A new episode of Five Minutes Five Issues posted on Saturday. 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.
On October 8, President Donald Trump sent a letter to United States congressional leaders regarding immigration-related matters. Trump mentions in the letter his desire to “hire an additional 1,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) attorneys, with sufficient support personnel,” as well as “an additional 10,000 ICE officers.”
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is all about dealing with illegal immigration. ICE actions extend into many other areas, including the war on drugs. One ICE focus is asset seizures, often from people not even charged with a crime, much less convicted. Ryan Devereaux and Spencer Woodman reported Friday at The Intercept that, “The Department of Homeland Security has seized billions of dollars in assets over the last decade, with the bulk of the revenue coming from investigations overseen by ICE.”
Issue two.
Alabama Republican US Senate nominee Roy Moore signed a resolution in 2010 that states in part, “We pledge to limit and restrain all federal government exercise of power that exceeds in any way the plain language of those few powers listed in the Constitution and to nullify all others that exceed such limit.” No wonder many people in the US political establishment sought to prevent Moore’s Senate primary win.
Issue three.
Do not trust the marijuana industry to be a friend of liberty.
In Washington state, unlike in other states with legalized recreational marijuana, growing your own remains illegal.
Some state legislators are looking into changing that.
The Washington CannaBusiness Association describes itself as “an association of cannabis producers, processors and retailers” with a mission “to advocate on behalf of our member companies in the legislative, regulatory, legal and public policy arenas.”
The Association’s spokesman Aaron Pickus said, in a KCPQ-TV story last week regarding potential home grow legalization, that the association opposes allowing people to home grow, saying, “the current regulatory system is the best approach.”
Issue four.
In the March 18 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I mentioned that many documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy are scheduled for release this month. Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation warned in a Wednesday article that President Trump could allow some of the documents to be held back. As Hornberger explains, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) took advantage of a provision in the 1992 law requiring disclosure to maintain secrecy of tens of thousands of pages for an additional 25 years, that is, until this month’s scheduled release.
Might the secrecy again be extended? Not if US Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and US House of Representatives Member Walter Jones (R-NC) get their way. The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and the Representative who also serves on the Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board introduced legislation (S.Res. 281 and H.Res. 556) that calls on the president to release the remaining documents irrespective of the desire of the CIA or others to maintain secrecy.
Upon the introduction of the bill, Jones said in a press release:
After 54 years, there is no reason, for the sake of honesty and integrity in America, that the facts of the JFK assassination should not be made public. Virgil once said, ‘Evil is nourished and grows by concealment.’ It’s time to reveal what happened that awful afternoon in 1963.
Issue five.
Legal hemp farming may soon return to Wisconsin. Noelle Anderson reported Tuesday at WEAU-TV that legislation (SB 119) being considered this week by the state’s Senate Agriculture Committee that would legalize hemp farming in the state has the support of two major farming organizations — the Wisconsin Farm Bureau and the Wisconsin Farmers Union.
But, might Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker prevent legalization? Walker expresses concerns in the TV report that the legalization of the low-THC plant may somehow interfere with the state dealing with “opioid and heroin abuse” because hemp — an ingredient in many food products available in Wisconsin and across America — could be, as Walker terms it, “a gateway” to illegal drugs.
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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.