Adam Radly: Recent Episodes
Adam Radly
One Direct Democracy is a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy. It will also eliminate left and right politics. I've created the technology and a plan for how to make it work.
For each episode, I'll pick an important issue, give you an outline of the problem, suggest possible solutions then you can decide how you would vote.
If you're sick of talking heads and want to be part of the solution, follow me and share this content.
The Florida government has passed a new bill that bans schools from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity. Is this a good idea? The argument behind it is that it allows parents to work through these issues with their kids rather than letting them unfold in school where apparently something might go wrong.
If you could vote directly on this policy to ban schools from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation, would you vote for it or against it?
Okay, what does this bill actually propose to do? According to this article from NPR:
The bill, which some opponents have called "Don't Say Gay," was signed by DeSantis on Monday. It reads, "Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards."
Why do the people behind the bill think it's a good idea?
Supporters of the legislation say it's meant to allow parents to determine when and in what way to introduce LGBTQ topics to their children. It also gives parents an option to sue a school district if the policy is violated.
What does Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis have to say about it?
During a press conference ahead of signing the law, DeSantis said teaching kindergarten-aged kids that "they can be whatever they want to be" was "inappropriate" for children.
He said, "It's not something that's appropriate for any place, but especially not in Florida."
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/florida-dont-say-gay-yes-no/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
The Biden administration has announced a plan to freeze federal student loan payments until Aug. 31. The existing moratorium was created to allow millions of Americans to postpone payments during the coronavirus pandemic. Is it the right move?
If you could vote directly on this policy to pause student loan repayments until August, would you vote for it or against it?
If it happens, it will be the sixth time the loan repayment freeze has been extended since it began in March 2020. Okay, so how many people will be impacted by this policy? According to this article from ABC News:
"The action applies to more than 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in student debt held by the federal government, according to the latest data from the Education Department."
"Nearly 37 million borrowers have saved about $195 billion from the moratorium through April 2022, according to a report released last month by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York."
"The same report also found that student loan borrowers who didn’t benefit from the extended moratorium had 33% higher rates of delinquency on other debt."
One way to figure out whether this policy is even required is to look at the number of defaults on student loans.
"That includes more than 7 million borrowers who have defaulted on student loans, meaning they are at least 270 days late on payments."
So how will this work specifically?
"Borrowers will not be asked to make payments until after Aug. 31, and interest rates are expected to remain at 0% during that period."
So is this just about the pandemic or is this part of a push to eliminate student debt?
"Sen. Patty Murray said more time is needed to help Americans prepare for repayment and to rethink the government’s existing system for repaying student debt."
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/extend-student-loan-pause-to-august-yes-no/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Russia has been suspended from the United Nations Human Rights Council after invading Ukraine and, as far as I'm concerned, committing multiple war crimes in Ukraine. As you can tell from what I just said, none of this is surprising but I was surprised to see the number of countries that voted against the resolution or decided to abstain. Did your country vote in favor of the resolution to suspend Russia, or against it or did it abstain and, if you vote on it directly, how would you vote?
So what was the final vote and what is the criteria for suspending a country from the UN Human Rights Council? According to this article from the Guardian:
"At a meeting of the UN general assembly on Thursday, 93 members voted in favor of the diplomatic rebuke while 24 were against and 58 abstained."
"This met the required threshold of a two-thirds majority of the assembly members that vote yes or no, with abstentions not counting in the calculation."
This is what Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations had to say after the vote
“War criminals have no place in UN bodies aimed at protecting human rights,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted in response. “Grateful to all member states which … chose the right side of history.”
Okay, how did this process of suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council get started?
"The US ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, had launched the effort to suspend Russia from the 47-member human rights council with the world still recoiling from images of mass graves and corpses strewn in the streets of Bucha following Russian soldiers’ retreat."
Sergiy Kyslytsya, Ukraine’s UN ambassador, introducing the resolution before the 193 members of the general assembly, said Russia has committed “horrific human rights violations and abuses that would be equated to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/what-should-the-criteria-be-for-suspending-nations-from-the-unhcr/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Congress has decided to resume using earmarks. It was always known as "pork" or "pork-barrel spending". The reason it was known by those names is that it involved spending taxpayer money on small, low-priority projects that only matter to one politician. Why was it used in the first place? Why was it eliminated? And why has it made a comeback?
