Had this on my plate for a little while. Now it’s on yours as well, so dig in. It’s an in-depth and well done investigative piece by The Smoking Gun titled Outing an Online Outlaw. It involves a group called “Pranknet” and the joy and mirth they spread around the intermesh as well as the non-virtual world. Try to laugh along if you can. Here’s the setup:

“AUGUST 4--At 4:15 AM on a recent Tuesday, on a quiet, darkened street in Windsor, Ontario, a man was wrapping up another long day tormenting and terrorizing strangers on the telephone. Working from a sparsely furnished two-bedroom apartment in a ramshackle building a block from the Detroit River, the man, nicknamed "Dex", heads a network of so-called pranksters who have spent more than a year engaged in an orgy of criminal activity--vandalism, threats, harassment, impersonation, hacking, and other assorted felonies and misdemeanors--targeting U.S. businesses and residents.”

Awww. Charming little rascals, just up for a little funÂ…

But while Pranknet's hoaxes have caused millions of dollars in damages, it is the group's efforts to degrade and frighten targets that makes it even more odious. For example, a bizarre July 20 prank ended with a hotel worker actually sipping from a urine sample provided by a guest at a Homewood Suites in Kentucky. Additionally, at least twice this year, fast food workers--fearing that they would suffer burns after being doused by chemicals from a fire suppression system--stripped off their clothes on the sidewalk outside their respective restaurants.”

TSG gets all uppity and stuff about these scamps. You can almost smell the judgmentalism here:

"By any measure, "Dex" is a sociopath, a mean-spirited sadist who spews a barrage of racial epithets, vulgarities, and threats, and clearly enjoys the panic, fear, and damage he causes. While his frauds and sinister manipulations often rely on naive and compliant dupes, "Dex" prefers to make it appear that he is practicing some mysterious alchemy. "About to social engineer some people into doing wild shit," he announced in a late-May Twitter post."

But then TSG makes the cruelest cuts of all:

"On July 21, a pair of TSG reporters approached "Dex"'s building at 1637 Assumption Street in Windsor, where he lives in the ground-floor 'B' apartment. Calling to his mother, who was standing near an open living room window, a reporter asked her to summon her son. The woman disappeared into "Dex"'s adjoining bedroom, where the pair could be heard whispering. Despite repeated requests to come out and speak with TSG, "Dex" hid with his mother in his bedroom, the windows of which were covered with plastic shopping bags, a towel, and one black trash bag."

Sad but true. Yes, "Dex," is a 25 year old named Tariq Malik who lives with Mum in a run-down apartment in Windsor, Ontario. Ahh, but it's just the unfocused anger of disaffected youth looking for a creative outlet. Hell, I like this guy. He can come over to my house and fuck my sister. You'll agree, I'm sure (you must provide your own sister though...mine's busy), after reading of the many additional examples TSG provides along with *bonus* audio samples and even a vid sample.

Unrelated consumer complaint of the night: Hey Comcast? I'm paying you lots and lots of money each month to provide cable, phone and broadband service. Think you could do it on a consistent basis so it doesn't go out every 5 minutes while I'm trying to write this stupid post? Ok, thanks...just thought I'd ask.

ONT sponsor hiding beneath the fold.

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Posted by: Open Blog at 05:40 PM | Comments (7)
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Fishism alert. The White House is reversing a nine-year-old policy forbidding the use of tracking cookies on those who visit federal websites.

Even the ACLU is alarmed.

Since 2000, it has been the policy of the federal government not to use such technology. But the OMB is now seeking to change that policy and is considering the use of cookies for tracking web visitors across multiple sessions and storing their unique preferences and surfing habits. Though this is a major shift in policy, the announcement of this program consists of only a single page from the federal register that contains almost no detail.

“This is a sea change in government privacy policy,” said Michael Macleod-Ball, Acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Without explaining this reversal of policy, the OMB is seeking to allow the mass collection of personal information of every user of a federal government website. Until the OMB answers the multitude of questions surrounding this policy shift, we will continue to raise our strenuous objections.”

The use of cookies allows a website to differentiate between users and build a database of each userÂ’s viewing habits and the information they share with the site. Since web surfers frequently share information like their name or email address (if theyÂ’ve signed up for a service) or search request terms, the use of cookies frequently allows a userÂ’s identity and web surfing habits to be linked. In addition, websites can allow third parties, such as advertisers, to also place cookies on a userÂ’s computer.

