A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Friday. 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.
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Executive Director Anthony D. Romero says in a Wednesday Washington Post editorial that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s proposed policies regarding immigration, counterterrorism, torture, and libel threaten respect for the United States Constitution. Concludes Romero:
For 96 years, the ACLU has not opposed or supported any candidate for office. We are not going to start with Donald Trump. But in the face of such an agenda, our job will be to muster all the legal arguments we can to derail and deter the presumptive Republican nominee’s patently anti-civil-liberties proposals should he become our nation’s 45th president.
Here’s what I want to know: Will the ACLU come out with a similar editorial regarding Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the eve of the Democratic National Convention? She is no friend of the Constitution either.
Issue two.
In December of 2013, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC), who is a Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board member, and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) first introduced a resolution urging President Barack Obama to declassify 28 pages of a joint US House of Representatives and Senate Intelligence Committees report on the September 11, 2001 attacks in America. George W. Bush administration redactions shielded the 28 pages from public viewing before the report’s December of 2002 publication.
The Jones-Lynch resolution (H.Res. 14) has 71 cosponsors.
Now, Katie Bo Williams is reporting in the Hill that the 28 pages may be released to the public as soon as Friday, though Williams notes portions may remain redacted.
If the 28 pages are made public, credit is due to Jones and Lynch for putting on the pressure for openness.
Issue three.
From east to west across Africa, 1,700 Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, and other military personnel are carrying out 78 distinct “mission sets” in more than 20 nations, according to documents obtained by The Intercept via the Freedom of Information Act.
Those are the introductory words of Nick Turse’s Monday article titled “In Africa, the U.S Military Sees Enemies Everywhere.” Indeed, while US military interventions in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan receive most the media attention, the military reaches into many more countries.
Issue four.
Julie Bosman wrote in the New York Times last week that people in Kansas are increasingly referring to “public schools” as “government schools.”
The schools are funded by taxes and run by a combination of elected school boards and state and US government mandates. Increasingly, government cops roam through these schools as well. “Government schools” seems an apt term.
Sure, the term “government schools” disturbs some people. The truth can be disturbing; that’s a reason much effort is often used, including via language conventions, to suppress recognition and expression of the truth.
Issue five.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown said, among comments largely related to the killing last week of five Dallas cops, that “we’re asking cops to do too much in this country.” Brown continues that “every societal failure we put it off on cops to solve.” In particular, Brown mentions insufficient mental health and drug addiction funding as well as failed schools and loose dogs as some of the problems put off on cops.
I could challenge Brown on some of the details of his comments, but I think he is on to something. Police will fail at investigating and arresting their way to solving most perceived societal problems. Further, attempting to do so often exacerbates existing problems while creating new ones, including deaths and violations of liberty.
Here is my suggestion for a big step forward in asking cops to do much less. Eliminate the vice crimes related to drugs, prostitution, and gambling. Let the police focus instead on crimes with victims.
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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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