Lawrence Wilkerson Warns the US is Driving Down a Highway to War with China

Former Army Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, who was chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell in the George W. Bush administration, warns in a new The Real News interview with host Sharmini Peries that the United States government is driving down a “highway to war” with China — a war for which Wilkerson sees no sound justification.

The drive toward war is not undertaken in response to a real threat posed by China to the people of America. Instead, argues Wilkerson, the US government is moving toward war for reasons related to money for both the military and the broader military-industrial complex, as well to advance President Donald Trump’s domestic political goals.

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This Week’s Psilocybin Mushroom Vote and the Drug War’s Future

What does the victory this week of a ballot measure making arrests of people 21 years old and older for personal use or possession of psilocybin mushrooms the lowest priority for Denver police portend for the future of the drug war in America?

Jacob Sullum, who will be speaking May 18 at a Ron Paul Institute conference titled “Winning the War on the War on Drugs,” provides a detailed and thoughtful answer to this question in a Thursday Reason article.

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New York City Eliminates Jail Phone Call Fees

Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city had eliminated charges for phone calls made by inmates in city jails. Karen Matthews of the Associated Press reported that New York City, with this elimination of fees that had been 50 cents for the first minute and five cents for each additional minute, is the first major American city to eliminate inmates’ phone call fees.

This is a welcome move against what I described in an October of 2013 Ron Paul Institute article as “phone system monopolies that charge inmates’ families and friends exorbitant rates to communicate with their incarcerated loved ones.”

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Ron Paul Argues the Case Against Tariffs on Chinese Goods

Interviewed Monday by host Stuart Varney at Fox Business to present the libertarian view on United States tariffs on imports from China, Paul answered that libertarians dislike tariffs. Paul further noted the Constitution allows the use of tariffs to raise revenue “but not for fighting trade wars” — the purpose they are being put to in regard to China.

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Legal Marijuana Home Delivery and Marijuana ‘Hospitality Spaces’ Coming to Colorado

It looks like people in Colorado, the state that along with Washington led the way in marijuana relegalization via ballot measure votes in 2012, will soon have significantly expanded legal choices for how they obtain and where they use marijuana. Kyle Jaeger reports at Marijuana Moment that the state Senate approved two marijuana bills this week, one legalizing delivery of medical and recreational marijuana to homes and the other legalizing the creation of “hospitality spaces” where marijuana may be consumed. These hospitality spaces could be connected to or separate from places where marijuana is legally sold.

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Michael Scheuer: US Intervention in Venezuela is for the Benefit of Powerful Special Interests

Since he left the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) where he had been in charge the “bin Laden unit,” Michael Scheuer has made it his mission to educate people about the dangers of United States intervention abroad. Interviewed this week by host Rick Sanchez at RT regarding recent events in Venezuela and the United States government’s effort to overthrow the Venezuela government, Scheuer presents a clear argument for nonintervention there and elsewhere.

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