Times Commentary - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Times Opinion: Is abortion in Tennessee a dead issue?

"Today's signing changes nothing, and being pregnant in Tennessee is still far deadlier than it should ever be ... The only way to restore…

By Jack Bernard August 7, 2026

AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib / A protester stands outside of the Supreme Court, June 26, 2025, in Washington.

Times Opinion: Don’t curtail access to weight-loss drugs

Last November, a patient of mine — 19 years old and established in our primary care clinic in Massachusetts — came in for her…

By Shria Bucha August 6, 2026

Cydni Elledge/The New York Times / Wegovy, a weight-loss drug from Novo Nordisk, for which the company says doctors in the United States have written about 110,000 prescriptions, in Brighton, Mich., June 8, 2023. With Wegovy and drugs like it, people who faced a lifetime of medical jeopardy can see obesity-related health problems vanish along with the weight, but they often must still battle the judgment and shaming of a society that views the condition as the result of a lack of willpower.

Times Opinion: Amid current battles, Democrats look ahead to 2028

The Democrats are at it again, fiddling with the presidential nominating calendar in hopes of achieving the impossible — making it even-handed towards the…

By Carl P. Leubsdorf The Dallas Morning News August 5, 2026

Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images / CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 18: California Gov. Gavin Newsom attends the dedication ceremony for the opening of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in John Lewis Plaza on June 18, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. Barack Obama served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017 and was the first African American to hold the office.

Times Opinion: Trump still has that IRS immunity. Don’t be fooled

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's assurance to senators about the $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and President Donald Trump's immunity with the Internal Revenue Service…

By Barbara McQuade August 5, 2026

Photo by Ken Cedeno / AFP via Getty Images / Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks during a press conference announcing annual healthcare fraud takedown results at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC on June 23, 2026.

Times Opinion: Dr. Fauci takes the Fifth

That's the problem with the Fifth Amendment: It tends to make you look guilty.

By John M. Crisp August 5, 2026

Photo by Alex WROBLEWSKI / AFP via Getty Images / Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on July 29, 2026. Dr. Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is testifying after Senator Rand Paul, Republican from Kentucky, released more than 1000 pages of Fauci's diary entries from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Times Opinion: WIC use drop is a warning, not a success story

For more than 50 years, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) has been a critical lifeline for millions of…

By Teon Hayes August 4, 2026

Photo by Bryan Dozier/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images/TNS / A demonstrator holds a sign reading "People I love depend on SNAP, TANF, and Medicaid" during a sit-in protest against a Republican budget plan on the House steps of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. on April 27, 2025.

Times Opinion: ‘The Odyssey’ isn’t real, but American diversity is

After Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" was released in theaters, Elon Musk declared he would use Grok to create a more "historically accurate" version of…

By Stephanie Toliver August 3, 2026

Matt Damon is Odysseus in THE ODYSSEY, written, produced and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Times Opinion: Say no to Todd Blanche

Recent Senate hearings for Todd Blanche, the president's nominee for attorney general, didn't change what has become obvious over the past year he has…

By The Editorial Board / Bloomberg Opinion (TNS) August 3, 2026

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images / WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 15: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. During Blanche's tenure as acting Attorney General the Justice Department has been under scrutiny for pushing President Trump's 1.8 billion dollar "anti-weaponization" fund and its handling of the Epstein files.

Times Opinion: In the voting booth, it’s the year of the not-at-all-close call

This week the Michigan Chronicle, the oldest Black newspaper in the state, endorsed Rep. Haley Stevens for the U.S. Senate ahead of Tuesday's Democratic…

By LZ Granderson August 3, 2026

Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images / OKEMOS, MICHIGAN - JULY 29: U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), candidate for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, speaks with supporters at a canvass launch on July 29, 2026 in Okemos, Michigan. Recent polling shows Stevens leading progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed by double-digits, and running neck-and-neck with presumptive Republican nominee, former Rep. Mike Rogers ahead of the August 4 primary.

Times Opinion: Don’t rebuild the tariff wall. Demolish it

Since the Supreme Court struck down its "Liberation Day" tariffs earlier this year, the White House has been turning to other ways of getting…

By The Editorial Board / Bloomberg Opinion (TNS) August 2, 2026

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