Weapons of war should be allowed | Letter – The Courier-Journal

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The Second Amendment is not about guns, Instead, it is about the inalienable right to self defense.

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CJ Letter 1:56 p.m. ET March 6, 2017

Weapons(Photo: Czanner, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently found that the Second Amendment does not apply to weapons of war. I beg to differ. In our founders day, the musket was a weapon of war and a firearm widely used outside of war.Like most people today, our founders knew that technology would advance. Clearly, they believed that one day tyrants could rise again. This was the single most important aspect of why the founders established the Second Amendment. No modern day judge could possibly reach any other conclusion unless influenced by self-ideology. The Second Amendment not only covers AR-15s and AK-47s, but bigger more powerful semi automatics. Killers can always kill when they are facing unarmed victims, but this is not so for the armed citizen facing soldiers with semi-automatic weapons, for revolvers, shotguns and bolt action rifles are limited against such firepower. The Second Amendment is not about guns, Instead, it is about the inalienable right to self defense, a right that should never be defined by any man or woman, but protected by the oaths of statesmen, who have pledged to uphold that right.

Mark Damon Milby

Pekin, Indiana47165

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Weapons of war should be allowed | Letter - The Courier-Journal

Students for the Second Amendment persevering after ammunition funding is revoked – University of Delaware Review

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Kirk Smith/THE REVIEW After the university pulled funding for the RSOs ammunition, the Students for the Second Amendment have found alternative means of sponsorship.

BY MADIE BUIANO SENIOR REPORTER

Two months after the university revoked the organizations funding to buy ammunition, Zoe Callaway, president of Students for the Second Amendment, hasnt stopped in her pursuit to bring firearms to campus.

In the meantime, the club will host various speakers throughout the semester. Callaway has spoken to the National Rifle Association, advocates for gun rights and the Second Amendment Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on Americas constitutional heritage to possess firearms.

Callaway hopes to bring Gays for Guns to campus, a group dedicated to teaching LGBTQ communities proper firearm use. For her last semester as president, Callaway wants to co-sponsor the event with Haven, the schools largest LGBTQ organization.

It would be a really good way to come together, especially since the country is so divided, Callaway said. To bring these two groups together would speak volumes.

Havens president, Elias Antelman, said he didnt have enough knowledge on the subject to comment.

The university provided ammunition funding to the club for approximately three years. Under the new university president, Dennis Assanis, that is no longer the case. Callaway and Jeremy Grunden, the newly appointed vice president of Students for the Second Amendment, were unexpectedly informed of the change over winter break. According to Gruden, the new policy will make the RSOs recurring trips to the shooting range harder.

They did it under our noses, just slipped it in there and didnt really tell anybody, Grunden said.

The unanticipated change will not affect the groups ability to buy ammunition for the time being. In July, Fox News wrote a story on Students for the Second Amendment titled College rifle, pistol-shooting clubs under fire, underfunded amid gun debate. Following the story, Callaway said people donated a couple thousand dollars to their club, money that they will use in substitute of university funds.

Weve also been offered discounts at different stores, Callaway said. People are willing to help us.

Despite funding restrictions, Grunden said that the group has other priorities, like continuing the fight to bring concealed carry to campus, a goal Calloway announced in October. Since then, the group has pursued support through state legislation, rather than through the school administration. The second semester president said she has spoken to senators and representatives in Delaware that have expressed interest.

We all understand its going to take a long time, longer than we like, Callaway said. We still need to find people who will help us draft a bill, and who would be willing to present it at legislative hall.

If her plan to bring concealed carry to campus is successful, Callaway already has an idea for moderating who will be allowed to carry firearms. She said that if members of the community already have their concealed carry permit, they should be permitted to have guns on their person.

Having a permit from a different state means that a screening process has already occurred. Callaway said there should be a mandatory class that people who hope to carry firearms should take as a way to stifle concerns throughout campus.

In the meantime, Students for the Second Amendment is planning a range trip following spring break. On these trips, the groups members go to a local shooting range to shoot paper targets.

According to Grunden, these excursions are of particular interest to members who are first time shooters because it provides them with an opportunity to learn about gun safety and how to properly operate a weapon.

Weve even taken foreign exchange students to the range, Callaway said. Guns are completely banned in China, so this is their only chance to ever shoot a gun.

Other than a range trip Callaway and Grunden said they will be reserving a kiosk in Trabant to advertise and educate the UD community on what their club is about. Callaway said they have been making new pamphlets that have information about gun laws in local states. They are hopeful that this will bring in new members, she said.

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Students for the Second Amendment persevering after ammunition funding is revoked - University of Delaware Review

What the Second Amendment really says about guns: Letters – Orlando Sentinel

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A closer look at the Second Amendment

In response to William Ivesters letter to the editor on Monday about the Second Amendment, I ask that he look again at the amendment. It is clever to pick phrases out of context, but that is misguided. Amendment 2 in its entirety states, A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Clearly, the last part of the sentence refers to the first part a well-regulated militia. In todays parlance, I believe that means each states National Guard. Last time I checked, every gun owner in the United States was not a member of the National Guard.

The judiciary is expressly empowered, by the Constitution, to review, analyze and rule on the meaning of the words of our Constitution. For example, where does the Constitution say guns? It doesnt. It says arms. It is the responsibility of the judiciary to determine what is meant by arms. Bombs? Anti-aircraft missiles? This word, like many others, has to be defined in each generation.

America of the 21st century is very different from the America of our Founding Fathers. Our ability to interpret the foundational documents of our Republic in light of the realities of the world we live in is crucial to the vitality of our nation. It is time, and it is appropriate and necessary, for our country to enact legislation that seeks to protect its citizens.

Cathy Swerdlow Longwood

As a graduate student studying writing at the University of Central Florida, I read Scott Maxwells Sunday column on grammar with great interest. It may surprise him to find out, though, that I am on his side.

While the self-appointed grammar police patrol public writing, ever vigilant for imagined crimes against the English language, modern linguistics scholars acknowledge that language changes, and the language rules change with it. They know and appreciate that Ernest Hemingway splits infinitives, Jane Austen ends sentences with prepositions, and E.B. White himself uses sentence fragments and comma splices. Great writing comes from brilliant use of words, not blind obedience to dictatorial grammar rules.

And kudos to Maxwell for defending his writing with a good dictionary. What a great counterattack to grammar police brutality. Hopefully, these militant grammarians will reference their own 21st-century rule book before they literally pounce on Maxwell again.

Leslie Nixon Ormond Beach

Normally, I would excoriate the Sentinels editor for printing a letter like Bill Lanes on Sunday with its theme of "drip drip drip" as "evidence of collusion" between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

However, since the mainstream news sources coupled with the intelligence community and Democratic politicians offer the same nonproof of such, I'll give the newspaper a pass on publishing "fake news."

David Holley Orlando

In response to President Trump's accusation that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, Sen. Marco Rubio said if we find out it's not true, he'll have to explain what he meant.

Trump's history is to tell a lie and defend it aggressively, or say the media twisted his meaning, Then tell another bigger lie to divert attention from the first one. His lies are tied up in so many knots 100 sailors in 10 years couldn't untie them.

How about reversing Rubios plan of action? Demand that Trump prove his claim is true.

There is a truism that it's much easier to prove a positive than a negative. If hes as smart as we've been told, Trump could clear this up in minutes. His mendacity is mindful of the boy who cried wolf. One day the wolves will devour their creator.

James Weatherspoon St. Cloud

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What the Second Amendment really says about guns: Letters - Orlando Sentinel

Campbell County hunters excited for proposed 2nd Amendment sales tax holiday – WATE 6 On Your Side

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LAFOLLETTE (WATE) A proposed sales tax holiday for guns and ammunition will soon be on its way to a Tennessee Senate committee. The proposed Second Amendment Sales Tax Holiday would eliminate the 9.25 percent sales tax on firearms and ammunition for the first weekend in September.

House Bill 744 was drafted by 36th District State Rep. Dennis Powers and aims to give hunters a break this season.

