NC Renegades

Like many of you, I do appreciate the comforts of everyday life, the security of the familiar, the peace of repetition. I enjoy them as much as anyone. July 4th, our Independence Day celebration, is approaching. Words will always retain their power and this July 4th I’m going to ask everyone to read the Declaration of Independence to their family, their friends, and most importantly their children. Many children today have never heard or read the Declaration. There are those, of course, who do not want us to read it and forget our history as I recently saw in a news story about a Louisiana congressman. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there?

And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and the politically correct police, coercing you to conform to their will and submit to their view of the world. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they should be held accountable, but again truth be told, if we are to look for the guilty, we need only to look into a mirror. I know why. People are afraid. Who wouldn’t be? Our government has turned into the very thing our Founding Fathers feared.

There have been a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt our reason and rob us of our common sense. Fear! Fear being the biggest reason. Around 240 years ago our forefathers fought for fairness, justice, and freedom!

Our very foundation, our values, our future, are under assault from this tyrannical government in Washington, D.C.

We are $19.2 trillion dollars in debt. Our government is lying to us and not even trying to cover their tracks anymore. Those that are awake do not believe a word of the propaganda coming from the government. Our country is in serious trouble and yet we carry on every day as if nothing is wrong and everything is going to be fine, because why? Because it always has been. Patrick Henry said that we should guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Continue reading →

FREEMANSPERSPECTIVE

I’m not sure how much of the Bitcoin community I reach, but I think this is an important moment for us, and I want to get this out. Please pass it along if you see it as useful. Thanks.

Threat Over, Time to Get Busy

The Bitcoin XT effort seems to be over. I opposed it for two primary reasons:

1. It was sold through fear. That always drives me away. Fear is our enemy.
2. It smelled of Elite Capture. The people driving XT were hanging out with the elite crowd and saying things that made a lot of us twitch.

Be that as it may, those people seem to have pulled back; battle over for now.

Our problems, however, remain. Bitcoin does not possess God-given perfection; it’s a technology… and it needs to be upgraded. In fact, it may need to be upgraded several times. That’s just the way technology is, and it falls to us to handle it well or poorly. So, here’s my one, short message:

This is the time to improve Bitcoin without succumbing to Elite Capture.

I’m not going to tell you what upgrades are required. Those of you involved need to deduce those yourselves. What I will tell you is this: Bitcoin needs to scale, and it’s our turn to be the adults. (Here’s a lecture where I explain further.) We need to get ready for the future, and this is the right time for it.

To the Developers:

Now I’m going to give you some advice.

I am in no position to tell you anything, but I do have perspective. In other words, I’m older and have been involved with digital currencies and general internet radicalism longer. So, take this for what it’s worth, but please do consider it:

1. Go back to your principles. Whatever it is that brought you here, go back to it. (Aristotle, Rothbard, the Gospels, the Torah, whatever.) Refocus yourself on the most fundamental factors.
2. Reread the original cypherpunk documents. A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto, The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto, and The Cyphernomicon are what produced Bitcoin. Go back and re-familiarize yourself with them.
3. Get into cooperation. Think about the stupidity and destructiveness of status and dominance. Think about the beauty of co-dominant relationships. Think about the beauty of synergy and brotherhood.
4. Get going. Planning is how people end up going nowhere. Break your inertia and move. Nothing will ever change until you do.
5. Keep your eyes on the prize. And that prize is a Bitcoin that remains true to its nature while becoming massively scalable. Ignore stupidities and slights; move to the goal. The world needs a robust Bitcoin, even though many people still don’t realize it. We’re the only people who can do it.

Thus ends my message, aside from this: Make your time on Earth matter; make your 90-year-old self proud.

Peace.

Paul Rosenberg

[Editor’s Note: Paul Rosenberg is the outside-the-Matrix author of FreemansPerspective.com, a site dedicated to economic freedom, personal independence and privacy. He is also the author of The Great Calendar, a report that breaks down our complex world into an easy-to-understand model. Click here to get your free copy.]

Make yourself at home.

On Friday afternoon, after the shocking Brexit referendum, while being interviewed by CNBC Alan Greenspan stunned his hosts when he said that things are about as bad as he has ever seen.

“This is the worst period, I recall since I’ve been in public service. There’s nothing like it, including the crisis — remember October 19th, 1987, when the Dow went down by a record amount 23 percent? That I thought was the bottom of all potential problems. This has a corrosive effect that will not go away. I’d love to find something positive to say.”

