Sleepless in Midland

Cybercriminals try to extort money by threatening to infect family with Coronavirus

Paul Ducklin at Naked Security reported that their security team received a phishing attempt which threatened to infect the target's family with Coronavirus.

Apparently, as proof of the culprit's supposed knowledge of those dirty little secrets they divulge a password they copied from some public exposure of purloined passwords.

Anyway, it's a scam. But one has to wonder whether anyone in the target audience actually paid the ransom.

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12:57 PM 3/21/2020

The toilet paper panic of 2020 will rank right up there with the tulip mania of the 1600s

The run on toilet paper is the most unlikely phenomenon to come about due to the Corona virus threat. Why in the world would people raid the store shelves of the stuff?

This ranks right up there with the tulip mania described in the interesting book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, whereby gullible people were bidding up the price of tulips simply because others wanted them.

Here's the funny part. There is no shortage of toilet paper nation wide. But the product just isn't in the stores. According to CBS, America has plenty of toilet paper. Stocking empty store shelves is the hard part. Transportation pipeline is where the choke point developed. They just can't get it from factory to store fast enough to satisfy the demand. And boy! Is there demand!

And those people slow to the game will wipe out the store shelves as soon as they are restocked. It could continue until every last person in the country has more than he/she has space to store it.

You can't reason with a panic.

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1:21 PM 3/18/2020

Short on toilet paper? Wipe your butt with newspaper.

We talked about the Spontaneous Hording Syndrome the other day. Seems the one thing people want almost as much as canned goods and bottled water is toilet paper. The store shelves are wiped clean of wiping paper.

I was about to carry out a stack of old newspapers when it hit -- a toilet paper alternative. Yeah, they aren't Charmin soft, but they would get the job done. There may be some old timers around who remember using pages out of a catalog for the job at hand.

Meanwhile, a curious item appeared in a recent edition of the Thrifty Nickel -- the free newspaper with nothing but advertisements.

Seems that someone was stealing Thrifty Nickels. They've even offered a reward for he culprit. Hmm. Why do you suppose someone would want a whole stack of those things?

I'm guessing they're for butt wipes.

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4:07 PM 3/17/2020

A massive viral outbreak strikes the U.S. -- Spontaneous Hoarder Syndrome

There's a highly contagious condition spreading like wildfire. Store shelves are laid bare from rapidly spreading Spontaneous Hoarder Syndrome.

Crowds like the one at the Midland, Texas, Sam's Club Saturday morning were reminiscent of coastline city stores when hurricanes circulate off shore. People are stocking up, that's for sure.

This outbreak results from anticipation of a hermit like existence due to a quarantine for the duration of the Coronavirus scare.

Never mind that the closest reported case of Coronavirus is 300 miles away. The hoarding syndrome is contagious. And more people have caught it than will catch likely catch Covid-19.

Meanwhile, there were 51 cases of Covid-19 reported in Texas as of Noon Central, 3/14/20. Source: COVID-19 (new coronavirus).

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2:35 PM 3/14/2020

Mardi Gras -- a big clean up job after it's over

My only visit to Mardi Gras happened long ago during the last century. This item titled Local photographer captures cleanup of French Quarter in the hours after Mardi Gras Day brought back a couple of memories.

The first memory was a circumstance that should have been frightening, but for the alcohol. After a nighttime parade the crowd was ready to move, and it did. However, any individual within the crowd had no control over which way he/she went. The crowd was packed to tightly that it moved as a single unit. And if you were in it, you went with it whether you wanted to or not.

One sight stood out. One guy in the crowd had somehow worked his way up. Not forward, but up. His head was two or three feet above the crowd, and the crowd was just moving him along. He seemed quite content, but he was actually quite helpless. After seeing that, it was easy to believe any news item about someone being trampled by a crowd. As noted, it should have been scary but for the sedating effect of alcohol.

Speaking of alcohol, Boones Farm wine was a popular drink among parade goers at the time, probably because it was cheap. The alcohol vendors were ready for Mardi Gras, and they sold plenty of it.

