A Little Humor: New Virus Alert

There is a dangerous new virus being passed electronically, orally and by hand. 

This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer (WORK). If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss or anyone else via any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your private life completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK, put your jacket on and take two good friends to the nearest bar. 

Purchase the antidote known as Work-Isolator-Neutralizer-Extractor (WINE) or Bothersome-Employer-Eliminator-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should pass on this warning to 5 friends. If you do not have 5 friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

Inside The FBI: The Oklahoma City Bombing 25 Years Later - Reflections Of An FBI Agent

The FBI released an interview with an FBI special agent who was on the scene of the Oklahoma City bombing 25 years ago.

Steve Lewis: On the morning of April 19, 1995, an ex-Army solider named Timothy McVeigh parked a Ryder truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.

A powerful bomb was inside the vehicle. It was made out of a deadly cocktail of fertilizer, racecar fuel, and other chemicals. McVeigh got out of the truck, locked the door, and headed toward his getaway car. He ignited one timed fuse and then another.

At precisely 9:02 a.m., the bomb exploded.

Within moments, the surrounding area looked like a war zone. A third of the Murrah Building had been reduced to rubble. The blast incinerated dozens of cars and damaged or destroyed more than 300 nearby buildings.

Just outside the city limits, FBI Special Agent Barry Black was sitting in his car tracking a fugitive, when he heard the explosion. Black switched on his radio and immediately heard fellow agents on the other end. Speculations of a gas main break or maybe a plane crash.

Switching channels, Black reported what he was hearing and seeing to his supervisor. Not long after that call to his boss, Black would be re-directed from his fugitive case to the site of the explosion.

Twenty-five years after the deadly bombing that took the lives of 168 people, now-retired Special Agent Barry Black provides us with his firsthand experience investigating the Oklahoma City case, known as OKBOMB, in this episode of Inside the FBI. You’ll hear the challenges he faced during the investigation and his perspective on how such a tragic event helped shape the FBI’s approach to investigating domestic terrorism today.

I’m Steve Lewis, and this is Inside the FBI.

Late that tragic April morning, Black linked up with fellow investigators and first responders at the Murrah Building to figure out what happened and assess the damage. 

You can read the rest of the piece and listen to the audio of the interview via the below link:

https://www.fbi.gov/news/podcasts/inside-the-fbi-oklahoma-city-bombing-25-years-later-041520?utm_campaign=Podcast&utm_content=Podcast+-+Inside+the+FBI%3A+The+Oklahoma+City+Bombing%3A+25+Years+

Later&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Podcast&utm_term=email 

My Washington Times Review Of Don Winslow's 'Broken'

The Washington Times published my review of Don Winslow’s Broken.

After publishing a big crime novel like “The Cartel,” “The Force” and “The Border” every two years, Don Winslow decided to publish “Broken,” a collection of five novellas and one short story. Inspired by the novella collections of Jim Harrison and Stephen King, Don Winslow sees the quick potential of selling the six stories to television and films.

FX is working on his cartel drug trafficking trilogy — “Power of the Dog,” “The Cartel” and “The Border” — into a television series called “The Cartel.” TV and film producers are also buying or bidding on other Winslow crime novels. At 65, Mr. Winslow, a former private detective and safari guide, is considered a hot property.

In “Broken,” the stories are connected by themes of crime, corruption, tragedy and humor.  

Mr. Winslow offers an Ernest Hemingway quote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places,” to open his story, “Broken.”  

“You ain’t gotta tell Eva the world is a broken place,” Mr. Winslow writes. “A 911 dispatcher on a night shift, Eva McNabb hears humanity’s brokenness for eight hours straight, five nights a week, more when she’s pulling doubles. She hears the car accidents, the robberies, the shootings, the murders, the maiming’s, the deaths. She hears the fear, the panic, the anger, the rage, the chaos, and she sends men racing toward it.”   

Her two sons are New Orleans police officers. One is a sensitive patrol officer and the other is a brutal narcotics officer. The sensitive cop is murdered by a drug trafficker who sought to punish the narcotics officer who busted his drug shipment. The murder sets off a tale of revenge and murder.

In “Crime 101,” which Mr. Winslow dedicates to the late actor Steve McQueen, a clever jewel thief travels California Highway 101 in San Diego, robbing jewel couriers and merchants with a minimum of force and maximum speed. The crook admires Steve McQueen, the definition of California cool, and adheres to a set of principals he calls Crime 101 (“Crime 101: There’s a word for a man who believes in coincidences: the defendant”). The crook is pursued by an old school San Diego detective in this clever and interesting story.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/16/book-review-broken/ 

The United States Issues An Advisory On North Korean Cyber Threats

On April 15, the U.S. Departments of State, Homeland Security, and Treasury, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued an advisory to raise the awareness of the cyber threat posed by North Korea.  The advisory highlights North Korea’s malicious cyber activities around the world, identifies U.S. government resources that provide technical and threat information, and includes recommended measures to counter the cyber threat.