Weve always been a state that believes in the Second Amendment and Second Amendment rights, said Representative Powers.

Susie Carroll and her husband have ownedLa Follette Sports Shop for more than 30 years and she believes the tax free weekend will not only attract business, but help sustain a way of life for some.

Some people here, they eat everything they kill and so I think it would help them tremendously, said Carroll. It would help them to buy their ammunition and whatever they needed to hunt with.

Rep. Powers says there will be pros and cons though and not everyone may agree with it.

There will be a little bit of an expense because you are losing some revenue, said Powers.

Well some people who are not for guns are not going to like it, said Carroll. Theyre going to think it would be better to do it on some other item than a hunting item, but hunting is a big factor is this part of the country.

David Goins has been hunting since age 7 and says hes seen the rising cost of firearms and ammunition limit the number of people who hunt.

Its expensive. I mean you go out to buy a gun now to hunt with its not $150 to $200 anymore like it was when I was a kid. Its $500 to $600 plus tax, said Goins. Thats a lot of difference in their income you know, on what theyre going to have to spend.

The bill is expected to be filed this weekend. Powers also hopes the tax free weekend will attract more gun manufacturers to the state of Tennessee, which, in turn, could create more jobs.

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Campbell County hunters excited for proposed 2nd Amendment sales tax holiday - WATE 6 On Your Side

Arizona Passes Bill to Lift Infringements on Second Amendment Rights – Bearing Arms

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On Wednesday, the Arizona Senate passed Senate Bill 1122, which prohibits local governments from requiring background checks for private party transfers. The billis considered to be a legislative repercussion against the city of Tucson. In the past, Tucson has destroyed every gun it seized, something gun-rights activists says could violate state law.

Because of Tucsons position on guns, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued Tucson under a state law that allows the state to pull funding from local governments whose policies contradict those of the states. In other words, Tucson has one option: repeal the ordinance or face significant funding shortages. Losing state funding would cost the city of Tucson $170 million.

The Tucson city council refused to repeal the ordinance. While the issue plays out in court, the council has decided to pause the gun destruction program.

According to Brnovich, gun control is a state-level issue, not a local issue.

SB 1122 is being considered the legislative remedy to the Tucson problem.

From guns.com:

This is over-wrought, he said Tuesday during session. This does not allow local cities or counties to do any type of a background check for any exchange of property including cars. This is being decided before the state Supreme Court right now so lets not rush it. We should not be deicing for a city whats best for the public safety of its citizens.

The case Farley referenced pits Tucson against the state over its destruction of seized or surrendered firearms. The policy preempts state law which requires such firearms be sold, though a court decision in favor of Tucson would quash SB 1122, Farley said.

The city of Tucson is arguing that gun regulations are a matter of local control, he said. I think we should wait to see what the court decides before we make any more laws that could be invalidated.

Author's Bio: Beth Baumann

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Arizona Passes Bill to Lift Infringements on Second Amendment Rights - Bearing Arms

Amazon gives up fight for Alexa’s First Amendment rights after defendant hands over data – The Verge

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Amazon has abandoned its legal battle to protect its Alexa assistant with First Amendment rights for now at least. The company filed a motion against a police search warrant in an Arkansas murder case earlier this month, but has now dropped the case after the defendant agreed to hand over the data contained on his Echo speaker to police.

In documents filed last Monday, defendant James Andrew Bates said that he was willing to allow law enforcement officials to review information contained on his Amazon Echo speaker, before the company handed the data over on Friday. Bates has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Victor Collins, who was found dead in Bates hot tub in November 2015

Amazon said its search results were constitutionally protected opinion

Police had issued a warrant to seize subscriber and account information from Bates Echo, as well as all communication and transaction history from the device. Amazon provided the former, but argued against providing communication data, claiming that voice interactions with Alexa were protected by the First Amendment. That includes Alexas replies to a user Amazon claims that ranked search results are constitutionally protected opinion. Precedent for that argument was set by a 2014 case in which Google search results were classified as free speech by a San Francisco court, after a news website complained that its own pages were too far down the companys listings.

Amazon argued that police didnt have enough of a compelling argument in Bates case for it to hand over the data, with officials unable to prove that any potential information would not be available anywhere else. It remains to be seen whether Bates Echo does indeed have any pertinent information a hearing is scheduled for Wednesday this week. The defendants acquiescence also means that we dont yet have a definitive answer on whether Alexa is indeed protected by the First Amendment.

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Amazon gives up fight for Alexa's First Amendment rights after defendant hands over data - The Verge

Violent Protestors Misunderstand the First Amendment – Blogging Censorship (blog)

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'The Bell Curve' Author Charles Murray (Flickr)

Allison Stanger, Professor of International Politics and Economics, was to moderate.However, the event did not proceed as planned; students at the talk shouted Murray down and made it impossible for him to speak.He and Stanger moved the discussion to a different location, where the interview was live-streamed.That, unfortunately, was not the end of it.When they left, Stanger and Murray were confronted with angry protesters who tried to block their way.A melee ensued, during which Stanger was injured.

Stanger posted a commentary about the incident on Facebook.We cannot improve on her words.

I apologize for the impersonal and lengthy nature of this communication, but I wanted to provide a general response to

Posted by Allison Stanger onSaturday, March 4, 2017

Stanger and Middlebury responded appropriately, repudiating the violent and disruptive protests and reaffirming their commitment to the free exchange of ideas. Their improvisation allowed the talk to proceed, albeit in a lesser forum and format.

This incident, and earlier ones at Berkeley, University of Washington, and other institutions, reveal a disturbing trend, and a lack of understanding of what forms of protest the First Amendment does, and does not, protect.

Briefly, the Constitution protects the right to peaceful protests.Institutions and government officials are permitted to adopt neutral rules to regulate where and when such protests take place, as long as they are applied consistently and do not unnecessarily interfere with the ability of protesters to convey their message to their intended audience.

However, the First Amendment DOES NOT allow protesters to prevent someone else from speaking, and it does not sanction violence or intimidation. Middlebury, as a private institution, is not constrained by the First Amendment and has considerable leeway in setting and enforcing its own rules.Even at a public university, however, administrators would be justified in removing and disciplining students who disrupt a public event.Any institution, whether public or private, is entitled to rely on law enforcement to prevent and respond to violence or threats of violence, and protesters who engage in such behavior do so at their peril.

Perhaps more important, protesters need to understand a more basic principle: the right to speech exists for all, or for none. Anyone who wishes to exercise that right is obliged to acknowledge that others enjoy equivalent rights.

Once you violate that principle, speech rights for all are at risk.

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Violent Protestors Misunderstand the First Amendment - Blogging Censorship (blog)

The first amendment in a digital age #UseYourOwnVoice – Lariat Saddleback College

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Saddleback College President, Tod Burnett, introducing the Associated Student Government and other affiliates to the stage for the #UseYourOwnVoice event in the quad. (Colin Reef/Lariat)

Saddleback College presents part one of a four part series called Understanding the First Amendment in the 21st Century or #UseYourOwnVoice yesterday Feb. 28, 2017 in the quad.

The main purpose of this event was to inform and educate students and faculty on how the application of the first amendment has changed since the onset of technology and social media. With the help of Associated Student Government, the Pre-Law Society, Academic Senate, Classified Senate, and Dr. Tod Burnett, Saddleback College president, a panel of students were given the chance to express any concerns, feelings, and questions they had to a panel of Saddleback College professors.

The panel of Saddleback College professors included political science professors Kendralyn Webber and Christina Hinkle, mathematics professor Frank Gonzalez, and Journalism professor Mike Reed.

A Panel of Saddleback College students and professors take the stage to discuss applications of the first amendment in the digital age of technology. (Colin Reef/Lariat)

In order to understand the first amendment, said Mike Reed, we must first analyze the nine areas of unprotected speech that most people either forget or fail to realize exist.

