SEMI-NEWS/SEMI-SATIRE: November 12, 2017 Edition

[John Semmens]

Republicans Call for Moore to End Senate Run
Posted on November 11, 2017 by America Today under John Semmens   

By John Semmens — Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent News

JohnThe Washington Post’s publication of allegations that Judge Roy Moore, the GOP candidate for Alabama’s open senate seat, made improper sexual advances toward teen-age women in 1979 sparked calls for him to exit the race.

Sen. John McCain (R-Az) insisted that Moore “should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of. The allegations alone are disqualifying. Even if they turn out to be untrue the Senate is no place for a man about whom such charges are reported in a highly respected media outlet like the Post.”

Ironically, McCain was the target of allegations that he was engaged in an extramarital affair with a Washington lobbyist during his ill-fated 2008 presidential campaign. He didn’t step aside, something he now acknowledges “may have been a mistake. It was before I had the nomination. If I had made an earlier exit I could have been replaced by a candidate voters could have been proud of.”

McCain wasn’t the only unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate to demand Moore drop out of the race. The 2012 Republican presidential nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, echoed the Arizona Senator, saying that Moore’s accuser’s story of bringing a basket of food to her grandmother’s house in the woods only to be confronted by the wolfish Moore “has a ring of truth about it that I find very persuasive. I can’t believe she would make up such a story.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cut off funding for Moore’s campaign. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) urged Sen. Luther Strange, who lost to Moore in the Republican primary, to run as a write-in candidate. Both of these moves would greatly increase the odds that Democrat Doug Jones will be Alabama’s next US senator. “No matter,” says Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken), “I’d rather be in the minority than have to accept a tainted Republican as a senate colleague. We’ve been in the minority before. It’s not so bad. There’s a lot less pressure to get things done when you’re in the minority, but the perks are all still there.”

In related news, the US Senate has confirmed fewer of President Trump’s executive and judicial nominees at this point of his term than the nominees of any previous president. Minority Leader Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) has exploited every available procedure to delay confirmation votes. The Senate’s two-and-a-half day workweek is another contributing factor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken) lamented the slow pace, but asserted that “long standing Senate procedures cannot be abandoned simply because they impede the efficient function of the government. The attraction of being a senator would be dissipated if it required a 40-hour work week or expeditious handling of matters up for action.”

NYC Mayor Taunts ISIS

Emboldened by his reelection with 70 percent of the vote, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio brazenly mocked Islamic terrorists calling the recent attack that killed eight people “feeble. There are more than eight million New Yorkers. It would take more than million attacks of the magnitude of that launched by Mr. Saipov to kill us all. Besides, five of the eight he killed were Argentinians—not New Yorkers, per se.”

“New Yorkers are resilient,” the Mayor continued. “Common criminals murder 300 people a year in our city, but our citizens don’t quake in fear because they know their government is safe from murderous assault. I have bodyguards with me 24/7. So no matter how many ordinary inhabitants terrorists may succeed in killing my reign will go on.”

In related news, the US Army is pondering whether to pay convicted deserter Pvt. Bowe Bergdahl $300,000 in back pay now that a judge has decided against sending him to prison. Army spokesman Col. Walter Wussier explained “if he were going to prison he wouldn’t need the money, but as a convicted traitor it will be hard for him to find a good job. A generous severance package would help him attain a decent lifestyle on the outside.”

Senator Reverses Herself on “Rigged Primary” Charge

Last week Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the 2016 Democratic presidential primary was rigged to favor Hillary Clinton over her rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt). This week she reversed herself saying that “I am persuaded that I was being manipulated into a false consciousness.”

The chief “persuader” according to Warren was none other than Hillary Clinton. “She reminded me that Bernie was the communist candidate and that the Russians would have had no incentive to rig the primaries against him,” the Senator said. “Once their efforts to secure the nomination for their ‘mole’ fell through they went to their back-up plan to undermine the person they most feared—Secretary Clinton.”

A secondary factor in her changed opinion “was Donna’s admission that her ‘tell all’ book was largely fiction. Publishers demand that there be some ‘blockbuster’ revelations before they will fork over millions for the rights to your book. Political campaigns are mostly boring tales of envelope stuffing, meaningless sound bites, and pressing-the-flesh. An honest recount might interest professional historians, but they are a tiny minority of the book-buyers in America. Now that Donna has pocketed her advance she is free to revert back to the dull reality.”

