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SEMI-NEWS/SEMI-SATIRE: September 15, 2024 Edition

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John Semmens:
Fact-Checking Crime

At the Trump-Harris debate, moderator David Muir attempted to disprove Trump's claim that crime increased during Biden's time as president by citing FBI data. Muir neglected to mention data from 6,000 jurisdictions is missing. Another method of measuring the crime rate is the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). It shows that total violent crime rose by 55% since Biden took office while it declined by 15% during Trump's term in office. https://crimeresearch.org/2024/09/new-bureau-of-justice-statistics-crime-data-just-released-violent-crime-rape-robbery-and-aggravated-assault-soaring-under-biden/

Trump's claim that criminals are using our open southern border to illegally enter the country has been verified by the actions of Venezuela's notorious Tren de Aragua prison gang selling drugs, guns, and women across America. There are currently more than 100 police investigations of this gang underway. In El Paso, Texas, the gang took over the Gateway Hotel by intimidating the owner and terrorized the neighborhood. In Aurora, Colorado, the gang took over the 54 unit Whispering Pines apartment complex.

"The Democrats think they're showing compassion for these illegal immigrants by letting them in by the millions," Trump said. "But where's the compassion for the Americans whose lives are disrupted and endangered? Traditionally, America has been a beacon for people seeking a better life--an opportunity to get a job or start a business. But we need to vet immigrants through an orderly process that weeds out the criminals, terrorists, and those who just want to live off the taxes paid by hard-working Americans. Biden and Harris' open borders foment chaos that degrades the living conditions for all of us."

ABC Denies Covertly Aiding Harris

An ABC News spokesperson vehemently asserted "we never gave the Harris campaign any debate questions in advance or helped her in any covert manner. Anyone who watched the debate saw for themselves that all of the assistance we gave to Vice-President Harris was overt. In the month prior to the debate 100% of our coverage of the Harris/Walz campaign was favorable. Meanwhile 93% of our coverage of the Trump/Vance campaign was unfavorable and 7% merely acknowledged known facts like Trump is a convicted felon."

ABC's Lindsey Davis admitted "in the Biden/Trump debate the CNN moderators allowed statements that weren't refuted by President Biden to go totally unaddressed. We vowed to not let this happen to Kamala in her debate. Anything she didn't refute was immediately refuted by a 'fact-check' from either David Muir or Linsey Davis. This threw Trump off topic and into complaining that he was being treated unfairly--something we felt would not gain much traction with voters concerned about inflation, open borders, and rampant crime."

Over at CNN, anchor Abby Phillip rallied to the defense of ABC's asymmetrical fact-checking, saying "all of Kamala's statements have been thoroughly vetted by all the major media and found to be free of any lies or inaccuracies. You don't find that kind of unity of opinion unless there is real truth behind it."

The New York Post editorial board disputed Phillip's contention and noted several untruths uttered by Harris during the debate. "Harris called Project 2025 Trump's plan of action. It is not. Harris said she's not going to confiscate everyone's guns. Her TV ads promise a mandatory gun buy-back program. Which, of course, will require people to surrender their guns to the government in exchange for what the government says will be a fair price. Harris said nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. However, such abortions are legal in several states and are being carried out even to the point of denying life-saving medical care to babies who survive the abortion. Her TV ads promise she will implement a nationwide right to abortion if she is elected president. The real truth is that most media are unreliable sources for accurate information."

Mark Penn, a former top adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, called "fact-checking just one candidate and in effect, rigging the outcome of this debate merits a full internal investigation. Certainly, general media coverage of this election has been laughable. Instead of sticking to the facts and letting voters decide for themselves, the media have their finger on the scale in favor of the Harris/Walz ticket."

Federal Debt Bankrupting the Country

Right now, the trillion dollars per year interest payments on federal debt exceed the entire budget of the Department of Defense. Former President Trump warns "this will bankrupt the country. We won't have the money to pay for anything else--no roads, no schools, no military, no medical care. We desperately need the government efficiency commission I have proposed for my second term."

Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen called Trump's warning "unduly pessimistic. The federal government is not limited in the same way that a household or business is limited when it comes to acquiring the money it needs to fund itself. First of all, we can always issue more debt. Federal debt is considered the most secure debt in the world. Investors will always lend us more money because they know we can easily repay them."

"One way we can repay debt is by creating more money," Yellen pointed out. "There are no limits on the amount of new money that can be generated using this power. A second way we can repay debt is by raising taxes. We can pass laws that require businesses and households to pay a larger share of what the earn and own to the government. Businesses and households don't have the authority to create more money or to simply seize the money they need to keep operating. They can go bankrupt, but the federal government never will."

Trump argued that "issuing more debt, creating more money, or raising taxes will increase interest rates that will make it impossible for Secretary Yellen's so-called remedies to work. The amounts owed will grow faster than our economy can afford. The higher interest rates will hamper economic growth. Businesses will lay off workers. Workers won't be able to afford the cost of living. Government revenues will shrink. It'll be a death spiral for our country."