The student panel prepare to ask questions in regards to first amendment application in the digital age. (Colin Reef/Lariat)

The digital age has given rise to many pressing questions when correlating them to first amendment freedoms. One main reason for this is the Supreme Court and its establishment in relation to freedoms of press and speech were created nearly 50 years ago.

They were created way before the implementation or creation for that matter, of the Internet, World Wide Web, and smartphones. The emergence of Google and other tech giants like Apple as well as social media platforms has propelled us into a new age of communication. This makes it hard for the present generation to establish grounds for proper first amendment rights seeing as many need revaluation or a complete overhaul.

The role of the Supreme Court (which some regard as too slow) still works because it gives authority, the right to fundamentally break down protected speech and reflect on all of the consequences, said Christina Hinkle, Its important for us to utilize the tools we have been given (Internet) to further educate people on these proceedings and make proper provisions.

For many people the Internet has made it harder for interpersonal communication to take place. This is due in part because of the lack of education on the first amendment. Nowadays, many people assume news is genuine just from a glance or a gloss-over. These immediate reactions have made it possible for people to actually widen the gap and increase a polarization of opinions.

Interpersonal relationships have become media popcorn for some people, said Kendralyn Webber, Its almost as if its not about you know but what you google.

In too many ways this has become the normal way of projecting facts, opinions, and information. Although we may be in a confusing place as far as communication goes, having events in the community like #UseYourOwnVoice on college campuses helps to bridge the unknown and further educate people on our unalienable rights.

For more information, visit Saddleback Colleges upcoming events and learn more about the #UseYourOwnVoice series.

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The first amendment in a digital age #UseYourOwnVoice - Lariat Saddleback College

First Amendment Foundation will grade legislators on Florida’s open … – Tampabay.com (blog)

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WEST PALM BEACH Soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Florida Legislature debated a bill that would exempt from public access all information about crop-dusting operations.

But most operators are actively broadcasting that information in search of clients. And their registration numbers are painted right on their planes' tails.

"How do you exempt something that is clearly visible?" Barbara Petersen asks. The bill never became law.

Because of Florida's Government in the Sunshine Law, the state's records and meetings are more accessible than in most states. But the Legislature has, year in and year out, instituted, or considered instituting, numerous exemptions. The body, on average, imposes up to a dozen a year; the grand total, as of early February, was 1,119.

Keeping an eye on those efforts is Petersen, president of Florida's First Amendment Foundation, a Tallahassee nonprofit open-government advocacy group. It's supported by newspapers and broadcasters as well as numerous lawyers and just plain citizens. Its mission is to help all of the above. Whether it's a powerful news outlet or a property owner wanting to see the paperwork for the road that was rerouted in front of his house.

Bills already proposed for this session would let elected officials talk in private and block information about college executive candidates.

Where does your legislator stand?

Starting with the 2017 legislative session, which begins Tuesday, the Florida Society of News Editors plans to make it easier to find out.

Each year FSNE completes a project devoted to Sunshine Week, a nationwide initiative to educate the public about the importance of transparent government. This year's project will focus on a "scorecard" to track the foundation's priority list of public records exemptions. FSNE members will create a permanent scoring system to grade legislators on their introduction of bills and their final votes.

The Palm Beach Post, as part of an annual project by the Florida Society of News Editors, will report on a legislative "scorecard." Legislators will be graded by the Foundation for how they voted for and, in some cases, introduced exemptions.

Reporters from Florida newspapers will establish a final scorecard when the session ends and interview lawmakers about their decisions related to public record exemptions.

Florida's Legislature established public records laws as early as the early 20th century, created the Government in the Sunshine Law in the late 1960s, and in 1992 established a "constitutional right of access."

In each legislative session, hundreds of bills are submitted to create exemptions. Some years, a lot pass. Some years a few pass. Petersen recalled a year where about 20 were voted in.

"The vast majority of the bills we track are justified, and we take a neutral position on them, or we work to make them such that we're neutral," Petersen said.

And, she told one politician in a letter, "We agree that the requirements of our famed Sunshine Law can be an inconvenience for government officials at times. But the right of Floridians to oversee their government and hold it accountable for its actions a right imbedded in our constitution far outweighs such minor annoyances."

She also said that the Sunshine Law "is not a partisan issue. That's a misperception. Everyone thinks Republicans hate the law and Democrats love the law. That's not true. We have friends and detractors on both sides of the aisle."

Petersen keeps busy writing sponsors of bills the foundation opposes.

She wrote state Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples, to oppose HB 351, which would exempt personal identifying information of applicants for president, provost, or dean of a state college and would close meetings related to executive searches.

And she wrote state Rep. Byron Donalds, also R-Naples, about HB 843, which, in an elected body of at least five members, would allow two of them to discuss public business in private "without procedural safeguards such as notice or a requirement that minutes of such discussions be taken." She said the bill "invites pernicious mischief by our elected officials."

Sometimes Petersen and other public records advocates win. Sometimes they don't.

In 1981, 6-year-old Adam Walsh was abducted from a Broward County mall and killed. The slaying was a watershed for how authorities respond to child abductions and made the boy's father, John, a crime fighting advocate and longtime television host.

In 1996, four newspapers sued under the state's open records laws. Their argument: Police in Hollywood couldn't reasonably claim the exemption that the case still was active after 15 years. Even as the Walshes and the Broward County State Attorney filed emergency motions to block the release, saying it would jeopardize the case, a judge agreed with the newspapers and the police released more than 10,000 pages of documents. They suggested drifter Ottis Toole killed the boy, but Hollywood police were unable to build a strong enough case to charge him.

Even today, the case remains officially unsolved, although an investigator working with the boy's parents made a powerful case in 2011 of what the newspapers said in 1996: Toole was the killer.

And in February 2001, auto racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. died when his car slammed into a wall on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Authorities later blocked news outlets' access to autopsy photos, which were public record, and the outlets were permitted only to have an expert review the photos. They used that analysis to raise questions about how racing's governing body, NASCAR, handled Earnhardt's death.

During the legal battle, the Legislature passed a law exempting autopsy photos, saying they feared ghoulish images would make their way to the Internet. Newspapers argued they never do that and not giving them the photos removed their ability to question autopsy results. The ban has survived legal challenges.

Not everyone sees the Sunshine Law as untouchable or as always a good thing.

In 2015, Gulf Stream, east of Boynton Beach, was swamped by hundreds of public records requested from a resident who then sued when the town of about 900, with a paid office staff of six, was unable to keep up. In 2016, legislation fizzled that would have removed the requirement that government agencies pay attorney fees if they lose a public records suit. Opponents said while the intent to save small entities such as Gulf Stream was admirable, such bills would have a chilling effect on people afraid that if they sought public records and lost in court, they'd be stuck with a huge legal bill.

Similar legislation is up again this year, and again the foundation opposes it. But not Keith Rizzardi.

"In normal circumstances, the Sunshine State's public records law is a model for ensuring the disclosure of information to the benefit of an informed citizenry," Rizzardi, a law professor at St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami, wrote for the law review of the Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport.

"Experience shows that the abnormal is occurring. Lacking sufficient boundaries to prevent misuses of the law, the efficiency of our bureaucracy is compromised, and taxpayers are the victims," said Rizzardi, who worked with Gulf Stream on its case.

The professor also cited a case in Polk County in which a requester "sought to obtain the health insurance information for Polk County school employees, spouses, and children. To many, the request appeared to be a shocking invasion of privacy, but under the Florida Constitution, the right to privacy is subordinate to the right of access to public records. Indeed, the broad request, and the resulting litigation, eventually expanded to include 11 Florida school boards, and the government was compelled to respond."

First Amendment Foundation will grade legislators on Florida's open government laws 03/06/17 [Last modified: Monday, March 6, 2017 11:13am] Photo reprints | Article reprints

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First Amendment Foundation will grade legislators on Florida's open ... - Tampabay.com (blog)

8 privacy tools that will keep you safe online – Techworm

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For any internet user, safeguarding sensitive and confidential information has become a high priority, as internet these days are becoming a less private place with several individuals, corporations, and even governments in some cases, tracking your activities to collect users information and metrics.

