Senator Rand Paul Celebrates Festivus With ‘The Airing of Grievances’

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is celebrating Festivus, the fictional non-commercial holiday popularized by TV's Seinfeld . As required by tradition, Paul is doing an online "airing of grievances" about government waste, Washington politics, and a certain White House occupant with a penchant for tweeting.

Congressional Republicans end year with legislative wins, but 2018 holds risks

After a year of legislative fits and starts, the Republican-led Congress can claim victory on an agenda of tax cuts, judicial confirmations and a substantial regulatory rollback. It's a list of accomplishments that seemed to surprise even party leaders, who warily entered a political marriage of necessity with President Donald Trump, but now say they have made their peace with his unpredictable style of governing.

Trump vacations at his Florida golf resort

US President Donald Trump has begun his year-end vacation at his exclusive golf club and resort in West Palm Beach. According to the pool reporters accompanying him, the president arrived on Saturday shortly after 9am at the Trump International Golf Club, where he is expected to spend a good part of the day amid warm temperatures and clear skies.

Rand Paul pokes fun at Donald Trump, fellow lawmakers in annual Festivus tradition

Sen. Rand Paul , Kentucky Republican, took aim at targets including President Trump's Twitter habit and wasteful federal spending during his "airing of grievances" Saturday, an annual Twitter tradition inspired by the quirky Festivus holiday at the center of a 1997 "Seinfeld" episode. Festivus is celebrated every Dec. 23 with a plain aluminum pole and activities including a "Feats of Strength" wrestling match and the "Airing of Grievances," according to Seinfeld lore.

Lessons from the African American Vote in Alabama

Dr. John E. Warren says that African Americans should be focused on "voter registration" and not candidate endorsements at this stage of the game. The African Americans who have convinced themselves that one vote doesn't matter, should take a very close look at what happened during the recent special election in Alabama.

Largest power outage in Maine history is top story of 2017

A storm packing hurricane-force gusts roared into Maine, stunning residents and emergency officials by leaving more people in the dark than the infamous ice storm of 1998. It took utility crews more than a week to restore power, raising questions of Central Maine Power's preparedness and the state's ability to withstand a more powerful storm.

Cosby and casinos among Pennsylvania’s top 2017 stories

Months before a national reckoning on sexual harassment and assault would topple powerful men in entertainment, business and media, entertainer Bill Cosby stood trial in a suburban Philadelphia courtroom, accused of drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. Jurors heard lurid testimony about the TV star once known as "America's Dad" for his role as kindly Dr. Cliff Huxtable on "The Cosby Show."

@PKCapitol: Will the tax bill help or hurt Republicans? It depends.

Interpretation of the news based on evidence, including data, as well as anticipating how events might unfold based on past events Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks at the White House Wednesday following the passage of tax legislation, with Vice President Pence, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan and Sen. Tim Scott . A couple with two children from Indiana, where Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly faces a difficult reelection next year, explain to the audience that with combined wages of $73,000, they stand to save $2,000 under the Republican tax cuts enacted Wednesday.

New year to be a challenge for Republicans in Congress

Ready to leave for the Christmas recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to a news conference to discuss the GOP agenda for next year and and his accomplishments in the first year of the Trump Administration, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Dec. 22, 2017. Their tax bill triumph in the rear-view mirror, Republicans running Congress face a 2018 in which they'll need Democratic votes to get almost anything done.

Will voters listen as GOP tries to stop the next Roy Moore?

In this Oct. 17, 2017, file photo, former Republican Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward smiles as she is greeted by supporters at a campaign fundraiser, in Scottsdale, Ariz. Some Republican Party leaders warn that conservative candidates with problematic track records like Danny Tarkanian In Nevada or Arizona state Sen. Kelli Ward can't win general election battles and will lead the GOP to lose seats in 2018.

What’s next in the net neutrality battle?

US legislators and digital advocates are coming together in plans to reverse the FCC's December decision to end net neutrality protections in the US. Opponents of the US Federal Communication Commission's decision to end net neutrality on December 14 see promise in Congressional disapproval of the move.

Hill pushes spy bill renewal to January, but a bitter debate still looms

Congress voted Thursday to give itself an extra three weeks to settle bitter differences over how to reauthorize one of the government's most prized foreign intelligence-gathering tools, but the last-minute move has done little to reconcile competing concerns about the need to maintain powerful spy capabilities and Americans' right to privacy. Neither Republicans nor Democrats are united over how to limit the authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil, particularly when it comes to the question of when law enforcement officials can scour the collected surveillance for information about Americans.

This week in the Trump-Russia investigation – Republicans…

It was a relatively slow week in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, but some key revelations helped move the investigation forward. Anti-Mueller Republicans have been communicating with the White House : One of the Republicans who has been critical of Robert Mueller's investigation indicated that he has spoken to the White House about the issue, but maintains that the questions he asked about the two FBI agents who exchanged anti-President Donald Trump texts were motivated purely by the evidence.

In partial defense of Susan Collins, on the tax bill

Maine Sen. Susan Collins complained Tuesday that coverage of her role in crafting the Republican tax bill had been "unbelievably sexist" and had failed to note the ways in which she had gotten the law shaped to her liking. I think she has a point that the coverage has painted her as less successful in the tax negotiations than she really was.

New Hamilton County Businesses

Here is the Chattanooga Chamber calendar of events for Jan. 1-5 Wednesday, Jan. 3, Networking sponsored by REV Optimal Living 8-9 a.m. REV Optimal Living: 417 Frazier Ave. Thursday, Jan. 4, Downtown Chamber Council Meeting 7:30-9 a.m. Bessie Smith Cultural Center: 200 E M L King Blvd. Cost: $15 Thursday, Jan. 4, East Ridge ... The November ... (more)