JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared victory after a tight national election appeared to give him the upper hand in forming the country's next coalition government.

In a statement released on Twitter, Netanyahu says that "against all odds" his Likud party and the nationalist camp secured a "great victory."

Initial exit polls showed Netanyahu's Likud Party deadlocked with the center-left Zionist Union.

But the results indicated that Netanyahu will have an easier time cobbling together a majority coalition with hard-line and religious allies.

Netanyahu said he had already begun to call potential partners.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150317/ml--israel-election-e781dbaf33.html

I think the sentiment is correct but the terminology is off quite a bit. What we have and what we've had for many decades now is fascism or crony corporatism expanding to where we are. The government is the vehicle that's been bought and paid for to fleece the peasants of their liberties, specifically the economic ones. Democracy is the majority deciding what's best for the minority or two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for dinner tonight. Or, a sub-division deciding that the one person on the block that has a private swimming pool is now a public pool. So basically, individual rights are subject to a vote rather than the purpose of government being to protect those individual rights. Thus, that's why the US had formed a constitutional limited republic so the minority was protected. But, the majority of the people fell asleep and the politicians, corporations and their lobbyist buddies picked the pig clean and that's where the wealth was transferred to. My way to repair that is to use bitcoin and be active in the GOP and bring more libertarianism into it cause 3rd parties can't work and the democratic party is made up of progressive drones and welfare parasites.

It's jobs in bitcoin related businesses. People that want to get bitcoin as their paycheck have to ask their employer to go through a particular route to do so and I forget what company serves that purpose off hand. So, if tech isn't your forte than this isn't for you. Also, Cali isn't a destination I'd be looking to relocate to.

I know the more well known places that take bitcoin as a payment further legitimized it when joe q public asks what's the point of having it and where can one spend it. However, unless a retailer is offering a decent sized discount for using it they aren't passing on the advantages that bitcoin offers for utilizing it above and beyond paying in fiat or on traditional plastic. Basically, we're stooges for paying with it until they offer discounts or we're just letting them get over on us and in reality, the average person using old payment systems is getting better deals as the company isn't making extra profit. This ecosystem needs and wants greater adoption rather than companies just taking our coins and dropping them at bitpay but adoption will happen faster when the family shopper is getting discounts for paying in bitcoin or paying it in a form they may not totally realize they in fact are paying with it.

I would do nothing as a measly thousand per coin isn't enough to consider cashing out for. Depending how things are going at that point in terms of services and products for sale for bitcoin, I'd probably just hang onto them and use them as needed but likely hold off til 5 figures or more.

Good on you for building personal karma by helping out those in need, specifically children. I've been doing a monthly donation to St. Jude Children's Hospital for quite a while now and have been successful getting tax deductions as well.

These online wallets need to be secure and safe for usage because very few people, when more adoption comes, will be able to nor have the expertise to hold their own keys. Lining up their 2FA should be enough secondary encryption that can and should be trusted to keep their funds secure. Just like in any freer market, reputation and credibility should be the biggest sought after virtues of any online exchange or wallet. Staying bug free in regards to security seems to be pretty good for now in the likes of Coinbase, Blockchain, Xapo and their business models seem to have been set up to prevent inside jobs from heists. The user just needs to make sure they don't fall for phishing operations. Kinda like you don't just get a voicemail from some outfit and call back with your social security or account numbers.

Congrats on a good looking project and hope it fulfills its spot in the bitcoin space. I really like the whole voting thing. I'm sure project makers will really benefit from this format.

I think I heard about the terminology of "planned tampering with evidence" in relation to this episode. Judge Napolitano was just talking about it on Fox News. The amount of disdain I have for the Clintons knows no boundaries. I really hope karma bites them in the ass for all the dirty stuff they've done and continue to do.

The numbers suggest Hillary Clinton's controversies have taken a toll on her still unannounced presidential campaign.

The Democratic former secretary of state's approval rating has repeatedly tumbled as she moves towards a seemingly inevitable 2016 White House bid. According to a CNN poll released Monday, Clinton now has her lowest favorable and highest unfavorable numbers since 2008, when she last ran for president.

The poll also shows a sharp drop in the wake of recent revelations about Clinton's exclusive use of a personal email address during her time as secretary of state.



Along with the hit from the email scandal, the numbers may illustrate something observers have long suggested about Clinton — that voters prefer her when she's not running for office.

After losing the 2008 race to now-President Barack Obama, Clinton joined his administration. Perhaps because she was able to stay above the partisan fray, her approval rating subsequently soared. Since she left office at the start of 2013, however, her support has repeatedly dropped.

