A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Friday. 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 article at the Unz Review, Philip Giraldi relates the story of how, 50 years after the Israel military attack on the USS Liberty in which 34 American crew members were killed and many more injured, the largest veterans organization in America — the American Legion — approved at its national convention last month a resolution calling upon the United States Congress “to publicly, impartially, and thoroughly investigate the attack on the USS Liberty and its aftermath and to commence its investigation before the end of 2017.”
Adopting this resolution, Giraldi relates, took great effort by American Legion members to overcome long-time resistance from the organization’s leadership. The result is the American Legion joining the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other military-related organizations in seeking what Giraldi terms a “proper investigation.”
Immediately following the 1967 attack, Giraldi asserts that there was a “cover-up” of a deliberate and knowing attack on the US Navy ship in international waters. Key players in the cover-up, Giraldi writes, included then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, then-Secretary of Defense John McNamera, and Admiral John McCain, the father of the US Senator of the same name.
What will happen next? Giraldi suggests one reason not to have too high of hopes for a new investigation is that Israel “will certainly use all the resources that it has at hand, and they are considerable, to make sure that Congress never looks into the attack on the U.S.S. Liberty in any capacity.”
Issue two.
This week, President Donald Trump announced the phasing out of President Barack Obama’s DACA program that allows some people to legally stay in America who would otherwise be subject to deportation. Unless legislation is enacted in the next few months to extend the program in some form, the protection from deportation will be lifted.
With many people criticizing Trump in reaction to the announcement, it seems like a good time to review Obama’s deportation record. At ABC News last week, Serena Marshall wrote that the Obama administration had “deported more people than any other president’s administration in history.”
Issue three.
In last week’s episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I discussed why President Trump’s removal of some limits President Obama placed on the US government transferring military weapons and equipment to state and local police is of less significance than some people assume.
Nonetheless, it is good to hear that not all state and local politicians will be supporting police obtaining some of the newly available warfare goodies. Vermont Governor Phil Scott, for example, said that he does not support obtaining the newly available armored vehicles and high-powered weapons for the state police and that he will also, though acknowledging he cannot control their choices, discourage local police from acquiring such vehicles and weapons.
Issue four.
Robert Wenzel wrote Thursday at Target Liberty that former National Basketball Association (NBA) player Dennis Rodman presented a “great idea” in a recent interview. The idea Rodman offered is that President Trump should talk with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, with the hope that the meeting would ease tensions between the two governments. I doubt Rodman is on the top of the list of people from whom Trump generally wants to take foreign policy advice. But, in this instance Trump should listen. Rodman, it seems, has spent more time with the North Korea leader than has anybody advising Trump.
Issue five.
Politicians around America are rushing to take down statues and plaques, as well as rename government parks, streets, and institutions, that have some relation to the Confederate States of America (CSA). But, Sabrina Tavernise reported last week at the New York Times that some privately funded monuments related to the CSA have been erected across America in recent years on private land. Included is a monument going up in Orange, Texas that Tavernise writes is “considered the largest Confederate monument built in a century.”
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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.
Five four three two one.
Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.