Ransomware goes mainstream

Ransomware attacks are nothing new. Business executives, cybersecurity companies, and government agencies have been fretting about the criminal enterprise for years. But as the number of attacks skyrocket, they're beginning to have a real-world impact on everyday people. When shadowy criminals hijack computer systems, demanding millions of dollars in exchange for their safe return, it can lead to all kinds of chaos. A ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline in May led to gas shortages and panic buying. When hackers compromised the JBS meat processing company last week, worries about meat shortages came to the forefront. Transportation systems, hospitals, schools—no network is immune. —The Washington Post

• — The DOJ gets serious. The Justice Department announced last week that it is elevating its investigations of ransomware attacks to the same priority level as terrorism. Internal guidance sent on Thursday to U.S. attorney's offices across the country said information about ransomware investigations in the field should be centrally coordinated with a recently created task force in Washington. —Reuters
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• — Now that's bad. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Karen Gibson said she is more concerned about a cyberattack on the government than she is about another insurrection at the Capitol. "Our networks ... have attempted intrusions every single day. ... Members have sensitive information that they would not necessarily want to have disclosed that may be in documents," she said on Saturday. "Much of what we do is public. And meant to be so. But I would worry about ... nation-state actors or others who might try to just really cripple the government's ability to function by locking down cybercommunications networks." —The Hill
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• — So who's next? It looks like local television networks should ramp up their cybersecurity. At least three stations have been completely offline since last week due to a ransomware attack on their parent company. ABC affiliates WFTV in Orlando, Fla., and WSOC in Charlotte, N.C., as well as NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh, Pa., all owned by the Cox Media Group, were told by managers on Thursday to shut down company computers and phones. —NBC News

Biden: Rallying the world's democracies

"This is a defining question of our time: Can democracies come together to deliver real results for our people in a rapidly changing world? Will the democratic alliances and institutions that shaped so much of the last century prove their capacity against modern-day threats and adversaries? I believe the answer is yes. And this week in Europe, we have the chance to prove it." —President Biden in The Washington Post

Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States.

MORE: No early 'Biden bounce' to U.S. image in France, Germany, poll says —Reuters

Say it ain't so, Joe

True to form, Sen. Joe Manchin has revealed that he will not support the For The People Act, the sweeping 818-page bill that would, among other things, end partisan gerrymandering, tighten controls on campaign spending, ease voter registration, and force major-party candidates for president and vice president to release 10 years' worth of personal and business tax returns. Nor will he agree to "weaken or eliminate" the legislative filibuster, meaning much of President Biden's agenda—including immigration reform, a permanent expansion of the Affordable Care Act, controls of prescription drug prices, and efforts to tackle climate change—is far less likely to pass. Passage of the full For the People Act now appears to be impossible as well, though parts of it could pass in other ways if Democrats are willing to break up the bill. Read Manchin's explanation for his controversial decisions in his op-ed below. —The New York Times

MORE: Joe Manchin: Why I'm voting against the For the People Act —Charleston Gazette-Mail

McGahn interview a small, late victory

Behind closed doors on Friday, former White House counsel Donald McGahn detailed for the House Judiciary Committee how Donald Trump attempted to stymie the Mueller Investigation. No transcript of the interview has yet been made public, and McGahn did not address the media. However, Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler said in a statement that McGahn "testified at length to an extremely dangerous period in our nation's history." Nadler led the long legal battle over the enforcement of Congress' subpoena for McGahn's testimony, which played out in federal court for two years before the House reached a deal with the White House to bring McGahn in. The bargain was criticized by some as a retreat, as a Supreme Court ruling might have helped avoid similar conflicts in the future. Nevertheless, Nadler called the interview a "great victory for congressional oversight." —The Washington Post

MORE: Congress wins battle for Trump aide's testimony, but a broader war over subpoena power goes on —The Washington Post

Leubsdorf: Get ready for 2022

"When Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussed his reason for opposing a Jan. 6 commission, he cited ongoing investigations of individuals who stormed the Capitol and the need for heightened security arrangements and said Democrats wanted 'to continue to litigate the former president into the future.' Like many other Republicans, McConnell would seemingly prefer it if the former president just went away. But preventing creation of a commission won't do that. It will only encourage him." —Carl Leubsdorf in Bangor Daily News

Carl Leubsdorf is the former Washington bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News.

MORE: Rep. Mo Brooks served with lawsuit related to his role in Capitol insurrection —CNN

Focus on the Justice Department

The spotlight was on the DOJ this weekend as two unrelated stories broke about the agency. In the first, newly uncovered emails released to Congress revealed that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, in the waning weeks of the Trump Administration, repeatedly pushed the Justice Department to investigate baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. Meadows asked Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to examine fraud claims in New Mexico, which had already been debunked.

• — Meadows also asked the DOJ to investigate whether people in Italy had used military technology and satellites to remotely tamper with voting machines in the U.S. and switch votes for Donald Trump to votes for President Biden. Rosen refused to broker a meeting between the FBI and a man who promoted the Italy theory, and he did not open any investigations as a result of Meadows' requests. —The New York Times
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• — In the second DOJ development, the agency announced that it will no longer secretly obtain reporters' records during leak investigations, a practice long decried by news organizations and press freedom groups. Last month, Biden said it was "simply, simply wrong" to seize journalists' records and pledged that he would not permit the DOJ to continue the practice, which has persisted for years under Democratic and Republican administrations alike. —Associated Press
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• — Pledge or no pledge, the Biden DOJ continued seeking to seize the email data of four New York Times reporters and had obtained a gag order in March barring a handful of newspaper executives who knew about it from discussing it. The White House claimed on Saturday that no one there was aware of the DOJ's efforts until a court lifted the gag order last week, permitting a Times lawyer to disclose the matter. —The New York Times

Graham: Are we 'normal' yet? No

"Squint the right way and things look almost normal. The barriers around the Capitol are gone. People are taking off their masks and going out. ... But this appearance of normalcy is a thin veneer. Just beneath the surface, the U.S. faces a set of perilous, unresolved threats. The former president refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the election he lost. His party's leaders are abandoning their commitment to democratic majority governance, and its voters insist that he won. Domestic terrorism threatens the nation's tranquility, and ordinary violent crime is on the rise too. Relaxing about the state of the country feels irresistible, but doing so would be unwise." —David Graham in The Atlantic

David Graham is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

MORE: Clock is ticking for Republicans on infrastructure, Biden officials say —Yahoo!

As far as more people who should have the Topline spotlight shone on them, I would say Rep. John Katko. He voted for impeachment, and he co-authored the House bill to establish the Jan. 6 commission, despite enormous pressure against it in his party. Also, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has held up remarkably well despite the relentless, and often bizarre, attacks from the far-right. —Dennis A., Texas

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.