Bitcoin’s origins are murky. Some speculate it was created in response to the 2008 recession, promising anonymity and escape from regulation, monetary policy and central banking authorities. These promises made it particularly alluring to Silicon Valley libertarians - as well as drug dealers, Ponzi schemers, and other unscrupulous types. The virtual currency is stored on individual users’ computers and devices or on online repositories, in “digital wallets,” and like cash, can be transferred directly to other users.

In a thriving Bay Area technology sector where black and brown faces are the exception and not the norm, Chris Cruz, a Filipino American, and Isaac Reed, an African American, are crashing the party. A study conducted in 2011 by three California-based groups looked at workforce diversity at a dozen companies in Silicon Valley, including industry giants Intel, Cisco and Ebay, and found an industry where African Americans and Latinos are grossly underrepresented when compared to their percentages of the state population.

Ro Khanna, formerly a high-ranking trade official in the Obama administration, announced this week his bid for California’s 17th District congressional seat, which is currently being held by the venerable Mike Honda. Khanna and Honda are both Democrats likely to be pitted against each other in 2014, due to new state mandates which allow two opponents from the same party to run against each other in the general election.  

Silicon Valley has long pressed for change, and this year could bring a fix. Support is growing for a new startup visa that would let foreign-born entrepreneurs work with fewer hurdles. Talks are on in Washington about safeguarding the visa against fraud and phony companies, and ensuring that it would go to startup founders that look solid and might create jobs. Right now, there is bipartisan support for it. But the startup visa would likely get rolled into comprehensive immigration reform, and that path is unclear.

 Indian Americans are the most educated population in the United States, with more than 80 percent holding college or advanced degrees, stated a report released in June by the Pew Research Center. Indians Americans also have the highest income levels, earning $65,000 per year with a median household income of $88,000, far higher than the U.S. household average of 49,000, according to the survey. 

From New America Media: When Washington announced recently that it had uncovered an Iranian plot that allegedly targeted the Saudi ambassador to the United States, efforts began in earnest to devise new ways to punish Tehran. Such efforts, however, overlook one glaring fact: Iranians have long been their own worst enemies, allowing their best and brightest to leave the country in droves to the sole benefit of corporate America.