Also, it is very easy to track a user because of the IP, the unique address that we all use to connect to internet that makes online privacy a big concern. However, if you wish to keep your personal information private, you can use a VPN or proxy tool to help you. It covers everything from secure web browsing to secure file erasing.

Lets have a look at the privacy tools below:

1. Tor Browser

The Tor network (short for The Onion Router, which describes its multi-layered privacy technology) offers you an anonymous window to the Web. By far, the Firefox-based Tor Browser is the quickest and simplest to start using it.

Tors network of bouncing your traffic through multiple relays makes it nearly impossible to track a users identity or activity. You can access almost every website anonymously, including .onion addresses, which are only accessible while connected to Tor. Its also useful for accessing geo-blocked sites that block IP addresses from specific countries. Tor is available for Windows, Apple Macs and Linux.

2. CyberGhost VPN

CyberGhost allows users to connect to a VPN (virtual private network) and access the internet anonymously. The service is built for users who just want secure, private access when connected from public or untrusted networks. It re-routes your internet traffic to hide your location and identity. The privacy software has six elements: anonymous browsing, unblocking streaming sites, protecting your internet connection, torrenting anonymously, unblocking websites and choosing which VPN server to use

CyberGhost VPN is available as a free ad-supported app, as well as a paid-for edition that provides enhanced performance and more features. The free version should be perfectly adequate for daily or random use. However, it runs much more slowly than the paid-for premium service. The CyberGhost VPN client supports Windows XP, Vista, and 7.

3. Tails

Privacy has become a major issue in this age of mass surveillance and tracking by marketers (anonymous tracking for targeted content is acceptable). If you are someone who needs to keep the government and marketing agencies out of your business, you need an operating system thats created from the ground up with privacy in mind.

And, nothing beats Tails for this purpose. Its a Debian-based Linux distribution that offers privacy and anonymity by design. Its a distro whose aim is solely to keep the identity of the user completely opaque. It routes its traffic through Tor, designed to avoid your outward-bound data from being intercepted and analysed. According to reports, Tails is so good that the NSA considers it a major threat to their hacking activities.

4. Ghostery

Ghostery is a privacy and security-related browser extension and mobile application, which is distributed as proprietary freeware. You can simply install the privacy software and allow it to do its job. Ghostery also tells you exactly what each company is looking at and likely to do with your data. It is definitely a must-have for those who do wish to share every click with marketers. Its available for Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Apple Safari, iOS, Android and Firefox Mobile.

5. GnuPG

GNU Privacy Guard (GnuPG or GPG) is a free software, and its the open source version of the venerable PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) tool. GnuPG allows you to encrypt and sign your data and communication thats effectively unbreakable. It features a versatile key management system as well as access modules for all kinds of public key directories. It is a command line tool with features for easy integration with other applications.

6. KeyScrambler

KeyScrambler is the most useful method that encrypts every single key that you entered or type deep into the Windows kernel to prevent it from being intercepted by keylogging software. The positioning and timing of encryption key allow it to be much more challenging and burdensome for key-loggers to split or defeat KeyScramblers protection.

If you worry about keylogging or doubt that you are being logged whenever you type, this free privacy software is a good way to frustrate the watchmen.

7. Wise Folder Hider

Designed for Windows XP onwards, Wise Folder Hider is freeware that can quickly and safely hide not only the files/folders on local partitions or removable devices but also USB drives or the files/folders on USB drives. The hidden files/folders will be safely hidden no matter whether the drive is accessed in another operating system on the same computer or reinstalled on another computer. The only way to access hidden files/folders/USB is to enter the valid password(s) correctly. Its double password protection can ensure the absolute safety of your files/folders/USB.

8. AntiSpy for Windows 10

While Windows 10 is the most personal version of Windows, Microsofts attempts at knowing you better have alerted many privacy activists. AntiSpy for Windows 10 allows you to disable advertising IDs, SmartScreen filtering, whether apps can access your camera and so on.

Source: TOI

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8 privacy tools that will keep you safe online - Techworm

The Cryptocurrency Funds Have Arrived, And They’re Bringing Wall Street Money – Seeking Alpha

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If 2013-2016 was the era of venture investment in bitcoin and blockchain startups - VCs put north of a billion dollars to work, peaking at $290M in the first half of 2016 - then 2017-2020 will in hindsight be seen as the Wall Street era. The startup equity investors have come and - in the absence of unicorn valuations or breathtaking growth - they're starting to move on. But now the bitcoin and cryptocurrency funds have arrived, and they've brought public markets investors with them.

Just about every week I'll discover a new investment fund that gives investors liquid exposure to the cryptocurrency asset class. At latest count, there are at least 5 exchange-listed bitcoin investment products, 3 U.S.-based ETFs under review by the SEC, and hedge funds that cover just about every cryptocurrency asset type and investment strategy. By my estimate, these funds represent roughly 5-10% of the $24B in total that's now invested in cryptocurrencies.

For clarity, I define a cryptocurrency fund as a pool of professionally managed capital, available to outside investors, where the majority of AUM are invested in publicly tradable cryptocurrency assets. Examples of such assets include bitcoin, ethereum, and the 500+ altcoins and 50+ digital tokens listed on Coinmarketcap. Thus venture capital funds who invest in shareholder equity of blockchain startups don't qualify.

I've sorted the different funds into three broad categories and wanted to give a description of each category along with some prominent examples. They are:

Disclaimer: Please consider this information as strictly educational and not meant to represent specific investment advice or recommendations.

1. Publicly traded funds

These funds follow a buy-and-hold strategy and usually focus on a single asset. For now, all of them are bitcoin-only, although I expect publicly traded ethereum funds to come online perhaps as early as this year.

A management fee is charged for the service, which ranges from 1.5-2.5% per year. As more funds enter the space, fees will likely decrease, perhaps to below 1% which is what most vanilla ETFs charge. You may wonder why anyone would invest in a public bitcoin fund when you can just buy bitcoin and hold it yourself, but you could ask the same of gold. The biggest gold ETF - the SPDR Gold Trust - manages $35 billion USD. That's double the bitcoin market cap - all in one ETF. The attractions for investors are varied, from ease of access to peace of mind to lighter regulatory regimes. The consistent price premium of Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTCQX:GBTC) shares over the NAV of its bitcoin holdings is more evidence that such vehicles are desired.

Within the cryptocurrency universe, there are roughly two types of such funds: ETFs and ETNs (what are also called asset backed notes). The main difference is that an ETF's value is collateralized by an equivalent value of its underlying benchmark asset and allows an investor to redeem their ETF shares for the asset.

An ETN doesn't allow redemption and doesn't make the same guarantees about how much e.g. bitcoin it actually holds. An ETN is better thought of as unsecured debt that roughly tracks the price of its benchmark asset but has looser reporting and compliance requirements. Because of these differences, ETNs are a bigger credit risk, and we've already seen this risk manifest when KNC Miner filed for bankruptcy. KNC Miner was the guarantor of the COINXBT and COINXBE ETNs on the Nasdaq Nordic, and the bankruptcy filing forced trading to a halt. Two weeks later, the investment firm Global Advisors stepped in and became the new guarantor and trading was allowed to resume.

Examples of bitcoin ETNs include BTCETI (which is co-listed on the Gibraltar Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Borse) and the above-mentioned Global Advisors' COINXBT and COINXBE.

Thus far no bitcoin ETFs have been approved. There are three U.S.-based funds under review by the SEC. They are, in order of their filing:

GBTC is a hybrid, in that it's currently an ETN which is filing to become an ETF. While it has filed for a $500M IPO on NYSE Arca to become an ETF, it is currently traded on the U.S. OTC exchanges and doesn't allow redemption of shares into bitcoin.

The only ETFs with bitcoin exposure are Ark Investment Management's ARK Innovation ETF (NYSEARCA:ARKK) and ARK Web x.0 ETF (ARKW), but these hardly count as official cryptocurrency ETFs because both hold less than 0.3% of their portfolio in GBTC.