The second memory coming to mind was a stroll around the parade area the next morning before the cleaning crews arrived. Empty Boones Farm bottles were everywhere! Glass bottles filled the gutters as far as the eye could see. It was almost as if New Orleans had flooded, not with water, but with empty bottles. It was an amazing sight.

Anyway, happy Mardi Gras!

Someone gave me a cold -- Liz Warren explaining hoarseness

In a recent campaign address she told the crowd, "Someone gave me a cold," to explain why she was so hoarse. Most of us might have said, "I caught a cold." But it says something about her that it had to be someone's fault other than her own.

Anyway, there are plenty of other reasons to dislike Warren, such as the flip flop on super-pac donations.

As she trails in the polls, maybe it's rude to criticize her. But who can predict the future? After all, she could be Bernie Sander's running mate. The two of them have a lot in common.

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3:48 PM 2/25/2020

Love in the Philippines with covid-19 risk

When the government says wear a mask --

This is a remarkable sight. In a crowd the mask might guard against disease transmission to others. But between the marrying couples, the mask has to come off sometime.

More at Hundreds of brides and grooms kiss wearing surgical masks at mass wedding in coronavirus-hit city in the Philippines.

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1:33 PM 2/23/2020

Are serial killers competing to be the most prolific?

One has to wonder whether that factors into those professional profilers' analyses. But serial killers don't seem to keep accurate records.

What brings this to mind is a remark in this FBI press release -- FBI Seeking Assistance Connecting Victims to Samuel Little’s Confessions:

Five years after analysts with the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) began linking cases to convicted murderer Samuel Little—and nearly 18 months after a Texas Ranger began to elicit from him a breathtaking number of confessions—the FBI has confirmed Little to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history.

Little has confessed to 93 murders, and FBI crime analysts believe all of his confessions are credible. Law enforcement has been able to verify 50 confessions, with many more pending final confirmation.

"The most prolific serial killer in U.S. history." That line jumped out. So he's number 1? Note that they were only able to verify 50. So if confessions without verification count in the total, how about The Good Nurse, Charles Cullen? He was convicted of 13 murders, however:

Experts have estimated that Cullen may ultimately be responsible for 400 deaths, which would make him the most prolific serial killer in recorded history.

The race is on.

Furthermore, it's possible Albert Hicks, the last pirate of New York, may be in the running, but ships full of bodies scuttled at sea don't yield much evidence.

But serial killer score keepers need to be reminded that Henry Lee Lucas conned law enforcement officers into believing he murdered 200 people -- He was America's most deadly serial killer – but it was all a lie.

Serial killers trying to break the record need to keep better records.

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12:44 PM 12/11/2019

Enemies will use intel about us on us

It's heartening to learn that writers with some influence are concerned with the theory that China is compiling information on Americans. Samantha Ravich is one such writer. She has an impressive resume and recently wrote Artificial Intelligence and the Adversary. Here's an excerpt:

... Beijing already hoards vast quantities of data about its own 1.4 billion people, none of whom have privacy rights under the Communist regime.

Nevertheless, Beijing isn’t satisfied. It has turned its sights on the U.S. and has already exfiltrated some of the most sensitive information on the American people and military. These include repeated breaches since 2013 of medical systems and databases, and the decadelong targeting of the U.S. Navy’s ship-maintenance records and the names and personal details of 100,000 of its personnel.

In time, through artificial intelligence, China will be able to use Americans’ data against us. Personalized medical records could become personalized bioweapons, for instance.

This next passage is both terrifying and mystifying:

Personalized medical records could become personalized bioweapons, for instance. In 2017 Zhang Shibo, a retired Chinese general, wrote that biotech could provide China an offensive capability through the creation of “specific ethnic genetic attacks.” As for the stolen Navy data, understanding how the U.S. maintains its fleets will help China point out vulnerabilities in U.S. weapons systems and ship design to be exploited during a confrontation.

“Specific ethnic genetic attacks.” Understanding what each of those words means doesn't help to understand the phrase. Perhaps it means an involuntary assault on a person's DNA based on race. In any event, it's certainly sounds scary.

And it drives home the point that while China might be a trading partner, it is certainly not a friend.

