Monthly Archives: June 2017

WATCH: The View Lies About the Second Amendment, Wishes We … – NewsBusters (blog)

Posted: June 15, 2017 at 8:55 pm


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WATCH: The View Lies About the Second Amendment, Wishes We ...
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The View, ABC's morning talk program that elevated Raven-Symone to political punditry, engaged in one of its more oafish rants Thursday on one of the many ...
Second Amendment: An American tragedy | Local | azdailysun.comArizona Daily Sun

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‘The View’ Explodes Over Second Amendment Debate, Goldberg … – Washington Free Beacon

Posted: at 8:55 pm

BY: David Rutz June 15, 2017 12:21 pm

The liberal hosts of "The View" were well-armed with dubious talking points about gun control and the Second Amendment during a fierce debate Thursday in the wake of Wednesday's shooting that left House Majority Steve Scalise (R., La.) and four others wounded.

Host Sunny Hostin said "more guns is not the answer." Fellow host Joy Behar boasted of living in New York State with its strict gun laws, claiming that she would be afraid to live in an open-carry state and would never take public transportation.

"I'd be afraid that some guy on the subway would have a fit, just go mad because he was upset somebody took his seat and shoot somebody else," she said, not noting that the exact same thing could happen in New York.

Non-liberal hostJedediah Bila countered, however, saying she felt safe in states like Arizona and Texas.

"I'm not worried about law-abiding citizens carrying guns," Bila said. "They don't make me nervous."

Host Whoopi Goldberg cut over Bila to ask her if she had been around "afraid people with guns."

"I have," Bila said.

"I don't believe you, Jed. I don't believe you," Goldberg said.

"I'm a conservative! They're a very pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment [group]," Bila said, laughing.

Goldberg said that when assailants start shooting, people run, and the police may not know how to shoot if there were multiple people carrying guns. She did not point out that citizens bearing arms may be able to defend themselves against an attacker before the police arrived.

"The problem is, if the Capitol Police weren't there there would have been a massacre there," Bila said.

Told that's "their job," Bila was incredulous.

"If you live in a society where only the police have guns, that's called a police state," she said. "That is not the United States of America."

Goldberg then offered a dubious examination of the Second Amendment.

"The Second Amendment is about a militia," she said. "That's what it says."

It actually says more than that. Its full text reads, "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."

"It's the right to bear arms, to protect yourself and your family," Bila said.

Hostin said quietly that being able to defend one's self and family was "not what the Second Amendment is about."

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Joe Arpaio, former Arizona sheriff, to speak at Second Amendment rally in Belchertown – Amherst Bulletin

Posted: at 8:55 pm

BELCHERTOWN Joe Arpaio, former sheriff of Arizonas Maricopa County who has styled himself Americas Toughest Sheriff, will be a guest speaker this weekend at a Second Amendment rally in town.

Arpaio, who turns 85 this week, will speak at Belchertowns 4th Annual Flag Day Second Amendment Rally, which starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Swift River Sportsman Club.

Dave Kopacz, organizer of the rally, said Arpaio will probably speak around noon, though the official schedule for the event is still in the works.

Arpaio is a Massachusetts native, born in Springfield. He became nationally known in the last 15 years for his hardline stances on immigration, for battling findings of racial profiling in his sheriffs department, and for his campaign to prove that President Obamas birth certificate was forged, which he continued to wage as recently as last fall.

After 24 years in office, Arpaio lost his latest re-election bid in November. His trial in federal court on a criminal contempt charge in connection with racial profiling is pending.

The Belchertown rally will also feature several other speakers, including Jeanette Finicum, the widow of Robert LaVoy Finicum, one of the occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon who was shot and killed during the armed standoff in January 2016.

Kopacz said he sees gun rights and property rights as connected. He believes the issues surrounding federal land use that came to a head in Oregon are similar to issues surrounding land trusts in Massachusetts.

We want to make sure we connect and parallel that with what is going on here, he said of the Oregon occupation.

Local Second Amendment activists will speak at the rally, too. Kopacz said both national and local speakers are important for the event.

I use the national guys to bring in the crowds, and the local guys to put them to work after, Kopacz said.

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Letter: First Amendment rights defense of Alex Jones is outrageous – INFORUM

Posted: at 8:54 pm

His belief that the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting of 2012 was a hoax perpetrated by false flag government agents for the purpose of inhibiting gun ownership in the United States goes beyond distaste. This is a man who has looked parents in the eye and declared their dead children to have never existed.

Free speech is a freedom we enjoy despite the right's continued attacks against the free press (see Republican attempts to prevent congressional interviews during Jeff Sessions' testimony to Congress earlier this week) and to portray Alex Jones as a victim in this context is outright repugnant.

Let us not forget that it was Alex Jones's right-wing website that pushed the "Pizzagate" conspiracy that led to a member of the alt-right threatening the institution with a firearm. As LaVenuta doubtless knows, speech considered to be inciting violence is not protected under the First Amendment.

This goes beyond simply portraying Alex Jones as a "bad guy." His website affords him his First Amendment rights and to give him a platform on a nationwide network is irresponsible and dangerous. The right's consistent self-victimization is hypocritical to the point of being ludicrous, and to push this narrative as an attack on the First Amendment is nothing short of outrageous.

Roth lives in Fargo.

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Female Genital Mutilation: 4th Person Charged In Historic 1st Amendment Case – Patch.com

Posted: at 8:54 pm


Patch.com
Female Genital Mutilation: 4th Person Charged In Historic 1st Amendment Case
Patch.com
Whether involving a minor nick, as defense attorneys argue, or the surgical cuts alleged by the government, legal scholars say the defense may take the case into new First Amendment territory. Courts have consistently ruled again Jehovah's Witness and ...
Female Genital Mutilation As a First Amendment Right? 5 Lawyers ...Glamour

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Terror Thursday: It’s a Cryptocurrency Bloodbath – CryptoCoinsNews

Posted: at 8:52 pm

The market correction that a number of analysts have predicted has hit, with leading cryptocurrencies losing in double digits in the last 24 hours. Market leaders bitcoin and Ethereum were not among the biggest losers, dropping 12.81% and 16.04% in the last 24 hours, respectively, but their market cap losses were in the billions, falling to $37.4 billion and $28.9 billion, respectively.

Ripple, a distant number three in market capitalization at just under $10 billion, lost over 12%. NEM, number four, lost over 17%, while Ethereum Classic, number five, lost 13.77%. Litecoin, number 6, suffered the least among thbillion-dollarar players, losing just over%. Eighth placed IOTA was the biggest loser among the cryptocurrencies with more than $1 billion in market capitalization, falling 36.5% when its price fell to $0.38.

All top 100 cryptocurrencies tumbled in the last 24 hours, according to marketcap.com, except for four: Quantum Resistant Ledger, the number 41 cryptocurrency with $81.4 million market capitalization, jumped 19.43%; LBRY Credits, number 57, posted an 18.24% gain; Xarum, number 62, gained 10,4%, and ZCoin, number 69, gained 9.58%.

The correction that began Monday continued after a breather yesterday, as bitcoin failed to launch a new rally towards all-time highs and rolled over after the bounce. Correlations are high once again, as is usual for a correction, and its likely that bitcoin and Ethereum will dictate the trend of the coming days, with small cap coinsfollowing the majors lower.

Bitcoin continues to trade near its lows from Monday, and it will likely head for a test of the $2375 level, as it clears its overbought momentum readings. The rising long-term trendline is found near $2200, providing further strong support. The long-term picture remains bullish, but there is room for further correction after the strong rally since the end of March.

A 30%-50% correction, that has been the normal for bitcoin in the past, is a huge psychological burden that makes a panic sale likely, usually just before the bottom. Because of this, buyers are advised to wait for the correction and oversold readings, even for those planning to buy it at a higher price later on.

Analyst Nicola Duke of Forex Analytix predicted hefty price corrections for both bitcoin and Ethereum in late May. Duke said bitcoin could experience a 46.5% price correction at $2,800 afterwitnessing arecord $2,791.70 high in late May. After reaching $2,800, Duke predicted it would fall and reach as low as $1,470, marking a 46.5% drop from the late May price.

Duke expects the correction to be temporary, with the price recovering, and continue its upward movement through 2018. An analysis called the Fibonacci retracement examines the peaks through different periods of up and down movements to determine future asset prices.

In wave two, in the fall of 2013, bitcoin bottomed out in January 2015 before rebounding for several months and then declining again. It rebounded again in January of 2015. Duke said bitcoin is now in a third wave.

Duke expects the fourth wave will see bitcoin stay at 61.8% of the time the second wave lasted. This means the rally following the correction will begin in January.

Short-term traders are advised to wait until the correction runs its course and the short-term trend turns higher again, while long-term investors should prepare to add to their holdings heading towards the targets of the move, and buying opportunities emerge. This holds true for long-term investors who plan on holding on to the coins and adding to their core holdings on the dips. Short-term traders should still wait for the short-term trend to turn higher before buying.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

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Sea of Red: Top 10 Cryptocurrencies See Steep Declines as Market Turns – CoinDesk

Posted: at 8:52 pm

Just hours after traders reported a shift in strategy, the global cryptocurrency markets appear to be correcting and fast.

At press time, the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization were all in steep periods of decline, with eight seeing declines of more than 10%. Even bitcoin, heralded as the 'safe haven' among available alternatives wasn't immune, dropping 15% at press time as its price retreated to its lowest total since 31st May.

Overall, the market shed roughly $6bn in a span of hours, declining from a combined total of $106bn to a press time total of $99.3bn, according to data from Coinmarketcap.

Taking an even broader look, more than 80 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies had seen more than double-digit declines, with some seeing declines of more than 30%.

Among those most impacted was IOTA, which began listing on exchanges this week and debuted at a $1bn market cap, only to fall more than 40% today. Lesser-known assets including I/O Coin, E-Currency Coin and Vericoin saw over 30% declines.

It wasn't just tokens on so-called infrastructure blockchains, running on their own unique networks, that were affected either.

Digital tokens sold as part of initial coin offerings (ICOs)and running on top of the ethereum blockchain saw big declines, with the tokens powering decentralized prediction market Gnosis and web browser Brave dropping by over 20% at press time.

Both debuted to market enthusiasm, raising $12.5m and $35m in token sales in recent months.

All in all, the development comes hours after traders reported preparing for a correction as the market's recent upward momentum slowed, and weeks after many had begun sounding the alarm that the market had become wildly divorced from fundamentals.

As such, speculation is high that this correction might only be the beginning of more declines.

Disclosure:CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Brave.

Red bitcoin via Shutterstock

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is an independent media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. Have breaking news or a story tip to send to our journalists? Contact us at [emailprotected].

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Bitcoin | Definition of Bitcoin by Merriam-Webster

Posted: at 8:52 pm

Definition of Bitcoin

: a digital currency created for use in peer-to-peer online transactions Introduced in 2008 by a person or group using the name Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin is the most prominent of a group of virtual currenciesmoney that exists mainly as computer codethat have no central issuing authority. Carter Dougherty Bitcoin is backed by no government and has a fluctuating value linked in part to a scarcity that is mathematically predetermined. Unlike other forms of digital cash, Bitcoin is truly untraceable and therefore, like cash, cannot be recovered if lost or destroyed. Glenn Zorpette; also, usually bitcoin : a unit of this currency Commercial space venture Virgin Galacticwhich announced on Nov. 22 that it would start accepting bitcoins to reserve a refundable $250,000 seat on a future tripis just the latest of many businesses that have recently embraced the decentralized virtual payment system. (At press time, 1 bitcoin was worth roughly $879.) Time

4bit + 1coin

First Known Use: 2008

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Bitcoin is suddenly on pace to have its worst week since 2015 – MarketWatch

Posted: at 8:52 pm

After surging briefly to an all-time high of $3,000, bitcoin has been undergoing a dazzling reversal of late, with the digital currency on track to post its worst weekly decline in more than two years.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, -0.81% has dropped 18.5% over the past week to a value of $2,317, which would mark its steepest weekly decline since Jan. 16, 2015, according to WSJ Market Data Group. Thursdays more-than-15% drop would represent its largest one-day plunge since Jan. 14, 2015.

Put another way, bitcoin has shed more than $10 billion in market value since the start of the week, based on data from CominMarketCap, which tracks the value of digital currencies. Thats a loss just a little under Twitter Inc.s TWTR, +0.42% market cap of $12 billion.

The retreat for bitcoin, which fell to an intraday low, down about 20% at $2,076.16, also coincides with a broad selloff in the technology sector XLK, -0.45% which has finished down for four of the past five trading sessions as some of the darlings of the spaceFacebook Inc. FB, -0.30% Apple Inc. AAPL, -0.60% Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -1.26% Netflix Inc. NFLX, -0.29% and Google-parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -0.89% , GOOGL, -0.80% known colloquially on Wall Street as FAANG stocks, pullback from or near record heights.

That downshift has helped to yank the Nasdaq-100 index NDX, -0.46% representing the 100 largest tech names, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.47% the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.22% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.07% lower.

Read: MarketWatchs snapshot of the markets

Market bears have increasingly cited the up-until-now unfettered rise of both bitcoin and tech, with the heart of the digital currency, which is based on the so-called blockchain or ledger, being rooted in the very sector that has been recently getting mauled.

As an investment, separate from other fiat currencies like the dollar DXY, -0.03% or the EURUSD, +0.0718% bitcoin has benefited from its position as a decentralized currency, which also offers commodity-like elements, similar to gold GCQ7, +0.12%

But as the asset has risen, Wall Street analysts have sounded alarm bells, with Morgan Stanley as recently as this week, making the case that the cryptocurrency, which is seen as a sort of Wild West of currencies, can justifiably rise no further until its becomes more regulated.

It is not clear why cryptocurrencies are appreciating so rapidly (apart from the appreciation itself drawing in more speculation against a potentially inefficient ability to sell), Morgan Stanley warned.

Broader acceptance so far may be a while away, given the Securities and Exchange Commission in March rejecting a pair of funds that would have been underpinned by bitcoin, citing a lack of oversight and transparency.

Bitcoin and other digital currencies, including ethereum, litecoin and others, are underpinned by the so-called blockchain, which is a peer-to-peer network, or ledger, that records and verifies transactions.

Other digital currencies have been under siege as well. Ethereum, and its currency known as ether, threatening to overtake bitcoin in market value, also experiencing a sharp daily downturn, off 10.6%, according to data from digital currency site Coindesk.com. However, over the past week, ether are up 21% and has been mounting a steady ascent.

Read: How cryptocurrency ethereum looks set to overtake bitcoinin one chart

How long this slump for bitcoin, and for that matter the broader tech sector, will last is anyones guess.

However, one bitcoin watcher, Yves Lamoureux, who also predicts that one bitcoin could be worth $25,000, is near-term bearish. He predicts that bitcoin may tumble another 22% to around $1,800.

We think Bitcoin is worth more like $1,800, according to our model at this stage, and so its time to step back and stay liquid, he said.

Brian Benner contributed to this article

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Opinion: Stay away from bitcoin it’s complete garbage – MarketWatch

Posted: at 8:52 pm

If youve ever wondered what cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, litecoin and ethereum are for, ask one of their legions of techie-libertarian fans.

And its dollars to dogecoins (yet another one) that the conversation will go something like this:

You: So whats the purpose of bitcoin?

Fan: The technology is absolutely amazing!

You: Yes, but whats it for?

Fan: Really, the blockchain technology is a total masterpiece, way ahead of its time!

You: Yes, yes, I understand that. But what is it actually for?

Fan: You dont understand! Its a completely decentralized money system! Totally revolutionary!

You: Honestly, does it have a purpose? Any purpose at all?

Fan: Its the wave of the future!

And on it will go.

$100 billion market

Cryptocurrencies, or cyber currencies, which have been in a massive financial mania until their sudden sell-off this week, have two actual uses: online gambling and money laundering. Neither is the heart of a major business model. But thats it.

And these, preposterously, are the fundamentals behind a mania that has driven these currencies up 30-fold, so that today in aggregate the market for them is a staggering $100 billion.

None of the defenders other arguments stack up.

Online currencies are hardly a store of value when they have fallen about 30% in a week.

Are they really protections against the ravages of inflation and monetary debasement imposed by wicked governments? If so, how come people who keep their money in bitcoin and ethereum and the like have experienced Weimar Republic levels of consumer price inflation just this week?

That is, after all, what it means when the price of your currency plunges. Bitcoins arent just down 30% against the dollar in the past week. Theyre down 30% against the potato, the sack of rice, the gallon of gasoline and the new car.

Pure speculation

Admittedly, before this the price of these cyber currencies had skyrocketed. Those who got in at the start of the year have turned $1 into $30. But this looks more like a speculation than a currency. And what will tomorrow bring? I have a pretty good idea how many potatoes I can buy with my dollars next week. Bitcoins? Good luck with that.

You notice, incidentally, that these bitcoiners continue to measure the market price of their beloved new currencies in terms of, er, old-fashioned U.S. dollars.

Cyber currencies may make online purchasing and international money transfers marginally more efficient in theory, but hardly in practice. Would you risk moving your money from dollars into bitcoins just to save a few percent in transaction fees? Youve seen that wiped out many times over this week just in price fluctuations.

Competition from all sides

Bitcoin, the grandaddy of them all, might at one point have claimed value as a unique entity. If it had a monopoly of the people who wanted to use a cryptocurrency so they could play online poker or finance international crime, it had some worth. Yet in the past few years, multiple competitors have erupted. There are now 25 with individual market values above $100 million, several above $1 billion. Yet all the bitcoins in the world are still valued at around $40 billion.

Fast-growing rival ethereum was worth bupkis at the start of the year. Today its valued at $31 billion, or almost 10 times as much as the company ESRT, -0.61% that owns the Empire State Building.

Preposterous? You make the call.

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