DOJ Says No Need For Special Prosecutor In IRS Scandal… A top Justice Department official on Thursday brushed aside GOP requests for a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s treatment of Tea Party groups, saying the evidence didn’t warrant such a appointment. “It is very, very rare to use a special prosecutor,” Deputy Attorney General James Cole told a House Oversight subcommittee, adding that he and Attorney General Eric Holder determined the IRS case “didn’t meet any sort of standard to warrant a special prosecutor.” Cole tried to assure Republicans at a House hearing that his department was taking seriously a criminal investigation that a host of GOP lawmakers have accused of being shoddy. Cole stressed that the department had made no final decisions about whether anyone — including former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner — would be charged with a crime as a result of their investigation. News reports have suggested that Justice and the FBI had already determined that no charges would be filed. http://thehill.com/policy/finance/212559-justice-no-need-for-irs-special-prosecutor I think this is basically the Obama administration saying that since they benefited from (and likely was behind) this scandal, they are not going to prosecute anyone at the IRS for their illegal activity. |
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Some exchanges are verified because of an audit but as you know some of them can close when they want unpredictably.
I don't trust any of these audits. From what I can tell, none of them have been carried out in a manner that proves current possession of assets to cover all liabilities. The New York regulations are going to try to change this. The goal of the regulations is to get it so exchanges must prove that they have enough bitcoin to cover all of their customers' bitcoin and fiat deposits. |
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Just as a curiosity why won't Israel just let the Palestine trade normally with other countries Besides the need of occupation and what not Hama's one demand seems fairly reasonable. End the Gaza Blockade http://metronews.ca/news/world/1102661/hamas-leader-demands-end-to-gaza-blockade/“We cannot go back, we cannot go back to the silent death” of the blockade, he said. “Gaza has decided to end the blockade by its blood and by its courage.” Israel allows many consumer goods into Gaza, but experts say Gaza’s economy cannot recover without a resumption of exports. To me it sounds like a silent death, death by economic if not by military means. Because they don't trade normally. The reason the Israeli blockade even started was because they used to import a lot of rockets and various other weapons that they would later shot towards Israeli civilians - a basic question you didn't even ask. The Egyptians also got their border with gaza closed for a good reason (they used to send terrorists into Egypt - and still do). More so, Israel allows for goods to go into gaza so long as they inspect it, which hardly sounds like a silent death. Instead of using the hundred of millions of dollars they are getting annually from various countries (and that's more than enough to sustain their people with 0 actual economy) to build a better life for their citizens, they use it to build tunnels that go into Israel, build rockets and create hideout for their weapons. Yeah, totally reasonable. I agree that Israel is doing what it is doing only so it can defend itself. It is also simply trying to be able to have it's people be able to live in it's holy land while gaza is not special to Hammas in any way. |
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The profit is very big
Example (BTC-E) :
1 month fee : 3.542 * 30 * 615 USD = 65349 USD
I see no mistake in the calculation; but that is the revenue, not profit. Considering that they have to pay salaries an other expenses, the profit from fees may be ratehr modest. I agree, I think that much of most exchanges' revenue is paid on salaries of their employees. I think that most exchanges need to have a lot of AML employees to verify their customers' identities and to monitor accounts for suspicious activity. |
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Remember that the prices and trading done at one exchange will affect the trading at other exchanges. If the price in bitfinex goes too far below the prices on other exchanges then people will buy on bitfinex and sell on BTC-e for example, attempting to arbitrage, this would create liquidity on bitfinex and cause prices to fall on other exchanges.
sure, but arbitrage takes time. in this case, you'd have to sell on BTC-E, wire out fiat, wire it into Bitfinex, then buy. that sort of arbitrage is very risky to attempt in a fast-moving market like bitcoin. If you already have fiat at an exchange then you would not need to wait for the banking system, this could be done after the fact. This kind of arbitrage could potentially work like this: 1 - You already have 1 BTC at BTC-e and $630 at bitfinex (for this example we will say that bitcoin is trading at $630) 2 - The price on bitfinex declines 15% to $535.50 so you sell your 1 BTC on BTC-e for $630, and spend the $630 that you already have on BTC-e on ~1.176 BTC. 3 - You withdraw your 1.176 BTC from bitfinex and eventually deposit it back to BTC-e. 4 - Once you see that bitfinex is not going to try to roll back trades you withdraw fiat from BTC-e, and redeposit it at bitfinex |
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Getting harder to cash out large sum of bitcoin as all exchanges are now regulated.
