FOLLOW THE MONEY: Someone has emptied the ransom accounts from the WannaCry attack.

More than $140,000 worth of digital currency bitcoin has been drained from three accounts linked to the ransomware virus that hit hundreds of thousands of computers around the world in May.

It’s unclear, though, who emptied the accounts and why. If the WannaCry hackers are finally trying to get their hands on the money, they’ll have to outwit law enforcement agencies from around the globe.

It’s a fresh twist in the mysterious attack that cybersecurity experts have linked to a hacking group associated with North Korea.

North Korea is a family-run gangster organization with ICBMs.

THIS IS CNN: Charlie Martin on Why CNN’s Jim Acosta is Wrong About the Statue of Liberty.

CAN THEY DO THAT? Millennials Unearth an Amazing Hack to Get Free TV: the Antenna.

“I was just kind of surprised that this is technology that exists,” says Mr. Sisco, 28 years old. “It’s been awesome. It doesn’t log out and it doesn’t skip.”

Let’s hear a round of applause for TV antennas, often called “rabbit ears,” a technology invented roughly seven decades ago, long before there was even a cord to be cut, which had been consigned to the technology trash can along with cassette tapes and VCRs.

The antenna is mounting a quiet comeback, propelled by a generation that never knew life before cable television, and who primarily watch Netflix , Hulu and HBO via the internet. Antenna sales in the U.S. are projected to rise 7% in 2017 to nearly 8 million units, according to the Consumer Technology Association, a trade group.

Mr. Sisco, an M.B.A. student in Provo, Utah, made his discovery after inviting friends over to watch the Super Bowl in 2014. The online stream he found to watch the game didn’t have regular commercials—disappointing half of his guests who were only interested in the ads.

“An antenna was not even on my radar,” he says. He went online and discovered he could buy one for $20 and watch major networks like ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS free.

I honestly can’t tell whether this article was written tongue-in-cheek.

QUESTIONS I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT ANSWERED THEMSELVES: Should you seal your penis shut with a Jiftip sticker during sex? Doctors: It’s “risky.”

TYLER O’NEIL: Trump administration is more effective than it appears.

That was certainly true of his campaign.

THE TYCOON WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD: Fugitive Chinese billionaire may have requested U.S. political asylum.

Citing court-related documents, Boxun reported Guo applied for a visa to the United States multiple times, but after failing to meet certain immigration standards, forged documents with his attorney in order to obtain a visa.

Boxun, known in China for its muckraking journalism, has reported its staff has received threats from Guo and other disgraced officials, including the former deputy director of China’s national security bureau.

The billionaire’s troubles began when reports in China suggested he had been using illegal means to throw business rivals in prison.

Guo, who is believed to have reached the United States at the end of 2014, has become increasingly vocal about corruption among Chinese officials.

The Chinese businessman, whose wealth is estimated to be about $2.2 billion, has been linked to fallen officials in Beijing.

Developing, as they say.

DON’T IGNORE DRY EYES. I thought I had dry eyes at one point, but it was actually allergies, and Alaway drops fixed it.

SETON MOTLEY ON CALEXIT: “California has become a cancer on the body America. When the tumor is volunteering to remove itself – you happily do everything you can to assist with the procedure.”

Related: Calexit Leader to Tucker Carlson: Export Middle Class To Make Room For Next “Wave” Of Immigrants.

Exit quote: “This is California. We’re not the United States.”

NOBODY TELL NOTORIOUS ROBOPHOBE MATTHEW YGLESIAS: Sex Dolls Are Getting Smarter. Don’t Be Alarmed.

When it comes to lifelike sex dolls (which currently exist) and sexbots (which do not yet), people are prone to two contradictory and misguided beliefs: that only rapey perverts would use them, and that they pose a major threat to our social and sexual order.

Matt McMullen, the man behind the most popular “love doll” on the market, isn’t buying either.

In a recent interview with Mel magazine, the CEO of Abyss Creations and creator of RealDoll, said his creations are not simply about sex and doubts they will ever capture a huge share of the sexual market.

In my Reason sexbot feature a few years ago, I noted that not even the most starry-eyed roboticists, futurists, and philosophers expect sex with robots to become a majority pastime. If the technology gets good enough and the products cheap enough, they might play the same role sex toys and strip clubs do now, without their customers automatically being considered creepy perverts.

Storage would seem to be an issue, especially in smaller apartments.

FLASHBACK: Asians Get The Ivy League’s Jewish Treatment.

“TRUMP HAS NO RESPECT FOR THE LAW, OR THE NORMS OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT!” “You’re right! Let’s leak classified transcripts of his conversations with foreign leaders!”

Plus: “The less Trump can trust the regularly constituted government, the more justified he will feel in working irregularly. His irregular actions then justify more counter-irregularity from the rest of the government.” Feel? The more justified he’ll be. . .

PATRICK POOLE: Western Countries on High Alert for ISIS Infiltrators in Armed Forces.

IN MOST PRIMATE SPECIES, COMPETITION AMONG FEMALES IS MORE INTENSE THAN COMPETITION AMONG MALES: Why Do Women Bully Each Other At Work? “One psychologist, Joyce Benenson, thinks women are evolutionarily predestined not to collaborate with women they are not related to. Her research suggests that women and girls are less willing than men and boys to cooperate with lower-status individuals of the same gender; more likely to dissolve same-gender friendships; and more willing to socially exclude one another. She points to a similar pattern in apes. Male chimpanzees groom one another more than females do, and frequently work together to hunt or patrol borders. Female chimps are much less likely to form coalitions, and have even been spotted forcing themselves between a female rival and her mate in the throes of copulation.”