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2:51 PM 12/9/2019

demanding, not earning, respect -- "that's Lt. Colonel Vindman to you"

The story can be found at Fox News under the headline Impeachment witness scolds Nunes for calling him mister: 'Lt. Col. Vindman, please. Here's a quote of the offending segment:

"Mr. Vindman, you testified in your deposition that you did not know the whistleblower," Nunes stated.

"Ranking member, it's Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, please," the witness responded.

Nunes corrected himself and repeated the statement, which followed questions regarding who Vindman had spoken with about Trump's phone call.

Sounds as though Vindman got a little testy -- like the big shot who got pulled over for speeding. "Do you know who I am?!!"

And it's hard to forget that time Senator Feinstein erupted at some military guy at a hearing because he called her "Ma'am." Maybe Vindman is trying for some payback for that, although he mistook the house for the senate and republicans for democrats.

In any event, respect should be earned. And whether in either case the complainant had actually been dissed, respect should be earned by something other than titles.

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3:41 PM 11/19/2019

How does one make a death threat against someone they can't identify

Sometimes it seems as though some of the hard core lefties wear death threats like red badges of courage.

We hear from news sources that an individual was so disturbed by President Trump's phone conversation with the Ukrainian president that he just had to become a whistle blower to out the whole conversation. The transcript was released, however it wasn't the smoking gun we were led to believe it would be.

And the whistle blower has gone underground. Anonymous. Identity hidden. Full Jason Bourne.

But now those news sources are rationalizing the anonymity by alleging death threats were made against said whistle blower.

The obvious question that arises is this: How exactly does one make a death threat against someone the threatener can't identify? Presumably, the threats come through social media. But if so, wouldn't there be a pixel trail of some sort?

In any event, it often seems that some public figures love to boast about death threats they've received. Reminds me of the old SNL skit in which socialites at a cocktail party bragged about the crack babies they've adopted.

Meanwhile, many conservatives are opting to stay undercover because of real fears of threats coming from the left, e.g., Jordan B. Peterson film sparks threats: 'We really don't want to have to bring out the guillotine'.

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1:33 PM 10/21/2019

Ross Perot's heroic rescue of employees from Iran

Ross Perot died the other day. He was a very accomplished man and a genuine hero. He is being remembered in the MSM today for his independent run for the presidency. But there's another story that should be remembered, and that's how Perot masterminded an escape from Iran of two of his employees following the Iranian revolution.

Here's the short hand version. Perot terminated a contract he had with Iran and removed all but two of his employees. Those two were put into a prison. Perot's escape plan involved his hand picked crew helping instigate a riot which stormed the prison and released all the prisoners. The two employees hooked up with Perot's crew and managed to escape beyond the Iranian border.

To read Perot's own account of the story see An Iran Rescue That Worked in WaPo. Alternate link.

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2:16 PM 7/10/2019

Cheollima Civil Defense raided Nor-Kor embassy in Spain

It seems like a conspiracy in search of a theory.

Allegedly, the Cheollima Civil Defense raided the North Korean embassy in Madrid, Spain, on February 22. The story says the group took documents and computers and tied up the staff before leaving. Source: Cheollima Civil Defense: Group claims raid on North Korea's embassy.

Spanish police say the intruders were CIA agents.. So there's the conspiracy. Whatever information was purloined is anybody's guess. Just seems like the CIA would have utilized a higher tech way of accomplishing that.

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3:12 PM 3/27/2019

Two expensive cars that were totaled by insurance company because of tiny little matter

Here are two almost unbelievable stories about expensive cars that were totaled by seemingly minor damage.

First up: Here's How A Corvette Was Totaled Because Of One Inch Of Damage. It was a 2017 Corvette with which the owner drove over an unavoidable obstacle on the freeway. BUMP! From the article:

I had it inspected at Karl Chevrolet the next day and from a quick look, there didn’t seem to be any serious damage. We took it in to Karl’s for repair a few weeks later and we were told the frame strike caused a small crack, less than an inch and a half long and they were having difficulty finding a replacement part.

A few days later, the shop told us the part is not available from Chevrolet and the car would be totaled. ...

