Author: Robert I. Grundfest

I am a teacher, writer, voice-over artist and rationally opinionated observer of American and international society. While my job is to entertain and engage, my purpose is always to start a conversation.

The Iran Deal Will Survive

Foreign affairs used to be the one area where the country supported the president to show the world that, although we might have messy domestic issues, the United States was indeed united when confronting the world. Oh how things have changed. I support the Iran deal for three basic reasons: 1. I assume that Iran… Continue reading The Iran Deal Will Survive

Great Teachers Make Great Schools

happy teacher and students standing in classroom holding books

Another school year. It’s my 32nd as a teacher and I can still say that I love what I’m doing and believe that I am contributing to the betterment of society. I just wish that at some point before I go to the Great Faculty Room in the Sky, you know, the one where the… Continue reading Great Teachers Make Great Schools

The August Election

OK, I’ll play along. According to the polls, the guesses, the conventional wisdom, the money and the low-down, scandal-mongering, hyper-partisan, yellow-dog press, we now know who’s going to win that all-important August 2015 presidential election. I’m sure you know that this election is a rather unusual one in American politics because it doesn’t take place… Continue reading The August Election

And On Your Left…

With so much of the interesting political maneuvering happening on the right, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that there will be Democratic debates in the fall, and they could be just as interesting as the Republican candidate-a-thons. While Hillary Clinton still leads in every match-up with one or the other GOP candidate, she’s… Continue reading And On Your Left…

Bold Predictions: How This Nomination Thing Will End

Yes, I have better things to do, but I think it’s important that I let you all know how this Republican presidential nomination thing ends so we can move on from Donald Trump and into more consequential matters. According to the latest CNN/ORC poll (scroll down to page 7), Trump is leading the pack ‘o… Continue reading Bold Predictions: How This Nomination Thing Will End

Education Roars Back

It’s August and the Back to School sales are ramping up in earnest, at least here in the nor’east. The sales started in July for the more southerly US climes, but that’s because they’re already back in the classrooms. In any event, it’s time once again to be thinking about education, and the issue is… Continue reading Education Roars Back

Acting Stupidly Would be an Improvement

Remember the halcyon days of 2009, when the country was embroiled in the first racial controversy of the brand new Obama presidency? You know, when the Cambridge, Massachusetts police thought that the world-renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested for essentially breaking into his own house because the front door was stuck?  Those… Continue reading Acting Stupidly Would be an Improvement

Chris Christie – Hey, Wait: I’m the Big Mouth.

ASHLAND, NH - JULY 1: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) waits to speak at a town hall meeting at the American Legion Dupuis Cross Post 15 July 1, 2015 in Ashland, New Hampshire. Christie announced his presidential candidacy yesterday. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Poor Chris Christie. After five years of berating people on YouTube, telling teachers, members of the armed services and other assorted citizens of New Jersey who just want their voices to be heard to essentially shut up, and after creating this persona of a man who tells the facts as they are (not just as… Continue reading Chris Christie – Hey, Wait: I’m the Big Mouth.

The Pendulum Swings Back to the Right

Donald Trump gestures while speaking surrounded by people whose families were victims of illegal immigrants on July 10, 2015 while meeting with the press at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, where some shared their stories of the loss of a loved one. The US business magnate Trump, who is running for president in the 2016 presidential elections, angered members of the Latino community with recent comments but says he will win the Latino vote. AFP PHOTO / FREDERIC J. BROWN (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

Remember the last couple of weeks of June, when the country seemed a bit more liberal after the Supreme Court had wondrously ruled in favor of marriage equality, the Affordable Care Act and housing? And then the Confederate flags came down? Slap. It didn’t happen overnight, but the country seems to have rebounded from that… Continue reading The Pendulum Swings Back to the Right

The JV Get Their Minutes

In this photo taken May 20, 2015, Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., poses for a portrait before an interview with The Associated Press in Washington. For Democrats who had hoped to lure Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren into a presidential campaign, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders might be the next best thing. Sanders, who is opening his official presidential campaign Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont, aims to ignite a grassroots fire among left-leaning Democrats wary of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He is laying out an agenda in step with the party's progressive wing and compatible with Warren's platform _ reining in Wall Street banks, tackling college debt and creating a government-financed infrastructure jobs program. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Those of us who grew up in the era of summer reruns have had the most difficult time with both the new media and political environments. There just is no downtime anymore, what with 24-hour news cycles and the panicked reaction of the main television networks to phones, Netflix, YouTube and on-demand programming. So it… Continue reading The JV Get Their Minutes

The Most Important Election of Them All

Well, yes and no. Aren’t all presidential elections the most important election in history? It certainly feels that way, especially if you listen to the media buzz that emanates every four years. The future of the country is at stake. The direction of our foreign and domestic policies will be set by the voters in… Continue reading The Most Important Election of Them All

The Conservative Court Turns Left

The same court that brought us corporations as people, unlimited political money, abortion restrictions, a step backwards in voting rights, and unequal pay has now thrown some serious bones to the left in the form of a stronger Affordable Care Act and a right to gay marriage. I’m sure that wherever they are, David Souter… Continue reading The Conservative Court Turns Left