I recently published a column on how Barack Obama has publicly assumed many of the powers that were once cited as the basis for the investigation and attempted impeachment of Richard Nixon. One of those areas was the Obama Administration’s crackdown on journalists. This week Attorney General Eric Holder appears to have yet again added to this ignoble record. It appears that the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press. This disclosure follows another recent disclosure that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeted conservative groups associated with the Tea Party. Yet, once again, most Democrats remain silent in a type of cult of personality where principle is discarded in favor of loyalty to the President.
The spying on reporters by the Obama Administration included outgoing calls for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters. The seizure covered general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn. The Justice Department showed no restraint or concern, even including the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery. It now appears that in a few years historians could well be saying the Nixon was perfectly Obamaesque in his abuses.
AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt has written a letter to Holder objecting to the spying, noting that “[t]here can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters.” I would be equally upset with the mere fact of the spying as opposed to its breadth.
The spying may be part of a criminal investigation into a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. AP agreed to hold the story after an objection from the Administration but ultimately ran the story disclosing a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United States. While working with the Administration in holding the story, the Administration apparently was moving to spy on five reporters and an editor who were involved in the story.
Holder would have to have personally approved the subpoenas under Justice Department regulations. However, it is not enough to again criticize Holder (who has assembled one of the most abusive records on civil liberties in our history). Obama is well aware of the objections by civil libertarians and personally approved such decisions as promising CIA officials that they would not be investigated for torture and the kill list policy.
What is most striking about this story is the sense of complete immunity and lack of concern shown by the Administration. That sense of impunity has developed over four years as Democrats have gone into radio silence over abuses by the Administration from Obama’s “kill list” policy to other rollbacks on civil liberties. There will come a day when this president is no longer in office and many Democrats and Liberals will be faced with the imperial presidency that he created in the hands of someone they do not revere. When that day comes, it will be hard to climb over the mountain of hypocrisy to find a principled ground for criticism.
Source: CNN
“Strongbox, an online place where people can send documents and messages to the magazine, and we, in turn, can offer them a reasonable amount of anonymity. It was put together by Aaron Swartz, who died in January, and Kevin Poulsen.” -from the following article
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/2013/05/introducing-strongbox-anonymous-document-sharing-tool.html
May 15, 2013
Introducing Strongbox
Posted by Amy Davidson
This morning, The New Yorker launched Strongbox, an online place where people can send documents and messages to the magazine, and we, in turn, can offer them a reasonable amount of anonymity. It was put together by Aaron Swartz, who died in January, and Kevin Poulsen. Kevin explains some of the background in his own post, including Swartz’s role and his survivors’ feelings about the project. (They approve, something that was important for us here to know.) The underlying code, given the name DeadDrop, will be open-source, and we are very glad to be the first to bring it out into the world, fully implemented.
Strongbox is a simple thing in its conception: in one sense, it’s just an extension of the mailing address we printed in small type on the inside cover of the first issue of the magazine, in 1925, later joined by a phone number (in 1928—it was BRyant 6300) and e-mail address (in 1998). Readers and sources have long sent documents to the magazine and its reporters, from letters of complaint to classified papers. (Joshua Rothman has written about that history and the magazine’s record of investigative journalism.) But, over the years, it’s also become easier to trace the senders, even when they don’t want to be found. Strongbox addresses that; as it’s set up, even we won’t be able to figure out where files sent to us come from. If anyone asks us, we won’t be able to tell them.
How does that work? The graphic below maps it out; multiple computers, thumb drives, encryption, and Tor are all involved. We’ll be looking forward to what we find in Strongbox, with the same curiosity our first editors had almost ninety years ago.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/closeread/wiki-info-final.jpgstrongbox-infographic-580.jpg
Blouise: In BlackJack (or Roulette or many of the games) you play the house; but in poker you are playing the other patrons; the house just taxes the pot.
That is a big difference. Playing the house, the house wins in the long term (unless you are counting cards or something). Playing other patrons, you can have a legitimate percentage edge because most patrons are just not the same caliber as a professional card player; they make mistakes. Heck, I’ve played against people in Vegas that didn’t know the rank of the hands. Many years ago I played against a woman that seriously asked the dealer, “Does four diamonds mean anything?” He told her he couldn’t comment, and she proceeded to bet on —- Four diamonds.
