Author: Marc Jampole

At first listen, Donald Trump’s speaking style when he eschews the teleprompter seems chaotically free form, as if he tossed a few dozen tweets and sound bites into one of his “Make America Great Again” caps and picked a few out, one at a time, not bothering to supply connective material or an overarching direction. […]

Read More… from Trump acts and talks like a stand-up comic, but the joke is on the American people

Politicians of both parties seem to take for granted the idea that a tax cut leads to economic growth and more jobs. As it turns out, they are only half right. Tax cuts to the poor and middle class lead to growth and jobs. Tax cut on the wealthy create no new jobs and generate […]

Read More… from If the goal is a strong economy, tax reform should lower taxes on poor & raise them on wealthy

Whenever I contemplate the fact that many leftists and left-leaning centrists believe charter schools are a good idea, I am reminded of Reinhold Niebuhr’s premise in The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness that it is not the evil children of darkness who cause most of the world’s problems, but foolish, misguided or […]

Read More… from Why some left-leaners like charter schools & why they shouldn’t. It comes down to confusing Alinsky & Friedman

The agenda of the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans includes raising military spending by billions of dollars. A lot of that money will go to developing a new generation of smaller, “smarter” nuclear weapons and to developing weapons that will inflict damage on the enemy without prior command by a human, so called automated weapons […]

Read More… from Tell your Rep & Senators to cut military spending below $400 billion a year, with no funds for new nukes or automated weapons

Since the election pundits have from time to time compared Donald Trump to various former presidents, most frequently Andrew Jackson because both were racist populists with tempers who liked talking tough and using the military. But I’ve also seen writers find similarities in Trump’s temperament to both Adamses, in incompetence to Buchanan and in dishonesty […]

Read More… from Trump is almost the same person as Teddy Roosevelt in personality and character, except Trump speaks loudly & carries no stick at all

I wanted to let my OpEdge readers know that I’ll be taking a break from posting articles for from three to six months. I’ve been working on a novel for a number of years and am partway through a very polished second draft. I’ve decided it’s time to focus all my efforts on getting the […]

Read More… from OpEdge to take a sabbatical, but will return in a few months with an exciting new project

I had the strangest dream last night. I was sitting on a bench against the wall in a large ballroom filled with people dressed in formal wear. I was watching the glitterati and listening to the band play swing music when Donald Trump sits down beside me, shakes my hand and starts to brag about […]

Read More… from If election proves country not ready for woman prez, we’re lucky to get Trump instead of someone on same page as Ryan & McConnell

I’m not sure whether it was the author or the headline writer, but someone in the New York Times produced a headline that certainly constitutes false news: “Dismal Results from Vouchers Surprise Researchers.” The problem with it is that those researchers who have been paying attention already know that public policy driving families to put […]

Read More… from Want to improve your children’s chance of academic success? Research says send them to public schools

The latest Trump-GOP assault on human and civil rights has arrived: the rollback of Obama administration rules that have allowed transgender students to use the schools’ public bathrooms of the sex with which they identify. Legal arguments on the issue seem always to reduce to the question of whose rights are more important — the […]

Read More… from At emotional heart of transgender issue is dignity versus anger. In Trump’s world, anger wins out

The other day I was at a friend’s house when her housekeeper Kelly (not her real name) announced that my friend would probably never see her again. It turns out Kelly is an undocumented worker from a Caribbean country, something my friend never knew since she contracted with a cleaning service, which she assumed handled […]

Read More… from Trump’s war on immigrants comes home. Guess what? It’s part of a larger war on our economy & values