North Korea’s malicious cyber activities threaten the United States and countries around the world and, in particular, pose a significant threat to the integrity and stability of the international financial system.  The United States works closely with like-minded countries to focus attention on and condemn disruptive, destructive, or otherwise destabilizing behavior in cyberspace.  It is vital for foreign governments, network defenders, and the public to stay vigilant and to work together to mitigate the cyber threat posed by North Korea.

The North Korean Cyber Threat Advisory can be viewed at: https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/aa20-106a 

The Babylon Bee: China Impressed By Michigan Governor's Totalitarian Policies

The Babylon Bee offers another biting satire:

BEIJING—In a candid speech Tuesday, President Xi Jinping stated he was "pretty impressed" by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, specifically praising her totalitarian policies.

China's dictator said he was actually a little jealous he hadn't thought of some of her ideas himself. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:  

https://babylonbee.com/news/china-impressed-by-michigan-governors-totalitarian-policies 

United States Attorney McSwain Warns Of Potential Scams Concerning The Economic Impact Payments That Many Americans Will Soon Receive

The U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Pennsylvania released the below information:

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney William M. McSwain warned the public today about potential scams relating to the upcoming coronavirus economic impact payments, commonly referred to as stimulus checks.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020. Under the CARES Act, millions of Americans will start to receive economic impact payments from the federal government in the upcoming weeks. In most cases, this one-time direct payment will be delivered by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to individual taxpayers primarily through direct deposit. Despite safeguards in place to protect these payments, fraudsters will undoubtedly attempt to exploit the current situation to steal individuals’ personal and financial information through a variety of ways, including phishing emails, social media, robocalls, and text messaging.

“It is paramount that we get this much-needed money safely into the hands of Americans in order to ease some of the pain from the pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “The unfortunate reality is that no matter what is going on in the world, fraudsters will look for opportunities to steal. But anybody who tries to take advantage of the pandemic in this manner will feel the full weight of federal law enforcement.”

“Unfortunately, there are fraudsters out there who will attempt to victimize vulnerable people during these trying times,” said Michael Montanez, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Philadelphia Field Office. “Everyone should be wary of swindlers trying to steal their COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment, as well as crooked individuals trying to take advantage of the crisis by tricking people into unnecessarily turning over their personal, sensitive information. All Americans should be cautious in this regard and it is asked that everyone also be on the lookout for the interests of the elderly and other susceptible family members and friends.”

Below are tips for how to spot and avoid scams:

What Fraudsters May Do:

·         Ask taxpayers to sign over an economic impact payment.

·         Ask by phone, email, text message, or social media for verification of personal and/or banking information for the purposes of expediting a person’s economic impact payment.

·         Mail taxpayers bogus checks with contact information (such as a phone number or web address) regarding how the taxpayer can cash the check. 

How to Avoid Scams:

·         Don’t provide personal or financial information to strangers. Never provide an unknown individual with personal or financial information until you have verified the identity of the person with whom you are speaking.

·         Don’t open or click on unusual links or attachments. If you receive unexpected emails, text messages, or social media messages with attachments or website links, delete them. Do not click on, download, or open any of the above, as you may be opening malware on your electronic device that can help criminals steal your information.

·         Checks are deposited automatically. Remember that in most cases, the IRS is using direct deposit to send the economic impact payments. Thus, if anyone is asking you for personal information in any manner, you should be wary and seek additional information to verify the person’s identity and employment.

·         There are no fees to receive payment. The government is not asking citizens to pay anything up front to receive an economic impact payment. If someone contacts you asking for any form of payment in order to receive an economic impact payment, please contact law enforcement. 

If you or someone you know has been the target or victim of a fraud scheme related to the coronavirus, please report the incident to the national hotline at The National Center for Disaster Fraud at 1-866-720-5721 or at disaster@leo.gov.

Babylon Bee: Roman Authorities Investigating Jesus For Violating Stay-In-Tomb Order

Even on Easter, the satiric Babylon Bee, a Christian newspaper, delivers a funny piece.

JERUSALEM—Roman authorities are investigating controversial religious leader Jesus of Nazareth for violating the Empire's clear "stay in tomb" order. After crucifying him and laying him in the tomb, Roman guards put Him under strict orders to stay there and not come back, rising victorious over sin and death.

But Jesus, answering to a higher authority, refused to stay dead and busted out of the tomb, establishing a kingdom that would never end -- again, in clear violation of the government's orders. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link: 

https://babylonbee.com/news/roman-authorities-investigating-jesus-for-violating-stay-in-tomb-order