In a frightening sign of how even the youngest of children can now be exploited by gender-confused fanatics, six-year-old Devina Keswani—originally named Dev and born male but now assuming the role of female—is starring in a new web series created for People.com: The Keswanis: A Most Modern Family.
Month: October 2015
NBC’s Engel: Troops In Syria ‘Are Going To Be Involved In Combat’
NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel stated that the US troops who will be sent to Syria “are going to be involved in combat” on Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Hardball.” Engel said, “These troops are going to be involved in combat. They’re — every military analyst I’ve spoken to agrees with that. They’re going to be in harm’s way. People are going to be looking for them and trying to kill them. They’re going to be going out on missions. Even Pentagon officials say that, yes, they will be advising, but they could also be partnering on missions that other special operations forces, other than the 50 that were announced today, will be going out and engaged in unilateral direct action. So, to — the idea that these troops are going to be in Syria, partnered with a militia group that is fighting, in very close quarters, against ISIS. They will be armed. They will have air support above them. I don’t know how that could be described as anything but combat. The White House press secretary today was describing how it’s not like Iraq in 2003. No, it’s not. There’s not going to be 100,000 troops in tanks
Gov. Andrew Cuomo Joins Push to Hold Gun Sellers Liable for Misuse of Guns
On October 30, the New York Times reported that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) is joining the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence’s push to hold gun sellers liable for the misuse of guns.
RNC Chairman Priebus: CNBC ‘Betrayed’ Us and the Candidates
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declared that CNBC “betrayed” both the RNC and the candidates on Friday’s “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” on the Fox News Channel. Priebus said, “the truth is is that we were betrayed, and I think the candidates were betrayed by CNBC, and we need to look out for the candidates in these future debates. But the truth is is that what they promised was straight up finance, it’s all spelled out you there in the letter, and that wasn’t delivered. They promised that they would have an open-ended question up front kind of like a pseudo-opening statement about freedom or finance, something that was within the realm of CNBC’s mission, that didn’t happen. Instead it was about your greatest weakness. The questions were argumentative, petty, putdowns in many cases, purposely pitting candidates against each other. Everything that they promised not to do, everything, from the beginning to the end. And so, look, CNBC is an arm of NBC. I am not going to allow us to move forward until we communicate with the candidates, getting obviously, some serious conversations of what it is that all of the candidates can agree on, and then take
Clapper: ‘Moderate Confidence’ We Can Monitor Iran’s Compliance With Nuclear Deal
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he has “moderate confidence” the US can monitor Iran’s compliance with the nuclear agreement in an interview with CNN aired on Friday’s “Situation Room.” Clapper was asked, “With regard to Iran, why does the intelligence community have confidence it could track Iran’s nuclear program in light of past failures, for instance with India’s and Pakistan’s? Why the confidence now?” He answered, “Well, let me see, the confidence. We were required by the Congress to provide a rather detailed assessment, rather classified assessment of exactly what we could and couldn’t do. We were very conservative in that assessment. So yes, there are some things we can do pretty well, but we also knowledge that there are other things like plans and intentions of the leadership that have been difficult with Iran anyway and will continue to be. So, I’d say we have moderate confidence that we can monitor compliance with the agreement.” Clapper added, “it depends on what the issue is. And i’m just giving you a kind of an overall summery, some areas we’re — we think are quite high, and others not so much. and it depends … the iranians and we’ve
It’s Much Too Soon to Regulate Bitcoin, Says Deloitte Exec
Jon Watts, director of enterprise services at Deloitte, has weighed in on Bitcoin regulatory issues with clear and cogent arguments. Watts’ thesis is that Bitcoin is at the crossroads, and the race to regulate it could be happening much too soon.
Deloitte is a professional services firm headquartered in New York. Considered one of the Big Four auditory firms along with PwC, Ernst & Young, and KPMG, Deloitte is the second-largest professional services network in the world by revenue and largest by the number of professionals. The company provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services with more than 200,000 professionals in more than 150 countries.
Watts, based in the New York office, is a core member of Deloitte’s Capital Markets Technology practice and a national leader of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) service offering. The reputation of Deloitte should ensure that Watts’ advice on Bitcoin regulation is taken into account by regulators and policymakers.
“The Bitcoin ‘blockchain’ is a fundamental breakthrough in computer science that solves what seemed to be an unsolvable problem: how to ensure that a digital transaction happens only once,” notes Watts. “Yet there is a critical question that is hanging over Bitcoin, potentially slowing the pace of innovation, and adoption, i.e., how will Bitcoin be regulated?”