Local Bitcoins then? LBC sellers are technically suppose to comply with AML regulations, although many of them do not do so. You would probably need to sell over several trades if you wanted to cash out a large amount. LBC users are in no way at all required to comply with AML regs any more than the seller of a used car is required to do so. I have read news reports that LE has charged LBC sellers with AML violations when they sold to people who we're claiming to be using the bitcoin for illegal purposes Fine. Where's the beef? Show us the links! And please tell us just how a transaction which might appear to be illegal on it scae compares with a perfectly legal transaction between two ordinary citizens. oh It's "were" not "we're".  I have seen the report to. It was in Miami, this guy was charging 30%+ markup on trades to people. An undercover cop told the seller that he was going to use the bitcoin for illegal purposes and he was arrested for violating AML laws. I have also seen on the FinCen website that anyone who transmits any amount of financial instruments must follow AML laws. Should be wary of buyer paying 30% premium. It was the seller asking for these kinds of premiums. IMO the seller was targeting people who were trying to use bitcoin for illegal purposes and wanted to stay "under the radar" IMO whenever you are making this kind of markup in an efficient market, you are almost certainly doing something that you shouldn't be doing. |
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Four days later....and after fundraising. Pathetic! Obama demands access to crash site, cooperation from Russia (RNN/CNN) - Some of the bodies recovered from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 are on a refrigerated train, on their way back to their loved ones. This comes after President Barack Obama demanded to the Russian-back separatist to allow investigators on the ground access to the crash site to allow those who died to rest with dignity and be reunited with their loved ones. "Time is of the essence - our friends and allies need to be able to recover those who are lost - that what decency demands," Obama said from the White House Rose Garden. The president also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government to use its influence over the pro-Russian rebels to allow investigators to the crash site. The president also expressed anger that bodies were being moved "without the care and dignity one would expect in a tragedy like this." http://www.wtvm.com/story/26062346/obama-demands-access-to-crash-site-cooperation-from-russiaToo bad obama didn't make the same demands regarding the Benghazi compound, but then again since he called the Libyan president at liar for saying it was a terrorist attack I guess obama didn't have any pull. And given that he lied about the Benghazi attack and covered up the facts its kind of hard to believe that Russia or putin views his demands with any credibility especially after the obama admin responded to the IRS investigation with the childish lie that the "server ate every email the investigators are interested in". Not just once but a second time when the fired fec employees email was requested as grounds for fed charges. His demands are not serious in this case, so making the same demands with Benghazi would not change anything. The issue with Obama in Benghazi is that he was basically asleep at the wheel and he did not protect the compound when it could have been saved and Obama is trying to cover up this fact. |
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Thanks for continuing to follow this story and post about it. If the IRS can target these groups under a Democratic leader, they can target the opposite groups under a Republican one. Imagine the Koch brothers calling the shots on who gets targeted. I hope more people wake up to what a potential disaster this is.
Agreed. Any Americans should be upset when any government office is used to target groups due to political, religious, or social affiliation. All you need to do is buy the White House and control the AG. Then just let the funding control everything else. This is why Congress is trying so hard to find a link to the White House. If it can be proven that Obama had anything to do with the targeting of conservative groups then he would likely be impeached and a special prosecutor would likely be appointed to prosecute anyone who has broken the law. This is also why it is important to prosecute those at the IRS who broke the law, even low level employees who "were just following orders" as even these people have the right to ask questions when their direction is to do something illegal. Criminals don't really care about the law. If a point is made to prosecute those who have broken the law then it would serve as a deterrent to others in the future. Read up on Chicago politics and corruption. Then reflect that is what has been placed in Washington DC. The very first thing they did was break the system that could punish them. President Obama is from Chicago. Is this related? I think so |
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I've been writing all my passwords down in a little book for the past 13 years. Amazingly, it's never been hacked into. Seriously, it's the best solution. If i lost the book, which doesn't seem likely, I guess I'd just reset the passwords.