Bitcoin IRA is an interesting outlier in that it's a public bitcoin investment fund, available to any investors who have or want to open an IRA, a type of U.S. retirement savings account. They allow the redemption of bitcoin, but the company is not listed on any publicly traded exchange. You must contact them directly to invest. Bitcoin IRA charge a 15% one-time upfront fee of any money invested.

Finally, while the publicly traded funds are all bitcoin, the ethereum funds are coming. One example is the EtherIndex Ether Trust which filed in July 2016 with the SEC to be listed on the NYSE Arca, but has seen little activity since. Here are my notes on its filing. I have seen some other ethereum-based efforts and I expect at least one will be approved for public trading this year.

2. Private buy-and-hold funds

These differ from public investment funds in that they usually have restrictions either on investment size (e.g., $100K USD and above) or status (e.g., accredited investors only). They're not listed on publicly traded exchanges, without the attendant regulatory requirements and investment disclosures, and you can't use investment software like Bloomberg to obtain quotes and place trades. But otherwise the strategy and product and fees are similar: they offer investors comparatively simple and safe exposure to cryptocurrency and charge an annual fee for the service.

The best known example is probably the Pantera Bitcoin Fund. Pantera Capital is a blockchain investment firm which has multiple funds. One of them specializes in equity investments of blockchain startups. The one relevant for our discussion is a private bitcoin buy-and-hold fund which has over $100M in AUM and charges 0.75% annual management fee and a 1% fee for redemption.

An ethereum example is Grayscale's Ethereum Investment Trust, which has not formally launched but will be a private product that provides qualified investors access to Ethereum Classic.

DLT10 Index is an interesting example of a private buy-and-hold fund which offers a proprietary basket of 10 publicly traded cryptocurrency assets. The index is a mixture of leading cryptocurrencies and digital tokens, with a preference for enduring assets.

3. Hedge funds

Last we have cryptocurrency hedge funds. A hedge fund is a pool of lightly regulated capital that invests in whatever it likes within some broad strategic parameters. They have active trading strategies including e.g., leveraged trading, price arbitrage, and algorithmic trading. In addition to charging a management fee comparable to the above two types of funds, they also charge a performance fee that in this space can range from 15-45%. The performance fee is only paid out when the hedge fund beats an agreed-upon benchmark, such as the price of bitcoin. So if a hedge fund can generate better returns than simply owning bitcoin, they're paid very well for doing so. This benchmark outperformance is called alpha.

Known cryptocurrency hedge funds include:

I believe the above-mentioned funds are all actively seeking outside investment. Coinfund.io is an example of a cryptocurrency hedge fund which is no longer taking outside investors. They focus on digital token investment, what are often called ICOs, and host a knowledgeable and active community chat on Slack.

A final interesting example is the TaaS fund (Token-as-a-Service), which will exist on the Ethereum blockchain and in March will sell up to $100M of their tokens via the ICO process. The fund will keep some proceeds to fund operations and invest the remainder in a proprietary mixture of bitcoin, altcoins, and other digital tokens. Token holders will receive an ongoing percentage of trading profits.

The hedge fund space - of the three categories - is likely to see the most growth and proliferation because of its light regulatory touch, the speed to market, and the chance for fund managers to make outsized profits in a still volatile and developing asset class.

The next 3 years are a window of opportunity for starting and investing in cryptocurrency funds

We've entered a golden era of professionally managed money moving into liquid cryptocurrency assets. The risks that prevented Wall Street investor types from entering the market earlier - lack of liquidity, regulatory uncertainty, China trading centralization, lack of sophisticated financial products - are now reduced enough that those hungry for returns have taken the lead and others are starting to follow.

There's no better time to start a fund or raise one, and there's no better time to take a cryptocurrency position if you manage money, especially when you consider the past price performance of cryptocurrency assets and research that proves bitcoin's lack of correlation with existing asset classes. An approved U.S. bitcoin ETF will only add fuel to the growing fire.

In the coming years, the above-mentioned three funds types will expand and evolve: Hedge funds will grow larger and develop more exotic trading strategies, increasingly blending cryptocurrency with mainstream asset classes like equities and commodities. Private funds will diversify from one cryptocurrency asset to multiple assets and seek listing on exchanges. Finally, publicly traded funds will expand from bitcoin to ethereum and then cryptocurrency indexes, and fees will likely come down as competition grows.

Thanks for reading! A number of people read drafts of this essay and I'm grateful for their feedback. I look forward to your comments and questions.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I am long bitcoin and altcoins but do not have a personal investment in any of the funds mentioned here.

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The Cryptocurrency Funds Have Arrived, And They're Bringing Wall Street Money - Seeking Alpha

Bitcoin Price Target For 2017 – Seeking Alpha

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Bitcoin (OTCQX:GBTC) is a totally different investment asset type than traditional asset classes. Traditional analysis methods do not applying when forecasting the price of bitcoin. That's why we apply a more fundamental approach in this article in order to come up with a bitcoin price forecast for 2017.

How NOT to forecast a bitcoin price

Most readers would turn to the cryptocurrency blogosphere where they will read ultra-bullish bitcoin price forecasts for 2017 similar to this one from Coindesk. The issue with this approach is that those sites only feature bitcoin enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, so they offer a very biased view.

Traditional financial media, on the other hand, have their classic story telling format. That is not a useful approach either for investors. For instance, CNBC looked at the ongoing stream of articles that compare bitcoin with gold (NYSEARCA:GLD), and concluded that "the comparison is perhaps a positive signal that bitcoin is being commoditized. But bitcoin is not a commodity, while gold has been a commodity for thousands of years." That obviously does not tell anything about the future price of bitcoin.

Fortune.com explained how demand for safe haven assets have fallen since the elections "on a stronger dollar, signs of future interest rate hikes, and potentially business-friendly policies that may arise from the Trump administration. Those potential regulatory changes would raise the chances of higher-yielding stocks." That also is not useful as input for a bitcoin price forecast.

The most interesting headline comes from CNBC: "Bitcoin predicted to rise 165% to $2,000 in 2017 driven by Trump's spending binge and dollar rally."

There is obviously no correlation between the bitcoin price and the dollar or any other regular asset. Large investors simply don't pull money out of currencies, stocks (NYSEARCA:SPY) or gold in order to buy bitcoins.

A legitimate bitcoin forecast for 2017

We believe that a combination of price analysis and fundamental analysis is the most appropriate way to come up with a legitimate bitcoin forecast.

Fundamentally, the bitcoin usage data look great: Usage of bitcoins keeps on increasing, and that is exactly what it fundamentally is all about. Because of the fact that bitcoin is a form of money, the widening acceptance of bitcoin is the most fundamental data point to consider.

According to Statista, bitcoin usage keeps on growing as seen by the number of Bitcoin ATMs, which increased from 538 in January 2016 to 838 by November. Most Bitcoin ATMs, as of July 2016, were located in the United States (345) and Canada (108). The Bitcoin ATMs located in Europe as of June 2016 constituted 24.02 percent of the global ATM market share.

Moreover, several bitcoin charts confirm a growing usage and acceptance:

Last but not least, this research paper on bitcoin's big picture trends identifies 3 marked regimes that have evolved as the bitcoin economy has grown and matured: From an early prototype stage, to a second growth stage populated in large part with "sin" enterprise (i.e., gambling, black markets), to a third stage marked by a sharp progression away from "sin" and toward legitimate enterprises.

In other words, fundamentally, the picture for bitcoin looks very good. This is not only a market for speculators anymore, but one of real users.

We are confident, based on the objective data set outlined above that bitcoin's price rise is not only legitimate, but will continue. That results in a bullish bitcoin price forecast for 2017 and beyond.

From a bitcoin price analysis point of view, the long-term chart (courtesy: Finviz) looks very constructive. Readers should compare the steep rally in 2013 with the steady and solid rise in the last 2 years. As the price of bitcoin took out all-time highs, it suggests it has much more upside potential.

