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Biden Appoints Mideast Advisor Who Resigned Over Trump Syria Withdrawal

Biden Appoints Mideast Advisor Who Resigned Over Trump Syria Withdrawal.

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Brett H. McGurk

On Friday, Joe Biden announced the nomination of Brett McGurk, an outspoken proponent of the US presence in Syria, to serve as the Middle East coordinator on the National Security Council.

McGurk served as the US envoy to the international anti-ISIS coalition under both President Obama and President Trump from 2015 to 2018. In December 2018, McGurk resigned after President Trump announced his plan to withdraw from Syria.

In January 2019, McGurk penned an op-ed for The Washington Post where he slammed Trump’s Syria policy and warned the US withdrawal would leave a vacuum for ISIS, Iran, and Russia. In the piece, McGurk said since there will be fewer US troops in Syria, Washington’s goals should be narrowed down to supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and supporting Israel’s bombing campaign in Syria against “Iranian threats.”

While President Trump never fully withdrew Syria, he did drawdown the presence. In 2018 there were approximately 2,000 US troops in the country. Now there are an estimated 600 US soldiers in Syria, although it’s tough to know the real number. The former US envoy to Syria, Jim Jeffrey, who resigned in November, admitted in an interview that he was “always playing shell games” to hide the real number of US troops in Syria.

McGurk is also a staunch critic of Turkey’s role in Syria, and Turkey is no fan of him. The Turks see McGurk as the mastermind behind arming Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Specifically, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), who lead the SDF and are affiliated with the PKK, a group Ankara sees as a terrorist organization.

In 2017, Turkey called for the removal of McGurk from his position as envoy for the anti-ISIS coalition over his support for Kurdish forces. “Brett McGurk, the USA’s special envoy in the fight against Daesh [ISIS], is definitely and clearly giving support to the PKK and YPG. It would be beneficial if this person is changed,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at the time.

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Biden Wants To Give Separated Illegal Immigrants $450,000 Per Person

The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report.

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Image Credit: Phil Murphy/Flickr

The Biden administration is mulling a plan to offer immigrant families separated during the Trump administration $450,000 per person in compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.

The payments – part of an inter-agency solution to several lawsuits filed on behalf of separated parents and children claiming lasting psychological trauma could amount to nearly $1 million per family, though ‘the final numbers could shift,’ according to the report.

According to sources, most of the families crossing into the US from Mexico included one parent and one child. Depending on circumstances, many families could get smaller payouts.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents families in one of the lawsuits, has identified about 5,500 children separated at the border over the course of the Trump administration, citing figures provided to it by the government. The number of families eligible under the potential settlement is expected to be smaller, the people said, as government officials aren’t sure how many will come forward. Around 940 claims have so far been filed by the families, the people said. -WSJ

In total, the potential payout could reach $1 billion or more.

Throughout the Trump administration, thousands of children were separated from their parents (and coyotes paid to bring them into the country) after they had crossed illegally into the country from Mexico. The lawsuits allege some of the children suffered various ailments – including malnutrition, heat exhaustion, and were kept in freezing cold rooms with little medical attention. Some claim lasting mental health problems due to the trauma of being without their parents for several months.

The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report.

“President Biden has agreed that the family separation policy is a historic moral stain on our nation that must be fully remedied,” said ACLU deputy director, Lee Gelernt. “That remedy must include not only meaningful monetary compensation, but a pathway to remain in the country.”

Senate Republicans slammed the plan on Thursday afternoon following the WSJ‘s report.

“The Biden administration’s promises of citizenship and entitlement programs have already caused the worst border crisis in history—a huge cash reward will make it even worse,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).

The discussions about the payouts have taken place over the past few months among a group of dozens of private lawyers representing the families and government lawyers. Some government lawyers have viewed the payouts as excessive for people who had violated the law by crossing the border, the people said. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case out of disagreement with the potential settlement offer, the people said. -WSJ

“It is a complicated, complex piece of litigation” – trying to resolve hundreds of separate lawsuits at the same time, and “sometimes even more complex to try the cases” said Margo Schlanger, who ran the civil-rights office during the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security and now teaches at the University of Michigan law school.

What will the reparations crowd think of this?

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White House To America: ‘We’re Coming Door To Door…With Shots!’

Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?

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United States Mission Geneva/Flickr

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said at the daily press conference yesterday that President Biden’s strategy to get everyone a Covid shot – whether they want it or not – is to start going “door-to-door” to those not yet jabbed. So…they have a list? Also today: bomb-maker Raytheon goes “woke.” Capitol Hill Cops set up shop in California. Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?

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Half A Million Illegals Crossed Since Harris Named Border ‘Czar’

By the time June’s figures are reported in the coming days, the combined number is expected to be over half a million, more than the entire population of Miami, Florida or Cleveland, Ohio.

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Maryland National Guard/Flickr

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, around 500,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since Kamala Harris was named border ‘czar’.

The Washington Free Beacon reported the findings, noting that only three months has passed since Harris took on the responsibility, and that the half a million figure is just those that have been apprehended.

The CBP says around 180,000 immigrants are being caught per month. In April agents arrested 178,854 illegal immigrants, the highest monthly figure for 21 years. That figure was then surpassed in May as agents apprehended 180,034 illegals.

By the time June’s figures are reported in the coming days, the combined number is expected to be over half a million, more than the entire population of Miami, Florida or Cleveland, Ohio.

Harris only bothered to visit the border when President Trump announced he was making a trip. Even then Harris visited El Paso, some 1000 miles away from where the crisis is taking place.

Previous to this, Harris lied and claimed she had been to the border, telling NBC’s Lester Holt “This whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.”

When Holt pushed back and said she had not, Harris snapped “I—and I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t—I don’t understand the point that you’re making,” then again laughed maniacally:

On Tuesday, Republican Senator Ron Johnson argued that Harris’ trip to El Paso was designed to distract the media and keep them away from the real crisis hit areas of the border.

“They took her to a point in the border where she wouldn’t see the crisis and so the press wouldn’t report on the crisis,” Johnson said.

The Senator added, “You just simply can’t understand what this administration is doing. We literally are apprehending now about 6,000 people per day. That’s I mean, that’s a large caravan every day being processed, some of them being returned, others are being dispersed. But this crisis is not going away. It’s just under everybody’s radar because the press isn’t covering it.”

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