“Americans rely on the information from the federal government to research politics, medical issues and legal requirements. The OMB is now asking to retain the personal and identifiable information we leave behind,” said Christopher Calabrese, Counsel for the ACLU Technology and Liberty Project. “No American should have to sacrifice privacy or risk surveillance in order to access free government information. No policy change should be adopted without wide ranging debate including information on the restrictions and uses of cookies as well as impact on privacy.”

Posted by: Ace at 04:50 PM | Comments (68)
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As in, they don't appear in a book which is entirely about them.

It's nice to see our brave, free-thinking, secular rationalist academic class has finally gotten around to reinstituting the ban on blasphemy.

Frankly, I'd missed it.

Welcome back, Old Friend. We have much to discuss.

Posted by: Ace at 03:55 PM | Add Comment
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I can haz political cos-play?

As always it's still in the digging phase, but as of yet, no "Dr. Roxanna Mayer" found on any database, but one Obama delegate named Roxanna Mayer found at the school where Sheila Talk to the Hand's husband works.

This one isn't in the bank yet, but it appears it's headed there.

By the Way: If this woman is as young as I imagine, how the hell did the reporter claim she was a "doctor"? Does she have a practice with Doogie Howser?

That seems like... an almost willful blindness, eh?

Update: At the link above, Patterico says he has proof, of a sort... but I don't know. The pictures I see show one woman who appears black, or half-black, and another picture of a white woman. I don't see them as the same woman.

Am I wrong? How does Patterico see this as a clear match when I don't think they look much alike at all? I don't even think they're the same race.

Also, a commenter tips me the reporter has responded to questioning:

This was the name and information that she gave at the public meeting. And there have since been questions about it, another person that I found on “linked in” that is a social worker intern at a drug council. However, no concrete proof of her misrepresenting herself. But we will be watching for her at future meetings to check her out. Best regards, Cindy Horswell

Well... see, now they kinda can't bury it. If this woman lied about being a "doctor"... that invites the question why she did so, eh?

Hmmm... A commenter at the Chron's account claims she's real:

Dr. Mayer treated my quintuplets after they contracted swine flu last year. She's a saint! My kids loved her, and I highly recommend her. FYI, Davesnothere, she recently re-married and her TX med license is under her former name.

I'm feeling in a walk-back kind of mood on this.

Hmmm... Okay, that "quintuplets" thing was odd, and RickR. informs me the first US cases of swine flu came this year, not last.

Another commenter says this picture of the student Roxana Mayer looks more like alleged "Doctor" Roxana Mayer, and he's right, the hair is closer, but still...

I'm provisionally back on the team on this one.

Posted by: Ace at 03:33 PM | Comments (12)
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However, neither side is anything like a majority, so most of the people saying 'I hate them, make them go away' are diehard liberals who of course would say that, and most of the people saying 'They seem sympathetic and make me want to vote their way" are likely already in the bag against ObamaCare.

But there is a lot more support of the protesters than opposition.

Further, independents are much more on the protester's side -- but always keep in mind that currently there are more right-leaning independents than left-leaning independents. (Why? Because the GOP became unpopular, many right-leaning people quit the party and became right-leaning independents; and because the Democratic Party became popular, many left-leaning independents, who were always liberal anyway, "made it official' and joined the Democrats as far as affiliation. This is, by the way, why pollsters allow voters to self-identify as far as party affiliation -- it's flexible.)

Still -- if the Democrats were counting on some groundswell of public animus at the protesters, sorry, boys. At best, for Democrats I mean, the protesters are minor positive for the ObamaCare opposition.

And it's possible they're quite a bit more positive for the cause than that.

n a survey of 1,000 adults taken Tuesday, 34% say the sometimes heated protests at sessions held by members of Congress have made them more sympathetic to the protesters' views; 21% say they are less sympathetic.

Independents by 2-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now.

The findings are bad news for President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders, who have scrambled to respond to town halls marked by aggressive questions and noisy demonstrations by those opposed to plans to overhaul the health care system.

Incidentally, I really don't think people got what I was saying yesterday and read all the nuance out of it to reduce it to "we have to be nicer," which I never said at all.

I do worry that some angry lunkheads will camera-hog and take the spotlight off of more persuasive, better-informed questioners. But I'm a fan of the jeering and hooting of evasive answers and lies.

Angry blowhards filled with hate and with shaky grasp of the facts shouldn't be on television.

They should start blogs, like I did.

More: Hollowpoint points out that the public doesn't mind raucousness -- but they reject shout-downs.

