Yesterday’s tragic bombing of the Kemal Ataturk Airport in Istanbul comes amid a busy week of Turkish diplomacy: Turkish President Erdogan has apologized to Russia for shooting down a Russian fighter jet and Turkey has taken major steps to restore good relations with Israel and Egypt. Who would want to shut down Turkey as it takes an apparent foreign policy shift…and why? We look into the possibilities in today’s Liberty Report:

If the UK actually succeeds in exiting the EU, what will be the fate of the remaining members? According to a report yesterday, the French and Germans are looking to create what would essentially be a single European “superstate” that would put an end to national sovereignty. Will this idea fly with the 27 remaining members? We take a look at the post-Brexit landscape in today’s Liberty Report:

European and US markets are shaky in the wake of the historic UK vote to leave the EU. The neocons are warning that the vote will weaken Europe and thus embolden Russia. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the UK vote result makes strengthening NATO more critical than ever. The US media has tried to portray the vote as a victory for Russian president Vladimir Putin. One hack even said of the vote to leave, “[t]hey are drinking copious amounts of vodka in the Kremlin today.” In today’s Liberty Report we try to look past the hype at what the real ramifications of the vote might be in the shorter term and longer term:

House Democrats held an unprecedented “sit-in” on the House Floor last night, protesting not being able to vote on new gun restriction measures. House Republicans nearly came to blows with their counterparts, as many of them blame recent gun violence on “radical Islam.” Legislation to prohibit anyone on the “terror watch list” from purchasing a firearm was already defeated (for now) in the Senate this week, but House Democrats want their own vote on the measure. Both sides miss the real point, however. Neither will consider the real cause of the violence and therefore both sides seek harmful solutions. More on these dramatic events in today’s Liberty Report:

The recent hack into the computers of the Clinton Foundation has revealed tens of millions of foreign government dollars sent in “donations” while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. Could the millions in Saudi donations have influenced Hillary’s Middle East foreign policy? Will we ever know? Is this all an acceptable way to conduct foreign policy? More today in the Liberty Report:

Seventy years after the end of World War II and a quarter century after the end of the Cold War does it make any sense to still maintain tens of thousands of US military personnel on the tiny island of Okinawa? Particularly as neither the local population nor its political leadership wants what they consider an occupation force to remain? Isn’t it time for the US to put an end to its nearly six billion dollar per year commitment to defend wealthy Japan? Perhaps that’s why the neocons keep trying to provoke China: to provide a pretext for the continued US occupation of Okinawa. More today in the Liberty Report:

Recently, 51 State Department employees signed a memo urging the president to change his focus in Syria from fighting ISIS to fighting the secular Assad government. They argued that targeting Assad would weaken Assad’s enemy, ISIS. The logic is not immediately apparent. They also dismissed any danger that a US attack on Russia’s ally in Syria might annoy the Russians, who spent more than six months bombing ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria. Although these 51 represent a very small faction within the Department, the neocon war propaganda immediately latched on to it. It made front page news in the New York Times. This is likely a preview of a Hillary presidency. More on this important development in today’s Liberty Report:

Donald Tusk, a former Polish politician who now is the (unelected) President of the European Council, has warned that if the UK votes to leave the European Union it would be the “end of western political civilization.” Others warn that taxes would increase for British citizens if they leave the EU. Still others worry about the future of NATO if other multinational entities like the EU begin unraveling. Polls suggest a surge in support for “Brexit” from the EU, but even if the people vote to leave, will the politicians bother to take their views into consideration? Looking at the future of Europe and “western political civilization” today in the Liberty Report:

Opponents of gun rights, including President Obama and Hillary Clinton, are using yesterday’s tragic Orlando shooting to push their agenda, even though the nightclub was a “gun free zone.” Meanwhile Republican politicians like House Speaker Paul Ryan are using the shooting to blame it all on “radical Islam.” The federal government will likely use the tragedy to demand more resources, and the media will concentrate on the most salacious details of the attack on a 24/7 basis. Will all these special interests served by the killings, will anyone pause to ponder what was really behind them? What really motivated the shooter? We look into this today in the Liberty Report:

