Times Commentary - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Times Opinion: Now give me money. A lot of money.

George Washington made the office one of honor.

By Jamelle Bouie / The New York Times May 24, 2026

AP Photo by Alex Brandon / President Donald Trump speaks during the swearing in of Kevin Warsh as Chairman of the Federal Reserve in the East Room of the White House, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Washington.

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Times Opinion: TVA lied and people died — Has it learned anything since the Kingston disaster?

There is no such thing as beautiful, clean coal.

By Stephen A. Smith May 23, 2026

Times Opinion: Congress should stop dodging its responsibilities on Iran

Virtually from the moment U.S. bombs started falling on Iran on Feb. 28, the White House has been twisting itself into verbal knots to avoid calling the conflict a "war."

By The Editorial Board / Bloomberg Opinion (TNS) May 23, 2026

AFP via Getty Images/TNS / Women walk past a banner depicting Iran's current supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei along a street Tehran on May 6, 2026.

Community Voice: When talking about gun violence, why ‘Wear Orange’?

On Sunday, June 7, at 4 p.m., Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the City of Chattanooga's Office of Community Services will convene at Miller Park to commemorate National Wear Orange Day.

By April Cook May 22, 2026

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Sylvia Peoples Fuller puts a picture of her son Percy Allen, IV, who died of gun violence, on the steps during the Wear Orange event held by the Chattanooga chapter of Moms Demand Action in Miller Park on Sunday, June 4, 2023. The event was held to honor the lives of those lost to gun violence.

Times Opinion: The Navy’s inexcusable accommodation of Kash Patel

The USS Arizona is a tomb. That should have been enough.

By Jon Duffy / Los Angeles Times May 22, 2026

Photo by Win McNamee via Getty Images/TNS / FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C.

Times Opinion: Trump compounds his original sin of pardoning protesters

It was bad enough when President Donald Trump, just hours after his second inauguration, pardoned hundreds of his supporters convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

By Carl P. Leubsdorf / The Dallas Morning News (TNS) May 21, 2026

Photo by Alex Edelman via AFP/Getty Images/TNS / Supporters of US President Donald Trump clash with the US Capitol police during a riot at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

Deborah Levine: Instruct and inspire with faith in these treacherous times

The drive from Chattanooga to the Nashville area is a long haul. I wasn't looking forward to the almost five-hour round trip as I prepared to speak at an interfaith conference sponsored by the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.

By Deborah Levine May 21, 2026

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Lit candles at the Jewish Cultural Center recognize the concentration camps that existed during the Holocaust. Many gathered for Yom HaShoah on April 27, 2022.

Times Opinion: A failed president and his edifice complex

In 1941, the death of a family member prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to say how he should be remembered.

By The Editorial Board / South Florida Sun Sentinel (TNS) May 20, 2026

Photo by Andrew Harnik via Getty Images/TNS / Commission of Fine Arts commission member Matthew Taylor inspects a model of President Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary during a public meeting of the Commission of Fine Arts at the National Building Museum on April 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. The Commission of Fine Arts voted unanimously to move forward with a proposed 250-foot arch informally dubbed the "Arc de Trump" that would sit in a roundabout near Memorial Bridge on the Arlington, Virginia side of the Potomac River between Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.

Times Opinion: A fix for gerrymandering both parties could love

America's political landscape has become a stinking mess.

By Mary Ellen / Klas Bloomberg Opinion (TNS) May 20, 2026

Photo by Sean Rayford via Getty Images/TNS / A demonstrator holds a sign on the statehouse steps during a rally in opposition to congressional redistricting on May 14, 2026, in Columbia, South Carolina. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced a special session on redistricting that could potentially dismantle Democratic held districts. Early voting for the midterm statewide primary starts on May 26.