A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues is out. 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.
This week, National Public Radio corrected misinformation emanating from the United States Department of Education.
Anya Kamenetz reported Monday at NPR regarding an Education Department claim that, “in the 2015-2016 school year, ‘nearly 240 schools … reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting.’”
Note that in Education Department lingo a school-related “shooting” just means a gun being fired at a school, on a school bus, or at a school event — not that anyone was shot or even shot at.
When NPR looked into the claim, Kamenetz relates that only 11 of the reported incidents could be confirmed “either directly with schools or through media reports.” Regarding the rest of the supposed incidents, Kamenetz explains:
In 161 cases, schools or districts attested that no incident took place or couldn’t confirm one. In at least four cases, we found, something did happen, but it didn’t meet the government’s parameters for a shooting. About a quarter of schools didn’t respond to our inquiries.
Issue two.
Murray Sabrin is the Libertarian Party nominee for US Senate in New Jersey this year. Sabrin is rather well known for a Libertarian candidate, in part due to his previous statewide campaigns. Matt Welch related Wednesday at Reason that Sabrin won 4.7 percent in the 1997 New Jersey governor race as the Libertarian nominee, and, four years ago, won 19.4 percent in the New Jersey Republican primary for US Senate, ten percent behind the primary’s winner.
In the Senate race this year, Sabrin seems to be polling well for a Libertarian Party candidate. According to a poll commissioned by his campaign, Sabrin is at seven percent support, with the remainder split 40 percent for the Democrat incumbent, 30 percent for the Republican, and 22 percent “unsure.”
Yet, other polls do not even ask about support for Sabrin.
Welch sums up the situation well, writing:
… polls that don’t include strong third-party candidates in contested races amount to journalistic malpractice. You don’t know what’s going on in the New Jersey Senate race if you’re not asking about Murray Sabrin.
Issue three.
In the April 13 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I talked about leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints having released that week a statement critical of a potential Utah medical marijuana ballot measure being circulated for signatures. The initiative since has been approved for the November Utah ballot, and polling indicates it has majority support.
Last week, the church officially joined the opposition to the ballot measure, announcing planned opposition efforts including sending an email to church members in the state urging them to oppose the initiative. Taylor W. Anderson and Benjamin Wood suggest in a Salt Lake Tribune article that this opposition could have significant influence in the election given that “the church’s followers represent more than half of Utah voters” and that “a poll taken in June, after two statements that indicated church leadership had concerns about the initiative, showed some active members were persuaded to not support the initiative after criticism from the church.”
Issue four.
In the July 28 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I talked about the New Jersey state legislature potentially passing and the state governor signing into law marijuana legalization as soon as September. Here is an update. Last week, Sam Sutton reported at Politico that New Jersey state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D – Gloucester) had said in an interview with Politico that Sweeney believes the state Senate and House of Representatives could approve legalization legislation in September.
Issue five.
At the Ron Paul Institute’s sold-out annual conference near Washington, DC on August 18, hundreds of individuals heard great speeches and met with people who are interested in RPI’s mission to promote nonintervention abroad and respect for liberty at home.
You can find speeches from the conference at the Ron Paul Liberty Report’s YouTube page at youtube.com/RonPaulLibertyReport.
—–
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.