If you could vote directly on this policy to resume using earmarks in Congress, would you vote for it or against it?
So what is an earmark? According to this article from CNN:
"Member-directed spending" is just a fancy name for earmarks -- a system by which federal spending in a certain district or state can be appended to legislation as a sweetener for the members of Congress representing those areas.
"Earmarks had long been part of the legislative process as a way to grease the wheel of bill-passing."
"How did it "grease the wheel of bill passing"? In simple terms, if a particular politician didn't want to vote for a bill, they could be convinced to change their minds by including some additional funding for some small project in their jurisdiction. How and when did this start to change?"
"But beginning in earnest with Arizona Sen. John McCain's 2008 campaign for president, earmarking began to be regarded as a bad thing. McCain was a longtime opponent of earmarks -- known derisively as "pork" to Beltway insiders -- and would regularly call out what he believed to be over-the-top pet projects inserted into bills by lawmakers."
McCain made a big deal out of in his run for President. That's when everybody outside of politics became aware of it and they didn't like it.
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/how-can-we-improve-the-rules-for-the-use-of-earmarks/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced legislation in Congress that would effectively ban large technology mergers. It's called the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act (PAMA).
The simplified interpretation of this legislation is that it would break anything that is big and it would prevent anything from becoming big in the future. Will this solve any real issues? Will it cause more problems than it solves?
If you could vote directly on this policy, would you vote for it or against it?
Before getting into any detail, let's just try to understand where Senator Warren is coming from. I'm going to refer to articles from Vox and Engadget.
Engadget: Her new bill, the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act, doesn’t just break up Big Tech: It breaks up Big Everything, and it prevents companies from getting too big in the future. It would also fundamentally change how agencies evaluate and block proposed mergers, a process that currently gives companies a lot of power and agencies relatively little. Warren says the bill crystallizes her vision for how the government can stop industry consolidation that has broken America’s markets, hurt its economy, and threatening its democracy.
As far as I can tell there seems to be an underlying philosophy to break up anything that's big and prevent companies from getting big in the first place. Okay, so, what is this bill proposing to actually do?
Engadget: The Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act (PAMA) would make it illegal to pursue "prohibited mergers," including those worth more than $5 billion or which provide market shares beyond 25 percent for employers and 33 percent for sellers.
So the assumption here is that merges that meet this criteria are anti-competitive.
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/ban-tech-mergers-over-5-billion-yes-no/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
If you're new to all of this, check out the other videos in my channel and the links in the description of my videos.
Democracy #directdemocracy #onedirectdemocracy #adamradly #politics #democraticpolitics #congress #democracyandrights
The US Senate voted to make daylight savings permanent. What do people think about changing the time twice every year? And, if we're going to stop doing it, should we choose standard time or daylight savings time? What do sleep scientists have to say about all of this?
If you could vote directly on this policy, would you vote for it or against it?
What does the Bill propose to do?
According to this article from Fortune:
"The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to make daylight saving time permanent from 2023."
One of the first questions that come to mind is - what do sleep scientists have to say about it?
"...sleep scientists argue the choice of daylight saving time over standard time—in other words, choosing the "spring forward" rather than "fall back" time—would leave Americans permanently out of sync with their natural schedule and potentially lead to a range of health issues."
Okay, so we already have a problem. But, before we get into more detail about that issue, why do we have daylight savings time?
"Originally, daylight saving was meant to reduce energy consumption, by setting clocks forward thus extending the hours of daylight further into the evening. With more sunlight, people require less electricity for artificial lighting. "
So, that was the theory at the time. What does the research tell us about the theory was correct?
"In fact, one 2008 study found that moving clocks forward actually increased electricity consumption as people started using more power-hungry appliances, like air-conditioning, later into the evening."
The sun obviously rises and falls at different times based on location, so what impact does geographic location have on daylight savings time?
