Episcopal Church in Michigan votes to crack down on gun rights

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Voting signs cover the handrails at St. Timothys Episcopal Church in Washington as the nations capital holds its primary election on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times) ** FILE ** more >

The Episcopal Church in Michigan which includes the areas of Lansing and Jackson voted to crack down on Second Amendment rights via a resolution at the 180th convention of the Episcopal Diocese.

Specifically, the resolution which passed with a large majority expresses favor for universal background checks for all gun buys and for bans on all sales of decreed semiautomatic weapons and high-impact, high-capacity ammunition and magazines, the Detroit Free Press reported. The resolution also calls to make gun trafficking a federal crime.

We stand for public policies to ban violence and assault weapons, the resolution stated, the Detroit Free Press reported. Access to guns with rapid fire ability and high capacity magazines are a common, deadly ingredient in repeated killings.

The resolution isnt policy, but it could prove influential with policy-makers. The Detroit Free Press reported that the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan was created in 1836 a fully year before the state was even established.

We work to bring Gods peace to the world, said the Rev. Chris Yaw, the rector of St. Davids Episcopal Church in Southfield, the Detroit Free Press reported. Gods kingdom is not of violence its of peace.

But critics say the resolution conflicts with the Constitutions Second Amendment.

Passing an inherently political resolution does absolutely nothing to proclaim the glory of God and bring new people to the pews of churches, said Dennis Lennox, a member of St. Johns Episcopal Church in Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported. I wish churches would focus on being a house of prayer for all people, instead of becoming extensions of political movements and parties.

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Episcopal Church in Michigan votes to crack down on gun rights

Sex offender must register Web IDs under Megans Law

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November 4, 2014 12:00 AM Share with others:

By P.J. DAnnunzio / The Legal Intelligencer

The Commonwealth Court has ruled in an apparent issue of first impression that reporting a convicted sex offenders Internet aliases under Megans Law IV would not violate his First Amendment rights.

The decision from a seven-judge Commonwealth Court panel came in response to Richard Coppolinos request to be removed from the sex offender registry. The en banc panel rejected his argument that being required to disclose his Internet identities infringes on his right to anonymous free speech.

Coppolino asserted that since he was convicted and completed his sentence before Megans Law IV was enacted, having to comply with certain provisions of the law constituted retroactive punishment.

Coppolino, convicted of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, also argued that the provision of Megans Law requiring the reporting of Internet names designed to protect minors was overbroad in the context of his case because his crime did not involve a minor or the Internet, Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer wrote in the courts opinion.

Judge Jubelirer said under Megans Law, any of Coppolinos Internet identifiers must be included on a statewide sex-offender registry. She added that registry information is disseminated in four ways: among law enforcement agencies; for the purposes of notifying victims and communities; and on a public website.

Because none of the avenues of dissemination of registry information applicable in this case involve disclosure of registrants Internet identifiers, we conclude that the requirement that registrants disclose their Internet identifiers does not burden the right to anonymous speech. Because this provision does not burden a registrants First Amendment rights, it is not overbroad, Judge Jubelirer said.

(Copies of the 52-page opinion in Coppolino v. Noonan, PICS No. 14-1628, are available from The Legal Intelligencer. Please call the Pennsylvania Instant Case Service at 1-800-276-PICS to order or for information.)

P.J. DAnnunzio can be contacted at 1-215-557-2315 or pdannunzio@alm.com. Follow him on Twitter @PJDannunzioTLI.

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Sex offender must register Web IDs under Megans Law

The Socialists Journal: Number One of Number One

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Trevor Brookins

*Based on ones perspective either the first or the second amendment is the most important part of the Constitution. Either it is more important to have something to protect or something to help you protect it.

I will save that debate for another day and skip ahead to which of the five freedoms included in the first amendment is most important. And why were assembly, petition, press, religion, and speech chosen to be the basis of freedom in our country.

