What the WordPress Announcement Means for Bitcoin

Erik Voorhees: Yesterday’s announcement came as a shock, even to us. WordPress, the 22^nd most visited website on the entire interwebs, is now accepting Bitcoin.

This is very big news (press listed below), and arguably the most important single event thus far in Bitcoin’s history. Yet, the significance does not derive from the fact that WordPress is so massive. Rather, the announcement is significant because of the reasoning behind the decision. WordPress “gets it” – they understand the true importance of the Bitcoin system (hint: it’s not the near-zero fees).
From the announcement:

“PayPal alone blocks access from over 60 countries, and many credit card companies have similar restrictions. Some are blocked for political reasons, some because of higher fraud rates, and some for other financial reasons. Whatever the reason, we don’t think an individual blogger from Haiti, Ethiopia, or Kenya should have diminished access to the blogosphere because of payment issues they can’t control. Our goal is to enable people, not block them.”

My heart skipped a beat when I read that. They get it.
Stated simply, WordPress recognizes that Bitcoin offers something that no other payment system can – a means of payment by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose. Bitcoin has no Terms of Service.  As WordPress explains, “Merchants who accept Bitcoin payments can do business with anyone.”
Bitcoin is money without prejudice.

Jim Sinclair: All Hell is About to Break Loose!

The Doc: The legendary Jim Sinclair sent an email alert to subscribers tonight, warning that all hell is about to break loose in the form of currency induced cost push inflation.  Sinclair warns that the dollar index is headed towards .72 before crashing through long term support, gold is headed to $3,500 and beyond, and that the Fed will print to infinity to prevent a collapse of the Eurozone.
Sinclair’s full alert below:
From Jim Sinclair:

Gold will trade at $3500 and beyond. The US dollar will test USDX .7200 before heading lower.

Whatever is required, be it time or money, the Euro nations will get. The Fed will, via swaps, backstop the euro. QE will go to infinity both here and there.

The Chinese have publicly said when the gold market takes a hit they will be buying.

Calm down. Emotions are being run by machines, HFT and nerds who hide behind their computer. They will not win.

All hell is going to break lose, and its name is Currency Induced Cost Push Inflation.

Good News: Get ready for a fresh slide in British house prices

By Matthew Partridge: You’ve probably noticed by now that we think British house prices are still too expensive.
Prices have fallen in many regions, and by and large are still well down on their pre-crash peak.
But with the Bank of England keeping the market artificially propped up with low interest rates, house prices are still well out of line with incomes. 

Nowhere is this clearer than in London. Property prices in the capital are in many areas back to their peak prices, or even higher.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. No sector of the economy has benefited more from bailouts and quantitative easing (QE) than the City. Banks have been shielded from much of the economic pain as bonuses continued to flow.
But times are changing. Life is getting much tougher for the banks. And that could trigger a long-awaited correction in London property.

As the City is squeezed, expect London property prices to fall

It seems that the pain being suffered by the ‘real’ economy is finally starting to make itself felt in the financial industry. Investment bank UBS recently announced it will cut 10,000 jobs worldwide, many of them in London. And this is only the start.

Defending the indefensible

By Charles Horton: The events surrounding hurricane Sandy have provided an excellent opportunity to learn some basic economic truths. The officials of states hammered by the hurricane flooded the airwaves and newspapers with warnings to those who would increase their prices, always referring to them as price gougers.

“Our office has zero tolerance for price gouging,” was the official report from New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“We’re warning price gougers, don’t use a crisis as an excuse to make an unfair profit off of consumers,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said.

It was hardly surprising to hear New Jersey Governor Chris Christie issue a blunt warning to merchants that price gouging is illegal and brings harsh penalties. “During emergencies, New Jerseyans should look out for each other,” Christie said.

The chorus of warnings sent the message loud and clear. Don’t get caught taking advantage of your fellow citizen by charging more than you should due to his misfortune or we will come down on you hard.

But, are those who raise their prices really committing an immoral act? Are they taking advantage of their fellow citizens, or are they just being demonized to shift attention away from hapless government officials who are unable to bring needed commodities to the marketplace?

I say these people should be exalted for their determined efforts to serve their fellow man. If anyone is to be demonized, it is the politicians whose blather about gouging actually slows the delivery of vital commodities. If you disagree with me, please keep reading as I defend the price gouger.

Nowhere to hide from Napalm!: Israeli bombs 'rain down' on defenseless Gaza civilians

In heavily populated Gaza scores of civilians have been killed or injured in the latest attacks by Israeli forces. Human rights activists report from its largest hospital that some of the injuries are 


“consistent with the use of white phosphorous”. Source

Time for Palestine - Update: 1.31 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE SIGNED AND RISING!

As airstrikes pound and rockets are launched, amazingly a Palestinian bid to the UN could pave the way to lasting peace. The US and Israel are furiously lobbying to crush the bid for a state. But the UK is still on the fence, and EU Foreign Ministers meet in four days. Our voices, and a massive flag in the heart of Brussels, can persuade our government to vote 'yes'. Join the urgent call for peace and freedom:

As bombs rain down on Gaza, Palestinians and Israelis are on the brink of another cycle of violence and vengeance. But, right now, the Palestinian Authority is preparing a bid to the UN that could be the best chance for peace. Let's help them win it.