The only 'negative' is that the price rise has accelerated in recent weeks. Investors want to see a steady rise, not a parabolic rise. So we hope there will be a healthy correction sooner rather than later to cool off emotions. Ideally, bitcoin's price corrects to the $1,000 to $1,100 area in the coming weeks.

We could easily see bitcoin's price move to $2,000 in 2017.

This bitcoin price forecast for 2017 originally appeared on InvestingHaven.com

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin Price Target For 2017 - Seeking Alpha

The case against calling it a bitcoin bubble – Quartz

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The worlds most famous cryptocurrency is trading at record highs, but is it a bubble?

Looking at a chart of bitcoins price as it climbed and eventually overtook its long-held, previous all-time high, set in the final months of 2013, its easy to see why some people think its a bubble in danger of popping.

But Vikram Mansharamani, who wrote a book about identifying bubbles, says the bitcoin market exhibits fewer than two of the five major features of a fully inflated bubble. He lays out his argument in a LinkedIn post, which Ive summarized in the scorecard below.

Another blogger has weighed in with his own interpretation of the market using Mansharamanis framework and concludes that trade in the cryptocurrency is a tad frothier. Whereas Mansharamani gives bitcoin half mark for reflexivitythe idea that an assets rising price increases demand for it, which investors like George Soros subscribe toSG Kinsmanns analysis gives bitcoin a full point for reflexivity. The argument for doing so? Transaction volumes and fees, which indicate demand, have risen along with the price.

Still, that puts bitcoin at just two out of five marks for bubble indicators.

Bubble or not, bitcoin investors are in for some price action this week. The US Securities and Exchange Commission only has five more days before it must issue a decision on a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which could really open the floodgates of demand for bitcoinor bring the price crashing back down.

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The case against calling it a bitcoin bubble - Quartz

We Love Bitcoin, But Stop Comparing It To Gold – Seeking Alpha

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By Parke Shall

Those that read us know that we have been Bitcoin bulls for quite some time. With the price of 1BTC now approaching $1300, the question of whether or not we are staying in or cashing out has come up several times.

We wanted to write today to inform readers that not only are we staying long bitcoin, but we will, as we have been saying in the past, continue to add small amounts on any dips. We had a short term bitcoin price target of new all-time highs for this year that we reiterated in a previous article out in December 2016. In December of 2016, with bitcoin at $800, we stated that "Bitcoin Would Soar Through $1200 in 2017".

Now, it is time for us to focus on our multiple year long-term outlook for bitcoin. We don't believe that $5000 or even $10,000 is out of the question eventually, though it may take many years for the digital currency to reach that point. Needless to say, we remain bullish.

We know that bitcoin is becoming more and more of a news item over the last couple of weeks, as its price has run up significantly to now over $1200 per BTC. Anytime there's a price movement in any type of security like this, it makes the news. Many times, when penny stocks or other lesser-known securities rise in value, the media covers them without adequate understanding of what they are and how they work. Bitcoin is no different.

It has been getting more and more media coverage this past week yet the media, for some reason, continues to want to compare the price of one BTC to 1 ounce of gold. Yes, it is true that bitcoin has passed 1 ounce of gold in value. What does this mean? Absolutely nothing.

As bitcoin bulls, we would love to sit here and give you some convoluted meaningless answer as to why the price of one bitcoin passing 1 ounce of gold is meaningful, but there is really no common denominator basis of comparison between the two. You can put gold and silver on a ratio because you can reduce both metals to weight. You can't put bitcoin on a ratio with gold because one is a physical item with weight and a somewhat unknown but relatively finite supply and the other is a digital product that exists only online or in cyberspace.

So if you are a member of the financial media and are reading this, stop comparing the price of gold with the price of bitcoin.

Moving on, we could spend many paragraphs and many pages defending bitcoin as a storer of value. We could also, as generally Austrian thinking economists, make the argument that it has no value because it doesn't really exist. We think the answer for the short term is going to be somewhere in between. It exists because people are buying into it (not unlike Federal Reserve notes). It is a storer of value because it is limited in its supply. We have maintained in many of our articles that the major risk to bitcoin is the fact that it exists on an infrastructure that must be in place in order for it to be transacted. Whereas one person can go and hand gold to another person if the entire infrastructure of the world is brought down, bitcoin doesn't exist without our smartphones, our computers, and the Internet.

With this all said, we have written many articles over the last year talking about why would be buying the dip in bitcoin at various circumstances. After the Bitfinex crash, we came out and said that we would be buyers and after that, we wrote that we thought the digital currency was going to easily eclipse $1000 and then move through new highs. So far we have been right on.

Now let's talk about our outlook for the future. Despite bitcoin being incorrectly compared with gold, it continues to come up as both a hedge and a storer of value. Well you can take dispute with either of these, it is quite obvious that the public believes both of these to be appropriate. We do as well. Like any other financial asset that is in demand, it doesn't really matter what the ultimate product is, it only matters what the demand for said product is.

With the big banks and even the central banks working on different ways to incorporate the Blockchain into their business, it is obvious there has been buy-in on a major scale for a bitcoin. Many have argued that other digital currency's may come and take the place of bit coin and we actually believe just the opposite. We believe that because bitcoin was the original digital currency that it is going to have the most staying power and legacy status for many years to come. Other digital currencies may gain value on the fact that bitcoin has value, but there's only going to be one bitcoin at the end of the day.

In a world that is increasingly switching to digital, it is going to be tougher and tougher to make a case against bitcoin as long as large banks and governments continue to buy into the technology. There is no doubt that the blockchain technology is going to be the next step for a number of corporations and potentially a number of governments.

Investors need to realize that 100% of capital is at risk when they are dealing in such a speculative asset with very little track record behind it. With that said, we believe the bitcoin is going to remain in demand, become further accessible to retail spiking demand, and will have its credibility continue to improve going forward. While there are a varying group of long term estimated price ranges for bitcoin between $0 dollars and $1 million per bitcoin, depending on how seriously it is taken as a hedge against the financial system, we certainly don't think that the digital currency is going to stop growing in value anytime soon.

Over the course of its lifetime, we believe bitcoin is still in its extreme infancy and we would not be surprised to see the price eclipse $2000 by the end of the year this year. Further, our long-term targets for BTC remain between $2000 and $5000 for the next year or two. At this point, we may see corrections and we may see some stagnation but ultimately the most important point is that in the finite amount of supply and growing demand are going to continue to push prices much higher in the future. We remain long bitcoin.

Disclosure: I am/we are long BITCOIN.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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We Love Bitcoin, But Stop Comparing It To Gold - Seeking Alpha

Chinese banks experiment with bitcoin-like system – MarketWatch

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Chinese banks in two cities are testing a custom-built digital currency developed by the Peoples Bank of China, according to information gleaned from local media reports and interviews with two individuals who are familiar with the central banks thinking.

The digital currency, known to the broader world as ChinaCoin, but officially referred to inside China as digital renminbi, or RMB, was developed by the PBOC in partnership with other private and public entities.

Eventually, Chinese authorities hope digital RMB will help the government strengthen oversight of the countrys banks, while helping to prevent financial crime.

The reason theyre doing this is because they want to have more transparency to regulate how money flows between banks, said Patrick Dai, founder of the Qtum foundation, creators of the Qtum blockchain project.

In recent months, certain local banks based in Shenzhen, a financial hub in southern China, and Guiyang, the capital of a province in the countrys southwest, have begun experimenting with first using the digital RMB network for settlement and clearing of transactions in the countrys interbank bond market.

Chinas national media frequently cites transparency and efficiency as among the potential benefits of the digital renminbi project. However, in an interview with Caixin, a Chinese business publication, Peoples Bank of China Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan said it would take China approximately 10 years to fully embrace the digital renminbi. Chinas currency USDCNY, +0.0101% is interchangeably referred to as yuan and renminbi.