"The U.S. population has also trended south in recent decades, with population growth in states like Arizona, Texas, and Florida significantly outstripping their Northern counterparts. Southern states see a smaller seasonal difference in daylight hours, which reduces the need to “save” daylight. For example, northern Detroit gets over 15 hours of sunlight in the summer and only nine hours in winter. Southernly Austin gets 14 hours of daylight in summer and 10 hours in winter."
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/make-daylight-savings-time-permanent-yes-no/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine the United States has been living under the threat of a cyber attack from Russia in response to the United States helping Ukraine.
The United States Senate passed a bill called Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 to make it mandatory for certain organizations to report cyber incidents.
If you could vote directly on this policy, would you vote for it or against it?
The first question is, how serious is the cyber threat? One of the most high-profile examples of a cyber attack was the Colonial Pipeline hack in 2021. According to this article from Techtarget:
The Colonial Pipeline was the victim of a ransomware attack in May 2021. It infected some of the pipeline's digital systems, shutting it down for several days. The Colonial Pipeline comprises more than 5,500 miles of pipeline.
How much was the ransom and was it paid?
The goal for attackers in a ransomware attack is to have the victim pay a ransom, which is exactly what Colonial Pipeline did. The DarkSide attackers asked for a ransom of 75 bitcoin, which was worth approximately $4.4 million on May 7.
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/policy-listings/cyber-warfare-force-companies-to-report-cyber-incidents-yes-no/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
If you're new to all of this, check out the other videos in my channel and the links in the description of my videos.
Should a crypto platform be sanctioned if it's used by a Russian oligarch to hide money? Should a crypto platform be sanctioned if it's used to support Russia in the war with Ukraine? Senator Elizabeth Warren is proposing a new law that would sanction crypto platforms in these scenarios. It's called the Digital Asset Sanctions Compliance Enhancement Act of 2022.
If you could vote directly on this policy, would you vote for it or against it?
Okay, so let's get clear about what this bill is proposing. According to this article from Coindesk:
"U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced Thursday a new bill to block cryptocurrency companies from conducting business with sanctioned companies."
"This is a bill that would authorize the president to sanction foreign cryptocurrency firms that are doing business with sanctioned Russian entities and authorize the Secretary of Treasury to act,"
So, how will these people be identified?
According to a draft of the bill, the presidential administration would be tasked with identifying "any foreign person" who operates a crypto exchange or otherwise facilitates digital asset transactions who has also supported sanctions evasion by Russian individuals named to the Office of Foreign Asset Control's sanctions list.
Any foreign person that facilitates a digital asset transaction? That seems very vague. The founder of Ethereum is Vitalik Buterin. He's a Russian-born Canadian. Does he meet the definition of "Any foreign person that facilitates a digital asset transaction"? If these rules are going to exist they have to be narrow enough to only target people that are doing the wrong thing. They should not be broad and allow the government to target, anyone, whenever they feel like it.
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/ideas/how-can-the-digital-asset-sanctions-compliance-enhancement-act-of-2022-be-improved/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
If you're new to all of this, check out the other videos in my channel and the links in the description of my videos.
Democracy #directdemocracy #onedirectdemocracy #adamradly #politics #democraticpolitics #congress #democracyandrights
The Russia Ukraine war has pushed up oil prices across the world. Joe Biden just announced that he will be releasing one million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Strategic Petroleum Reserve was made to be used in an emergency. Is this a big enough emergency to justify using that oil? What impact will it really have on oil prices? If you could vote directly on this policy, would you vote for it or against it?
The first question, what is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? According to this article from the BBC:
"The Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is intended to protect the country’s access to oil in cases of natural disasters or national security issues, sits in salt dome caverns along the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana."
Okay, so let's get clear about the numbers in Joe Biden's policy.
"The administration is reportedly considering extending the release for as long as six months, with a potential limit of 180m barrels drawn from the current national reserve of 568m barrels."
So, is this just politics or is there a justifiable reason for accessing the strategic reserves?