While people in southern Israel live in fear of rocket fire, the Gazan people live under siege, imprisoned in a tiny stretch of land. And in the West Bank people are driven from their lands by illegal settlements; their sick get stuck for hours in Israeli checkpoints on the way to hospital; and families are divided by a huge wall that slices through their fields. But if the Palestinians win their UN bid for a state now, it could begin to end the 40 years of occupation, and pave the way for two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by side in peace and security.

The US and Israel are furiously trying to crush the UN vote , and the attack on Gaza may be an attempt to shift attention from the bid and present the Palestinians as untrustworthy partners. But the UK is still on the fence, and EU Foreign Ministers meet in just four days. If we all speak out now, we can persuade the UK government to vote 'yes' for peace and freedom. Click to drown out the blockers with our voices of hope via a massive petition delivered through a 5 storey high flag right outside the ministers' meeting (picture at right):

Fascism Today - New Google Transparency Report: U.S. continues to demand by far more user data than any other nation

By Madison Ruppert: Google’s most recent Transparency Report reveals yet again that the United States leads the world in user data requests issued to Google, the vast majority of which are fulfilled in part or in full.
This is hardly surprising and is in line with previous reports, including one issued last year which revealed that even China is dwarfed by the U.S.’s takedown requests, which included one for “government criticism.”
One must also consider Google’s tight-knit relationship with the U.S. government and the appeals court decision which essentially prevented Google from ever being forced to disclose the nature of their relationship with the National Security Agency (NSA).
The most recent report discloses the many information quests filed by entities around the globe just during the six-month period ending in June 2012, the sheer number of which is quite troubling.
In just the first half of this year, a whopping 20,938 requests were filed by governments around the world pertaining to some 34,614 user accounts.
Of those 20,938 requests, 7,969 were issued by the United States government pertaining to 16,281 users/accounts.
To make matters even more troubling, Google complied either in full or in part with a whopping 90 percent of requests. This number is especially shocking when one realizes that in some cases Google does not comply with a single request, as is the case with Hungary, Russia and Turkey, all of which issued less than 300 requests combined.

911 What Happened - Not How It Happened - Dr Judy Wood

By Morris: The problem is the buildings turned to dust in mid air. 911 was an attack on human consciousness - It numbed everyone. Our memory is malleable. Lots of secret technology out there. Free Energy, Energy Weapons. Source

It's Time to Take Back The Republic! - Lew Rockwell + The Key to True Secession with Dr. Edwin Vieira + Alex Jones Historic Plan to Save America "Secession Red Herring, new signing of declaration is key!"

"Ron Paul IS the leader of the movement!" Alex Jones laid out a constitutional plan to have the states secede, not to destroy the Union, but to reconstitute it because the federal government admits it is now run by foreign special interest powers and has been conquered. Over the three hour show, he had constitutional lawyers, Lew Rockwell and others on who concurred with his analysis. We are going to Ron Paul to ask him to lead this movement at the states. We will soon have a transcript of Alex's constitutional battle plan.

Hypocrisy of slaughter: Israel’s Orwellian account of Gaza campaign

Adrian Salbuchi: Family members shout in grief as they carry the body of two-year-old Palestinian Walid Abadleh, killed in the latest Israeli airstrikes, during his funeral in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis on November 15, 2012. (AFP Photo/Said Khatib)

Israel’s assault on Gaza raises doubts that it has any interest in finding the lasting peace settlement it proclaims to want. Does the campaign have an alternative objective as part of a strategy to engineer a strike on Iran?
It’s probably the world’s most tragic never-ending story.For almost 65 years now, Israel has been bombing, maiming and humiliating the Palestinians, bulldozing their homes and placing Gaza in lock-down mode turning it into the world’s largest concentration camp.
In the latest outbreak of violence this week both sides are accusing the other, “You started it!”Who knows? At this stage, does it really matter anymore who started the violence?
On Wednesday 14th, an Israeli helicopter attack killed Hamas military wing leader Ahmed Jabari, triggering a violent reaction from Hamas which rained little rockets over southern Israeli towns, which in turn brought in more Israeli air attacks killing 19, injuring 100 and leaving six children dead.
Dejá-vù: it’s January 2009’s “Operation Cast Lead” revisited; this time they’re dubbing it “Operation Pillar of Defense.”

Cameron’s Sin City Surge - Max Keiser with Francine McKenna

Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss UK Prime Minister David Cameron going 'all in' and topless on financial fraud and market manipulation in the City of London where 'circle rating' is rife and more 'Libor like' manipulation is found . . . this time in the natural gas market.  In the second half, Max Keiser talks to Francine McKenna of retheauditors.com and American Banker magazine, about Jamie Dimon, the most over-rated banker in America, and how much longer JP Morgan can survive the various scandals, frauds and putbacks.

Visualizing The World's Rich

Submitted by Tyler Durden: We hear a lot about billionaires, millionaires, and 250,000-aires but just where are all these tax-dodging blood-suckers skulking and just how many trips to Space on Virgin Galactic can the Top 25 Wealthiest people take per day?... Everything you wanted to know about the uber-wealthy is one simple mega-infographic.