Kubuntu 16.04 cannot modify partitions, dd, etcher, or format any micro SD cards, period!

I've spent a goodly amount of time trying to research out a solution to this frustrating problem that didn't use to exist. I used to be able to routinely modify the partitions, image, and format micro SD cards on my Kubuntu 16.04 box, but I can't do it any more. When I insert a micro SD card, it automatically mounts, per the system settings to perform automount upon detection. What I would usually do is unmount the micro SD card (or card partitions if there were more than one mounted) and then perform a dd command, mkfs, or use Etcher, as needed. Things just worked.

Now, when I insert a micro SD card, it auto mounts, and I can see the information on the micro SD card partitions, but unmounting it causes it to disappear entirely. I changed the system settings so as to NOT automount on detection, but the problem persists. Every micro SD card, even new, unused ones, cannot be gparted'ed, formatted, dd'ed, or etcher'ed. I have tried multiple micro SD card adapters and made absolutely sure that they were not set to read-only mode. Also, I attempted to modify existing files on micro SD carda and they could not be modified, even though they are marked are writable and the directories they are in are writable.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Mac