"The possible injection into the market of oil reserves, first reported by Bloomberg, comes as the Biden administration is wrestling with the political fallout of high petrol prices and rising inflation. According to the American Automobile Association, the US average now stands at $4.23 a gallon, up from $2.87 a year ago."
Some states have a bigger problem than others.
"Extraordinary measures including gas rebates are being considered by California, the worst-hit state, where an average gallon of petrol now costs close to $6."
The first issue that comes to mind here is whether this will actually impact oil prices at all. The one million barrels per day sounds like a lot of but it's actually nothing in the general scheme of the global supply of oil. If this is going to work it needs to be part of a bigger plan to
"Any US release of national reserves is likely to be coordinated with other countries under the auspices of the International Energy Agency. Opec oil producers have so far resisted increasing output in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, insisting there is no global shortage."
Check out the listing for this topic on the One Democracy platform:
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/ideas/what-is-the-best-use-of-the-strategic-petroleum-reserve-during-the-russia-ukraine-war/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
If you're new to all of this, check out the other videos in my channel and the links in the description of my videos.
Three-quarters of US states have legalized marijuana. The recreational market is worth $15 billion. But the use, possession, and sale of cannabis are still prohibited by federal statute. That's created an absurd disconnect that needs t to be fixed. The US Senate is about to vote on the MORE Act. It will remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and remove convictions of nonviolent marijuana offenders.
And, if you could vote on it directly, would you vote for it or against it?
37 states have legalized the medical use of cannabis. In addition, the District of Columbia and the territories of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands have all legalized medical marijuana.
Each jurisdiction has its own criteria regarding what conditions cannabis can be prescribed for, at what amounts and what the process is for issuing medical marijuana licenses to qualified residents.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 18 states have legalized the adult use of marijuana for recreational purposes.
Under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the Drug Enforcement Agency still classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, "with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse." (Other Schedule I drugs include heroin and LSD, while cocaine is listed as a Schedule II drug.)
Listing for "How can we improve the MORE ACT?"
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/ideas/how-can-we-improve-the-m-o-r-e-act/
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Income inequality has become a massive problem. The size of the gap between the ultra-wealthy and regular people increasing at a rapid rate and it cannot be good for society. The question is, what can we do about it? The Biden administration is proposing a new tax that targets the wealthiest people. Is it a good idea? And, if you could vote on it directly, would you vote for it or against it?
The Biden administration on Monday proposed what it calls the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax, which will require American households worth more than $100 million to pay at least 20% of their income in taxes. Over half the revenue could come from households worth upwards of $1 billion.
Senator Warren said, “How much did Elon Musk pay that year? We actually saw his taxes that year and the answer is: He paid zero. The public school teacher did not have the option to pay zero in 2018 or in 2021.”
Warren was citing a ProPublica investigation that found Musk paid zero dollars in 2018 federal income taxes. Musk has said he paid no taxes in 2018 because he draws no salary.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
The US government has approved an Emergency Spending package that will provide $13 billion of aid to Ukraine to help them with the war with Russia. Should your country send aid to Ukraine and, if the answer is yes, what type of aid should it send? Would it be lethal weapons, nonlethal aid or humanitarian aid? And if you could vote on this Emergency Spending package directly, would you vote for it or against it?
President Joe Biden signed off on an emergency spending package that included US$13.6 billion in aid for Ukraine on March 11, 2022. Roughly half the money, approved by Congress over the prior two days, is for military purposes. It includes $3.65 billion for weapons transfers and sales to Ukraine and another $3 billion to support more U.S. troops in Europe.
A portion of the funds will support economic warfare against Russia, including efforts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs, but most of the economic aid will pay for humanitarian relief and disaster assistance. That includes helping refugees and aiding people displaced within Ukraine.
The total amount of aid the U.S. is providing Ukraine exceeds the $13.6 billion in the spending package. On March 12, just one day after Biden signed the spending package, the White House announced another $200 million in immediate military assistance to Ukraine. It includes small arms and anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons from U.S. defense stocks.
