John T. Reed’s news blog
Terrorism is a publicity stunt
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright John T. Reed The public never seems to have figured out that terrorism is a publicity stunt. The goal of publicity stuntmen is publicity. Did al Qaeda get publicity as a result of 9/11? It may have been the most publicity anyone ever got for anything in the history of the world. Al Qaeda’s paymasters, ultimately, were the media and the folks who watched the videos of the planes going into the WTC. Did the media broadcast those images? Sure. So we can blame the media? No. Any media outlet that did not show those images would have seen...
Why care about Russia in Syria?
Posted by John Reed on
Should we get all excited about Putin putting military in Syria and bombing some of the Muslims fighting there? Nope. Does Syria have a strategic location? Not unless you consider a land bridge between Lebanon, Israel and Jordan on the one hand and Turkey on the other important. I don’t. Is their oil strategic? Not much. They rank 68th in the world in oil. Are their people strategic? Nope. 18 million quarrelsome tribes and religions. Their border was drawn by France. Their civil war is arguably the biggest human disaster on earth at present. Now that he can no longer...
Innovation, the seven pillars of prosperity, geography, and demography
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright John T. Reed 2014 I recently read four books that changed my world view greatly. I recommend them highly. They are: • Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper by Robert Bryce (recent and near future innovation) • Inventing Freedom by Daniel Hannan (subtitled “How the English Speaking Peoples Made the Modern World”) • The Accidental Super Power by Peter Zeihan (how geography and demographics determines national destiny)• The End of Doom by Ronald Bailey (Environmental renewal in the Twenty-first Century) The first and third books are very uplifting for Americans. The second is a very interesting revelation about our history with...
Cruz was born in Canada and therefore may not be a ‘natural-born’ citizen
Posted by John Reed on
Copyright 2015 by John T. Reed This is a Focobook post and subsequent comments. As I previously noted—and we had all the arguments submitted as comments—Ted Cruz is not a “natural born U.S. citizen.” He was born in Canada. The Constitutiton says only “natural born citizens can be president and it means something because it is the only office for which that is a requirement. I do not see how he can be considered a candidate until there is some ajudication by the U.S. Supreme Court that he meets that requirement. Arnold Schwazenegger was talked about as a president but...
Front Sight, NV 4-day pistol self-defense course
Posted by John Reed on
In 2009, my wife was the winning bidder at a charity auction. She bought a 4-day pistol self-defense course at Front Sight, NV. She also purchased around the same time two pistols and a shotgun for home-invasion self-defense. I rolled my eyes at all this. But in the interest of family togetherness, I agreed to attend the course with her and one of her girlfriends. We attended it from Friday, 10/8/10 through Monday, 10/11/10. It was interesting and generally fun and we learned a lot and became surprisingly comfortable with loaded guns, at least in a controlled range setting. But...