During a Cherokee County Commissioners meeting earlier this week, some trash haulers complained about all three transfer stations being closed on days surrounding official holidays when the courthouse is closed. The haulers have a legitimate beef.

The Senate Intelligence Committee issued its Internet Research Agency report this week. The Senate concluded Russian social media operatives monkey-wrenched the U.S. from St. Petersburg, Russia, and not from Ukraine, as Trump-friendly D.C. lawmakers were spinning. The "Ukraine did it" talking point was to gin up a narrative in which the president might not have been bribing Ukraine by snagging anti-Russian aid from Congress.

Thanksgiving is over, and again mobs rushed the doors for the Black Friday or Thursday evening sales. Now, it's the Christmas season, and my question is this: What will be offensive this year?

By now, it is surely obvious that I am not a fan of President Trump. Being overt about negative thoughts isn't my habit, but once a certain threshold is crossed, I become much more expressive in my criticisms.

In order to make a proper assessment of the threat North Korea poses to the U.S. and other western nations, it is first necessary to seek some knowledge of the country and its history.

In point of fact, the threat from North Korea is more a fabrication by those who think we should always be at war with someone (anyone) and constantly threatening other countries as the basis for our foreign policy.

In spite of all that activity, and the Nov. 21 tragedy, Vance’s safety record is outstanding.

We take them for granted, these young men and women who are risking their lives, and the lives of their instructors, and hey, don’t forget this, our lives as well to a lesser degree, every time they buckle in and fire up their aircraft. Those are our homes, schools, churches and businesses they are flying over, after all.

During the holiday season, folks talk a lot about tension among family members, and how relatives from polar ends of the political spectrum almost come to blows over the Thanksgiving table. I've already heard of a man flinging a handful of stuffing at a female relative after first calling her a "liberal bra-burner" just for supporting Elizabeth Warren.

"They knew what we were doing, and why. Everyone was in the loop. It was no secret."

Presidential candidates are schmoozing the early primary states. This week in New Hampshire, Democrat Amy Klobuchar reached out to citizens who voted for Trump. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker sought endorsements from local party leaders.

The state's new open carry law, which went into effect Nov. 1, has had a few surprising byproducts, one of which is "buyer's remorse" on the part of some who originally advocated it. The other is that despite the law's elimination of required training for carrying firearms, many people want it, anyway.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, the national holiday where we should pause and give thanks for the blessings of our abundance.

Gather around, boys and girls, and I'll tell you a story. It is a strange tale with plot twists and turns, and ends with a moral. Some time ago on a continent far, far away, there were many kingdoms that were prosperous and mighty, but for thousands of years, they fought war after war with one another at the least provocation.

“Nice family you have there…it’d be a shame if something were to happen to it.”

The stalled talks over tribal gaming compacts are not good news for anyone in Oklahoma.

Some of my friends have suggested my iPhone is possessed. I agree, but not the way they think. I suspect Apple installs a worm timed to begin screwing things up on your phone the minute you've paid it off, or when the next version of the device is rolled off the assembly line - whichever comes first. That goes for the Android makers as well.

When the holiday season rolls around, scam artists and other thieves always step up their game. This year will be no different.

A week from now, many Cherokee County residents will be settled into their couches, feet up, watching holiday TV programs with their families as they digest the previous day's feast. Others - like most of us at the Tahlequah Daily Press, and many police officers, EMTs, cashiers and others - are at work, but we will still have been able to celebrate Thanksgiving with those we care most about.

A recent Monmouth poll indicated that 55 percent of Americans want a new president, and the question is, what demographic of voters will help to make this a reality?

ABC News discovered how the world found out Ukraine’s aid package had been sidelined by the president: House Appropriations staffers were following up with policy allies on foreign aid expenditures when they discovered Ukraine had not received its appropriation. They inquired of the Department of Defense; it didn’t know. The Office of Management and Budget called the holdup "a reassessment of U.S. interests."

Sometimes I think politicians and other governmental employees forget they work for us. We, the people, pay for them to be in those positions, so they are our “employees,” right?

'Tis the season – and although some features Cherokee County residents are used to enjoying in the run-up to the Christmas holiday are no longer available, others may be taking their place. Or some old traditions may be worth a second look.

Times are a-changing for politics in Pittsburg County.

For folks at the Press, the cliché "'Tis the season to be jolly" is laced with irony. The holiday season is the ideal plank from which to launch a nasty attitude.

As the public impeachment inquiry drags on, many local residents - at least, those who don't have to work during the day or at all - are complaining about missing their TV shows. Many readers indicated they wouldn't be watching, because whatever their position, the spectacle of politicians ripping each other apart is causing them stress.

Administrators at schools in the Cherokee Nation's 14-county jurisdiction may have been a little surprised by a Tribal Council action that allows Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. to withhold funds from institutions that aren't sensitive to cultural, religious and historical elements, or that shrug off anti-Native issues.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma had one of the worst response rates to the census in the country a decade ago. We hope you take part and help change that statistic.

Is Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Trumpian?

The Tea Party marks its ninth anniversary since it packed Congress with 40 of its members in 2010. Its elected officials' campaigns across the nation were premised on lowering the national debt, downsizing federal authority, and strictly interpreting the U.S. Constitution. The Tea Party has not accomplished all three promises.

Several Tahlequah residents have called and sent messages to the Daily Press to express displeasure with the halt to work on a proposed biking and hiking trail system, as well as the demise of this year's Snowflake ice rink. They want to know if the city plans to roll back ambitious plans to spur economic growth and keep residents - especially young people - from leaving.

Gun control advocates love to point to the United Kingdom as a great example of gun laws. However, the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee noted that in the 12 months leading up to October 2017, there was a 16 percent increase from 2016, and a 44 percent increase from 2014 of criminal offenses involving guns. Wait, what? Did I say an increase of offenses involving guns? Yes, I did.

Looking back, it seems to me that the decline in school discipline was parallel to the ending of corporal punishment. And after all, those are the two faces of discipline: Discipline at the end of a paddle to enforce discipline in the classroom.