I think this is very risky. If your "password book" were to get stolen, not only would all your accounts get hacked, but you would not have access to any of your accounts that an attacker doesn't think are worth his time. |
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Even if it benefits Bitcoin im scared. Also, in such a dangerious enviorment, would Bitcoin be even accepted? In total chaos the guy with weapons and food is the guy that rules  Alas this.. when things go bad the hired armies of the gov (the police) will come to steal EVERYTHING you own.. EVERYTHING including crypto. If you do not have the means or people to defend yourself you will be killed and everything taken, or enslaved and everything taken... Things are just not looking good at all.. I have cop friends.. they are 100% brainwashed. If asked to go wipe out a city there will be no question just action. It's rather obvious the gun agenda with a massive decrease in gun violence over the past 15 years but the media going on about how bad it's getting and how we HAVE to fix this issue that is getting worse.. when it's getting better... :S.. In my country you'll face years in prison if you are found with a baton... hopefully I can escape south if/when the time comes. In the event of a real collapse there won't be a government to oppress, nor will there be an internet to run bitcoin. There will be starvation, disease, and power will be in the hands of those willing to take it. Only food and a few basic goods will have any value. Let's hope it does not come to that. I don't think this would be true. The infrastructure of the internet would still be there no matter how badly a economy performs. It is not very expensive to run the internet's infrastructure. |
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Nothing is wrong with training kids on how to deal with guns. They will all join the army one day so better start when their young. I dont see us putting our kids in suicide vests and lets be honest. Hamas is no army, they are a terrorist group. Huge difference.
This is very wrong! If you train your country's children how to use guns and shoot the enemy then you will eventually have the children actually act as the military and attack your enemies. Most armys would hesitate to shoot at a child even if the child is putting the men in the army in danger. |
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If Putin die of natural causes, then the next president can be more EU-friendly... or not.
If Putin gets murdered by Ukrainians that would mean a war, and Ukraine can't stand a war with Russia. That would be suicide!
With their leader gone you really think there would be a war, especially if EU promises Russia money and land & Ukraine claims its an accident? The EU would supposedly be nice to Russia to compensate it, perhaps even giving Russia claim to some of Ukraine, in the meantime making Russia more dependent on Europe just as their original goal was for Ukraine. Give land to Russia?! That's like bring water to the ocean or sand to the desert! It's already the World's biggest country. Russia is a major World player, not some small feudal corner of Earth. Russia can't be played that way, and Russians are miles away from being a dumb people. Still, this Russia vs Europe is in a way senseless, Russia IS part of Europe too. If they don't care about land, then why did they want Ukraine so bad?> The Ukraine would allow Russia to have a greater military advantage over Eastern Europe and there are major trade routes via sea that border the Ukraine. Controlling Ukraine would allow Russia to control these routes. |
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Sounds interesting. I just tuned into the 3rd largest radio show here in America and the host (Michael Savage) was just scraping the surface on this. Isn't it quite helpful to Obama and the warmongerers that immigration and its related problems is completely off the map and now the focus can turned towards Russia? Immigration became the biggest issue in America recently and Obama's approval numbers were in the gutter and now this.. What would Russia stand to gain if they knowingly or unknowingly shot down a civilian aircraft? Nothing in the international community's eyes. Ukraine easily stands to gain as would any western intelligence agency trying to put Russia in a bind.
The Ukraine may have something to gain if they were trying to make it look like that Russia was behind this (they would likely get additional international assistance). Russia would have the same advantage if they were behind it and they were trying to make it look like that the Ukraine was trying to make it look like Russia did it. I personally think that Russia was behind this as they have been the aggressor in much of this conflict and this appears to be an act of aggression. I am not entirely sure what they would be trying to achieve by shooting down a civilian aircraft however. |
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This will be the heck of a mess to sort out! First of my condolences to the victims and their families. For economical and political consequences; The first issue will be Schipol Airport, it will have a hard time to recover customers to Asia. Most of the passengers will prefer to be re-routed by South, which may cost NL a lot. The RU-EU relations aren't already that good, if it comes to be shot by Russian SAMs it can be the last drop to put up the Iron Curtain back in place. Just wonder who was the jackboot that sent that commercial plane down!... Russia, I'm going to sit on the fence with this one and wait for an investigation. Incidents like this in a war zone tend to be PR cannon fodder that everyone tries to capitalize on immediately without solid evidence which creates a lot of rumors and bad intel. there are reports that the AFP have seen such missiles in rebels control previously, but is that a rumor spawned by this incident or reliable? Who knows. Certainly not me. If Ukraine operates these weapons systems as well, could the pro-Russian separatists have stolen one of them and used it? Both the Ukraine and Russia have the military ability to shoot down a airplane flying at the altitude the place was likely flying at. The Ukraine would need to be insane to try something like this as it would not go over well with the US and the west who they desperately need help from in defending themselves. That only leaves Russia as the potential culprit. From what I have read in the media, these Surface to Air missiles are not something that can be operated without extensive training and there are several pieces of equipment that must be used in order for SAMs to operate. |
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There is no need to trust anyone with bitcoin and that is one of it's most important features. In fact in the early days I think I remember Satoshi referring to his idea as "trust-less cash" rather than bitcoin.
