There is much to discuss and digest about yesterday’s “surprise” victory of Donald Trump in the presidential race. The role of the media is a big one. Regardless of what one thinks of Trump or his policies, the mainstream media clearly saw itself as part of the campaign — on Clinton’s side — rather than as mere observers and reporters of the campaign. What are our hopes and fears as we face a Trump Administration? Plus, we look at some of the different initiatives across the country dealing with guns, the drug war, soda pop, and more. All in today’s election roundup Liberty Report:

We know that one of the major candidates will win today’s presidential election. We don’t know which one. But we do have a few predictions for what will change and what will stay the same regardless of who wins. Foreign policy – will it change? How about Congress – will they finally begin standing up to their Constitutional obligations? The Supreme Court – is the next nominee so important and what Congress can do. In today’s Liberty Report we balance our cynicism with a solid dose of silver lining in discussing what to look for in the immediate future:

While Americans were obsessing about tomorrow’s election, the Obama Administration launched a serious military escalation in Syria. US Special Forces on the ground and jet fighters in the air are deployed in an operation to take Raqqa from ISIS control. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dunford announced over the weekend that the US and Turkey agreed on a long-term plan for “seizing, holding and governing” the Syrian city. Is this the beginning of a US-recognized rival Syrian government, as Benghazi was in Libya? We discuss in today’s Liberty Report:

We were told that we had to attack Iraq because the Saddam Hussein government made us less safe. We were told we had to bomb and kill Gaddafi in Libya because his regime made us less safe. Ditto with the Taliban in Afghanistan and Assad in Syria. Now. 15 years after 9/11, Americans are seeing through the endless wars that have lasted through the Bush and Obama Administrations. Trillions spent, untold thousands killed, societies destroyed, people displaced. A new poll sponsored by the Center for the National Interest and the Charles Koch Institute has found that Americans feel less, not more safe after a decade and a half of war. We are reaching the critical mass where Americans begin to demand a change in our interventionist foreign policy. More on the encouraging poll in today’s Liberty Report:

Most of the country is on the edge of its seat over next week’s presidential election. Will it be Hillary? Trump? We don’t know. One thing we do know is that the real winner will be a public/private hybrid known as the “deep state” that ensures Washington’s policies do not significantly shift out of its favor. They will come out on top regardless of who wins next week. There are more “private” contractors with top secret clearances than government employees. A recently released FBI memo referenced the “7th Floor Group” or “Shadow Government” made up of very high-ranking State Department officials and perhaps others. This not conspiracy, it is conspiracy fact. What can be done about it? Plenty. We are joined by Rutherford Institute president John Whitehead to discuss in today’s Liberty Report:

Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of President George W. Bush signing the PATRIOT Act into law. It was supposed to be only a temporary measure to address the emergency situation caused by the attacks of 9/11. Fifteen years later it has been re-authorized many times and last year some of its worst parts were codified into law in the USA FREEDOM Act. From the War Powers Resolution, to the FISA Court, to the “reform” USA FREEDOM Act, bills that were designed to rein in government abuses end up just giving government more power. Is there anything we can do about it? RPI Senior Fellow Adam Dick joins today’s Liberty Report to discuss:

Virginia State Senator Richard Black was curious about why the US seemed to be attacking only secular countries in the Middle East. Why attack Libya? Why Syria? So he decided to go over to Syria and see for himself. After meeting Syrian president Assad and speaking favorably about the situation with Christians under his rule, Sen. Black earned himself a place on ISIS’s “enemy list.” For not taking the Washington line that “Assad must go” he also earned a place on the Washington Post’s “enemy list.” Are we on the wrong side in Syria? Today, with Sen. Black, on the Liberty Report:

The compliant mainstream western media are playing the US/Iraqi assault on ISIS-held Mosul as a great liberation of the people. Atrocity stories of life under two years o fISIS control are all over the media. But what of life under five years of al-Qaeda rule over east Aleppo? Not a word. The media only reports US government tales of Syria and Russia targeting hospitals and schools and aiming for civilians. The hypocrisy is incredible. But what of the battle for Mosul? Will it finally give the US interventionists the victory they have found elusive thus far in the 13 year war? Don’t hold your breath. More in today’s Liberty Report:

If you do what Washington says, they send you money. If you don’t, they send you bombs. Now that Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has claimed he wants to pivot away from the US and toward China, can he expect some of those bombs? Or perhaps just a CIA-sponsored coup? What if this realignment could serve to end the foolish mutual defense treaty the US has had with the Philippines since the 1950s? Wouldn’t it be better if young Americans didn’t face the possibility of being killed while fighting for Philippine fishing rights in the South China Sea? More on the shift and what it means in today’s Liberty Report:

In last night’s presidential debate, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton accused the Russians of manipulating the US electoral system to get Republican candidate Donald Trump elected president. She claimed:

We have 17 intelligence agencies, civilian and military, who have all concluded that these espionage attacks, these cyberattacks, come from the highest levels of the Kremlin, and they are designed to influence our election.

She went on to say that if elected, Trump would be “Putin’s puppet.” In other words, that the president of the United States would be an agent of a foreign power. Is there any truth to the claim? You might be surprised how much we learn when delving into foreign manipulation of elections. Join us in today’s Liberty Report:

Despite the salacious coverage in the media of sex, lying, corruption, etc., there are actually some important issues we face for the future that we are not hearing in the presidential campaigns What do the major candidates have to say about the military budget? About the drug war? About executive branch power grabs? Not much. We’re not expecting a sudden focus on the real issues in tonight’s debate so we are going to ask the questions that should be asked tonight but probably won’t…in today’s Liberty Report:

The US mainstream media is falling all over itself telling us how critical it is to attack Mosul, Iraq. The city of a million inhabitants has been under ISIS control for the past two years and the fight against ISIS will get a major boost if the terrorist group is expelled. How funny that the media sings a radically different tune when it comes to another town also under siege by terrorists. Aleppo in Syria has been held by al-Qaeda terrorists for twice as long as Mosul has been held by ISIS terrorists, but while the New York Times screams that no human cost is too great to liberate Mosul they at the same time accuse the Syrian government and its allies of wantonly slaughtering civilians in Aleppo. How to explain? The US mainstream media feels it is their duty not to report facts and dig up the truth behind government obfuscation, but to be complicit in government obfuscation of facts. A sad state. We look at the battle for Mosul in today’s Liberty Report: