Op, but you don't have to know anything about bitcoin wallets other than: "I can send and receive bitcoin though it".
You don't have to tinker with bitcoin addresses, import/export keys, you don't need to change a fee at all, as automatic fee system works pretty good.
Bitcoin is easy to use/learn hard to master kind of invention. I can't imagine any human who used a computer before couldn't handle basic bitcoin wallet to send/receive BTC.

This story is as fake as Melania Trump's tits. Some logical errors I found:

1. You have no money and you ask for BTC? So how exactly you would use BTC to buy you a ride? I doubt that any taxi or bus driver will accept BTC.
2. You have no friends, no family and no one who could help you so you opted to create account on BTT to ask random people for a fast, no collateral loan?
3. So you are a paxful trader... with zero BTC balance? You basically sell off your whole stash of BTC last week, right?
4. If you are really in a pinch and need some money fast then use a pawn shop next time...

Op, if I were you I would worry more about possible ransomware attack than being targeted by DDOS. Using bitcoin wallet is more secure that using your bank account via webpage anyway.
For someone to get access to your bitcoins they would literally need full access to your machine, and this is not easy to achieve.
Also there is no 'bitcoin account', by that people are refeering to online wallets - which are not recommended if your main concern is security.
A SPV lightweight wallet like Electrum is better in every aspect and with its seed phrase backed on paper you will be very secure.

It was small price drop, nothing major. There are zero technical indicators that suggest that we are losing ground here.
What is happening now: market is basically stalled waiting for Trump's inauguration and potential changes it will bring.
And we have still minor panic in China as traders wait for clarification that restricting BTC is now over.

Qtum seems to be big project and it is definitely the biggest ICO of 2017 so far. I would like to see how it will shape itself further.
If everything that devs promised will be implemented we might have Ehtereum killer here.

I am still waiting to see that whitepaper, it should be released today, correct?

Trump talking directly about bitcoin will never happen during inauguration speech. Instead it will be usual mambo jumbo stuff:

*I would be the best president ever. So amazing. The absolute best. I'm a terrific person, ask anybody.
And if I become the president, I will be so good, so much better than anyone thought possible, it would blow your mind. Believe me.* - that is something Trump will say.

People are talking about potential BTC gain during Trump's presidency not because he will support BTC directly, but he might disrupt fiat markets - which will make people seek alternatives, like BTC.

Wait and see what it will be all about, don't judge before the project will be ready.
You want to know about MegaUpload2.0 more then follow Kim's twitter, he is posting updated there very frequently.

His latest tweet about MU2: https://twitter.com/KimDotcom/status/821428762705174532

This is what I fear the most - that in the future bitcoin's transaction fee will be so high that sending BTC would be more expensive than using other payment processors.
Currently standard transaction fee is ~20k satoshis (and it's growing) it is roughly $0.20 ATM. In the future BTC might be used only to send very large sum of money (hundreds of dollars equivalent or more)
Bitcoin microtrasactions will be impossible.

If bitcoin will really rise then it means bitcoin traders are sheep blindly following trends.
I read some opinions that Trump's inauguration might cause panic among dollar investors.
As they might want to turn their heads towards 'safe haven' of cryptocurrency, but seriously maybe wait for Trump to actually do something first?

As we can read in the article - "Abra charges no transfer fees to users". So what is their way of generating revenue then?
Usually it is exchange and transfer fees which generate profits for remittance provider.
Abra network will either be a killer solution making bitcoin even more popular or total flop, we need to see the specifics to decide.

I feel you Op. I too believe that bitcoin is vehicle of progress but current economic and legal framework is limiting its potential. What is especially troublesome is Chinese dominance in the trading field.
Chinese traders with closed minded approach will dump every Bitcoin at first sight of Chinese government trying to ban BTC. I don't get it, why they are so afraid? It is not like Bitcoin can be banned!
Only legally operating, centralized bitcoin satellite services can! For bitcoin it increase its value we need one thing - adoption must increase. It will eliminate central points of trading - in this case China.

Private blockchains are actually a mockery of bitcoin. Banks want to rip off blockchain tech to create nothing but glorified database.
It won't be more secure that their current servesr in the basement, but they want to have mumbo jumbo PR note to boost their credentials among general public:
"Look we have this new tech, taken from bitcoin, it is impenetrable to attacks." In the meantime they won't give bitcoin a single credit.

Crash of 2013 wasn't caused by inexperience of traders. It was caused by Mt.Gox collapse (among other things).
We all know that during ATH Mt.Gox was already out of commission and wasn't processing selling orders at all.
Soon after that price of BTC collapsed.

So, basically IRS forced the law (is is even possible to do something like that without wide consensus of other financial institutions?) that benefit the state (in terms of collecting more taxes from Bitcoin users) more.
I thought that US Treasury classified bitcoin as virtual currency in 2013, also bitcoin was categorized as  such by various courts - i.e. Texas US District Court.
Amazing how paper pushers can be so two-faced and label bitcoin as currency and commodity at the same time.

I am no denying that Libya & Syria are war torn countries unfit for having normal life... but why all these refugees instead of seeking help from very rich Muslim countries - like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia are fleeing to Europe? Which is far more exotic place for them? Aren't most of them Muslims, raised in similar environment and living by the same laws as their Muslim brethren?

I am not surprised, in fact I am shocked that we have no more stories about CIA dirty operations floating around.
CIA is really good at silencing, killing and destroying every agent who manifest even slight symptoms of having doubts.
I am sure that the amount of false flag operations, crimes, murders, drug trafficking, framing people, that CIA done since its inception is far worse that evil deeds of any organized crime syndicate on earth.

This time crash was created not by market collapsing under pressure of but rather was created by bad news of imminent bitcoin ban/harsh regulations issued by China.
We have no idea where this pump would end (I assume we would reach new ATH this time) if it wasn't abruptly ended by exaggerated rumors.

Realistically speaking, how many people would cheat and steal from their local grocery store by exploiting double spending?
Because I don't think it will be that much of a problem at all. There is impossible to collect data about double spending done in brick and mortar shops, unfortunately.

Bitcoin is a way to achieve economic freedom, but what is puzzling is the stance of many bitcoiners.
They believe that bitcoin to achieve full potential needs to be regulated and be subject to government jurisdiction.
There is high risk that even with all bitcoin's decentralization government intervention in the bitcoin industry is a matter of time - just wait for bitcoin to get bigger.
We can see (last dump is a proof) that Chinese investors would dump all their coins if China decided to ban BTC.

Whale dumps that happned 2 weeks ago was the result of FUD, chinese traded were convinced that exchange regulations will be tougher, to the point of possible bitcoin ban.
Nothing like this happened, exchanges were warned, promised to use AML/KYC policies and that was it. I don't see a reason for any long position liquidation now.