Watts argues that global policymakers and regulators should consider giving Bitcoin more time to develop before insisting on regulation. Other key technology innovation such as the telephone, airplanes, radio, mobile phones, and the Internet, were given much more time to develop before coming under serious regulatory supervision.
“In fact, serious efforts to regulate disruptive technologies have traditionally been a function of the technology achieving mass adoption,” says Watts. Overwhelming regulatory supervision of Bitcoin is happening much too soon, only six years into the development of Bitcoin and “a long way away from the time it has typically taken for new technologies to achieve mass adoption in the past.”
In fact, Bitcoin is still very far from mass adoption, and represents but a very small fraction of the global economy. Though Bitcoin is all over the press – albeit often with shallow and sensationalist coverage – and venture capital investments in the Bitcoin space are taking off, only a tiny minority of people own bitcoin and use it to pay for goods and services.
“The highest daily dollar volume for Bitcoin transactions globally in February 2015 was less than $57 million, which is less than 1 percent of the average daily transaction volume for credit card platforms as measured in 2012,”notes Watts. Therefore, Bitcoin adoption is not yet skyrocketing with such a disruptive speed to warrant panic regulatory interventions.
Another important argument is that we could be still very far from real products that can generate true demand for Bitcoin-related services from mainstream consumers. In fact, Bitcoin’s most valuable and important uses may have yet to be invented. Watts notes that Bitcoin is much more than just digital money – its real value is the ability of blockchain technology to establish trust between parties who don’t know each other.
That, Watts notes, may very well change how people live and interact. “Bitcoin is likely to follow a path where one innovation leads to another and ultimately, the very products, services, and capabilities that were once difficult or impossible to imagine, become necessities in our daily lives,” he said.
Watts worries that policymakers and regulators, in looking to protect the public from all of the bad outcomes we might anticipate today, could “end up stifling the myriad (as yet) unimaginable capabilities that could potentially change the world for the better.”
His concluding recommendation is that American industry groups, policymakers and regulators should collaborate and consider whether the United States should be the country that provides the most supportive environment for Bitcoin-related innovation.
The post It’s Much Too Soon to Regulate Bitcoin, Says Deloitte Exec appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.
Ben Affleck Had Hillary’s Private Email Address–and Ambassador Chris Stevens Didn’t
Ben Affleck sent an email to Hillary Clinton’s private email server during her tenure at the State Department, an email released on Friday by the agency revealed.
Health Dept. Finds ‘Patient Zero’ in Shigella Outbreak
The Santa Clara Health Department has narrowed down the search for the source of a shigella (shigellosis) outbreak that sickened nearly 200 people who dined at a San Jose Mexican seafood restaurant between October 16 and 17. “It’s quite likely that will never be able to exactly pinpoint the person who was the source of the outbreak, although we do believe that one of the food handlers in the restaurant was the source for the shigella,” Dr. George Han with the Santa Clara Health Department told local KSBW News. The incident took place at Marisco’s #3 and one of the employees tested positive for shigella although, they do not believe that person is the source of the outbreak, as they were also infected by eating the same food that sickened the others. KSBW notes that the person who did contaminate the food has not yet been found. Three lawsuits have been filed against the owners of the restaurant so far. More lawsuits are reportedly expected. Shigella symptoms include extreme abdominal pain, high fever, nausea, vomiting, and watery stool. In some cases blood, mucus or pus might be present in the stool. Signs and symptoms of this highly-contagious bacterial infection could start
Watch Your Back: ‘Hitman’ Gives Agent 47 a New Lease on Death
Io-Interactive is getting ready to reboot Hitman, its most iconic franchise, except it isn’t really a reboot.
Bruce Fenton: Blockchain Alliance is a Profoundly Bad Idea
It was announced earlier this week that a significant group of prominent Bitcoin companies, individuals and institutions have united in a “Blockchain Alliance.” This alliance will serve as a resource for law enforcement to help combat criminal activity involving bitcoin and the blockchain, and has so far engaged with the Department of Justice (including the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service), the U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
However, the Blockchain Alliance was not welcomed by the entire community.
One of the fiercest opponents of the initiative has been Bitcoin Foundation Executive Director Bruce Fenton. Shortly after the Blockchain Alliance was announced, Fenton took to Internet forums and Twitter to voice his concern about the industry’s outreach to law enforcement.
