It's always important from the standpoint of peace that America and Russia, two major nuclear powers, continue to practice diplomacy. The 20th century, with hundreds of millions dead as a result of government wars, provides us all with valuable lessons on the importance of diplomacy. read on...
The Texas state House of Representatives is scheduled to consider Thursday HB 81, legislation that would decriminalize marijuana in the state.
The legislation, should it become law, will prevent the incarceration of people solely for possessing one ounce or less of usable marijuana. While HB 81 would protect such individuals from a criminal conviction and prison time, police would be able seize their marijuana and issue them a citation that may lead to the imposing of an up to $250 fine. read on...
President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey this evening in a surprise move. Various politicians and the media have openly referred to the act as “Nixonian” and “another Saturday Night Massacre.” I have previously stated how the Saturday Day Massacre has been misrepresented. I also do not agree with Jeff Toobin on CNN tonight that the decision was clearly due to the fact that Comey’s investigation was getting “too close” to President Trump. I agree that the timing is concerning and legitimately questioned. However, the Administration may also have waited for the Deputy Attorney General to be confirmed to allow a career prosecutor to review the matter and to concur with the decision. read on...
The Texas House of Representatives approved a resolution (SJR 2) on Thursday requesting that the United States Congress call a new constitutional convention — the first since the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that resulted in the drafting of the current US Constitution to replace the then-in-operation Articles of Confederation. The state Senate had already approved a constitutional convention resolution, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in a Thursday statement, indicated his support.
It is not just the Texas government that is requesting a new constitutional convention. Jonathan Tilove reported Thursday at the Austin American-Statesman that ten other states have made requests similar to the Texas request that Congress call a constitutional convention to propose an amendment or amendments related to a few particular listed goals. The number is higher for state legislatures requesting a constitutional convention to propose a US balanced budget amendment. read on...
In my opinion, Putin and Lavrov are even more clever than I had thought. The Astana process proposal for "de-escalation zones" in Syria has something for everyone... read on...
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. read on...
Russia said it’s ready to send peacekeepers to Syria after Turkey and Iran agreed on Thursday to Russia's proposal for "de-escalation zones" in Syria. The move, welcomed by the United Nations, has been met with skepticism from the United States as the so-called safe-zones will closed for warplanes of the United States and those of the U.S.-led coalition.
As Bloomberg reports, the three countries signed a memorandum on the creation of so-called de-escalation areas on Thursday after two days of talks in Kazakhstan that also included representatives of the Syrian government and rebel groups. read on...
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross spoke this week at the Milken Global Conference in Beverley Hills. He recalled the scene at Mar-a-Lago on April 6, when the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping was interrupted by the strike on Syria. read on...
Welcome to this week's episode of the RPI blog, "Five Minutes, Five Issues." 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. read on...
Just three days after Turkish warplanes killed at least 20 US-backed Kurdish fighters along the Turkey-Syria border as well as several Kurdish peshmerga troops on Mount Sinjar in northwestern Iraq, footage posted by Syrian activists showed the US has deployed troops and APCs in the contested region, in a move that could potentially drag the US in a conflict where it already finds itself mediating between two so-called US ally forces in the proxy war against Syria. read on...