Well simply put if you are trying to break away from an absolute monarchy in which the allegiance to the crown meant allegiance to the king as Gods emissary on earth, those five things would have been essential. Being able to speak against some religious action the king took, among others who are like minded, or being able to print your thoughts to gain a larger audience, and ask the king to change are all the things that would get you killed or put in prison if you were lucky.

But if I am to borrow from George Carlin some of these are a bit redundant. The freedom of speech is important as it is the basis of autonomy. But the freedom of assembly is basically the freedom to speak among others; the freedom of the press is the freedom to have your speech distributed; the freedom of petition is basically the freedom to speak to the government without repercussions. The freedom of religion is also a specific kind of autonomy but it is different in that it may or may not involve others.

Put another way: speech without an audience becomes less important while religion without an audience maintains its power. Thus we are left with speech versus religion.

While I just spent a paragraph arguing for the centrality of speech as the basis of a free society because of the many different forms it takes, I actually believe religion is an even more important freedom because of its history of empowering people and inspiring actions. Religion at its core is a belief system that gets groups of people on the same page and pulling in the same direction. This is not necessarily the case with speech. While it may not be true there is a reason for the thought that organized religion has been the source of more violence and death than anything else in history. The kernel of veracity is that throughout the history of Western civilization organized religion has often been the reason people are killing others.

Furthermore religion can inspire speech and all of its derivatives (press, assembly, and petition). Religion makes use of speech in a way that is not reciprocal enhancing the case for religion to be a more basic freedom than speech.

Lastly think back to your elementary Social Studies lessons. Why did the Pilgrims come to the New World freedom of speech or freedom of religion? Religion. The freedom to worship God in a manner of ones own choosing has always been at the center of the American experiment, first as colonies then as a country.

For these reasons religion stands out as the most essential freedom contained in the first amendment. Unfortunately many people misunderstand this freedom to exclude non-Christian forms of religion. My only response to people with that perspective is that while the people who wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were certainly predominately Christian it is instructive that they left out any mention of their personal religious beliefs out of the countrys rule book. Basically the felt strongly enough about the freedom of religion that they left that issue open so that other denominations of Christian and even other religions not yet incorporated into the country could come and feel welcome.

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The Socialists Journal: Number One of Number One

How to use Tor for Facebook (Windows, Mac & Linux)

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Facebook, Inc. is not celebrated for its privacy policies or keeping user information safe from third parties. But even if people are practically giving away their life to advertisers, they still continue to use Facebook, probablybecause they think theres notrue way to socialize while keeping their privacy.

Good news is, there is now a way for you to use Facebook without all your actions being tracked. Facebook welcomed the dark net by providing official support for Tor via https://facebookcorewwwi.onion/. Prior to Facebooks official support, usingTor on the popular social networkwould flagthe user asa hacked account, and communication between Tor and Facebook wouldntstay encrypted. With this new support, the communication between Tor and Facebook remains encrypted, giving users the option of using the service without giving away all their other information, such as their current location.

Its not so much protecting people from governments, but protecting from people who are spying on communications that could be anyone from criminals to marketers, said Dr Steven Murdoch, from University College London, who Facebook consulted for the project.

If you want to go dark, or at least keep some of your information to yourself, follow the steps below on how you can start enjoying Facebook + Tor.

First go to this link to download the Tor browser https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

Save the downloaded file either on your desktop or a USB stick if you really wish to cover your track.

It needs at least 80MB of free disk space in the location you select.

Double click on the file when it finishes downloading, click RUN, choose a language, then click OK.

Wait until the installer finishes then click FINISH to launch the Tor browser wizard.

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How to use Tor for Facebook (Windows, Mac & Linux)

Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Bitcoin Mining Supercomputers and Syscoin Push Forward Kennedy Case

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The price of bitcoin continues to languish around the $330 mark as cryptocurrency markets stabilise(IBTimes UK)

After a turbulent weekend that saw bitcoin's price fluctuate between $350 and $320, the world's most valuable cryptocurrency has settled back to its late-October levels.

All other major altcoins saw little market movement over the last 24 hours, with litecoin, dogecoin, peercoin, namecoin and darkcoin all shifting by less than 2%.