The insurance company finally came to the same conclusion on the frame part being unavailable, and declared it a total loss. We were surprised that after all of this, they gave us a fair offer and had a check to us for the car the very next day.

The insurance company took the hit. But it seems like a bad business practice for a vehicle manufacturer to put irreplaceable parts in vulnerable places on expensive cars.

Second: This Lotus Elise Was Totaled Thanks to One Microscopic Bumper Crack. It wasn't exactly microscopic, but it didn't look like a scratch that would total a car. Nonetheless, from the article:

We spoke to Philip Kingston, the previous owner, to see whether it was this damage alone that totaled out the car, and he confirmed that yes, it was. His body shop came back with a $19,000 repair estimate, so his insurance ended up buying the car from him for more than $33,000. New clamshells can cost more than $5000, and that's before labor to install it, which is notoriously expensive. That rare bronze paint was also an issue. Remember, an entirely new clamshell had to be painted, so a lot of material was needed.

Another insurance company took a hit. Don't you know insurance on those vehicles must cost a fortune?

Owning an exotic car could be a dream come true. But under certain circumstances, it could become a nightmare.

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2:29 PM 11/14/2018

OK, but can she cook? Do the dishes? -- man marries hologram

When that old love bug bites, there's nothing you can do about it. So this Japanese guy married a fictional Hatsune Miku who is available only in the form of a hologram.

See Crazy in love? The Japanese man 'married' to a hologram. He said he would never marry a real - he calls them 3D - woman.

In Japan, that wouldn't be entirely unusual nowadays. While in 1980, only one in 50 men had never married by the age of 50, that figure is now one in four. ...

Two-dimensional characters can't cheat, age or die, he points out. "I'm not seeking these in real women. It's impossible."

I wonder why he didn't consider a robotic sex doll?

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2:49 PM 11/12/2018

Which is worse - gov worker visits 9,000 porn sites or spreading malware on gov network?

Two wrongs definitely didn't make right in this government worker's case. From the OIG Report:

We found that - redacted - knowingly used U.S. Government computer systems to access unauthorized internet web pages. We also found that those unauthorized pages hosted malware. The malware was downloaded to - redacted - Government laptop,which then exploited the USGS ' network. Our digital forensic examination revealed that - redacted - had an extensive history of visiting adult pornography websites. Many of the 9,000 web pages - redacted - visited routed through websites that originated in Russia and contained malware. Our analysis confirmed that many of the pornographic images were subsequently saved to an unauthorized USB device and personal Android cell phone connected to - redacted - Government issued computer. We found that - redacted - personal cell phone was also infected with malware.

This came to us by way of Sophos' NakedSecurity at Gov worker visits 9k porn sites without protection, spreads infection. Among the protections recommended by Sophos is their own web filter.

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10:50 AM 11/1/2018

Associated Press death row watcher, Michael Graczyk, goes independent

Late last month our local morning paper contained an Associate Press article telling us that Michael Graczyk was going to retire from AP and free lance doing what he did before.

Many professionals focus on something no one else wants to do. And they are successful if they do a good job.

Mr. Graczyk had an unlikely news business niche. He watched death row inmates get executed. Most of us might find that a little bit weird, but a reporter is supposed to look at subjects dispassionately. And Mr. Graczyk certainly made a claim to that narrow spot he filled.

Anyway, apparently he isn't going away, he's just going independent.

Here's a link to the AP article: AP reporter who observed 400+ executions in Texas retires.

Meanwhile, he was mentioned in 2010 at this blog in Henry Skinner's date with the executioner extended.

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2:20 PM 8/6/2018

Did feminists appropriate man's hat for the pussy cat hat?

A few decades ago men dressed in business attire wore hats. There was one dominate style, but there were others. Anyway, I was net surfing and ran across this vintage hat marketed for men. OK, it's not identical, but it does resemble the pussy cat hat feminists have embraced.

This Jet Set Hat was found here.

Social justice warriors are hot on the trail of cultural appropriations, so this may be one they might have missed.

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9:38 AM 2/4/2018

Keep Portland Weird means you can crap in the street

I watched the TV show "Grimm" on occasion while it was still being broadcast. The creative types came up with some interesting monsters that would transform themselves into ordinary looking humans when they were off duty. But there was something about the show that I was reminded of recently.