On the ground, the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, is partnering with United Nations agencies to position critical relief supplies throughout Ukraine, including emergency food, surgery and medical kits, thermal blankets and sanitation supplies. Since Russia invaded, USAID has provided $107 million in humanitarian aid.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
A $350 billion government program called the COMPETES ACT has been passed by the House Of Representatives in the United States to encourage people from all over the world to establish their startup in the United States.
Should your country compete for the best tech talent in the world and try to encourage them to establish their startups in your country or should you just try to support your local startups or both? And if you could vote on this bill directly, would you vote for it or against it?
The House bill would create a new immigrant visa category. The “W” visa would particularly benefit three groups of foreign nationals: W-1s, being entrepreneurs with at least a 10 percent ownership interest in a start-up formed within five years of the date of the visa application; W-2s, being essential employees of a start-up; and W-3s, being visas for their spouses and children.
The W visas have eligibility requirements regarding levels of investment from qualified investors and a showing that the principal applicants have knowledge and skills that would substantially assist the start-up. The W work visas would allow an initial validity period of three years with the possibility of 3-year extensions and 1-year extensions if investments and job creation meet certain standards.
The COMPETES Act also provides science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) Ph.D. graduates seeking to work in the United States in a field related to such degree (and their immediate family members) a direct path to legal permanent resident status.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
The reason we don't want the government tracking us is that we don't trust them with our private data. Most governments are tracking you without your knowledge. This makes us trust government even less. If our trust in government continues to deterirate, it will eventually lead to the destruction of our societies as we know it. Government need to increase transparency or they need to stop tracking. It has to be one or the other.
A bipartisan group of legislators today introduced bills in the House and Senate that would expand transparency requirements when it comes to government surveillance of US citizens, adding email, text, location and cloud data to the existing reporting framework.
Currently, the US government is required to alert Americans who have been targeted by wiretaps and bank record subpoenas, but this doesn't apply to digital or cloud data.
The Government Surveillance Transparency Act aims to adjust the parameters of this rule, expanding it to cover more common, modern forms of digital communication and data storage.
The bill also addresses the government's use of gag orders to halt technology companies from informing their customers of surveillance campaigns.
While many tech companies have tried voluntarily reporting government subpoenas and data requests to their customers, authorities have used gag orders to keep these campaigns secret, according to the legislators.
Reference:
CNBC video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKmO1nPGrVc
Yahoo article: https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/digital-data-government-surveillance-text-cloud-bill-193230450.html
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
The confirmation hearing for judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is underway right now as I shoot this video. Why does the Supreme court matter? How is a supreme court justice appointed? I can tell you now that they are not elected. Should they be elected?
The Court is the highest tribunal in the Nation for all cases and controversies arising under the Constitution or the laws of the United States. As the final arbiter of the law, the Court is charged with ensuring the American people the promise of equal justice under law and, thereby, also functions as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and such number of Associate Justices as may be fixed by Congress. The number of Associate Justices is currently fixed at eight (28 U. S. C. §1). Power to nominate the Justices is vested in the President of the United States, and appointments are made with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The President nominates someone for a vacancy on the Court and the Senate votes to confirm the nominee, which requires a simple majority. In this way, both the Executive and Legislative Branches of the federal government have a voice in the composition of the Supreme Court.
The Constitution states that Justices "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour." This means that the Justices hold office as long as they choose and can only be removed from office by impeachment.
The only Justice to be impeached was Associate Justice Samuel Chase in 1805. The House of Representatives passed Articles of Impeachment against him; however, he was acquitted by the Senate.
The Constitution places the power to determine the number of Justices in the hands of Congress. The first Judiciary Act, passed in 1789, set the number of Justices at six, one Chief Justice and five Associates. Over the years Congress has passed various acts to change this number, fluctuating from a low of five to a high of ten. The Judiciary Act of 1869 fixed the number of Justices at nine and no subsequent change to the number of Justices has occurred.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
There's a massive shortage in chip manufacturing and it's causing massive disruption in the global supply chain. Back in September, GM announced that it would have to shut down 8 manufacturing plants in North America for two weeks just because of the chip shortage. Now the government wants to get involved and provide $50 billion to try to solve the problem. But should they? Is this the best use of $50 billion?