Cannacoin, the digital currency dedicated to developing and creating innovative new technology for the cannabis industry, saw the biggest movement of any cryptocurrency, surging by 46% since yesterday to take its market capitalisation above $50,000.

Bitcoin mining manufacturer Bitcoin Brothers is launching a cloud-based mining service that it claims uses supercomputers with processing capabilities of over 6 petahash.

It is hoped that the advanced processing power will help reduce mining costs and increase profit margins.

Recent bitcoin price falls have meant that mining the cryptocurrency has become an increasingly cost inefficient process for many mining firms.

"To put our machines in perspective, on the common LINPACK Rpeak and Rmax benchmarks each of our MSEMs outperform the world's fastest supercomputers," Thomas Ackermann, chief technology officer at Bitcoin Brothers, said in a statement.

"We basically have a business model in different stages. The first stage is selling people services for bitcoin mining. People can rent portions of the machines starting at gigahashes, terahashes up to petahashes."

Customers unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies who wish to frequent the caf will be shown how to operate a bitcoin ATM or paper wallet printer that have been installed in the space.

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Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Bitcoin Mining Supercomputers and Syscoin Push Forward Kennedy Case

Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Treasury Seeks Advice on Bitcoin and Circle Launches App

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UK government asks bitcoin community for cryptocurrency advice and Circle releases platform as app(IBTimes UK)

Bitcoin has continued its recent downward trend by falling in price by a further 1.5% over the last 24 hours.

All other major cryptocurrencies have also seen negative movement since yesterday, with litecoin, dogecoin, peercoin, namecoin and darkcoin all falling by between 1% and 5%.

The biggest mover across all markets was pesetacoin, the unofficial national cryptocurrency of Spain. A 40% rise in value pushed its market capitalisation back up towards $50,000 for the first time since September.

The Treasury is requesting information and advice from those within the bitcoin community in order to understand how best to regulate cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin advocates from fintech (financial technology) firms, together with law enforcement agencies and financial regulators, will be approached by the government in the hope that better regulation will improve the UK's fintech sector.

"Digital currencies and digital currency exchanges are currently unregulated in the UK," said a Treasury spokesman. "We're considering the potential benefits of digital currencies to customers and the technology that underpins them, and whether we should take action to support innovation in this area.

"We're also looking at the potential risks, and assessing whether action is required to address any concerns."

Bitcoin-to-fiat currency exchange Circle has launched its own mobile app for iOS and Android platforms.

The integration of credit card payments into the app will allow users to withdraw and deposit money into their bitcoin wallets, while Touch ID compatibility with iOS devices will add a level of biometric security.

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Cryptocurrency Round-Up: Treasury Seeks Advice on Bitcoin and Circle Launches App

The Bitcoin Group #54 — FinCen Clarifies, Bitcoin 2.0 in the clear? SEC, CVS, RiteAid and Happy … – Video

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The Bitcoin Group #54 -- FinCen Clarifies, Bitcoin 2.0 in the clear? SEC, CVS, RiteAid and Happy ...
THIS WEEK: ---------------------------- Congrats to Chris Ellis: http://www.wired.com/2014/10/world_passport/ FinCen Clarifies https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/fincen-clarifies-virtual-currency-...

By: World Crypto Network

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The Bitcoin Group #54 -- FinCen Clarifies, Bitcoin 2.0 in the clear? SEC, CVS, RiteAid and Happy ... - Video

Free Bitcoin Zebra Faucet Feed the zebra and win up to 1000 satoshi every hour! – Video

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Free Bitcoin Zebra Faucet Feed the zebra and win up to 1000 satoshi every hour!
All registered users are able to mine with cloud-based GHS as well as trade cloud-based GHS for BTC according to the market price. Free Sign Up: https://cex.io/r/0/DexteR/0/ EOBot Cloud Mining...

By: Martin Senigla

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Free Bitcoin Zebra Faucet Feed the zebra and win up to 1000 satoshi every hour! - Video