One of the secondary characters made a casual remark, "Keep Portland weird." The first time it sounded like one of those lines that just get thrown into a script. The second time could have been a coincidence. But the third time was a clear signal that this line was one of the requirements from the city of Portland, Oregon, for the right to make the show there.

Then along comes this article -- Portland’s Disgraceful Anarchy -- which tells us just what "weird" means to a leftist city like Portland. It's a retelling of how storekeepers are frequently intimidated and sometimes robbed by transients.

Certain repeat offenders of the city’s vagrant population, along with other agitators, have issued death threats and broken into cars; one Columbia employee had to run into moving traffic after a stranger followed her and threatened to kill her.

But this is disgusting:

She also recalled that a surveillance camera caught a man defecating outside of her front door, and that this wasn’t the first time that it had happened.

Maybe those monsters from Grimm were real.

I believe it was the progressive metropolis of Austin, Texas, which first adopted the "Keep ___ Weird" slogan. Hopefully, the folks in Austin have more common sense than the government leaders of Portland when they strive to keep their city weird.

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1:41 PM 12/19/2017

Pelosi's ideal California would be a Republican free zone -- hurry up Calexit

Donald Trump drives Democrats crazy with his tweets. But how about that Nancy Pelosi?

She won't drive you crazy, but she'll make you question the sanity of voters who keep her in office, because there's a hostility there that makes a person want California to secede. According to Michael van der Galien in Nancy Pelosi to California Republicans: 'You Don't Belong Here', here's what she said:

I want every single California Republican to understand this. Your ideology doesn’t come first. Your party doesn’t come first. The PEOPLE come first. If you fail to recognize that, you don’t belong here. https://t.co/xjbyOTI2MC.

Do Democrats recognize that the people come first? Or do they really want people with whom they disagree to leave the state? Pelosi loves the power the voters have given her and the wealth she's accumulated as a result.

Those of us out here in flyover country are probably wishing the Calexit plan could be successful.

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3:09 PM 12/5/2017

No tears for Slobodan Praljak who poisoned self in courtroom

The newsworthiness of the story is that he staged his suicide in the courtroom. (Dailymail.co.uk has a couple of articles about it: here and here.)

The tribunal is probably disappointing that he didn't serve his sentence -- opting for a self administered death penalty instead. But before getting upset about it, consider this. Maybe that should be an option in cases involving serious crimes.

When I was young we heard that Harakiri was a suicide ritual practiced among Japanese generals who were somehow disgraced. So maybe Praljak was guilty of cultural appropriation, too. In any event, perhaps we should welcome its comeback as a way to deal with really bad people.

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1:07 PM 11/30/2017

In PC wars alleged racist gesture outweighs flag disrespect

Astros player Yuli Gurriel allegedly made a racist gesture in a World Series game the other night between the Astros and the Dodgers. The PC warriors forced an apology out of him, so I had to hunt for it to figure out just what a "racist gesture" looked like.

Apparently, he touched both sides of his face and stretched his eyelids to look oriental. See Astros player Yuli Gurriel appears to make racist gesture mocking Japanese opponent. He got banned from five games next year as punishment.

In professional football a player can insult an entire country by disrespecting the national anthem and he becomes a hero to the same crowd that condemns Gurriel. What a contrast.

NorKor military leaders watch Morning Joe -- CNN hardest hit

I'll never forget Wolf Blitzer's reaction some years ago when a correspondent told him that Kim Jong Un watched CNN and was a big fan. Blitzer almost blushed when he thanked the reporter and said he was very proud of that. It seemed at the time that only an enemy of the United States could be proud of that.

Now we are hearing that the current crop of military officers in North Korea are big fans of Morning Joe. See NBC News correspondent: Senior North Korean officials watch 'Morning Joe':

“He quite plainly said he believes President Trump is mentally ill,” Simmons told "Morning Joe" co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough. “And he was unequivocal in saying he believes North Korea could win a war with America.”

Joe and Mika must be as proud as Wolf was back in the day. Poor Wolf.

