A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues has been posted. 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 a Tuesday speech at a Washington, DC meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General, United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: “I’m not sure we’re going to be a better, healthier nation if we have marijuana being sold at every corner grocery store.”
Well, the scenario Sessions mentioned sounds great to me. Legalizing such widespread sales of marijuana would respect freedom more than does the relatively-restrictive licensed marijuana sales allowed in early states’ legalization efforts. Such widespread sales already work fine for beer in many states now.
Issue two.
The portion of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday speech at the US Capitol Building that was dedicated to talking about a US military member who died while taking part in a commando raid in Yemen was “standard fare in U.S. war propaganda.” That is the assessment of Glenn Greenwald, writing at The Intercept. Greenwald elaborates, stating, “[w]e fixate on the Americans killed, learning their names and life stories and the plight of their spouses and parents, but steadfastly ignore the innocent people the U.S. government kills, whose numbers are always far greater.” As examples, Greenwald points to similar comments regarding wounded US troops in speeches at the same venue by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
Greenwald writes that such propaganda is important to recognize because the propaganda “keeps Americans supporting endless war” by ensuring “that Americans perpetually regard themselves as victims of horrific, savage, tragic violence but never the perpetrators of it.”
Issue three.
On Tuesday, President Trump signed into law H.J. Res. 40. As I explained at the Ron Paul Institute website last month, the legislation prohibits the imposing of certain regulations published in December. Those regulations define a process by which the Social Security Administration unilaterally determines individuals have sufficient mental health problems for the US government to restrain them from purchasing and possessing guns.
The enactment of H.J. Res. 40 is a rare example of the president and Congress tearing down one of the US government’s many privacy-invading programs that database us to restrict our activities.
Issue four.
Ron Paul Institute Academic Board Member Lawrence Wilkerson has seen the military-industrial complex up close, including during his 31 years in the Army from which he retired as a colonel.
This week, in an interview with Paul Jay at the Real News Network, Wilkerson recounted an example of how military spending comes about. Speaking of his work in the 1970s on developing the Army’s Humvees program, Wilkerson described the process that results in huge military spending with widespread congressional support. Wilkerson said:
I was told by the Congress to go back to Fort Benning at the time and I had a 400 million dollar program, and they said: “You gotta have a bigger program, gotta have a bigger program; It’s gotta be in every state you can get it in.” I went back, developed a 9 billion dollar program for a 59,000-vehicle buy, and sold the program. That was in the late ’70s. It’s mushroomed majorly since then. Now we have helicopters and fighter planes and ships and other things built, a component of which is built in every state.
Issue five.
A Michigan legislator is drafting legislation to end a state exemption from prosecution for cops who have sex with prostitutes in the course of an investigation.
Here is a better idea: Legalize prostitution. And while you’re at it, legalize drugs and gambling too. Stop introducing dangers to nonviolent activities by making those activities illegal, and tell the cops to focus 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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