But once it is widely launched, digital RMB will be more convenient, protect citizens privacy and maintain social order, Zhou said. Eventually, the digital adoption will allow the central bank to make better-informed decisions about monetary policy by allowing it to more closely monitor the movement of capital through the Chinese economy, he said, adding the system could also make it easier to prevent financial crimes such as money laundering.

Zhou also emphasized key differences between digital RMB and bitcoin, arguably the best known cryptocurrency. While the digital renminbi will incorporate some elements of blockchain technology, like the cryptographic algorithms that help secure the bitcoin network, it will more closely resemble a permissioned blockchain a type of closed system that limits who can access and change information.

Read: This bitcoin rival nearly doubled in value in one week

The Chinese system will also be centrally controlled by the government, a concept that contravenes what bitcoin enthusiasts consider to be the cryptocurrencys most revolutionary innovation: the ability to maintain a monetary system that is resistant to centralized control.

The elephant in the room is how much it could potentially increase [the PBOCs] control, said Chris Burniske, Blockchain analyst and products lead at ARK Invest.

The price of a single bitcoin US:BTCUSD was at $1,280 in recent trade, just shy of an all-time high reached late last week. Part of the rise has been attributed to anticipation of the Securities and Exchange Commissions decision on approval of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, which is expected by the end of the week.

The PBOC isnt the only central bank thats exploring the feasibility of its own digital currency. The Bank of England joined with researchers at University College in London to create RSCoin, a digital currency for central banks. The Bank of Canada has also said it is developing a blockchain-based digital version of the Canadian dollar.

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Chinese banks experiment with bitcoin-like system - MarketWatch

Comets or volcanoes? Scientists are changing their minds about … – The Conversation UK

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The Earth has been the blue planet for as many as 3.8 billion years. Ancient sedimentary rock deposits and lava that cooled into characteristic pillow shapes provide irrefutable evidence that liquid water has existed at the Earths surface for at least this long. But given how many barren rocks there are in the galaxy, Earths abundant oceans raise the question of where all that water came from.

Geoscientists continue to debate two competing theories. One suggests that Earths water might have been captured from asteroids and comets that collided with the planet. But recent research has strengthened the case for the other theory that water was always present in the rocks of the Earths mantle and was gradually released to the surface through volcanoes. Working out which mechanism was more important would not only give us a better understanding of the Earths history but also help us in the search for other planets that could support life.

In 1974, scientists discovered that the Earths mantle contained more precious metals such as platinum than you would expect. These elements are naturally attracted to iron and so the vast majority of them were pulled into the planets iron core early in its history.

This led to the idea that asteroids striking the Earth soon after its tumultuous infancy delivered an extra layer of material. This late veneer may have included not just precious metals but also volatile substances, such as carbon and water, which are known to exist on a type of asteroid called carbonaceous chondrite.

But recent research has made this captured water theory seem much less likely. In January 2017, a study showed that the type of ruthenium (one of those iron-loving metals) in the Earths mantle has a different atomic signature to that found in common asteroids from the outer solar system. That suggests the late veneer came from the inner solar system, where volatile substances are rare and that these asteroids therefore werent the main source of water on Earth.

This adds to other research that suggests water was abundant on Earth before the late veneer is thought to have arrived. For example, there is various evidence that the oldest terrestrial minerals (zircon) crystallised from magma sources interacting with liquid water. These minerals are between 4.1bn and 4.3bn years old, but the final late veneer is most commonly thought to have been delivered around 3.9bn years ago.

Whats more, just because an asteroid carries water doesnt mean it can successfully deliver this cargo to Earth. In fact, scientists now believe that the Earth may have lost mass rather than gained it during early violent asteroid impacts, a process known as collisional or impact erosion. This is still an unproven theory but a recent study of the Sudbury impact crater in Canada revealed evidence that collision had vaporised most of the volatile metal lead. This implies that the more volatile species such as water would also have been lost to space in the impact.

A final clue that the planets oceans may have formed very early on is that there is more chlorine on Earth than you would expect. The early presence of liquid water on the planet would have given the chlorine something to dissolve into and so help prevent it from being lost to space. Finally, unlike planetary scientists, geochemists have long argued that the Earths oceans dont come from captured icy comets because they contain different amounts of heavy hydrogen.

All this evidence suggests that the Earths surface water or liquid hydrosphere actually accumulated by degassing from within the planet. Water is stored in the Earths mantle in the form of hydroxyl groups (one hydrogen and one oxygen atom) trapped within minerals such as ringwoodite.

When the mantle rocks melt, the water dissolves into the magma. As the magma rises towards the surface and cools, pressure is reduced, crystals form and the water is released and emitted as vapour through volcanoes. With this mechanism, water from great depth can be degassed to the surface.

Pioneering experimental work showed that minerals at depths of 150km to 200km could contain water but, more recently, experiments, modelling and seismic data suggested that water might also be found as deep as 400km to 660km below the surface. Recent data from scientists studying how diamond crystals form deep underground suggests that water might be stored even further down. This new evidence from actual deep mantle minerals certainly makes the idea that the Earths surface water came from depth seem more likely.

But it is important to understand that water can also be recycled back into the mantle. This means there is a balance between the water in the oceans and that stored up in the mantle. We can only speculate how much water might still be locked up at these great depths.

What we do know is that the average level of the sea surface relative to the continental land has remained relatively constant across nearly four billion years. This suggests a constant cycle of water emerging from and being absorbed back into the mantle has significantly helped life to continue throughout its history on this planet.

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Comets or volcanoes? Scientists are changing their minds about ... - The Conversation UK

Wilson shines but Comets fall short against Quincy – The Hillsdale Daily News

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Matthew Lounsberry mlounsberry@hillsdale.net mlounsberryHDN

JONESVILLE Quincy and Jonesville met in the opening game of District 67 on Monday night, and both teams point guards put on an absolute show.

Comet senior Jake Wilson finished with 33 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while Oriole senior Nathan Karney scored 35 points to lead Quincy to a 64-53 win.

Our kids didnt fold. We battled and battled and battled. Everything we could do, said Jonesville coach Kirk Wright.

The Comets got off to a quick 8-2 start, and closed the opening quarter with a 18-12 lead. Wilson scored 10 in the frame.

First quarter, we came out and executed our gameplan to perfection, Wright said. [Quincy] runs through [freshman William] Dunn a lot, so we thought we matched up. Hes taller than us, but were more physical. I thought we could match up with that and take it away.

With Jonesvilles defensive focus on Dunn, the 67 freshman center for Quincy, Karney took matters into his own hands in the for the Orioles. The senior scored 22 points in the second quarter alone, giving him 27 by halftime.

Quincy led 38-27 at the break, after scoring the Comets 26-9 in the frame.

Karneys the best player in the league for a reason. He literally took the game over, Wright said.

In the second half, Jonesville made an adjustment defensively, having Wilson guard Karney. In addition to that responsibility, Wilson added to his 17 halftime points with 10 more in the third quarter.

Refuses to lose. He does not want to get beat in anything he does, Wright said. He carried us, especially in the second half. He was just going to out-duel Karney. Jakes an unbelievable kid, unbelievable athlete. He doesnt want to lose.

With Wilsons effort, and a big steal and layup from fellow senior Adam Swope, Jonesville cut their deficit to 43-40 with 1:53 left in the third.

It was huge. I told the kids, Lets win the quarter. We were down 11 at half, we had to win the quarter, cut it down to six or seven. We did that, Wright said.

Trailing 49-43 entering the fourth quarter, the Comets got as close as four points early in the frame, but the Orioles went on an 8-2 run to stretch their lead back to 10.

Jonesville couldnt recover, and when Wilson fouled out with under two minutes remaining, any chance of a miracle comeback went out the window.

We kept punching. Give Quincy credit though, they hit the shots when they had to, Wright said.

In addition to Wilson and Swope, the Comets will lose Matt Wieringa, Mitchell Beatty, Dalton Reister and Zach Welton to graduation.

All six seniors meant so much to this team, Wright said. They come in, we changed everything this year, and they bought in to me. Were going to miss them. Theyre a huge part of our rotation.

