A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Saturday. 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.
Interviewed last week by Chuck Todd at MSNBC, Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee Bill Weld said some positive things about the Libertarian presidential nominee. But, Weld also commented that he thinks “very highly of” Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and declared “I’m not sure anybody’s more qualified than Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States.”
Weld also says in the interview that the value of his candidacy is that it provides him with a “platform to help the country focus on the weakness” of the candidacy of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
I suppose many of the delegates who voted for Weld at the Libertarian National Convention a few months back hoped he would use the platform for another purpose — to promote libertarian ideas and criticize Trump and Clinton when their proposals conflict with those ideas.
Issue two.
What do our doctors think of the risks of marijuana consumption? Christopher Ingraham reported Wednesday at the Washington Post on survey answers of 233 primary-care physicians concerning their levels of worry about nine patient behaviors or conditions, including marijuana use. The doctors rated marijuana on average in a tie for least worrisome. Here are the things doctors found more worrisome, listed in order of ascending worry they cause: firearms at home, obesity, alcohol use, depression, tobacco use, sex with a prostitute, and riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
Issue three.
The investigation of Hillary Clinton’s handling of confidential government information while she was Secretary of State looks even fishier with the disclosure that the US Justice Department destroyed computers of Clinton aides. This week on Fox News, Judge Andrew Napolitano, who is a Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board member, put this action in perspective. Napolitano said that destroying such evidence “knowing that another entity — the House of Representatives — has subpoenaed it, [and] also a federal judge had ordered it produced in the Freedom of Information Act cases, is an example of a government breaking its own laws.”
Issue four.
By filming cops, you can prevent abusive actions and provide evidence of what happened. You can also put yourself in danger.
Arkansas State Rep. John Walker has cosponsored legislation to provide more legal protection for people who film the police. Last week, Walker provided an example of the danger people filming police can encounter. He was arrested while filming Little Rock Police Department cops arresting a driver and passenger at a traffic stop. The next day, the police department dropped charges against Walker and even apologized to him in writing.
Things turned out worse for Ramsey Orta who in 2014 filmed New York City cops’ actions on a Staten Island sidewalk that killed Eric Garner. Orta’s much-viewed video increased awareness of killings by police. Orta was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for weapon and drug law violations. Orta and his lawyer have argued that police had targeted Orta in retaliation for his filming.
Issue five.
In the September 8 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I talked about the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) plan to place kratom in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act by the end of last month.
Kratom is still not listed. But, the DEA says the ban is still in the works. Steven Nelson, in a September 30 US News and World Report article, quotes a DEA spokesman as saying “we’re not going to drag our feet very long” on scheduling kratom.
The DEA’s scheduling plan has been met with significant opposition, including a protest outside the White House. There has also been dissent from US House and Senate members who have written to DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg in opposition to the DEA’s planned quick listing of kratom.
—–
That’s a wrap.
Transcripts of Five Minutes Five Issues episodes, including links to related information, are at the Ron Paul Institute blog.
Five four three two one.
