Category Archives: Newspaper Opinion Columns

Opinion Columns originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Ladies Night’s New Decade – by Deborah Levine

It’s 2020 and there’s a lot of buzz about stand-out stories of the last decade. One of my favorites is the proposed replacement of the statue of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest with one of Country Music’s Dolly Parton. The suggestion is a piece of genius! Let’s go from the sombre debate over Forrest’s dark background as a KKK founding member to Dolly, Tennessee’s music icon who makes you want to break out into a chorus of “Rocky Top”.   Who better to represent our state capital than the creator of Dollywood, beloved by the entire country?

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Swastikas and nooses: campus hate speech or free speech? – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

DEBORAH LEVINENever heard of UHBIOC? Think again. The initials stand for Uncivil, Hate and Bias Incidents on Campus (UHBIOC) and rarely a week goes by without an incident on campuses. CNN reported 5 incidents in just one week with swastikas and nooses on campuses in Georgia, Wisconsin, Alabama, New York, and Iowa. Now the big question for colleges is whether swastikas and nooses legally represents hate speech or free speech.

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Mother Nature’s daughters are cleaning up – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

We all understand the retail exhaustion of this season, but did the driver of a random car passing by have to toss his empty soda can onto my front lawn? And we all know that the cleaner upper isn’t the driver, it’s me. I’m reminded of a road sign featured online that asks the question, “Why are you littering?” We get several choices for an answer: 1) I’m a Jerk, 2) I don’t care about anyone else, 3) Mommy still cleans up after me, and 4) All of the above. So when 16-year old Greta Thunberg became Time Magazine’s Person of the Year,  maybe Mommy Earth sent her kid with a message, one that’s beyond seasonal.

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Reporting and counteracting hate is everybody’s job- by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press 

Reporters haven’t lacked for stories about hate groups and lone wolves whether it’s Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, Milwaukee’s acid attack on a Latino, Dallas’ shooting of a transgender woman, or El Paso’s Walmart massacre. So I was surprised to see journalist from around the region looking relaxed and hanging out together at an event convened by Chattanooga’s Council Against Hate, Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Lookout, and sponsor BlueCross BlueShield of TN. I expected them to look stoic and even jaded given the thick skins they’ve had to develop. But the passion for their work was awesome and so was their excitement about doing research undercover.

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Don’t Underestimate Putin’s Threat – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Ukrainian-born Comedian Yakov Smirnoff jokingly said Russia’s secret police, the KGB, stood for Kiss Goodbye Your Butt. That was decades before another comedian, Volodymyr Zelensky, became Ukraine’s president. But Zelensky knows there’s nothing funny about Russia’s annexation of the eastern part of his country. Fortunately, we have helped guard against further Russian encroachment. So what was Trump thinking in using our aid as a pawn in this political chess game?

The Russians have never been muted in their aggressive global reach. From Vietnam to Cuba, the United States and the former Soviet Union wrestled in a Cold War. As the Soviet Union, Russian invasions included Poland, Ukraine, Latvia and what became the communist republic of Eastern Germany. A relentless dictatorship from czarist times to the present, the number of people who tried to escape Russian rule are legendary.

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We’re lost in space – by Deborah Levine

(originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

DEBORAH LEVINEWhat should I write about in these incredibly tumultuous times? It’s impossible to keep up with the Ukraine details. Then there’s asking China to investigate the Bidens when Donald Trump Jr. developed luxury condos in Indonesia with millions in cash from a China-owned construction business. And Reuters reports that Ivanka Trump’s Chinese trademarks include voting machines. How do we handle the just-joking defense, not to mention the bullying, denials, distractions, and denunciations? Despite everything, the reality will emerge. It will become a question of severity. Is this an impeachable offense or inappropriate behavior? My answer is yes to both. So now what?

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All is not lost – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

DEBORAH LEVINEIn a month where there seems no end to disasters, scandals, and threats, I celebrated my birthday looking for a ray of hope. Can a whiff of integrity emerge from a whistle blower’s urgent concerns that apparently link our president, the Ukraine, and extortion? Will our faith in leadership mean that floods and fires aren’t our nation’s future.  Maybe, we’ll even have the courage to control mass shootings. Alternating between holding my breath and large noisy sighs, my hubby and I went off to the movies for a bit of escapism. Who knew that the ray of hope would show up with the popcorn.

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It’s the Environment, Stupid – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

The GOP is determined not to be upended by Sharpie Gate.  Presidential primaries in several states have disappeared and the party wants us to know “…The contrast between Mr. Trump and the Democratic field is a demonstration of just how much Mr. Trump understands the American psyche and just how much most Democrats do not.” They know that in this week’s contest for weird news, “Sharpie Gate” might outdo the Taliban-Camp David story, the firing/resignation of John Bolton, the U.S. military’s spending related to Trump’s Ireland golf course, and maybe all the other 12,019 false or misleading presidential statements documented by Fact Checker.

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Aid in Peril and So are We – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

DEBORAH LEVINEWhen President Trump threatened to cut off $4 billion in foreign aid, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition emailed how cuts could limit the response to outbreaks of the deadly ebola virus. Concerned, I immediately thought of John Germ, past president of Rotary International, who spoke at Glynn Hodges’ recent Mastermind meeting. Yes, we were inspired by his story of being the first in his family to graduate college. And we were speechless at his stories of navigating outdated military planes on the verge of crashing. We empathized with his struggles to finish college while marrying and having his first child. But it was his dedication to eradicating polio world-wide, his ability to see the challenge as an invitation, that held us in awe.   

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Gun debacle and debate, again – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

DEBORAH LEVINEWe all know that after the back-to-back mass shootings this weekend, there will be renewed discussion over gun control and safety. We also know that the debate will probably go nowhere, as usual. Even though many of these massacres are committed using military style weapons, many anti-gun control folks maintain that owning these semi-automatic rifles is a  constitutional right.  Why should law abiding persons be limited because of a few crazies out there.  But given that CBS news reports more mass killings in 2019 than days so far this year. It’s time to re-examine our cultural norms regarding military-style weapons.   

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