Some years ago, Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) did the unthinkable in Washington: he admitted he was wrong and he determined to make amends for what he viewed as a great mistake. He believed the neocon lies about the danger Iraq posed to the US and he voted for the war back in 2002. Very soon he realized how he had been lied to and he dedicated himself to the cause of peace. He has since personally written more than 11,000 letters to the families of those killed or wounded in the wars. This year the neocons targeted him in his primary race, supporting a Republican challenger who would do as the neocons wished. Jones demolished the neocon last week and he already has big plans for the next Congress. The Liberty Report sits down with Rep. Jones on this very special edition to discuss what’s next for the antiwar Republican (and Ron Paul Institute Board Member):

A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Thursday. 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.

In 1986, the death of basketball player Len Bias from a drug overdose was used to propel forward imposing long mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted for having small amounts of crack. It took nearly 25 years until those crack mandatory minimums were rolled back partway toward the powder cocaine levels.

By the way, it turns out Bias likely overdosed on powder cocaine instead of crack.

Jeremy Haile and Michael Collins warn at The Marshall Project on Monday that reports the drug fentanyl may have played a role in musician Prince’s death could be used to support creating new long mandatory minimums. Will the urge to “do something” about a hyped-up drug epidemic again condemn many people to long sentences in prison?

Issue two.

On Fox News this week, Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board Member Andrew Napolitano called a provision being considered in the United States Congress “the deepest and most profound assault” on the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment prohibits searches and seizures without probable cause and a warrant. Napolitano explains that the provision would allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to, without a search warrant from a judge, obtain Americans’ internet browsing records. As Napolitano elaborates, the proposed legal change threatens the privacy of people’s medical, legal, religious, and personal information.

Napolitano notes the provision would also makes it a crime for internet service providers to tell people the FBI has demanded the turnover of private information.

Issue three.

Ron Paul Institute Chairman Ron Paul has long admired boxer Muhammad Ali’s resistance to being drafted into the US military during the Vietnam War. This week, Paul dedicated the Monday episode of his Ron Paul Liberty Report to commemorating Ali’s resistance.

Paul wrote in his book Swords into Plowshares the following regarding Ali: “One thing is for sure, Muhammad Ali stood his ground and refused to go thousands of miles from home to kill people who never did him any harm — a heroic stand.”

Issue four.

Forty-Five years ago this month, on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon, in a White House speech, announced the escalation of anti-drug efforts. Nixon helped popularize the term “war on drugs” in the process. Nixon declared:

America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.

The same day, Nixon sent a message to Congress in which he said he was “initiating a worldwide escalation in our existing programs for the control of narcotics traffic.”

The drug war has brought over a trillion dollars in spending, a very high incarceration rate, gang violence, the erosion of respect for constitutional rights protections, foreign military interventions, and other disastrous consequences. Hopefully, the US government will end this war soon.

Issue five.

This week the 2016 Bilderberg meeting is taking place in Germany. The highly-secretive meeting of select elite government, business, foundation, academic, and media people, predominantly from America and Europe, occurs yearly.

You might worry that the attendees will concoct plans to enrich and empower themselves at the expense of the rest of us. But, don’t worry about that. Right up top of the Bilderberg FAQ it states: “The meeting has one main goal: to foster discussion and dialogue. There is no desired outcome, there is no closing statement, there are no resolutions proposed or votes taken.”

Come on, who can be against some people coming together to talk?

Anyway, the FAQ also explains that the Bilderbergers have “a diverse mix of backgrounds, views, generations and genders.” I guess I will check the mailbox next year for my invitation to Bilderberg 2017.

—–

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.

Bill Kristol of Neocon Central thought he had Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) in his sights. He backed a Republican primary challenger to the North Carolina antiwar Republican (and RPI Board Member) and brought on board the likes of Haley Barbour, Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer, and Sarah Palin. They huffed and they puffed but they could not blow the principled Walter Jones down. He not only beat their candidate, but he beat him by over 50 percentage points! More on what Jones’ victory means in today’s Liberty Report. (Note: the Liberty Report will post an extensive interview with Rep. Jones over the weekend).