Why do we have a chip shortage? The short answer is covid19. It resulted in a lot more people working from home and resulted in a massive increase in demand for electronics and now the demand exceeds the supply. In fact, the time between ordering and receiving a semiconductor is at a record high of 22 weeks.
Why is this a difficult problem to solve? Because it takes billions of dollars and many years to build chip manufacturing plants.
Taiwan, China, and South Korea combine for roughly 87% of the global foundry market.
TSMC, short for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is by far the world’s largest chip manufacturer. It’s also the sixth most valuable company in the world with a market cap of over $600 billion, and supplies chips to the likes of Apple, Intel, and Nvidia.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
The bill would make it so app stores with more than 50 million U.S. users cannot require developers to use the platform’s payment system as a condition for distribution.
They also can’t prevent or punish developers for offering their apps at different price points elsewhere. It would additionally require the app stores to allow developers to directly reach their users for legitimate business purposes.
The legislation addresses key gripes app developers including Spotify, Epic Games, Basecamp and others have raised about Apple and Google’s fees for distribution and prohibitions on the ways in which they can communicate with customers or offer lower prices elsewhere.
The app store operators have opposed the bill as originally drafted, warning it could jeopardize consumer privacy and result in a worse user experience.
This is the response from Apple: “We are deeply concerned that the legislation, unless amended, would make it easier for big social media platforms to avoid the pro-consumer practices of Apple’s App Store, and allow them to continue business as usual. It does so by mandating that Apple allow the sideloading of apps and app stores that need not comply with the App Store’s pro-consumer privacy protections.”
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
The US voted to end normal trade relations with Russia last week by revoking it's "most favored trade nation" status. It means that they will no longer receive preferential tariff treatment and it will make Russia even more isolated from the global trading system. What type of trade sanctions has your government put on Russia?
When a country awards this designation to a trading partner, it promises to apply only its lowest trade barriers – tariffs, quotas and the like – to that partner. If the awarding country then decides to lower barriers to one trading partner, it must lower them to all deemed a most-favored nation.
WTO rules provide a number of ways that members can impose special trading barriers on other members, but the one that’s relevant here is the so-called security exception. Article 21 of the 1994 treaty that gave rise to the WTO allows a member state to waive most-favored-nation status when “necessary for the protection of its essential security interests,” especially “in time of war or other emergency in international relations.”
The decisions made by your government impact you and other people around the world. Are they making the right decisions and, if you could vote on these decisions, how would you vote?
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Your country is spending billions of dollars on its military. Should it spend more? Should it spend less? What are you getting for your money? If a country like Russia attacks you, can your country even defend itself?
The obvious reason to spend a lot of money on the military is to be able to defend yourself. The less obvious reason is that merely spending the money and building a strong military will also act as a deterrence.
Global military spending reached almost $2 trillion in 2020. The top 10 countries represent approximately 75% of the total amount spent globally.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
When the Russia Ukraine war started the first and most important question we all wanted to answer is, how do we make it stop? The world has mostly responded with sanctions. Is that the right move?
The decisions made by your government impact you and other people around the world. Are they making the right decisions and, if you could vote on these decisions, how would you vote?
Sanctions:
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A ban on the export of goods used by Russian firms is also being introduced by the UK, EU, US and others.
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It includes dual-use goods - items with both a civilian and military purpose - including chemicals and lasers.
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All Russian flights have been banned from US, UK, EU and Canadian airspace.
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The G7 - an organisation of the seven richest nations - is stripping Russia of its "most favoured nation" status, which means it will lose many trading benefits.
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The US is banning all Russian oil and gas imports and the UK will phase out Russian oil by the end of 2022.
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The EU, which gets a quarter of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia, says it will switch to alternative supplies and make Europe independent from Russian energy "well before 2030".
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Germany has put on hold permission for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to open.
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Some Russian banks are being removed from the international financial messaging system Swift, which is used to transfer money across borders. This will delay payments Russia being paid for energy exports.
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The EU also said it would target 70% of the Russian banking market and key state-owned firms.