Any additional layers in the bitcoin economy that rely on trust are unnecessary. And that is why I think this article has it wrong. I would not use bitcoin if it required trust. This website may not understand my position as their business (gold sales) relies heavily on trust. When I buy bulk gold I have to go through a whole process of having the gold assayed and tested. When a bitcoin arrives in my wallet the transaction is over and I can be confident that it is authentic. Trust is not wanted or needed in bitcoin.
Again, you still have to trust the miners and the network that no one has 51% hashrate to double spend and invalidate that transaction. You can audit the network to some degree to check to see if anyone potentially controls 51% of the hashrate, and can see if someone is carrying out this kind of attack. The miners have incentives not to attempt to attack the network as if they only have a minority of the hashrate any attack would be expensive to attempt and would likely fail. |
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That is amazing that you are able to do that. Unfortunately my bills far exceed the extra cash I have laying around to buy extra btc. Way to go though man you are well on your way to having a fat wallet. Best of luck
I agree that most people don't have this much income that they can save 50% of their total income. I think it is a great idea to automatically save x% of your income in bitcoin, I would just suggest not to put all of your savings in bitcoin. |
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They think bitcoin acceptance alone will be enough to attract the bitcoiners. Some even make more expensive to buy with bitcoins.
But there are some that offers discounts for payments with bitcoins, but they don't are the majority.
the ons offering discounts are those that hoard bitcoins for investment. overstock for instance hoards their coins as they can afford to.. but merchants that simply cash out 100% cant afford to offer a discount as that will cost them more then just doing credit cards. so DO NOT!!! expect all merchants to offer discounts. wait for them to realise the investment potential of hoarding, and they MAY offer discounts Merchants could simply offer a discount that is lower then the cost of accepting credit cards. To the OP, AFAIK most credit card companies have agreements with their merchants that prevent the merchants from charging a different prices for the same goods regardless if the customer is going to pay with a credit card. |
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200.3 c 2 is nice and clear:
(c) Exemption from licensing requirements. The following Persons are exempt from the licensing requirements otherwise applicable under this Part:
...
(2) merchants and consumers that utilize Virtual Currency solely for the purchase or sale of goods or services
This is great at it gives businesses more certainty regarding AML and other reporting requirements. It makes things very black and white. |
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I wonder if Bitcoin could be updated to use public user IDs on the block chain. For example Twitter usernames. Then the need for private Bitcoin addresses is removed and the bitcoins always securely stored on the block chain with the unencrypted usernames.
As for anonymity, simply choose a Twitter username like @AnonBitcoinUser.
A) not going to happen. B) would be bad for anonymity because now you have 1 username for many addresses C) for what purpose/benefit? I agree that this would make no sense. It would also make it so that the block chain would not be secured cryptographically but rather with some central authority that houses all of the passwords. |
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Judges and juries are the only ones who have the authority to make legal conclusions. If the jury thinks that the facts show that the buyer knew the items were purchased with stolen credit cards then it would find him guilty.
Before it gets to that point a prosecutor has to judge whether it is even worth the bother, and I wouldn't think it would progress past that point. Unless you think everyone who gets a good deal selling something on Ebay should be taken to court just in case of wrongdoing, for example. I make a wishlist on Amazon. I share it on Purse, with a discount I'm seeking from people who want to buy BTC with a credit card. An anonymous bidder accepts my offer. When the item(s) arrive I Confirm Delivery on Purse and the BTC transfers. How could a judge or jury or prosecutor think from that sequence of events that the BTC holder "knowingly" was a party to criminal activity? Might as well just arrest anyone with cash in their pockets, all bankers, etc., because their cash might once have been involved in a crime. As I already stated, I will do my best to report any confession of illegal activity by a bidder for BTC (unlikely as that may be). I've also brought up this whole issue with Purse (including a link to this thread); I'll share what response I get if any. What if the prosecutor were to think that you were the anonymous bidder who is simply trying to hide your tracks by used purse to use a stolen credit card? |
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