Fred Reed Archive - The Unz Review

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YouSSR, MeSSR

Not What Tom Jefferson Had in Mind

Fred Reed • June 24, 2013

• 1,100 Words • 4 Comments • Reply

How does one tell whether one is living in a dictatorship, or almost? The signs need not be so obvious as having a squat little man raving from balconies. Methinks the following indicators serve. In a dictatorship: (1) Sweeping laws are made without reference to the will of the people. A few examples follow. Whether... Read More

Up Periscope

Quick and Dirty

Fred Reed • November 15, 2010

• 1,900 Words • Leave a Comment

Mexico, as seen from the north shore of Lake Chapala.. This ain't literature, but may be interesting. I get a fair amount of mail asking what Mexico is really like, some of it worried about the drug wars. The wars exist, though so far with little effect on the expats here. I don't downplay the... Read More

Eighth Grade In Mexico

Sounds Like A Low-Ranked American University To Me

Fred Reed • May 6, 2006

• 1,200 Words • 7 Comments • Reply

Just now the furor over illegal immigration from Mexico is most wonderful a’boil, with much billingsgate and vituperation emanating from practically everywhere. Well and good. People should all afflict each other as vigorously as they can. I mean, why were we put on earth if not to be disagreeable? Howsomever, I’ve received email telling me... Read More

Fredwin On Evolution

Very Long, Will Bore Hell Out Of Most People, But I Felt Like Doing It

Fred Reed • March 7, 2005

• 5,800 Words • 9 Comments • Reply

I was about fifteen when I began to think about evolution. I was then just discovering the sciences systematically, and took them as what they offered themselves to be, a realm of reason and dispassionate regard for truth. There was a hard-edged clarity to them that I liked. You got real answers. Since evolution depended... Read More

Ilsa Koch Gets Kotched

It's Not A Job. It's An Adventure.

Fred Reed • April 5, 2004

• 1,100 Words • 1 Comment • Reply

Regarding the torture of Iraqi men by the American military as chronicled by the world’s press:Janis Karpinski, reportedly a general in the American military, presided over the prison where it happened, and therefore over the torture. To her I want to say: I’m proud of you, Janis. As one who served in the armed forces,... Read More

Weather Report

Cloudy, With Possible Tidal Wave

Fred Reed • July 23, 2001

• 2,200 Words • Leave a Comment

We should think about the Chinese. We are going to hear more from them. Several lives ago, after Saigon fell, I was free-lancing around Asia, and went to Taiwan to await the next war, which didn't come. I'd been there before, to visit friends in the military. This time I stayed, signed up for intensive... Read More

About Fred Reed

Fred, a keyboard mercenary with a disorganized past, has worked on staff for Army Times, The Washingtonian, Soldier of Fortune, Federal Computer Week, and The Washington Times.

He has been published in Playboy, Soldier of Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Harper's, National Review, Signal, Air&Space, and suchlike. He has worked as a police writer, technology editor, military specialist, and authority on mercenary soldiers.

Personal Classics

YouSSR, MeSSR

Not What Tom Jefferson Had in Mind

Fred Reed

• 4 Comments • Reply

Up Periscope

Quick and Dirty

Fred Reed

• Leave a Comment

Eighth Grade In Mexico

Sounds Like A Low-Ranked American University To Me

Fred Reed