Meanwhile, we should be grateful if they've convinced the North Koreans that Trump is crazy. Convincing an attacker that you're crazier than he is is a pretty good defense.

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11:36 AM 10/21/2017

Did the winner nudge the Nobel committee to award prize to him?

University of Chicago professor Richard Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in economics for "for his work on behavioral economics, which tries to understand how humans make decisions, especially bad ones." Source: American professor wins Nobel Prize in economics for trying to understand bad human behavior. More:

Thaler, an American, is one of the leading experts in the relatively new field that combines psychology and economics. He has made a career of studying people's poor choices — everything from why people save so little for retirement to why National Football League teams that go early in the annual draft typically do a poor job of selecting new players. He's even looked at how to make bathroom floors cleaner.

The hook for getting those of us with short attention spans to read about it was the part about the "nudge." To wit:

The committee praised Thaler for trying to “nudge” people and companies to make better decisions. ... “My mantra is if you want to get people to do something, make it easy," Thaler said Monday in an interview from his home posted by the University of Chicago.

So did I get "nudged" into reading about this? You bet your sweet bippy I did. Here's the nudge right here: What’s a urinal fly, and what does it have to with winning a Nobel Prize?

Spoiler alert! Turns out that the tactic was used at an airport in Amsterdam to encourage men to take better aim when using urinals with the addition of flies painted in them to provide a target.

How long before a reporter asks OJ Simpson whether he would take a knee during national anthem

Two media obsessions are about to collide. The mania surrounding the football players taking a knee during the singing of the national anthem has been a thumb in the eye to conservatives. And the media love it.

Then along came O.J. Simpson's parole hearing and his upcoming release. Those two trains have to collide for a wreck that will grab hold of reporters with a strangler's grip.

Simpson will be eligible for release on October 1, although there's no guarantee that's the day he will walk free.

In any event, I predict not 24 hours will elapse from the time he gets out until a reporter asks him whether he would stand or kneel during the national anthem at an NFL game. Simpson had a mixed history with police. They protected him as long as they could. But then he became the suspect in his wife's murder, and that protection seemed to end.

Simpson lived the dream with a big house in a rich white neighborhood. But Johnnie Cochran transformed him into a victimized black for the murder trial, and that was the narrative that got him the not guilty verdict. And now? My guess is he maintain that role and say that he will take a knee for the sake of all the other blacks who have been mistreated by law enforcement.

Editor's note: Maybe then he can finally resume that hunt for the real killer. -- Robo-ed.

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1:28 PM 9/29/2017

Fly the friendly skies of Trayvon airlines

There's something interesting going on in the air these days. Seems like hardly a week goes by in which we don't see video of fisticuffs on a passenger airlines.

So what's to make of this news? Florida university to award Trayvon Martin a posthumous honorary degree:

At its commencement ceremony on May 13, Florida Memorial University will present a posthumous honorary degree to Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager killed by George Zimmerman five years ago.

The private university announced Wednesday that Martin's parents, Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, will accept a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical science with a concentration in flight education on behalf of their son.

It's a private school, and presumably they know the pool from which their prospective students come. But should there be any current students working on a similar degree, there must be a little bit of anxiety sharing a degree with someone with a history like Trayvon Martin's. On the other hand, maybe they would be proud of it. Imagine the reunion with an empty chair for Trayvon. It could be worse. At least they aren't honoring a flight school graduate named Mohamad Atta.

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2:31 PM 5/6/2017

I've got this new app, and, uh, it says you stink

Actually, it's designed to tell the user whether or not he/she stinks, not whether others stink. Turns out we don't need much help telling whether someone else stinks. It's our own odors we don't always smell.

So along came this Japanese company with a device that will detect odors and send a message to your phone. See This Japanese Device Will Tell You When You Stink:

The device conveniently fits in a coat pocket and detects specific chemicals associated with body odors. The two chemicals associated with the kind of smell that comes from a sweaty locker room are ammonia and isovaleric acid. 2-nonenal is linked to the smell that comes with old age and diacetyl makes you smell like ‘rancid cooking oil’. KunKun can detect all four of these and lets you know immediately whenever you stink.

