareness…

Reader: This Ramon Escobar, who is suspected of the killings and severe beatings of homeless people in Southern California, is not from Houston, he’s from El Salvador. He is an illegal alien invader who, by the way, had been previously deported at least five times.

This fall Californians will vote on dozens of very important, semi-important and marginally important political races and issues. They will, for example, elect a governor, reconstitute the state's Congressional delegation and decide whether to fund an $8.9 billion water bond.

Dick Taylor joined the Marines at a difficult time. Not because the U.S. military was putting its finest in harm's way, as it must sometimes do. The fighting in Vietnam had ended.

Reader: Reference is made to Robert Price's Sept. 19 column, "It’s not easy to admit you’re a victim of sexual assault.” While the main theme of the piece is easy to identify, consistent with the headline — and well argued by Price, as usual in his works — there is an underlying theme that, …

Well, here we go.

Ten and a half years ago, sorting through the day's mail, I would often marvel at the number of let-me-sell-your-home postcards from real estate agents. We were surely half-millionaires on paper, I remember thinking, because our nothing-special suburban house had, apparently and quite sudden…

Reader: I just got through reading your excellent article about the "hip-hop hero" at Starbucks ("No cape, but hip-hop hero took on machete man anyway," Robert Price, Sept. 13). I was just wondering, if Blaine or another Starbucks customer had had a concealed carry permit and took care of th…

So this is what a machete can do to a man.

What's the fastest way for a Kern County Sheriff's deputy to get a raise these days? Answer: Get hired by the Bakersfield Police Department.

It's Labor Day weekend, and as you read this I am marinating in a coat of SPF 40 on a sandy beach, warily eyeing circling seagulls. I am trying to achieve a zen that clears the mind of anything related to work or reality in general, but in fact I am worrying that if I don't leave early enoug…

Reader: After seeing the Aug. 25 headline, "Central Valley officials join push to end California oil production," I was shocked at what would be a near-apocalyptic economic shift for Kern County.

When Amazon's 2.5 million-square-foot distribution center opens perhaps 15 months from now, right across the road from the William M. Thomas Terminal at Meadows Field, several things, almost all of them good, will have transpired.

What if they threw an election and nobody ran? Taxpayers would save a lot of money, that's what. The savings would come at a different kind of cost, though.

Reader: After seeing The Californian join the Destroy Trump Media in downplaying the news of Mollie Tibbetts, the young Iowa woman who was allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, by relegating it to an Aug. 22 digest item, it is understandable that greater coverage would…

If it seems like the process of electing people to serve in government and education is a never-ending process, it's because it is. The political season is worse than the NBA season; at least basketball players take a couple of months off to lounge on tropical beaches. Politicians are always…

Reader: Sorry to see our Bakersfield paper go off the anti-Trump cliff with the other 300-plus lemming national papers this past Thursday ("Our View: Media here for the people," Aug. 15). If 10 of your friends call you a jerk, maybe you're a jerk. Likewise, if tens of millions of people call…

Exactly a week ago I asked readers to suggest what we might want to portray of ourselves to the rest of America.

All three chairs on the barbershop side of Reyna's Beauty Salon were occupied. Three young barbers cropped the necks of three young customers, and a fourth waited his turn. Everyone in this Lamont barbershop had a vote, I announced. "Pretend you're the school board. How does Lamont High Scho…

Reader: One only has to look at the front-page headlines in your Aug. 4 edition to know we've fallen full-bore into a feel-good generation. "Mini-Con brings out inner superheroes," "How not to recycle," and of world-shatteringly importance, "City seeks funds for proposed bike path along Fria…

Listen to people discuss the City of Bakersfield's proposed sales tax increase and you're liable to hear complaints about employee pension obligations and other assorted government screwups and inefficiencies. If we're going to talk about taxes, that's all fair game for debate.

Reader: Bob Price's leftist view is obvious in his obsequious defense of Supervisor Leticia Perez's misdemeanor charge as an overreach by the DA ("Why is Perez's case different? Onus is on DA's office," July 25). His political leanings are at variance with any moral values his father, a chap…

Grace Vallejo checked her phone as she stood up to leave for her next appointment.

Congressman Kevin McCarthy leads a double life.

Reader: This is Don Hall of Don Hall Jewelers just calling to say, what an outstanding article by Steven Mayer on the return of the Japanese-American lieutenant colonel's medals ("Yard sale purchase yields trove of military medals," July 21). Steve really hit the nail on the head. I grew up …

Fifth District Supervisor Leticia Perez, charged with criminal conflict of interest, joins a long list of local government officials, elected and appointed, who have been accused of breaching campaign laws, financial disclosure requirements or ethics standards over the years.

Well, this is unnecessary. And mighty curious.

Reader: Are you out of your minds to run this on the front page of the paper? And as the section-front headline ("Trump heads to Putin summit with no clear goal — and worries that he’ll make concessions," July 14).

A jury will ultimately decide whether Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez, married to a pot-industry lobbyist, inappropriately cast the lone vote against an ordinance to ban commercial cannabis sales last October.

One measure of a city's economic prowess, and thus its place in the American landscape, is its access by air to and from the world beyond its borders. By that measure, Bakersfield ranks somewhere between Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Bismarck, N.D. That is to say, just a few notches above irrelevance.

Reader: Very nice write-up on Bakersfield's Lonnie Shelton ("Everyone wanted a piece of Lonnie Shelton, and he delivered," Robert Price, July 11). I have fond memories of Lonnie when we played together at South High School on the JV basketball team. I was the starting point guard, with margi…