Times Commentary - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Times Opinion: For America’s 250th, Donald Trump wants a national spectacle over local remembrance

As a teen in a small Illinois town, America's bicentennial in 1976 fascinated me.

By Edwin C. Yohnka / Chicago Tribune (TNS) March 6, 2026

Photo by Peter Keegan via Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images/TNS / Crowds fill the street during an Americana Fair on 52nd Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, New York, 20th June 1976. The celebrations are part of a series of events celebrating the United States Bicentennial, the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.

Times Opinion: Why was primary voting so painful in Dallas County?

We smelled trouble when it became apparent that the Dallas County GOP was going to push forward with its knuckleheaded plan to have a separate primary election this year.

By The Editorial Board / The Dallas Morning News (TNS) March 6, 2026

Photo by Juan Figueroa via Dallas Morning News/TNS / A line forms as a poll worker makes sure voters are at their assigned voting location at the Oak Lawn Branch Library on Tuesday in Dallas, Texas.

Times Opinion: Blocking aid, Israel escalates its cruelty in Gaza

For more than five months, 15,000 boxes of children's cold medicine and other vital medicines meant for kids in the Gaza Strip have been sitting in a warehouse, awaiting approval from Israeli authorities that never seems to come.

By Amed Khan / Los Angeles Times (TNS) March 5, 2026

AP Photo by Jehad Alshrafi / Heba al-Yazji prepares an iftar meal for her husband, Saddam, and their daughter, Maryam, as they break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026.

Deborah Levine: Celebrating Goodwill Industries Day in East Ridge

The grand opening of the new East Ridge Goodwill facility on Feb. 26 was a reminder that despite the raging anger, grief and bloodshed in a world now at war, there is also kindness, generosity and courage.

By Deborah Levine March 5, 2026

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Store manager Ashleigh Roper, left, and Gena Weldon, president and CEO for Chattanooga Goodwill Industries, cut the ribbon during the opening of a new Goodwill store in East Ridge on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026.

Times Opinion: Trump’s reckless war proves his Board of Peace is a farce

New York Times-verified images from a scene in southern Iran are horrific. A severed arm of a child lying in the rubble. Backpacks covered in ashes.

By Jenice Armstrong / The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) March 4, 2026

Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images/TNS / Paraguay's President Santiago Pena (second left), Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (fifth left), Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani (center right), Argentina's President Javier Milei (fifth right), Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (fourth right), Bulgaria's former Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (third right), Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (second right) and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) applaud as US President Donald Trump (center) holds a signing founding charter at the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 22, 2026

Times Opinion: Why Trump fears a Democratic congressional takeover

The two political parties regularly win and lose control of Congress without it threatening the country's well-being. President Donald Trump and the Republicans are behaving as if they fear this time will be different.

By Carl P. Leubsdorf / The Dallas Morning News (TNS) March 4, 2026

Photo by Roberto Schmidt via Getty Images/TNS / U.S. President Donald Trump waves to the media after landing aboard Air Force One on March 1, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Times Opinion: War powers and the weight of the Constitution

The gravest power entrusted to any American president is the authority to command the armed forces.

By The Baltimore Sun Editorial Board (TNS) March 3, 2026

Photo by Brendan Smialowski via AFP/Getty Images/TNS / U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth takes questions during a press conference on US military action in Iran, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on March 2, 2026.

Times Opinion: Trump’s impulsive act of warmongering

President Donald Trump's massive and unprovoked attack on Iran is a war of choice, not necessity.

By South Florida Sun Sentinel Editorial Board (TNS) March 3, 2026

Photo by Tasnim News Agency via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa/TNS / Smoke billows following an explosion in Tehran. The US and Israel struck targets across Iran on Saturday, including on the capital Tehran, prompting a wave of missile launched by Iranian forces towards Israel, as the tensions between the countries exploded into open conflict.

Times Opinion: The last shreds of our shared American culture are being politicized

As so many forces seem to be dividing us as a nation, it is tragic that President Donald Trump seeks to co-opt or destroy whatever remaining threads unite us.

By Matt K. Lewis / Los Angeles Times (TNS) March 2, 2026

Photo by Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images/TNS / Members of the Team USA Men's Hockey Team, including goalie Connor Hellebuyck, wave to the audience as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump delivered his address days after the Supreme Court struck down the administration's tariff strategy and amid a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf threatening Iran.

Times Opinion: Trump’s gutting of environmental standards endangers Americans’ health and finances

Fifty-six years ago, President Richard Nixon proposed the formation of a new federal regulator: the Environmental Protection Agency.

By The Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial Board / The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) March 2, 2026

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