Pam Sohn - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Sohn: Tennessee’s lawmakers can’t hear us; fixing them may require our votes to right theirs

by Pam Sohn ·June 23, 2020

It would be easy to say our Tennessee state lawmakers are behind the times.

AP file photo, Mark Humphrey / In this 2017 file photo, the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest is displayed in the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville, Tenn. Tennessee lawmakers remain torn on whether to support a proposal the removal of a contentious bust of a former Confederate general and early leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

Sohn: What’s the joke? COVID-19, testing, TikTok or Donald Trump?

by Pam Sohn ·June 22, 2020

So it was a joke. The question is - a joke on whom?

Photo by Doug Mills, The New York Times / President Donald Trump speaks at the half-filled BOK Center in Tulsa on Saturday during his first campaign rally since March 2.

Sohn: Some points on chemicals, masks, state COVID-19 policy and the Green New Deal

by Pam Sohn ·June 21, 2020

Should we trust EPA?

Ranking member Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., delivers opening remarks during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee oversight hearing to examine the Environmental Protection Agency, Wednesday, May 20, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)

Sohn: Let’s finally lay Confederate statues to rest where they belong – in Confederate cemeteries

by Pam Sohn ·June 20, 2020

It is time for the past to be the past. It is time to let it go. Haul it down. Bury it.

Staff photo by Troy Stolt / A protester writes on a statue of Confederate Gen. A.P. Stewart outside of the Hamilton County Courthouse on May 31. It was the second day of protests in Chattanooga over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.

Sohn: What to expect from Donald Trump’s Tulsa ploy – other than more COVID-19 cases

by Pam Sohn ·June 19, 2020

"A wounded president heading into a combustible (and possibly contagious) situation could very well produce a spectacle unlike any political rally we've ever seen before. If it still happens."

AP Photo, Tom McCarthy / James Massery, left, of Preston, Okla., and Daniel Hedman, of Tulsa, Okla., supporters of President Donald Trump, camp outside the BOK Center in Tulsa on Tuesday, four days before his scheduled rally Saturday.

Sohn: In Atlanta, no one had to die, or shoot, or be fired. Police reform must happen.

by Pam Sohn ·June 18, 2020

Kudos to the Fulton County District Attorney's office in Atlanta for being quick and decisive in filing charges Wednesday against the Atlanta police officers who shot and killed a fleeing man five days before.

Atlanta Police Department via AP / This screen grab taken from body camera video provided by the Atlanta Police Department shows Rayshard Brooks speaking with Officer Garrett Rolfe in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant, late last Friday in Atlanta. Rolfe was fired the next day and charged Wednesday following the fatal shooting of Brooks.

Sohn: The delicious irony of how the Civil Rights Act came to protect women and LGBTQ workers

by Pam Sohn ·June 15, 2020

There is some deep satisfaction - at least we think so - in the fact that the Supreme Court's major gay rights ruling on Monday was written by one of the court's most conservative justices - Neil Gorsuch - Donald Trump's first high court appointee.

Anna Moneymaker, The New York Times / A person waves a rainbow flag in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on Monday. The high court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination.

Sohn: Donald Trump is cornered; prepare for more ugliness

by Pam Sohn ·June 13, 2020

Here we are less than five months from the November presidential election and Donald Trump has backed himself into a corner.

Doug Mills, The New York Times / President Donald Trump meets with law enforcement officials at the White House on Monday.

Sohn: America’s attitude about racial injustice is finally changing, and for the better finally

by Pam Sohn ·June 12, 2020

We've all heard the saying, paraphrased here for a family newspaper: The hot place down below "will freeze over" before before something or other happens.

The Associated Press file photo / In this Oct. 7, 2007 photo, a Confederate flag flies in the infield as cars roar by during a NASCAR auto race at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala. NASCAR is banning confederate flags at its races in the aftermath of protests over the death of George Floyd under the knee of a police officer in Minneapolis.

Sohn: What’s in a gesture? More often than not just love – and the seeking of unity, solidarity for America

by Pam Sohn ·June 11, 2020

Why is it that kids are smarter than most adults, especially about getting along for the future?