A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues is out. You can listen to it, and read a transcript, below. You can also find previous episodes of the show at Stitcher, iTunes, YouTube, and SoundCloud.
Listen to the new episode here:
Read a transcript of the new episode, including links to further information regarding the topics discussed, here:
The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity welcomes you to Five Minutes Five Issues.
Starting in five four three two one.
Hello, I am Adam Dick, a Ron Paul Institute senior fellow.
Let’s start.
Issue one.
Many people hoped Donald Trump would, as president, significantly reduce the United States government’s foreign intervention, including wars. They grabbed onto several of Trump’s noninterventionist-sounding comments during the presidential campaign, and they wished for the best.
Now, with the end of the first hundred days of his presidency near, Trump has indicated that in many ways his administration will expand US foreign intervention, not reduce it.
Here are a few examples of the Trump presidency dashing hopes for noninterventionist actions. Trump, while campaigning, said he would seek good relations with Russia. As president, he has continued the escalating of the US military presence near Russia. During the campaign, Trump said the Russia and Syria governments could take care of fighting ISIS in Syria. President Trump has substantially increased the US military presence in Syria with the purported objective of defeating ISIS, and, last week, Trump ordered a missile attack on a Syria military installation used by Syrian and Russian militaries. During the campaign Trump called NATO obsolete, On Wednesday, he said NATO is “no longer obsolete” and that instead it is “the bulwark of international peace and security.”
Issue two.
William Norman Grigg died on Wednesday. Grigg was a masterful writer of many compelling articles. Often he wrote regarding the little guy abused by government and its armed agents. The Ron Paul Institute website features some of Grigg’s articles. More can be found at Grigg’s website Pro Libertate.
Issue three.
In the March 31 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues I talked about legislation Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) was planning to introduce to address phones and other electronic devices being searched at American borders without a warrant. Last week, Wyden announced his introduction of the legislation in the US Senate. The bill, called the Protecting Data at the Border Act, has also been introduced in the US House of Representatives.
The bill provides protections against the US government requiring a search of the digital content of a US citizen or permanent resident’s electronic equipment at the border without a court-ordered warrant based on a showing of probably cause. It also provides protections against a US citizen or permanent resident being denied entry to or exit from America for refusing in various ways to provide access to electronic information at the border. The bill, though, falls short of what many people advocating for respect of privacy desire. For example, the bill does not provide similar protections for foreigners visiting America, and the bill explicitly does not limit access via the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, that plays a big role in surveillance.
Issue four.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared on Monday, “We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world.”
Tillerson’s declaration of US government policy is in line with the US being the policeman of the world and the “humanitarian intervention” justification offered during the Obama administration for US efforts to overthrow the governments of Libya and Syria.
Issue five.
Last weekend, I attended the symposium in Lake Jackson, Texas hosted by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and the Ron Paul Institute. I talked with RPI supporters and listened to speakers, including Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, David Stockman, Thomas Massie, Daniel McAdams, Jeff Deist, Philip Giraldi, and Hunt Tooley.
Video of the full symposium is posted at the Ron Paul Institute website.
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That’s a wrap.
Transcripts of Five Minutes Five Issues episodes, including links to related information, are at the Ron Paul Institute blog.
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