The device doesn’t just notify when you stink; it also tells you how much you stink using a color-coded meter. A stink-0-meter if we may call it. The idea was pitched by Hiroshi Akiyama, a 43-year-old man working in Konika Minolta when he became worried of his body odor. The company then partnered with Osaka Institute of Technology to develop the ‘sniff sniff’ stink-o-meter.

I won't be out til summer, so til then, don't spare the deodorant.

1:30 PM 3/25/2017

Lefty rioter groups gets tax exempt status denied to Tea Party

If there are any groups of people in the U.S. who have gotten a raw deal it's the people who tried to organize Tea Party groups.

They tried to get tax exempt status, and it's no secret that in many cases that status was denied or endlessly delayed for what appears to have been political meddling by the IRS. Under most circumstances, that would have been a big NO-NO. But in the Obama administration federal agencies were politicized to the extent no other administration had ever done, at least as far as we know.

And even today we read that two Tea Party groups' applications were denied by the IRS. See IRS denies tea party groups after long wait for decision on tax-exempt status.

Meanwhile, as we watch video of rioting anti-Trump mobs it's useful to remember who is backing them. Blake Montgomery reports that lo and behold, the radical organizer ANSWER Coalition is right in there swinging.

In case you're wondering whether they've got a tax exemption, look no further than their donate page where they helpfully explain the following:

Donations to PUF / ANSWER Coalition are processed by our fiscal sponsor, the Progress Unity Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization.

You may also make a tax-deductible donation by mailing a check made out to Progress Unity Fund / A.N.S.W.E.R. to the following address: ...

(Bold added, address withheld.)

Their tax exempt status should certainly be investigated. And if Donald Trump really intends to drain the swamp he should start with the IRS.

Sex roulette game with HIV positives

This has got to be a hoax. See Sex roulette parties where one person is secretly HIV+ and nobody is allowed to use condoms are on the rise, warn doctors.

There was a time when a diagnosis of HIV positive was tantamount to a death sentence. And indeed, many people died from it. But introduce some anti-viral drugs and the life extending medicines available to positives, and you get gay men more willing to take risks.

But this comes from Spain, a country with single payer heath insurance which NPR calls one of the best in the world.

Would these men be taking such chances if they knew they had to pay for the medicine out of their own pockets? It's one thing to deal with a positive HIV test. It's another thing to face poverty to pay for the meds. Score another one the dreamland that is socialism.

That aside, this still seems like a hoax. Skydiving and rock climbing can provide an adrenaline rush. And for some, asphyxiation sex seems to provide some sort of pleasure combining sex with a near death experience. The HIV roulette, however, seems too weird to be true. But it's a big world out there, most of which this country boy hasn't seen, so what do I know?

Transgender bathroom issue is this season's Macaca

Something smells fishy about this whole transgender bathroom issue. Yeah, I know, there's a better olfactory metaphor hanging over this, but the point is the same. It's a partisan issue trumped up for this election season.

It happens every two or four years. Not long ago it was Macaca. Some poor Senator uttered that word in reference to someone stalking him. The roof fell in on him because somehow that word became a racial epithet.

And none of us will forget Todd Akin, the poor schnook who made a remark about women's bodies, rape, and pregnancy.

Conservatives have a constant cloud over their heads from all the negatives taught to kids by their teachers, their favorite musicians, and Facebook's anti-conservative editors. It doesn't take much to reinforce those impressions especially when progressives are constantly on the lookout for some way to show they can out tolerate conservatives.

Progressives don't invent these incidents from scratch -- if they did someone would be boasting about it. But they've got their antenna out for them, and when they spot one they don't let it go to waste.

Sure enough, right on cue. Here comes Loretta Lynch putting the full force of the federal government on the case when she says: States Can't 'Insist' a Man is a Man and a Woman is a Woman, If Person Feels Otherwise.

Anyway, the transgender issue is this season's Macaca. The thing is bizarre. But when progressives can get a reaction that might reinforce some notion that a conservative is a bigot in an election year, progressives will milk it for all it's worth.

Post Script:  If you want to see my intolerance, get a load of this: I think it should be illegal to use the government as a partisan tool. So there.