John T. Reed’s news blog

Here are my thoughts on U.S. policy toward Israel: Israel is not a strategic country. A strategic country is one that can take an action or refuse to take an action and thereby hurt or help other countries. Examples include closing canals or straits like the Panama, Hormuz, or Suez; ceasing to sell oil, attacking other countries with a powerful military Israel is a small country in terms of GDP, population, and geographic size. In terms of GDP adjusted for cost of living, Israel ranks 56th, just below Kuwait and just above Greece. In terms of population, Israel ranks 98th,...

There are some who believe the Senate with its undemocratic rules like the filibuster and it long six-year terms is needed to have a more slow-moving, thoughtful, less emotional and therefore superior house of Congress that produces better legislative decisions than the more mob-like House. So raise the percentage needed to make a law Folks, if that sort of thing is what you want, switch to national binding referendums and a citizen congress and adjust the percentage needed to make a law. 50% is not sacrosanct.We can make it 52% or 58% or 60% or 66%—whatever we want. Amendments to...

I just did something no one else in America has done apparently. I read the UN Security Council Resolution most Americans and Israelis are in a road rage about. Here it is: http://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/SRES2334-2016.pdf Most readers will probably find it easier to read the Wikipedia synopsis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_2334 This is a non-binding censure of Israel for deliberately moving over 100,000 Israelis just since Obama’s 2008 inauguration and a total of 570,000 Israelis since 1967 into territory captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. That flagrantly violates international law, namely the Fourth Geneva Convention, Part III, Article III, Section 49 which prohibits...

If you pay any attention to NCAA football, you know that some teams have thrown one hell of a lot of passes in recent years. It’s called the “Air Raid” offense. Two guys were mainly behind that: Hal Mumme and Rick Leach. Leach never played college football. He was a lawyer. He just helped revolutionize it. I knew Hal and Rick. I was a columnist on Football Clock Management for a new magazine called American Football Quarterly in 1998 and 1999. My book Football Clock Management came out in 1997. AFQ had two conventions. I was a speaker at both. So were Hal and...

My December 2016 Real Estate Investor’s Monthly Table of Contents:12/16 2961 Death of a real estate investor Part II2965 Real estate treasure hunting Part II2966 Waterfront values in danger2966 Howard Ruff died last month2967 Plenty of parking at the mall2967 Creative people are exempt2968 HOA dues superior to mortgages in 21 states2968 Homes back to record high, but not after adjustment for inflation John T. Reed’s Real Estate Investor’s Monthly newsletter