John T. Reed’s news blog

West Point has long had a Board of Visitors. It is a group of non-West Pointers designed to offset the quite rightly identified inbred nature of the place. But they must be a Board of Lap Dogs. In all my 53 years as a West Pointer, I have never heard a peep out of them. They have an annual meeting where they rubber stamp the current supe. West Point needs another board of grads who know the place and how it is supposed to work and who will raise hell about West Point losing its way.Curent issues:• football record and standards...

I am reading a book titled Getting Risk Right as research for my book How to Spot dishonest arguments and Keep Your Own Thinking Straight. It is a book about medicine. I just finished the chapter on Aristolochia—a Chinese herb and an Eastern European weed.It kills people but so slowly that it took centuries to figure that out. And those who figured it out had to overcome a ton on Eastern Hemisphere cultural bull!@#$.There was a higher incidence of a certain kidney disease in Yugoslavia and Taiwan—China too, but they do not publish the stats that would reveal it.Then a...

I have just seen a letter from the West Point superintendent about the open letter sent by retired LTC Heffington. Here is Heffington’s letter then the supe’s then my comments on both: Open Letter to Grads from LTC(ret) Heffington: (This was written by LTC (USA, ret.) Robert M. Heffington, as an open letter to graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. It has only been edited for format, and may differ in that respect from the original. My apologies to Lt. Colonel Heffington if this has been misrepresented in any way) Dear Sir/Ma’am, Before you read any...

How to Manage Residential Property for Maximum Cash Flow and Resale Value How to maximize your income and minimize expenses and hassles. by John T. Reed www.johntreed.com Copyright © 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2003, 2010, 2016   By John T. Reed, All rights reserved.   Published by John T. Reed 342 Bryan Drive Alamo, California 94507 925-820-6292   Manufactured in the United States of America   Other material by John T. Reed Visit www.johntreed.com About the author John T. Reed was a landlord for 23 years. He has been a real estate writer since 1976. He has invested...

I just saw Max Cleland on the Vietnam PBS series. The Wall Street Journal recently said he lost an arm and both legs “in the fighting there.”No. He did not. He had the same job I had there: battalion communications platoon leader.He was in Khe Sanh and got a Silver Star. But he did not get wounded there. Or anywhere. He was checking out the suitability of a hilltop as a place for FM radios. The higher up they are, the greater the range.As he got out of a chopper, he saw a grenade on the ground, assumed it was...