Politics
GOP Strategists Expect Biden’s ‘Covid Passport’ Idea to Seriously Damage Dems During Midterms
Last week, in the wake of a firestorm of criticism by GOP lawmakers, the White House walked back reporting on plans by the federal government and big corporations to create a standardized coronavirus immunization passport, insisting that there would be no federal vaccination ID mandate and that Washington’s role was only as coordinator.
Senior Republican strategists and operatives are betting that the Biden administration’s push for the creation of vaccine passports allowing Americans to patronise certain establishments and venues will give the GOP opportunities to make major gains in the 2022 midterm elections, citing Americans’ fears of government overreach and a desire for privacy in matters concerning health.
“It’s a political winner,” Ford O’Connell, GOP strategist, author and media pundit, told The Hill, commenting on growing conservative resistance to the vaccine ID concept.
Last week, in the wake of a Washington Post story on the Biden administration’s work with business to develop a standardised paper/digital Covid vaccination passport, dozens of Republican senators, congresspeople and governors came out in vocal opposition of the idea, calling it “unconstitutional,” “un-American,” a “complete government overstep,” or even satanic or reminiscent of Nazi Germany.
On Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order banning the use of vaccine passports in his state outright. Other GOP governors expressed support for the idea.
“It’s not a COVID discussion for Republicans. It’s a freedom discussion. It’s a role-of-government discussion,” one anonymous GOP strategist said. “Would I prefer to be having a COVID discussion next year? No. But we want to be having that freedom discussion.”
Not all GOP operatives are equally confident, with one unnamed veteran campaign aide suggesting that while “it’s red meat for the base, it “doesn’t help us win back the middle,” and could serve only to exacerbate “the culture wars” between Republicans and Democrats.
Republicans would need to gain one seat in the Senate and five in the House to regain control of Congress and stop the Biden administration from pushing forward with its agenda.
The coronavirus became politicised almost immediately after the pandemic hit the United States last year, with Democrats blaming then-president Donald Trump for failing to take steps sooner to combat the virus’s spread, and Trump blaming his predecessor, Democrat governors and China. Some of Trump’s opponents and Democratic-leaning media have gone so far as to blame Trump personally for the over half a million Americans who have died during the pandemic.
“The X-factor in all of this – whether it becomes the big issue for Republicans – is what [Trump] says about it,” one former Trump campaign official said, commenting on some Republicans’ hesitation in commenting on the issue. “The candidates are going to be looking for cues, because he’s still the single most important person in this party.”
After getting banned on social media in January, Trump has resorted to releasing press releases to the media. He has yet to comment on the “vaccine passport” idea, but has previously resisted other coronavirus-related restrictions at the federal level, such as a mask mandate or mandatory vaccination.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasised that the administration had no plans to issue a federal vaccination passport mandate, and that its role would be limited to coordination and issuing guidelines to help private companies develop the so-called vaccine passports. A number of businesses including cruise lines, restaurants and sporting event organisers have expressed plans to demand proof of vaccination from patrons when they open up in the summer.
Vaccination passports are already being experimented with in countries including Israel, Estonia, Iceland, China, Japan, and other European countries, and required for a range of purposes – from entry to a country to patronage of certain establishments, such as gyms. Critics have expressed concerns about vaccination ID’s implications for individual rights. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticised the EU’s talk of a bloc-wide vaccination passport scheme, saying the idea contravenes the principle of voluntary vaccination.
Politics
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.
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?
Politics
White House To America: ‘We’re Coming Door To Door…With Shots!’
Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?
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?
Politics
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.
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.”