Sanders labeled Warren’s contention “ludicrous. First of all, in case Sen. Warren hasn’t noticed, Russia isn’t communist anymore. If they were going to meddle in the election it wouldn’t have been to help me. I’m not the one who sold Russia uranium in exchange for multi-million dollar donations to my foundation. Second of all, what’s so bad about communism? Hundreds of millions may have been oppressed and tens of millions killed, but the Soviet Union modernized a backward country and enforced an equality that we can only wish we had in America.”

Newly elected Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez contends that “the DNC actually did less than it could have on Hillary’s behalf. Back in 2008, the Party brought in thugs to frighten Republican voters away from some polling places. The Party didn’t do that for Hillary. Perhaps we were overconfident she would win without the full array of normal procedures. It was a mistake that has cost Democrats dearly. And one we may have to live with for quite awhile.”

The corruption within the Democratic Party is so bad that long-time Party strategist Doug Schoen urged major change. “The entire Democratic Party stinks from the head down, the whole process,” he complained. “The rigged primary, the Uranium One payoffs, the Trump dossier—it’s a mess. We need a special prosecutor to look into this.”

Rep. Al Green (D-Tex), though, blamed Trump for the “mess” saying that “his incitement of white supremacy, sexism, bigotry, hatred, xenophobia, race-baiting, and racism is what has driven the Democratic Party to undertake these desperate measures aimed at thwarting his tyranny. Until this man is impeached and removed from office we will continue to see riots in the streets, unending sexual harassment, and the persecution of minorities.”

In related news, flush with the success of what the Washington Post called their “vile and despicable” ad on behalf of Democrat Ralph Northam in the Virginia governor’s election, the Latino Victory Fund vowed to “spread the message far and wide” in future electoral contests. Cristóbal Alex, Latino Victory Fund president, justified the scurrilous ad, calling it “payback for Republican ads maligning MS-13, claiming it is a criminal gang.”

California NAACP Wants to Get Rid of the “Star Spangled Banner”

The California chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is lobbying the State Legislature to remove the Star Spangled Banner as the country’s national anthem. California NAACP President Alice Huffman credited former National Football League player Colin Kaepernick with “drawing attention to just how racist, pro-slavery,  anti-black the song is.”

While the words of the song seem to focus on fighting for freedom, Huffman contended that “the opening line asking whether Jose can see both belittles the eyesight of our Latino friends and singles them out for unknown, but probably racist reasons.”

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill) lauded the NAACP initiative and pointed out that “the lack of mention for this country’s foremothers and foresisters in the song is an unforgivable sexist slight, too. You know, former President Obama raised this issue back when he first ran for president. He objected to the bellicose content of the song—all the bombs bursting and such. He suggested at that time that we adopt the song ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ as our anthem. I think that was very prescient of him and would be happy to introduce the legislation needed to accomplish this.”

Senate Tax Legislation May Delay Corporate Tax Cut

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed concerns that the House proposal to make corporate tax cuts take place immediately “has sparked apprehension among our Democratic colleagues that such precipitous action would put their Party’s candidates at an unfair disadvantage during the 2018 election. They fear that the repatriation of corporate money currently held outside the country that such a tax cut would initiate would lead to too big of an increase in investment and jobs and that it would essentially ensure a Republican sweep of all competitive races for House and Senate seats.”

“Rather than tilt the playing field against our colleagues we are considering postponing the planned corporate tax cuts until 2019,” McConnell said. “That would put any potential economic resurgence into a period beyond the date of the election and remove the unfair advantage it could give Republicans in the minds of the voters.”

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) was effusive in his praise for what he called “Mitch’s extraordinary devotion to fair play. That he would turn away from using his Party’s power to ram through a measure that could guarantee his Party remained the majority is the kind of selflessness you rarely see in politics. I don’t know if I could be as magnanimous were our roles reversed.”

A Satirical Look at Recent News

John Semmens is a retired economist who has written a weekly political satire for The Arizona Conservative since 2005. He says working on his satires is one of the ways he tries to honor the liberties our Founding Fathers tried to protect.