Ted Cruz calls on next president to 'repudiate' Iran deal

Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) - Sen. Ted Cruz argued Monday that any potential White House candidate who's not willing to reject the emerging deal with Iran over its nuclear development is "not fit to serve" as president.

Speaking at a Politics and Eggs breakfast in New Hampshire on Monday, Cruz urged the audience to press other contenders on whether they would "be willing to repudiate" a non-Congressional approved agreement reached with Iran should they become president.

"Any candidate in my view who will not say 'yes' to that is not fit to serve as commander in chief of this country," said Texas Republican senator.
...

More...http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/16/politics/ted-cruz-iran-deal-repudiate/

And he's off: Rand Paul preps for April announcement

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul isn't waiting for the Kentucky Derby to shoot out of the starting gate.

Next month — the day after the NCAA championship game — Paul plans to announce that he is running for president in front of hundreds of supporters at Louisville's Galt House.

While Paul's team stressed that the senator might still decide against running for president, they confirmed the planned April 7 launch date, which was originally reported by The New York Times, and said invitations to the event have already been sent to supporters and Republican officials.

The event will prominently feature Kentucky in an effort to capture the historic nature of the announcement for the state. That also dovetails with the desire of Paul's budding campaign team to build a sense of state pride around his candidacy, building a foundation for the senator's presidential campaign and keeping his approval numbers aloft as he tries to run for re-election to his Senate seat simultaneously in 2016.

...

More...http://www.kentucky.com/2015/03/17/3752245_and-hes-off-rand-paul-preps-for.html?rh=1

Why libertarians who want to write off Rand Paul over the Tom Cotton letter are being shortsighted

In light of my most recent column, I thought it might be worth trying to clarify some of the points I made in this post on Rand Paul signing Tom Cotton’s Iran letter.

I agree that Paul shouldn’t have signed the letter. Even if the substance was defensible, its intent — subverting the negotiations that are the best alternative to a preventive war with Iran — was not. If the letter derails the talks and we end up with either war or a nuclear Iran, Paul and the other 46 senators should be held accountable.

But the Cotton letter is at least as likely to have no more impact than a deport Justin Bieber petition. That’s why the “red line,” to borrow a phrase from President Obama, should be the imposition of additional sanctions while negotiations are ongoing, which will mostly certainly short-circuit diplomacy. If Paul is able to help keep the negotiations going, it will outweigh his signature on the Cotton letter and even a vote for Corker-Menendez.

Lots of things are suboptimal. Kirk-Menendez and any preventive Iran AUMF are non-negotiable.

That’s why expecting Rand to “lead the non-interventionist cause” is both asking too much and too little. For better or worse, he’s not using his Senate seat and his likely presidential candidacy as platforms to educate people about his principles the way his father used his House seat and presidential candidacies. The younger Paul is trying to win elections and shape policy. He should therefore be judged by how successful he is at doing those things and whether his efforts actually improve policy from our perspective.

More...http://rare.us/story/why-libertarians-who-want-to-write-off-rand-paul-over-the-tom-cotton-letter-are-being-shortsighted/pVbQYXJSD0GWJRWE.99

Pft, this is just going to be for show and they are just going to spar for a short time which means Romney isn't going to get socked in the face or have any chance at getting knocked out. Sorry to ruin it for everyone.

Anything from VICE is good, plus any documentaries about North Korea are worth the watch. It's the closest to investigative journalism these days.

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
 
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/transparencyandopengovernment/

There must be a running joke in the white house about 'transparency' as in loling.

The point in posting this is that there's been legions of gun control legislation piling up in states and from the federal government so it's nice to see some states pushing back on the trend. I guess it takes a liberal president to rally the gun owners out of their slumber. I agree w/ your post tho^. The Bill of Rights makes it clear that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Monitoring showers at hotels seems just retarded because people are on vacation typically or on work related trips so they're likely to want to enjoy a longer shower/bath thus using more warm water. Especially if you're at a casino hotel room with palatial showers at $400+ per night, you're definitely going to get a few showers in at 10-15 mins a pop to get your money's worth.

It seems that any agency under the executive branch feels free and clear to go crazy and operate outside of their legal boundaries because by now it's clear there is no accountability anymore and no one goes to jail for not following the law. And Congress of all groups, just rolls over and abdicates their lawmaking responsibilities allowing these alphabet agencies to do what they want. The Dept of Justice is just a ruse at this point.

Well now, considering taxes can be paid in full w/ having all the details hashed out, Bitcoin is now 'officially' safe to add to one's portfolio. This was an underwhelming report to say the least. Yet, if this triggers a safety effect and helps ease more people into putting BTC into their investment lineup then so be it.