Cybercrime: Federal authorities say they recovered more than two million dollars in cryptocurrency paid as ransom to foreign hackers who shut down the Colonial Pipeline that provides nearly half the fuel to the East Coast. It’s believed to be the first time authorities have recovered the payment in a ransomware attack.

  Colonial paid $4.4 million in Bitcoin to the Russian hacking group DarkSide. The Justice Department recovered $2.3 million. They say the money was recovered by a recently launched Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, which had been created as part of the government’s response to a surge of cyberattacks.

  Hackers also recently attacked JBS, the world’s largest meat producer, and a ransomware attack on Cox Media Group crippled streaming and other internal operations of dozens of radio and television stations. 

  Also in the cyber world, 800 suspected criminals were arrested worldwide after being tricked into using an FBI encrypted messaging app. Investigators loosed an app called ANOM among drug gangs and members of organized crime. 

  Authorities seized drugs, guns, luxury vehicles and cash. Included in the take were eight tons of cocaine, 250 guns, and more than $48 million in various national currencies and cryptocurrencies.

Failure of Intelligence: Federal intelligence who knew about plans to overrun the Capitol on January 6^th failed to warn law enforcement, according to a 127-page congressional report. The agencies were aware of threats “storm the Capitol,” infiltrate its tunnel system and “bring guns,” according to a new report by two Senate committees.

  An FBI memo on Jan. 5th warning of people traveling to Washington for “war” never got to top law enforcement officials. The Senate report quoted one online post saying that if the senators didn’t show up, “We enter the Capitol as the Third Continental Congress and certify the Trump Electors.” Another said, “Bring guns. It’s now or never.”

Most Foul: A California couple has been arrested and charged in the May 21^st road-rage murder of 6-year-old Aiden Leos, whose mother was driving him to kindergarten on a freeway.

  The two are identified as Marcus Anthony Eriz, 24, and Wynne Lee, 23, of Costa Mesa in Orange County. Police say they’ve seen a social media post with a picture of Eriz in possession of a gun of the type that may have been used in the shooting.

  The mother, Joanna Cloonan, told police last month that she was merging from the carpool lane toward an exit when she was cut off by a Volkswagen Golf. She said she made an obscene gesture, kept driving and the Golf pulled up behind her. Someone in that car fired a gun, the bullet piercing the rear of Cloonan’s car and entering her son Aiden’s back. He said, “Mommy, my tummy hurts.”

Not His Type: In a reversal of President Biden’s campaign rhetoric, the Justice Department plans to continue defending Donald Trump in the defamation lawsuit brought against him by magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll. Although Biden had accused Trump of using the Justice Department as his personal law firm, the current DOJ says Trump was acting as President when he denied raping Carroll and said it couldn’t have happened because she wasn’t his “type.”

  Carroll had written that back in late 1995 or early 96, Trump had raped her in a dressing room at the upscale Bergdorf Goodman department store. After she had accused him, she sued Trump claiming he had lied by publicly denying he had ever met her. 

  A month before the election Trump’s Attorney General William Barr moved the lawsuit to federal court where a federal employee cannot be sued for defamation. 

  Carrol’s lawyers said in a filing, “There is not a single person in the United States — not the president and not anyone else — whose job description includes slandering women they sexually assaulted.” 

The Spin Rack: The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the federal law that requires only men to register for the military draft. As customary, the court gave no reason for turning down the case, but three justices issued a statement written by Sonia Sotomayor saying “At least for now, the court’s longstanding deference to Congress on matters of national defense and military affairs cautions against granting review while Congress actively weighs the issue.” — Canadian authorities say an incident in which a driver went up on a curb killing four out of five members of a Muslim family was intentional and a hate crime. Killed Sunday evening were a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, 44-year-old woman, and a 15-year-old girl. A nine-year-old boy survived with serious injuries. — As part of its Covid vaccination push, Washington state is allowing vaccinated adults to claim a free marijuana joint. The program is called “Joints for Jabs.” 

The Obit Page: David Dushman, who as a 21-year-old soldier in the Red Army drove a tank through the fence to liberate prisoners at Auschwitz, has died at age 98. He was believed to be the last surviving liberator of the extermination camp.

  Dushman, who was Jewish, told a newspaper in 2015, “Skeletons everywhere. From the barracks they staggered, between the dead they sat and lay. Terrible.”

Zippergate: The myth-debunking website Snopes.com is shooting down the delicious internet claim that Donald Trump wore his pants backwards Saturday night while speaking to North Carolina Republicans. The website says, “Snopes looked through photographs taken at the event and published by the visual media company Getty Images that clearly show the former president on stage wearing pants with a zipper in the front.”

  Still, it’s not impossible. National Public radio reports that, “If anyone is wondering how uncomfortable it might be to wear your pants backward, Chris ‘Mac Daddy’ Kelly of the rap group Kris Kross once said that for him, the group’s trademark reversal wasn’t even noticeable. ‘Everybody always ask me that,’ Kelly said in 2013. ‘But you have to understand I’ve been wearing my pants backwards for 21 years.’”

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