Strangely enough, he was not refering to the British exodus but to America’s own economic troubles.

Today, Greenspan was on Bloomberg Surveillance where in an extensive, 30 minutes interview he was urged to give his take on the British referendum outcome. According to Greenspan, David Cameron miscalculated and made a “terrible mistake” in holding a referendum. That decision led to a “terrible outcome in all respects,” Greenspan said. “It didn’t have to happen.” Greenspan then noted that as a result of Brexit, “we are in very early days a crisis which has got a way to go”, and point to Scotland which he said will likely have another referendum on its own, predicting the vote would be successful, and Northern Ireland would “probably” go the same way.

His remarks then centered on the Eurozone which he defined as a truly “vulnerable institution,” primarily due to Greece’s inclusion in its structure. “Get Greece out. They’re a toxic liability sitting in the middle of a very important economic zone.” Ironically, the same Eurozone has spent countless hours doing everything in its power to show just how unbreakable the union is by preserving Greece, while it took the UK just one overnight session to break away. Luckily the UK was not part of the monetary union or else it would be game over.

More…

Europe just lost a big chunk of production from one of its most critical natural gas fields, and not for any of the usual reasons — technical problems, pipeline constraints, or terrorist disruptions.

These cuts are due to earthquakes.

More…

A unanimous Supreme Court on Monday overturned the corruption conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in a ruling that makes it harder to prosecute elected officials accused of bribery.

The justices ruled the jury received faulty instructions about what constitutes bribery under federal law.

McDonnell was convicted in 2014 of accepting more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from a wealthy businessman in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement.

The former governor says he never took any official action to benefit Star Scientific Inc. CEO Jonnie Williams or pressured other public officials to do so. McDonnell says he simply performed routine courtesies for Williams like setting up meetings and hosting events.

Prosecutors said McDonnell accepted personal benefits with the understanding he would try to take official action to help Williams.

More…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can you make the correlation to Hillary?

David DeGerolamo

More…

After a modestly stronger open, which saw sterling rebound to just under 1.35, the British currency has taken another sharp leg lower in recent trading tumbling another 3%, to a low of 1.3224 – taking out Friday’s post-vote lows when the currency plunged over 8% – and dropping to fresh 31 year lows, as it remains under heavy selling pressure as of this moment.

• BARCLAYS HALTED IN LONDON ON VOLATILITY AFTER SHRS FALL 11.5%
• RBS HALTED IN LONDON ON VOLATILITY AFTER SHRS FALL 14.2%

Not helping the local banks was a double-downgrade of Barclays by Jefferies to underperform from buy as its IB operations are too exposed to downside risk on capital and earnings, Jefferies said. The mid-market US bank cut its BARC PT to 115p vs 287p noting that Brexit outcome “changes everything”:

• Management was already busy with Africa disposal, non-core asset reductions, trying to boost returns, capital ratios
• Brexit calls Barclays’s IB into question
• Outlook for lower rates, higher impairments, RWA density put pressure on profit
• Sees Barclays earnings power “substantially diminished”
• Sees Barclays 2018 statutory EPS at “miserly” 16.4p

It’s not just these two banks: the entire UK banking sector is down 13% today, after plunging 17% on Friday, meaning in just two days UK banks have lost nearly a third of their market cap.

More…

Amid dire predictions of impending doom should Britain decide to vote for sovereignty, the Brits did it anyway. Why? Because they are tired of enduring what we have been enduring for several decades, perhaps centuries: a disconnected government far away dictating rules and regulations to those distant citizens without regard as to the affect on their lives or the burden on their finances.

The immigration issue has played a larger part of the Brexit than many are illuminating for self-serving reasons of one sort of another. It comes down to culture and the Brits have already endured a great deal of cultural change at the behest of the EU. Dictates from Brussels have rubbed them the wrong way and forced on Britain both a theft of their culture and currency.

Of all of the things that we are told the U.S. is unable to be perform: repeal of Obamacare; deportation of illegal aliens; a return to liberty and a respect for the Bill of Rights, Britain simply cut the ties with the European Union. One snip and let the politicians figure it out. That is an attitude often given to the brashness and boldness of the United States, but no more. Politicians have been drumming into our heads and elementary schools the fact that none of this can be done. The Brits did it and if they can, we can.

More…

I have seen periods of despair since 2009 where people have had an overwhelming sense that something bad is about to happen. Now is one of those times. Just remember who is really in control.

David DeGerolamo