“Perhaps not surprisingly, Benenson’s theory is controversial—so much so that she says she feels sidelined and ‘very isolated’ in academia.” I suspect the isolation comes mostly from female academics, proving — or at least illustrating — her point. . . .

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Law Grad Class Of 2016 Secured Fewest Private Practice Jobs Since 1996, But Employment Rose 1% Due To Reduced Class Size.

SURPRISING EXACTLY NO ONE: Half of Detroit’s 8 mayoral candidates are felons. Based on past experience, the others will be, if elected.

Detroit’s last Republican mayor was elected in 1957.

IT ISN’T AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS: This Amazon Echo ‘hack’ can turn your friendly home assistant into a covert wiretap.

Vulnerabilities in older editions of the Amazon Echo can let hackers transform the digital assistant into a covert listening device, researchers have claimed. As a result, the exploit, which can be done without affecting the device’s functionality, could place a wiretap in your living room.

Research published on Tuesday 1 August by MWR InfoSecurity detailed how its experts found the Amazon Echo to be susceptible to a physical attack, allowing a hacker to gain control over the device and install malware, listen in on conversations and steal private data.

By removing a rubber base at the bottom of the Amazon Echo, the research team could access the 18 debug pads and directly boot into the firmware of the device, via an external SD card, installing malware without leaving any physical evidence of tampering.

The researchers said they were able to gain “remote root shell access” that enabled them to access the ‘always listening’ microphones on the machines.

Any “hack” requiring physical access to the device is really no different from breaking in and planting a bug — which doesn’t require an Amazon Echo at all.

IF YOU STRIKE ME DOWN . . . Chick-Fil-A Generates Most Revenue Per Restaurant In US.

MARK KRIKORIAN: Why Trump Is Right about Immigration.

The RAISE Act would limit family immigration rights to the actual nuclear family: husbands, wives, and little kids of American citizens and legal residents. The current categories for adult siblings, adult sons and daughters, and parents would be retired. U.S. citizens could still bring in their elderly parents in need of caretaking, but only on renewable nonimmigrant visas (no green cards or citizenship) and only after proving that they’ve paid for health insurance up front.

The second major element in this restructuring addresses the employment-based immigration flow. It is now a jumble of categories and subcategories, the main result of which is to provide steady work for immigration lawyers. The Cotton-Perdue bill would rationalize this mess by creating one, streamlined points system, along the lines of similar schemes in Canada and Australia. Points would be awarded to potential candidates based mainly on education, English-language ability and age, and those who meet a certain benchmark would be in the pool for green cards, with the top scorers being selected first.

The bill would also eliminate the egregious Diversity Visa Lottery and cap refugee admissions at fifty thousand per year, rather than allow the president let in as many as he wants, as is the case today.

The level of immigration—now running at over a million a year—would likely drop by 40 percent, and then drop some more over time, as the number of foreign spouses declined. (Most U.S. citizens marrying foreigners are earlier immigrants, so as they age, and fewer new immigrants come in behind them, the demand for spousal immigration is likely to fall.) That would still mean annual permanent immigration of 500,000–600,000 a year, which is more than any other nation.

None of this seems unduly harsh, or really anything less than perfectly sensible — naturally then, anyone supporting the bill is “literally Hitler.”

WELL: Justice Department redacts talking points on Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting. So the presence of “talking points” undercuts the “talking about grandchildren” lie. But how can the “deliberative process” exemption apply to a conversation with Bill Clinton, who at that point was just the husband of a former Secretary of State?

UPDATE: Oops, I misread this initially. The talking points were about the Clinton meeting, not prepared for the Clinton meeting. Still think they should be released.

NO. NEXT QUESTION? Could Donald Trump Do Anything to Win the NeverTrumpers? “Having once been an active and paid-up member of the anti-Trump brigade, I understand that there are many things to criticize about Donald Trump. I have on several occasions explained why I changed my mind. It boils down to two things: Hillary Clinton, on the negative side of the equation, and Trump’s agenda on the positive side.”

DIVERSITY IS OUR STRENGTH: Deliveroo riders refuse to work in parts of London after spate of acid attacks.

MICHAEL LEDEEN: Misery Doesn’t Cause Revolution.

Misery doesn’t cause revolution, whatever you may have been taught. Not in Venezuela, not in Iran, not in North Korea. Certainly the citizens in those countries are miserable, but I don’t think that revolution is about to erupt in any of them. I think that politics is an independent variable, not, as the Marxists would believe, the outcome of certain social conditions. Its causes are spiritual, not material. I think that revolution is an act of hope, not a last, desperate throw of the dice. The revolutionaries think they can change the world, and they think—nowadays, at least—that powerful forces are working on their side. Modern jihadis think Allah is fighting alongside them, for example, while Soviet dissidents believed democracy was a global force aimed at tyrants. Most Iranians believe that nothing of great import ever happens without the involvement of the Dark Forces (CIA and the Queen of England above all). Etcetera.

So it’s political. It’s not the economy, stupid. Ergo, sanctions are not going to do it (mind you, I’m all for sanctions, especially the sort that directly target the tyrants, but that’s because of their political effect). If you want regime change, your main weapons will be political. Above all, you’ve got to support the regime’s enemies and you’ve got to call for a new government and a new system.

In addition to Ledeen’s suggestion, we have unprecedented tools — cyber, institutional, popular culture — for making life very difficult for tinpot dictators. What we’ve lacked is political leadership with the will and imagination to use them.

ROGER SIMON ON IMMIGRATION AND HOW TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME DUMBS DOWN THE PRESS: “How many IQ points do you lose from Trump Derangement Syndrome or similar conditions of blind political rage?”

Read the whole thing.

CHARLIE MARTIN: The Craziest Spy Movie Ever.