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.
The Soviet Union dissolved nearly thirty years ago. Isn’t it way past time to disband the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) whose purported purpose was to protect against Soviet expansion? That seems the logical action.
On Tuesday, almost all members of the United States House of Representatives voted in favor of a resolution (H.Res. 397) suggesting a commitment of the US to go to war to defend any of the 29 NATO member nations, supporting encouraging all NATO members to spend a minimum amount on their militaries, and welcoming Montenegro as the newest NATO member.
Only four House members voted “no” — Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), John Duncan (R-TN), Walter Jones (R-NC), and Thomas Massie (R-KY).
Duncan, Jones, and Massie are members of the Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board.
Issue two.
People may soon be required at all Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints to remove their books and magazines from their bags. Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) wrote in an article last week that the TSA is already requiring people to remove books and other paper items from their bags at some small airports around the country and that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John F. Kelly recently said the requirement will likely be imposed nationwide.
Issue three.
Liberty protections have been eroded in the effort to crack down on drinking and driving. Included is police subjecting drivers to breathalyzer tests without a warrant. Now, some New York state legislators argue, if a warrant is not required to use a breathalyzer to uncover evidence a driver has drunk alcohol, then a warrant should not be required to search a driver’s phone to see if he may have been texting or doing something else with his phone around the time of a car accident.
Scott Shackford reported Tuesday at Reason that a bill introduced in the New York state Assembly and Senate would allow police, without a warrant, to conduct a search of activities a driver in a car accident may have done with his phone or portable electronic device. Resist a cop’s search effort and the bill authorizes revoking your driver’s license for a year or more as well as fining you $500 or more, The bill did not make it to a floor vote in this year’s legislative session, but Shackford says to expect to see the bill again next year given that this year the New York Senate Transportation Committee gave the bill unanimous approval.
Issue four.
Last week, Ron Paul Institute Advisory Board Member and former US House of Representatives Member Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) argued in a The Hill editorial that “Congress must reclaim its constitutional power” in regard to US wars. Only congressional action, Kucinich suggests, will end the wars. The executive branch seems uninterested in ending the wars. As far as the courts, Kucinich notes that two lawsuits he was involved in while in Congress — one in 1989 to end the Yugoslavia War and one in 2011 to stop the Libya War — were thrown out by courts that decided even Kucinich and his fellow Congress member plaintiffs had no standing to bring the cases.
Issue five.
In the June 10 episode of Five Minutes Five Issues I talked about the Arizona governor signing into law legislation defining certain coins containing precious metal as legal tender and eliminating capital gains taxes on when those coins are exchanged for US dollars.
Last week, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signed into law legislation favorable to precious metals. The legislation (HB 396) eliminates sales taxes on the purchase of gold, silver, and platinum bullion, as well as certain numismatic coins. A report at GoldSeek says that “Louisiana has now joined the ranks of the 25 other states that do not levy sales taxes on precious metals at all, and the 34 states that include at least a partial exemption on levying sales taxes on precious metals purchases.”
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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.
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