2020 election fraud

Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images Before there was crypto, there was just bitcoin. During bitcoin’s earliest days, around 2008 and 2009, one of its core features was how difficult and annoying it was to actually get — it was worth hardly anything, traded only by a handful of hard-core superfans. One of the earliest markets was just a guy you’d email before paying him through PayPal. But then the exchanges came, making trading easy. Japan-based Mt. Gox was the first major one — it ruled the market until it was annihilated by a massive hack. Others emerged to fill the void. Soon there was a huge business in making bitcoin not difficult and not annoying to buy. By the time the boom of 2021 peaked, bitcoin was worth more than a trillion dollars, and a lot of exchange owners — but also a whole lot of exchange users — had gotten really rich, really quick. (Many others lost their shirts, of course.) Along with the cryptocurrency exchanges, thousands of new digital … [Read more...] about The Future of Coinbase Could Be a Lot Smaller

When Taqwanna Clark went to buy a video camera at Fry’s Electronics in Houston, she asked if they had a layaway plan. The cashier instead handed her an application for a store credit card. She applied. “Instantly, it came back declined — like, No!” she says. “Denied, denied — you know, your credit is not good enough.” Clark was 30 and working as a security guard at the Port of Houston. On weekends, she performed as a rapper in the local club scene, under the name T-Baby. She wanted the camera to shoot music videos, to promote her music career. “If I can’t afford a $200 camera,” she recalls thinking, “then I’m in a bad way with this credit thing.” Clark had lived with money anxieties since childhood. In elementary school, her family endured periods of extreme poverty. For a time, on the cusp of homelessness, they lived in the bare framing for a house her father was building on a wooded lot owned by a family member. They slept in an unfinished room and warmed canned food by a … [Read more...] about The High Cost of Bad Credit

“A very #MerryChristmas⁠ ⁠to all,” Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s top antitrust enforcer , wrote on Facebook last December. Her post attracted 144 “likes.” A few months later, as an experiment, researchers paid a company a few dollars to attract attention to her well wishes. In 30 minutes, the post had 100 more likes. The researchers had similar results on a holiday post on Ms. Vestager’s Instagram account and on a Christmas tweet from Vera Jourova, the European Union’s justice commissioner. Companies like Facebook and Twitter are poorly policing automated bots and other methods for manipulating social media platforms, according to a report released on Friday by researchers from the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence. With a small amount of money, the researchers found, virtually anyone can hire a company to get more likes, comments and clicks. The group, an independent organization that advises the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, tested the tech companies’ … [Read more...] about Fake ‘Likes’ Remain Just a Few Dollars Away, Researchers Say

0 Kids & Family A spike in pet scams continues amid the COVID-19 pandemic and as the holidays approach in Manassas. Gillian Smith , Patch Staff Posted Reply MANASSAS, VA — Online scammers have been busy as the holiday season has collided with the COVID-19 pandemic in Manassas. One type of scam that is particularly alarming, and gaining strength, involves puppies and other pets such as kittens, iguanas and lizards. A spike in the number of reported pet scams has been noticeable since the pandemic started and is likely to grow as the winter holidays approach, according to the Better Business Bureau. “COVID-19 has made for a long and uncertain year, and a ‘quarantine puppy’ or other pet has proven to be a comfort for many people. But it also has created fertile ground for fraudsters,” said Marjorie Stephens, BBB serving Northern Indiana president and CEO, said in a statement. “People currently shopping for pets online are … [Read more...] about As Puppy Scams Peak, Adopt A Pet Instead In Manassas

0 Business Alexandria City High School graduates received their diplomas as Principal Peter Balas prepares to leave for a new role in Arlington. Emily Leayman , Patch Staff Posted Reply ALEXANDRIA, VA — It was a bittersweet moment as 905 graduates of Alexandria City High School received their diplomas while Principal Peter Balas bid farewell to the high school. Alexandria City High School held its graduation Saturday at George Mason University’s EagleBank Arena. It was the last commencement ceremony for Balas, who is leaving Alexandria City Public Schools to become principal of Wakefield High School in Arlington. ""I would like to say to you all, Alexandria City Public Schools in the wonderful city of Alexandria, where I live and Alexandria City High School, you've been part of my life for half the years I have been alive," said Balas. "You have made me a better person. Thank you for everything." Balas has been … [Read more...] about Principal Bids Farewell To Alexandria City High School, 905 Graduate

3 Politics & Government County staff will present design options for co-locating the Penn Daw Fire Station with a homeless shelter and affordable housing. Emily Leayman , Patch Staff Posted | Updated Replies GROVETON, VA — As planning continues to co-locate a fire station with a homeless shelter and affordable housing in the Richmond Highway corridor, an update will come at an upcoming community meeting. Fairfax County staff will hold a meeting Thursday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the Penn Daw Fire Station, Emergency and Affordable Housing project . The meeting will be held in the Bryant High School cafeteria, 2709 Popkins Ln., Alexandria, VA. The county is looking to build a new Penn Daw Fire Station at the Hybla Valley Nursery site as well as build a replacement for the current Eleanor Kennedy Shelter at 9155 Richmond Highway in Fort Belvoir. The Thursday, June 8 meeting will involve county staff presenting … [Read more...] about Co-Located Fire Station, Homeless Shelter Update Planned