Swope finished with six points and two steals. Welton added two points, four rebounds and three assists.

Wright finishes his first season at the helm of the Comet program with an 11-10 record.

I loved it. Ive never done a varsity gig. The time-commitment is unbelievable, but the kids make it fun everyday. I hate going out this way, but we improved throughout the year, he said.

All year long, our team just gelled. They bought in. I had the best 12 kids there are.

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Wilson shines but Comets fall short against Quincy - The Hillsdale Daily News

Celgene’s Otezla successful in late-stage study in expanded psoriasis population – Seeking Alpha

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Results from a Phase 4 clinical trial, UNVEIL. evaluating Celgene's (CELG -0.6%) Otezla (apremilast) in patients with moderate plaque psoriasis with a body surface area of 5 - 10% showed a significant treatment benefit compared to placebo. The results were presented at the American Academy of Dermatology's Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL.

UNVEIL evaluated oral OTEZLA (30 mg twice daily) compared to placebo at week 16 in 221 subjects with moderate plaque psoriasis who had not been treated with systemic or biologic therapy. At baseline, 80% (n=177) had received topical therapy. The primary endpoint was the mean percent change from baseline in the product of PGA and BSA scores (two measures of psoriasis severity) at week 16.

The mean changes for the Otezla and placebo cohorts were -48.1% and -10.2%, respectively (p<0.0001). The proportions of patients who achieved at least a 75% improvement in symptoms were 35.1% and 12.3%, respectively (p<0.0001). The proportions of patients who achieved clear or almost clear skin were 30.4% and 9.6%, respectively (p<0.0001).

The most common treatment-relate adverse events were diarrhea (29%), headache (20%), nausea (18%), upper respiratory tract infection (7%) and vomiting (6%).

Otezla is currently approved to treat moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.

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Celgene's Otezla successful in late-stage study in expanded psoriasis population - Seeking Alpha

Secukinumab Efficacy Examined Following Psoriasis Relapse After Treatment Pause – Monthly Prescribing Reference (registration)

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CNA Finance (press release)
Secukinumab Efficacy Examined Following Psoriasis Relapse After Treatment Pause
Monthly Prescribing Reference (registration)
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How Trump’s new travel ban targets the whole world – Politico

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Foreign Policy

The revised order contains provisions that could affect countries beyond the six Muslim-majority states that are singled out.

By Nahal Toosi

03/06/17 03:19 PM EST

Its not just a few countries. Its not just about Muslims. And in some cases, its probably wont be temporary, either.

President Donald Trumps newly revised travel ban may at first seem to be more limited in its reach than his sweeping earlier order suspending refugee admissions and barring entry for citizens of several predominantly Muslim countries.

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But the new order, signed Monday, still contains provisions that could ultimately slow travel and immigration to the United States from every corner of the globe. The order could ultimately backfire on Americans wishing to travel abroad, and, for some countries, what appear to be temporary bans could effectively prove permanent.

The revised order appears to reflect Trump's America first philosophy, one that views immigrants as a threat to the U.S. economy and national security. The orders specific targeting of six predominantly Muslim countries also underscores the strong influence of Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, both of whom are bent on limiting immigration in general but who hold hard-line views on Muslims in particular.

The administration says the executive order is critical to stopping potential terrorists from infiltrating the United States. But, analysts say, there are already signs the White Houses actions are having a chilling effect on the number of people from around the world who wish to visit the United States.

What this document promises is the beginning, and not the end, of a new and potentially very broad set of immigration restrictions, said Omar Jadwat of the American Civil Liberties Union, one of several groups that turned to the courts to block Trumps original executive order.

The revised order takes effect on March 16. It imposes a 120-day halt to the admission of all refugees to the United States. It also imposes a 90-day ban on the entry of people from six Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Both the refugee program and immigration relationships with the six countries are to undergo a review by the administration.

The president is also ordering the Department of Homeland Security, in the next 20 days, to perform a global, country-by-country review of the identity and security information that each country provides to the U.S. government to support U.S. visa and other immigration benefit determinations, according to a fact sheet provided by the administration. Countries will then have 50 days to comply with requests from the U.S. government to update or improve the quality of the information they provide.

That raises the possibility that countries beyond the six being singled out could find their citizens barred from reaching U.S. shores either as visitors or immigrants.

U.S. officials were coy about what information they would require other countries to provide about their citizens, or what other steps they would expect other capitals to take, and odds are that each country would be treated on a case-by-case basis. Still, its hard to imagine U.S. rivals such as China or Russia acceding to every U.S. demand to help them vet their citizens. In some cases, the administrative burden may be too much for some governments to handle, especially in developing countries that have limited capacity.

That being said, political considerations also may play a role. The countries with stronger lobbying networks in Washington, or which are deemed strategically important allies or economic partners, could have an advantage.

Critics of the executive order point to the list of the countries whose citizens are banned for 90 days as an example of the questionable standards being applied.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, whose citizens have been implicated in several terrorist attacks on the United States, were left off the list. But both are considered important partners in the fight against terrorist networks, and the Saudis in particular have a strong lobbying presence in Washington.

Separately, the original executive order also included Iraq. But Iraqi officials, pointing to the fact that they are an ally of the United States in the battle against the Islamic State terrorist network, pushed hard for an exemption. Trump aides said the Iraqis pledged to step up their information sharing for the immigration vetting process.

Several of the other six countries may not be willing or able to meet new vetting standards demanded by Trump. That means that although the ban on the six is said to be temporary, in some or all the cases it could prove indefinite.

Iran could be the hardest hit. Iranian citizens make up the largest number of immigrants or non-immigrant visitors among the six countries, with some 42,500 visas issued in 2015 out of roughly 74,000 for the six countries combined. But Iran doesn't have diplomatic relations with the United States, and it may balk at new U.S. vetting demands. Even if Iran decides to cooperate, it's not clear that the Trump administration would trust its government to provide accurate information.

The governments of Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen all have other challenges; some are mired in civil wars while others are barely functioning states. And generally speaking, people from the six countries already have a very difficult time obtaining a U.S. visa, as American officials use a range of intelligence and other tools to examine their applications and vet them before granting them entry.

A great deal will depend on what standards U.S. officials choose to apply and how stringently and broadly they apply them. The revised order contains a number of provisions granting U.S. officials the ability to give waivers to individuals in unusual situations trying to reach the United States, and how often those waivers are used could also soften the blow.

But there are other elements in the executive order that could slow down the visa process, enough so that many people may consider it not worth trying to come to the United States. For one thing, the order requires the State Department to do more in-person interviews of foreigners seeking visas, meaning an extra hurdle for many visitors who in the past were not deemed security risks.

The order will have profound implications for a range of U.S. industries, including universities that rely on dollars from international students, hotels that count on foreign tourists and technology companies seeking talent abroad.

The more onerous it becomes to come into the United States, the more Canada starts looking attractive, the more England starts looking attractive, said Leon Fresco, a prominent immigration attorney.

One major question is how the new vetting standards whatever they are will apply to the 38 countries that fall under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. That program allows people from those countries, many of which are in Europe, to visit the United States without having to obtain a visa.

Another question is how other countries will decide to treat Americans wishing to travel to their soil. Visa programs are, in theory, supposed to be reciprocal. So if the United States imposes new conditions for vetting, those other countries might do the same, making it harder for Americans to travel there.

Travel industry experts say there already is mounting evidence of a drop in international interest in visiting the United States following the issuing of the original executive order on Jan. 27.

The U.S. Travel Association on Monday released a statement that said it doesn't appear that the administration fully seized the opportunity to differentiate between the potential security risks targeted by the order and the legitimate business and leisure visitors from abroad who support 15.1 million American jobs.

Reputational fallout is a real thing, Jonathan Grella, executive vice president of public affairs for the association, recently told POLITICO. It really boils down to people having choices to make. Price and convenience and efficiency and how welcome you feel all factor into that.

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How Trump's new travel ban targets the whole world - Politico