John T. Reed’s news blog

Another interesting stat in the Discrimination and Disparities book by Thomas Sowell is the following combinations of parent occupation and number of different words spoken in the house per hour on average.• professionals—2,100 words• working class—1,200 words• on welfare—600 wordsI read about another study where social workers were embedded with poor and rich families for a time. The parent example and communication with the children was starkly different. For example, the poor people had nothing to say to the child in preparation for a doctor’s appointment. The rich people, explained what a doctor’s visit is for, why the doctor does...

Dems are about to do a huge primary which means Dems denouncing other Dems to the high heavens for many months. Good.But I think the presidential primaries should be totally revamped as follows:1. The federal government runs a national primary election in January of a leap year. It is entirely write-in. No one’s name is on the ballot. No party is guaranteed to be on the ballot. There is already a court decision that says it is okay for candidates to hand out stickers with their name that could be attached to the ballot. That eliminates much of the illegible...

RBG’s motivation seems to me to be partisan, not selfish. Also, old people, like young athletes nearing the end of their careers, are reluctant to retire and generally in denial.Some states requires seniors to start taking driving tests more frequently after a certain age. That makes common sense. There should be some equivalent for all appointed-for-life federal judges.The problem is such a test would be unconstitutional. Article III says,“The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished...

Forget the boy who cried wolf. The new metaphor is the Democrat who cried “this is really the last last straw”—daily since the Access Hollywood tape was released. Mountains from every molehill I have defined a politician in part as a person who endlessly tries to make mountains out of their opponents molehills. The molehills in question must be negative, or at least able to be spun as negative, which means just about anything. About the best treatment Trump gets from an undeniable positive accomplishment or news is they ignore it. It they could spin the crime bill as negative,...

Today’s WSJ (12/22/2018) has an article about zero-energy-ready buildings. Those are buildings that use much less energy than traditional buildings—and if equipped with solar panels, they actually use zero energy.I do not give a damn about renewable energy or fossil-fuel hatred. Like a guy in the article, I am just about maximizing income and minimizing outgo.For capital expenditures like energy conservation measures, I want at least a five-year payback. That is, if I pay $5,000 for a heat pump, I want to save at least $1,000 per year from lower energy costs for heating and air-conditioning.Over time in recent years,...