Speaking toBitcoin Magazine , Fenton explained why:
Bitcoin’s relative anonymity has obviously led to it being used for criminal purposes. Don’t you consider that a problem that needs solving?
First off, I challenge the notion that the American government has an absolute and irrefutable right to know all financial information and private records of every person within our borders. This is a relatively new idea, and it’s a very bad one. Some things are just not their business, and the fact that I’m a little afraid to say that out loud shows how sad our current state is.
As for criminal activity, note that something being a crime is not always a measure of morality. In some countries right now being gay is a criminal act. Even in the United States we once had segregation mandated by law. “Aiding a runaway slave” was once a crime… Would we have wanted to “partner with law enforcement” to track the blockchain for purchases made by escaped slaves?
Today we have laws related to asset forfeiture and federal prosecution of crimes which voters in states decided to decriminalize. These are actions by law enforcement that many citizens feel are immoral.
But Bitcoin can also be used for criminal purposes that we probably all agree are undesirable. Extortion comes to mind.
Sure, Bitcoin makes some bad things easier to do — just as do shoes, phones and the Internet. But it’s unwise to punish technology and innovation rather than the actual harmful actors.
The Blockchain Alliance is established exactly to help law enforcers make this distinction…
But taking care of these bad actors is the responsibility of the law enforcers, not that of the innovations or the industry. Cars make it far easier for criminals to escape than by foot, but the technology of the motor vehicle and its industry has no responsibility for this.
The job of innovators is to innovate, not to catch those whom the state deems criminal. The job of law enforcement is to deal with new technology as best they can without harming or interfering in the lives of peaceful people who have harmed no other.
The Blockchain Alliance has no intention to conduct blockchain analysis, blacklisting, or anything like that. It’s just a forum where law enforcement can ask questions. Why do you consider this such a big deal?
Would the Blockchain Alliance be willing to put in writing a set of conditions under which they would break off ties with law enforcement? If not, then their stated intent is worthless.
Essentially every time any industry has had experiences with government which turned out to be destructive, it started with good intent. The Bitcoin community’s engagement with the New York Department of Financial Services, and the resulting BitLicense, is actually a good example of that.
These government organizations have poor track records and continually seek to expand authority. We even have blatant violations of the Constitution such as those of the NSA exposed by Edward Snowden. The very same agencies who seek to capture Snowden are now partners of the Blockchain Alliance…
Law enforcement will, eventually, figure Bitcoin out with or without the Bitcoin Alliance. Why not help them in the process, and build up some goodwill among regulators?
The job of law enforcement is not to figure new things out, not to be our friend, not to determine right or wrong, nor even to craft new laws or listen to logic — but to follow orders. Even if these orders flow from protectionist laws created by corrupt bureaucrats. And even if the banks and other special interests push for laws giving them a further competitive advantage over Bitcoin.
What about Bitcoin’s image problem? Bitcoin is often seen as the currency for criminals, at least among many regulators…
We seem to forget that this is our country. The regulators are supposed to work for us. I challenge the notion that they are “serving the public” here, unless they can produce evidence that a large number of public citizens are concerned about Bitcoin technology. They aren’t. No college students and grandmothers are lining up outside the doors of elected officials telling them that something must be done about “the scary blockchain.” Citizens are much more concerned about jobs, innovation and a competitive economy.
I believe we should first and foremost educate the public. Aside from educating citizens, we can also spend some effort educating lawmakers, preferably elected ones with some accountability rather than the unelected (Benjamin) Lawsky types.
But most importantly, we should take a page from the playbook of Uber and build something that’s loved by millions… then when the fat wrinkled hands of bureaucrats are raised with a signal to stop, the public collectively shrugs and ignores them.
As Bitcoin becomes more popular, not in the least among criminals, the trend of more and stricter regulation will probably continue. If you care about privacy, fungibility, censorship resistance, and these sorts of things, wouldn’t it make sense to focus on protocol-level solutions, rather than to fight regulation and law enforcement?
Definitely. The ultimate solutions are those of a technical nature. My goal in speaking about this is not to fight law enforcement or even regulation… but to simply question why it could make sense to work so hard to help law enforcement with a dubious mission.
I respect the members of that group a lot, many are good friends. I hope I’m wrong and it turns out great. Meanwhile, let’s all work together to build something amazing that changes our world for the better.
Photo Office of Public Affairs / Flickr (CC)
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