If you are good enough, your profit margin on poker can exceed the house vig and you can earn a living at casino poker. The same is often true of the sports book or race track, if betting is pari-mutuel (odds determined only by the bets of patrons after the house vig).
Bron: gut feeling is based on the sum total of your knowledge and experience.
A professional bases their decisions on the sum total of the knowledge, experience, and careful reasoning of dozens to many thousands of people.
No single person invented medicine, or engineering, or computer science, or the study of biology, evolution, genetics, fluid dynamics, physics or even farming. Yet by distillation and condensation of ideas and the lessons of many thousands of experiments, a single person with sufficient aptitude can become more expert in the practice of the discipline than virtually any of the experts that contributed to their knowledge; because they combine the knowledge of many. I can know more about physics than Newton or Einstein, because the science of physics did not END with Newton or Einstein.
We learn from geniuses that have had their reasoning and proofs checked by hundreds, and empirically verified by multi-million dollar experiments and centuries of data and practice. It is hopeless to try and trump that with one person’s experience, it is like one person against an army that stretches to the horizon.
It is possible to add to that army, to become a member of it, to contribute an important new idea or reasoning, to overturn a previous idea with a better idea. But Einstein did not correct Newton without first becoming an expert in the distilled and condensed knowledge of just about everything Newton and the vast army of physicists before Einstein had to offer.
Theory without experience is actually quite valuable; I would rather hire an architect fresh out of school than some guy that never went to school but claims “experience” in designing buildings. I would rather hire a mechanic out of school than a self-taught mechanic, I would rather hire a kid that just finished a Master’s in computer science than a self-taught coder. The educated people I can talk to, guide, and I know from their schooling they are capable of learning. The self-taught I always suspect of being hackers in the sense of just having tried things without understanding until they got something that seems to work, without knowing precisely why they work.
I have hired dozens of professionals in my career, and I will take a fresh 4.0 student over ten years of experience every day of the week. When I hire I am seldom interested in what they can do for me tomorrow, I am more interested in their potential in a year or two. I can turn a good and conscientious student into an expert; the self-taught have usually taught themselves some very bad shortcuts and habits, and changing them from hackers into professionals can be an intractable problem. They are often too wedded to the idea that nothing matters but “Hey, it works, and I’ve never [personally] seen it fail.”
Theory matters. Personal experience can teach but it will never, alone, reach the power of theories developed over centuries by an army of geniuses.
Bron. Amen. I’m also looking for a pilot w/ gray hair..like OS!
Blouise, Amateurs are a bother @ a table. However, the blackjack table is set up for interaction. Usually, there’s only one or two ham n’ eggers @ a table, often they’re together. IF THEY’RE SOBER, I will very low key offer advice. I can read folks and can tell when they’re really looking for advice, but are afraid to ask. Good dealers will offer advice also. They do it more w/ a new craps player, since it’s a much more difficult game and very intimidating. A monkey can deal blackjack. You have to be smart and sharp to work on a craps table. I went to school w/ a lot of South Jersey guys. When AC opened up gambling they recruited high school math teachers. Two of my buddies left teaching to work craps and made 5 times the teacher salary the first year. The first year of AC gambling, only one casino opened..Reorts. You had to wear a jacket and tie. AC had this pipe dream of creating a Monaco on the beach. Wow, were they wrong!! AC is a mini Detroit and always will be. That first year I went to Resorts. You had to wait in line to get into the casino, and then getting to a table was impossible. Finally, the WORST time to gamble is late @ night when drunks rule. I’m in bed early. I love to drink, but never drink when I gamble. There’s a real world reason they give booze away.
The real world is a great teacher, and where ALL of us reside. Some just refuse to accept it. Regarding your surgeon analogy. I want an ace surgeon for myself or loved ones. I check out surgeons for family and friends since I’m very locked in, having defended docs in malpractice suits. Some of the worst surgeons I have helped defend were Ivy Leaguers. Maybe the worst surgeon in my area was Harvard educated. He was so arrogant and corrupt[unneeded surgeries]and his license to practice was suspended. When I check out a surgeon I look @ their education, but that is not nearly dispositive. I put more weight on the number of surgeries, complaints, lawsuits, patient evaluations, etc. You know, HOW THEY PERFORM AND PRODUCE in the real world. And, I talk w/ their colleagues. The real world is messy, and filled w/ all types of distractions, surprises, and ILLOGICAL events. I want a surgeon who not only understands that very basic fact, but one who embraces it.
