Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

341–350 of 419 posts

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#341

Post by jack_pp »

stickfigure wrote: post #337
jack_pp wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Newton believed in God, ask an LLM what famous scientists believed in God, take a step back and ask if you think you are smarter than those people.

Newton spent more of his life working on alchemy than math or physics. Shall we all start searching for the Philosopher's Stone? Why not?

He was also a heretic, but what he was most certainly not, was an atheist. All I'm saying is that if some very smart people strongly believe that we're not just star dust that should at least make you question your own belief that there is no higher power.

Maybe put it to the test, even though you feel dumb for doing it, pray for something small that you would not otherwise expect to happen in the immediate future. see what happens

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#342

Post by vladms »

lab14 wrote: post #253
seanhunter wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Obvious plant nobody would be that stupid to store the valuables at home within the first six months after the „acquisition“. Whenever you say "nobody would be that stupid" you have to pause and take a deep breath and realise that however dumb something is, there are for sure people who are stupid enough to do it. Example 1 from personal experience: I was at my aunt's house and she had to rush a friend's husband to…

I mean, you see smart people all over the world talking to imaginary, supernatural, all powerfull beings asking for favors via prayers, like that would have any effect on their lives.

In medicine, placebo was proven to have a positive effect. Maybe we will learn about similar effects about other things.

Now, if only we would convince everybody that those supernatural beings don't work through representatives that everybody must listen, that would already be an improvement!

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#343

Post by 542354234235 »

rubzah wrote: post #234
NDlurker wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine watches are more liquid than gold bars

They're very high value by weight, very fungible, and there is much less regulation about carrying them across international borders.

Moving a six-figure Audemars Piguet or Patek Philippe watch through an airport would be much easier than the equivalent in gold or cash, even at 50% value. A watch roll with four watches in it could be the same value as 4-5 lbs of gold. If you needed something that you could cash in anywhere on the planet fairly quickly, gold would be the best option. But if you wanted max value, minimal scrutiny and had time at the other end to set up legit buyer, extremely high-end watches would be a pretty optimal option.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#344

Post by rurban »

hypercube33 wrote: post #174
rurban wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CIA as an illegal and fascist organization tends to hire the illegals and fascists. Drug killers, torturers, and psychopaths.

There's even a Tom Cruise movie about it called American Made.

I trust the independent books more. Such movies are mostly paid propaganda

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#345

Post by stickfigure »

jack_pp wrote: post #341
stickfigure wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Newton spent more of his life working on alchemy than math or physics. Shall we all start searching for the Philosopher's Stone? Why not?

He was also a heretic, but what he was most certainly not, was an atheist. All I'm saying is that if some very smart people strongly believe that we're not just star dust that should at least make you question your own belief that there is no higher power. Maybe put it to the test, even though you feel dumb for doing it, pray for something small that you would not otherwise expect to happen in the immediate future. s…

People who are otherwise smart often believe dumb things. History is littered with them. Which is why appeal to authority should always be regarded with skepticism.

This prayer example illustrates a series of fallacies and human biases. Confirmation bias, survivorship bias, apophenia, post-hoc reasoning... many ways we know our brains trick us.

Try this pre-registered, with large numbers and control groups.

Or just read the literature from people who did. Prayer does nothing.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#347

Post by prewett »

vladms wrote: post #342
lab14 wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you see smart people all over the world talking to imaginary, supernatural, all powerfull beings asking for favors via prayers, like that would have any effect on their lives.

In medicine, placebo was proven to have a positive effect. Maybe we will learn about similar effects about other things. Now, if only we would convince everybody that those supernatural beings don't work through representatives that everybody must listen, that would already be an improvement!

Why wouldn't supernatural beings work through representatives? For one thing, they are presumably only going to work through people that are committed to their (the beings') agenda. And why would supernatural beings necessarily be populist? Until the Christian revolution, the dominant thought was that the supernatural beings were elitist; all of the heroes in Greek mythology were nobility of some form.

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#348

Post by cindyllm »

GuestFAUniverse wrote: post #127
DonHopkins wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a huge gold statue of Trump and Epstein partying and raping children.

Black humor. Or isn't anyone allowed anymore to mention "Black" in the context of Epstein?

[dead]

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#349

Post by greenavocado »

Tangurena2 wrote: post #291
greenavocado wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or with hands tied and two gunshot wounds to the back of the head and its ruled a suicide (Gary Webb)

Or crawled into a suitcase and zipped it up = suicide. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams

> A subsequent Metropolitan Police re-investigation concluded that Williams's death was "probably an accident"

My sides

Re: FBI arrests CIA official with $40M in gold bars in his home

#350

Post by itintheory »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #285
bitmasher9 wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we often underestimate the intelligence of the criminal population for two main reasons. 1. The dumbest ones are most likely to be caught and have their stories told. 2. Law Enforcement often gets frustrated at chasing the smarter ones and use illegal methods catching them and the real story doesn’t come out in court.

> the real story doesn’t come out in court. I'm not saying this hasn't happened, but any competent criminal defense attorney (like a SMART criminal would have) would go to town on illegally obtained evidence. I'm not saying cops don't do warrantless searches/taps/etc., to gather unofficial clues, but if they can't get real evidence that stands up under scrutiny, the criminal walks. I'm not sure if prosecution would m…

Parallel construction is when they use illegally obtained evidence to construct a separate set of ostensibly legitimate evidence. Like, an illegal wiretap might lead to someone being in the right place at the right time to witness a crime.
Post reply on HN