Poli Alert Politics & Civics

President Joe Biden’s administration on Monday announced a new anti-trafficking and human smuggling task force operation in the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico. Vice President Kamala Harris highlighted the initiative during a joint press conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei while in Guatemala on her first official foreign trip. “Transnational human smuggling …

Vice President Kamala Harris is discouraging migrants from traveling to the United States. The Vice President took a trip to Guatemala on Monday, her first official foreign visit. Harris has been tasked to lead the administration’s effort to stem the flow of migrants at the border. “I want to be …

The Department of Justice has recovered about $2.3 million in Bitcoin that was paid as ransom to hackers of Colonial Pipeline. The ransomware attack shut down the East Coast pipeline last month. East Coast pipeline paid a $4.4 million ransom to Darkside, a Russian-based cybercriminal group, to regain access to …

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it would no longer seize reporters’ records during leak investigations. A policy shift of a practice that news organizations have condemned for years. It also comes after a report that federal prosecutors aggressively sought communication data from reporters in an effort to identify their …

Maryland will join two dozen other Republican-led states whose governors have decided to end enhanced unemployment benefits, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has announced. The move, which takes effect on July 3, will end the $300 supplemental weekly payment that some out-of-work residents have been receiving under the Federal Pandemic Unemployment …

Republican Rep. Mo Brooks was served with a federal lawsuit filed in March by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Brooks confirmed Sunday. Brooks, the Republican House representative for Alabama, said via Twitter that the lawsuit had been served while …

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week slashed $900,000 in funding for programs that serve LGBTQ people in Central Florida, including a program that provides mental health services to survivors and family members of victims of the Pulse nightclub mass shooting. DeSantis’s vetoes — part of a long list of hometown …

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin broke with the party on Sunday, announcing that he will not vote for the For the People Act. Manchin, who represents West Virginia, clearly stated his opposition to the sweeping voting rights bill and also said that he would not support Democratic efforts to alter filibuster …

A federal judge has struck down California’s ban on assault weapons, saying it violates the Second Amendment rights of the state’s law-abiding citizens. Judge Roger Benitez compared the AR-15 rifle to a Swiss Army knife in his ruling Friday, citing Supreme Court precedent that protects Second Amendment rights. “Like the …

George P. Bush announced on Wednesday that he would challenge Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for his position. Bush is the grandson and nephew of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively. The son of former presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush openly attacked Paxton over his …

The unemployment rate in the United States fell to 5.8% as employers added 559,000 jobs to the economy during the month of May. It’s the lowest jobless rate since March of 2020, when unemployment was 4.4%. “It’s great to see a pickup to job growth, but it would have been …

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky is urging parents to get their teenagers vaccinated because of the rise of COVID-19 hospitalizations in March and April. “I am deeply concerned by the numbers of hospitalized adolescents and saddened to see the numbers of adolescents who require treatment in …

On Friday, Facebook announced that Donald Trump would remain banned from Facebook and Instagram until at least January 2023. Due to his risking the public’s safety, the social media company has decided not to allow him to resume his accounts, CNBC reported. “We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions …

The Department of Justice’s acting deputy attorney general announced this week that ransomware attacks would be prioritized at the same level as terrorism. “We recognize this is an increasing threat,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday. “It’s a specialized process to ensure we track all ransomware cases regardless …

The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Trump-appointed USPS Postmaster General for campaign contributions. Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for political donations made while he was CEO of a private logistics company. “Mr. DeJoy has learned that the Department of …