Back to gambling. I will take you @ your word that you have the vast experience you profess. While I like to shoot from the hip on fun stuff, I am a serious man who throws out the word, “liar,” sparingly. Gambling in a casino, track, etc. is filled w/ distractions. So, the knowledge of odds and probability are USELESS if you can’t navigate that enviroment. Again, like the surgeon, a good gambler embraces what he can’t control but has the focus of a surgeon and embraces the surprises and the non linear world in which we reside. The dice are linear. But, a table has very nonlinear spurts. Arguably one of the greatest gamblers of all time was the character depicted in the flick, Casino. Rosenthal created the sports book in Vegas. High school education.
I’m not going to change your mind on this. Why not just agree to disagree, and not have the pissing match you seem to often want. Who do you like in the Preakness? My wife bet on her favorite jockey, Rosie Napravnik, in the Derby. She’s riding Mylute again on Saturday. I had Orb in the Derby but didn’t make much. I parlayed him w/ two horses who are still running in exactas. Maybe I’ll actually parlay w/ my wife. Now, that’s illogica,l but how you have a good marriage. Exponentially more important than winning a bet. Plus, Mylute is a good horse and 5-1 in the morning line. However, there is always the real world variable of the weather. Being a horse player, you know that can decide a race.
Tony C.,
I’m not anti gambling at all and enjoy a good game of poker with friends and family but casinos give me a headache.
I’m going to pass on the tip about tourists to my daughter though I suspect, since she’s been making the annual trip since she was 22 years old (she’s 35 now) she’s already clued in given her desire to avoid amateurs when staying with a table or dealer. She seems to like the group action when all the players know what they’re doing. The one time I went with her I had a sheet of paper full of rules … rules I kept forgetting to follow thus forcing her to apologize for me. We were at The Venetian and I finally was banished to the gondolas.
tony c:
How do you think all that stuff came into being? Experience. Come on. Medicine was developed over hundreds of years based on experience. So was economics, statistics, etc. Most of it is based on observation and validation of the observations. Some of it is based on hypothesis and then expanded upon with observation and experience/experiments.
Formal schooling is a small part of human knowledge; it passes on knowledge learned by past generations to future generations. It is only a small amount of information based on what is left to know.
Theory without experience is not knowledge, it is just memorization of some facts and theories, it is a hypothesis.
a gut feeling is based on the sum total of your knowledge and experience. It is why I would trust a doctor with white hair over one just out of medical school. The guy with white hair has more experience.
An engineer who has worked on a construction site knows more than the engineer who has only worked in an office.
You need theory but you also need experience. They are both important and are both necessary. Theory without experience is almost but not quite as useless as experience without theory.
Blouise: For about two years my sister lived in Vegas and was a cashier at one of the casinos, one of her friends was a fairly successful poker professional poker player; some tournament play but mostly just at the tables with the tourists.
At dinner one night he told me that besides having a sense of the odds based on cards already shown, the biggest trick was parsing the time the tourists had left on their trip. He said they come in for a few days, and they want some action, they want to be involved in a big hand or big pot, and the less time they have, the more they will over-bet their hand.
He said he plays four or six hours a night, and most nights, and if that means folding every hand he is okay with that. But a tourist doesn’t have that kind of patience. They can’t just do nothing. The mark is the tourist flying home in the morning. That is the person to focus on.
Bazinga.
Nick: ’m a gambler who has played craps, blackjack, bet on horses[I’m a a handicapper], and football. […] Having gambled for 30 years I understand probability, odds, etc. from the real world. That’s my classroom.
I will answer personal testimony with personal testimony: I’m a gambler, too. I have been to Vegas seven times and played every game in the Casino; also gambled in Chicago, New Orleans, Atlantic City, Reno, and a few other places. I spent six months between consulting contracts in Phoenix doing nothing but horse racing, and I won enough at that track to pay all my living expenses with money left over to bet again. I have also been a stock market and options investor for over 30 years, and an entrepreneur in about a dozen businesses; so many I’ve lost count.
In addition to my undergraduate courses I took several graduate courses in statistics; and I kept those skills up for analysis of error, reliability, and to characterize predictive failure in systems.