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A growing number of international companies including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have suspended trading in Russia.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcSs5-aVAdRhjUHLeoveX2Q/
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
If the President or Prime Minister of your country said, we're going to start importing 55% of the natural gas we need, 52% of the coal we need and 34% of mineral oil we need for our country from Russia. How would you respond? If that's not something that people should be voting on, what is?
The Russia Ukraine war has highlighted some major issues that lead you to question your country's energy independence and foreign trade policies.
This is the issue for Germany:
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Germany has warned that an immediate boycott of Russian gas and oil supplies could hurt its own population more than Vladimir Putin, bringing mass unemployment and poverty.
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“If we flip a switch immediately, there will be supply shortages, even supply stops in Germany,” the economic and energy minister Robert Habeck told public broadcaster ARD
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Few other western economies are as dependent on Russian energy as Germany: 55% of the natural gas, 52% of the coal and 34% of mineral oil used in the country comes from Russia, for which it pays hundreds of millions of euros daily, financially supporting the war machine currently devastating Ukraine.
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Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has u-turned on a number of foreign policy red lines, consenting to deliver lethal weapons to Ukraine, supporting cutting Russia off from the Swift payment system, and freezing the completed but not yet functional Nord Stream 2 pipeline underneath the Baltic Sea.
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But the centre-left leader has said his hands are tied when it comes to banning Russian energy. “Currently there is no other way to secure Europe’s supply with energy to generate heat, for mobility, for power supply and for industry,” Scholz said last week.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
How is the war impacting crypto and how is crypto impacting the war and what lessons can we learn about how all of this impacts your freedom?
Cryptocurrency trading is skyrocketing in popularity both in sanction-stricken Russia and war-torn Ukraine. According to figures by cryptocurrency analytics firm Kaiko, cited by Bloomberg, as of February 28, the amounts of bitcoin traded using the Russian ruble had surged to the highest point since May 2021, while trading volumes for the Ukrainian hryvnia had reached the highest point since October. Kaiko reported a similar pattern of frantic trade between the two currencies and Tether, a “stablecoin” whose value is said to be pegged to the US dollar.
By one index, Russia ranks 18th in the world in cryptocurrency adoption, according to Chainalysis, and Bloomberg estimated that it is home to at least $214 billion worth of crypto, or 12 per cent of the industry’s total value.
Crypto exchange Coinbase on Monday blocked over 25,000 Russia-linked addresses that it believes were linked to illicit activity to comply with sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine's "IT Army" is being coordinated by Alex Bornyakov, the Ukrainian deputy minister for digital transformation, who just two weeks ago was addressing a conference in Denver, US, about the country's long-term goal of becoming "the largest crypto-friendly country in the world."
Meanwhile, the tech-savvy Ukrainian minister for digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, has been calling for cryptocurrency donations to the government’s wallets, hosted by crypto exchange KUNA. The crowdfunding campaign had raised over $51 million in various cryptocurrencies as of March 3, according to KUNA founder Michael Chobanian.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7npLVcymHGc
One Direct Democracy
https://onedirectdemocracy.com/
IIMAGINE
https://iimagine.life/
https://www.instagram.com/adamradly/
https://www.facebook.com/adam.radly.9/
https://twitter.com/adamradly
Adam Radly's website
https://adamradly.com/
One Direct Democracy
The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical.
That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy.
I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
If you're new to all of this, check out the other videos in my channel and the links in the description
At the time of this video, Russia has invaded Ukraine. The rest of the world has responded with sanctions but most people take the view that Putin will not stop at Ukraine so there's a possibility that there will a broader war with Russia - and your country might get involved. So the question is, should your country get involved, should you have the right to vote on it and, which way would you vote?
One Direct Democracy The reality is that we have reached a point in time in our evolution where Representative Democracy no longer serves the will of the people and technology can solve the problems that made Direct Democracy impractical. That's why I created One Direct Democracy. It's a movement for upgrading the global democratic system by taking the power away from politicians and putting it in the hands of the people by using Direct Democracy. I've created the technology and a plan for how to make this work.
Adam Radly's TEDx Talk
One Direct Democracy
IIMAGINE
Adam Radly's website