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.
In a new Gallup poll nearly half of surveyed Americans support bringing back slavery, at least if those enslaved are “young Americans” and the master is the United States government. Forty-nine percent of individuals asked in November said they support “requiring all young men and young women in the US to give one year of service to the nation — either in the military forces or in nonmilitary work here or abroad.” Forty-five present said they are opposed.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution says slavery is permitted only as punishment after conviction of a crime. Of course, the US government has violated that clear limitation through conscription both during peacetime and wars including World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Issue two.
On Monday, RT complied with a US government demand that it register as a foreign agent with the US Department of Justice.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry provided a reason why the US government would be so unhappy with RT that it made the unusual demand on the media company. Parry writes:
The U.S. government’s real beef with RT seems to be that it allows on air some Americans who have been blacklisted from the mainstream media – including highly credentialed former U.S. intelligence analysts and well-informed American journalists – because they have challenged various Official Narratives.
In other words, Americans are not supposed to hear the other side of the story on important international conflicts, such as the proxy war in Syria or the civil war in Ukraine or Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians. Only the State Department’s versions of those events are permitted even when those versions are themselves propagandistic if not outright false.
Issue three.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) announced Wednesday his introduction of five articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.
The impeachment resolution includes some laughable reasons such as that Trump undermined freedom of the press by calling press organizations “fake news.”
Unmentioned is Trump’s waging of wars overseas.
Cohen’s resolution brings to mind comments of then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) in a press conference when impeachment proceedings were taking place against President Bill Clinton. Paul said that Congress should have been addressing “the unconstitutionality of presidents waging wars” without congressional approval, which Paul called “a lot more serious” than Clinton’s scandal involving Monica Lewinsky that the impeachment dealt with.
Issue four.
In the October 13, 2016 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues, I talked about the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) backing off on plans to quickly put kratom in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act and instead pursuing a slower process including a public comment period and a scientific and medical review by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
On Tuesday, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announced an FDA “public health advisory related to the FDA’s mounting concerns regarding risks associated with the use of kratom.” He also noted that the FDA is working, including through seizures, to prevent kratom from entering America.
While the seizures are bad enough, Mike Riggs writes at Reason that Gottlieb’s tone in the announcement suggests the FDA will be working with the DEA “to put kratom in Schedule I—the most tightly regulated category of drugs.”
Issue five.
In the April 28, June 10, and October 6 episodes of Five Minutes Five Issues, I talked about the sheriff’s department of Worth County, Georgia having frisked 900-plus students at a high school, purportedly in an effort to find illegal drugs, as well as a lawsuit by students against the sheriff’s department in response and the indictment of the sheriff and two deputies on charges related to the friskings.
Here is an update. WALB-TV reported that there was a Tuesday announcement by the students’ lawyers that the sheriff’s department has agreed to pay a three million dollars settlement for the lawsuit. The story also noted that this week the state’s governor has suspended the county sheriff and appointed an interim replacement.
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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.