Having gambled for 40 years, for both business and pleasure, I understand odds in the real world too. But the real world is a crappy classroom, Nick, it’s lessons have no structure, they are filled with irrelevant random causes and effects, and both emotion and selection bias are rampant. Textbooks and following the painstaking reasoning of the geniuses that invented statistics, even if long dead, are what distill truths and key concepts down to a science of tools instead of a gut feeling.
The school of hard knocks deprives one of centuries of brilliant thinking and insights; thinking it is enough is the hubris of thinking you must be in the ranks of the smartest guys that ever lived. It is like a street fighter attacking a Kung Fu black belt. Would you trust your life to a surgeon that proudly claimed he never got past the first two years of medical school, but learned all of his medicine in the school of hard knocks?
The school of hard knocks is not a substitute for formal training, and it should never be any more than the polishing course.
nick,
She’s a serious player but not a big player. She always comes home about a $1000’s to the good after meeting her expenses. She says the secret is knowing when to walk away, not just from the tables but also from a table full of amateurs. She only plays in Vegas and doesn’t go to any of the casinos around here. I went once with her … never again … too much like work.
IRS Acting Commissioner Resigns Amid Controversy
President Barack Obama said Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew requested and received the resignation of the acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Steven Miller, amid widening fallout from the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups.
The president has been under pressure to act in the aftermath of acknowledgement by top IRS officials that conservative groups were improperly singled out. An investigation by a Treasury inspector general found that the IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review tea party and other conservative groups that were seeking tax-exempt status.
See More Coverage »
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This works really good. I didn’t resign. They fired me. I refused to resign.
Blouise, Hopefully you daughter looks upon gambling as entertainment. Blackjack is a great game and being your daughter I’m sure she plays smart. Craps is my favorite. When you walk into a casino and hear hooting and clapping, it’s almost always the crap table. I have taught many people[mostly women] who were intriqued watching, but intimidated to play. I love playing craps w/ women and blacks. Asians are like robots. The most fun I ever had was playing craps in Detroit w/ a table full of black men and women. Yes..it was LOUD.
I was taught by my old man how to gamble. However, his wisdom on gambling and staying within your means was the best thing he taught me. Bookies operate pretty openly in the area of Ct. I grew up. You could go into certain bars and place bets the bartender who would call it into bookies. It was all quite open..hell, many local cops bet. When casinos started to grow outside Nevada, so many people who knew nothing about how to gamble w/ self discipline fell victim to compulsive gambling. Poker machines are the most addictive. The former Mayor of San Diego was a degenerate video poker player. You may have read about hundred of millions she lost. There’s no social aspect of video poker, it’s solo and sinister in its effect. Bob Bennett also was a victim. What is better about gambling in the U.S,. compared to Europe, is most people here look upon gambling as entertainment. I have gambled in Europe. They are deadly serious. They don’t laugh, and seldom smile. They NEVER tip a dealer.
Vegas is a fantasy city. There is so much to despise, but it is truly American. What I really like the past 15 years or so is the explosion of great restaurants. It used to be just horseshit buffets.
Blouise, Hillary was far superior in those early debates.
Tony C: ““Chances” cannot capture the defining moments, events, missteps and decisions that lie in the future and will decide the fate of those that run (or decide whether they run at all).”
LOL, ain’t that the truth! I remember when Rick Perry was looking good and all that. Then he showed up to a debate with a head full of drugs and couldn’t remember his own platform promise even with friendly prompting from his opponents. Stuff happens.
Blouise,
I think Baelish is purely a narcissist although a malignant narcissist can be every bit as dangerous as a psychopath. Even Varys says of him in describing Robert’s allies in the Court, “Ser Barristan loves his honour, Grand Maester Pycelle loves his office, and Littlefinger loves Littlefinger.”
SwM,
“I will give credit to Obama’s excellent campaign staff” … many of whom jumped ship from Hillary early on … bas!ards
nick,
My daughter just got back from her annual trip to Vegas where she does nothing but play blackjack. Don’t ask, I can’t explain it
Blouise, Yes, my brother in law was a long time McCain supporter, and he switched instantly. I will give credit to Obama’s excellent campaign staff, too. Politicians from Massachusetts have not proven to be very electable nationwide although Warren has Oklahoma roots. I am sure the Indian flap would come up again. Warren won’t run if Hillary does.