Which is my position. Hoot and jeer and boo until they answer the question, but do let them answer the question

The thing is, I'm offering a useless prescription, because that is precisely what the protesters are doing. It's just the Democrats and the media (BIRM) insisting they're engaging in shout-downs.

Just saying -- keep it this way and don't get caught up in the full shout-down.

There's some tolerance for noisy disputes at town hall meetings. By 51%-41%, those surveyed say individuals making "angry attacks" on a health care bill reflected "democracy in action" rather than "abuse of democracy." However, by 59%-33% they say "shouting down supporters" of a health care bill was an abuse of democracy.

Of course, the media continues to ask about "shout-downs" that happen only in the imaginations of Democratic War Room message-makers.

Posted by: Ace at 02:40 PM | Add Comment
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What a bastard.

A secret DNA test proves former presidential candidate John Edwards is the father of the baby born from an affair with a campaign aide, the National Enquirer reported Wednesday.

In related news, Mark Sanford is the poster boy for Republican hypocrisy because he had a serious affair as Governor.

Can you believe that? Having an affair while in the high-profile job of Governor?

Thank God John Edwards was merely a private citizen when he was covering up his bastard cheat-baby*, or else I might accuse the media of some hypocrisy on this issue.

Rick Pitino: I Paid My Sleazy Hook-Up for Medical Coverage, Not Specifically an Abortion... I Thought Maybe She Could Use Some Work on Her Deviated Septum or Somethin': Spin so dumb it's not even spin. It's almost honest.

* And like a king, he denied the parentage of the child.

Posted by: Ace at 01:21 PM | Add Comment
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Did I say create and add? I meant destroy.

Close enough for Gibbsy to spin.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) released a study Wednesday that found under a high-cost scenario the House global warming bill could reduce economic growth by 2.4 percent and cost 2 million jobs by 2030.

Environmentalists were quick to criticize the study for underselling the development of climate-friendly sources of power...

Asinine. The gold standard -- which will never be attained -- is to get these "new sources of power" as cheap as real sources of power. And in that fantasy outcome, it would be a wash.

I love how they talk about all the "new jobs" green power will create. Yes, you will have more people working to produce less of the same commodity.

In other words, you will be paying more for less. We will have "more jobs" just the same as if we took any other efficient industry and forced it to be as inefficient and costly as possible -- we'd add tons of manpower we previously had no use for.

They sell this as a good thing. Indeed, it's every bit as good as the UAW insisting on jamming 15 guys on a production line when 10 will do the best job.

Just as good. We can create millions of jobs by going to an habitrail-wheel energy production system, just paying millions of people to jog in giant hamster wheels to drive turbines.

I will let you ponder what will happen to your energy bill -- and all other employment.

But the business groupsÂ’ figures will likely provide opponents of capping carbon more ammunition and could add to the angst of senators from industrial states. One key finding is that the climate bill will hurt the manufacturing sector particularly hard. As much as 66 percent of the total job loss from the climate bill could come from manufacturers, the report notes.

And though the impact of the bill will grow over time, the economy will start feeling the effects of the carbon cap almost immediately.

“Industrial production begins to decline immediately in 2012, relative to the baseline,” the report notes.

"You mean make them slaves?" Flash Gordon asked.

"They will learn to be contented with less," Ming the Merciless explained.

Posted by: Ace at 01:11 PM | Add Comment
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Senator Feinstein is pissed that Axelturfing Central aka "Organizing for America" has been scheduling meetings for her without her knowledge. The constituents then show up at her office and make a scene when she can't accommodate them.

Mary Katharine Ham snarks:

I wouldn't have expected such community organizer FAIL from this White House, but I guess you get rusty when you're running the country.

And it turns out that the OFA has also been scheduling meetings for House Republicans. It's blunder after blunder from the President.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:25 PM | Add Comment
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Approval at 48%. Lowest yet.

God I just love him so much.

Especially now that he's not as popular. It was like Metallica -- cool, but then not as cool when everyone liked them, you know?

I can't wait until his appeal becomes more selective because then he'll be super-amazingly-cool again.

Those pecs.... yum. And he can actually hit free-throws a full 33% of the time. Like a God.

Posted by: Ace at 10:54 AM | Comments (4)
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Behold Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tx) 'listening' to a cancer survivor tell her story.

What a wonderful metaphor for government run health care...talk to the hand!

UPDATE: It wasn't rude, it was just multitasking. That's her story. Seriously.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:04 AM | Add Comment
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