Yellen insisted "it'll never come to that. Government has the sovereign power to repudiate its debt. Since most of this debt is owed to big corporations and foreign governments the richest will bear the brunt of the burden. The middle class and poor will ultimately benefit from the cancellation of this debt just like the college students who benefited when President Biden canceled their debt. In fact, the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index ticked up to 92.6 for Democrats showing that the Harris/Walz campaign of joy is producing results that weird Republicans can't even imagine. There's no reason for anyone to be afraid."

In related news, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young announced the Biden Administration's opposition to Rep. Dan Newhouse's (R-Wash) bill to restrict China's purchase of US land. "There is no need to antagonize China in this way," she said. "This bill also interferes with a property owner's right to sell. What if a property owner needs cash to meet other expenses? The federal government owns 640 million acres of land. Sale of this land to raise revenue to cover the government's expenses could prove essential if other sources of revenue are inadequate. Sale of federal land was a key part of the revenue stream in the early years of this country's existence. We shouldn't cut it off when it might be needed again."

Joy and Unity Campaign Advised

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) went on CNN's "The Lead" and disagreed with Jake Tapper's assumption that "Vice-President Harris needs to let people know where she stands on specific policies and how her policies will affect them," saying "I advised both Harris and Walz to avoid doing anymore interviews. Their joy and unity campaign has already gotten them the lead in the polls."

"You know, FDR, the greatest Democrat of all-time, ran on a similarly vague campaign with a catchy show tune 'Happy Days Are Here Again' and a non-specific 'new deal' and won in a landslide," Clyburn pointed out. "Why should Harris and Walz mess things up by adding more substance or clarity that could turn off voters?"

On Friday the thirteenth, Harris buoyed by the media's universal proclamation that she won her debate with Trump told Brian Taff of Philadelphia's Action News 6 ABC in an interview that "Biden's policies are not fit for the 21st century. My approach is about new ideas, new policies that are directed at the current moment and at future moments stretching out through the time ahead of us and unburdened by what has been."

Asked "what are your specific plans to bring down prices?" Harris replied "I grew up a middle class kid. I grew up in a neighborhood of folks who were very proud of their lawn. Voters will know that I can be trusted to do whatever is needed to end price gouging by greedy merchants. Whether that entails fines or prison will be determined after I take power on January 20, 2025."

Not to be left out, Democrat vice-presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz gave an interview to Fox 17 Special Projects and Investigative Producer Ilene Gould and was asked whether Americans are economically better off now than they were four years ago. Walz replied "the cost of living might have been lower four years ago, but Trump's policies decimated the middle class. He was all for investors, businesses, and workers, but opposed folks migrating to America to get subsistence payments, free housing, and free sex-change surgery. The Biden-Harris team turned all that around in the three years they ruled the country. Voters can be confident that a Harris-Walz team will continue these successful policies over the next eight years."

Israel Wins Battle of Rafah

This week, Israel announced its victory in the battle of Rafah in which four battalions of Hamas fighters were destroyed in the four months of fighting. This was a battle that Democrat nominee for president Vice President Kamala Harris urged them not to fight.

"It wasn't because I didn't think they couldn't win this battle," Harris said. "It was because I thought they shouldn't win such a battle. It would cause too many civilian casualties and push the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state even further into the future."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the victory "essential to winning the war. The apologists for the Hamas terrorists who demand a Palestinian state only want to use that state to continue their anti-Semitic aims to annihilate Israel. Their claimed boundary for such a state is from the river to the sea. Israel currently exists inside those boundaries."

"We made extraordinary efforts to minimize civilian casualties in this fight," Netanyahu asserted. "In contrast, Hamas made extraordinary efforts to use civilians as 'human shields.' Eliminating Hamas as a fighting force and government of Gaza is the best method for reducing future hostilities and civilian deaths. Anything short of this invites continued terrorist atrocities against both Israelis and Palestinians."

In related news, White House National Security Council communications adviser John Kirby took the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States to castigate "a handful of vets who are still calling President Joe Biden's 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan a botched operation" and urged major media "to ignore covering their complaints--especially the one about Vice-President Kamala Harris being the last person in the room with President Biden and signing off on his withdrawal plan."

Pope Gives Election Advice

Pope Francis had little positive to say about either Vice-President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump as a presidential contender. One the one hand, he called Trump's opposition to welcoming immigrants "a grave sin." On the other hand, he likened Harris' support for abortion to "approving assassination." He advised voters to "choose the lesser evil" when they cast their ballots.

Former Catholic and current Lutheran Gov. Tim Walz called this "the endorsement we didn't expect, but are grateful to have. As I understand it, a 'grave sin' is something that can never be forgiven. An 'assassination' that is freely confessed--something that most women who have abortions do--can be forgiven. Catholic voters can now come back to the Democrat reservation."

Biden Outwits MAGA Extremists

In a campaign event at a fire station in Shanksville, Pennsylvania President Biden was photographed wearing a Trump 2024 MAGA hat. White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates credited the President for "his skillful avoidance of a potential hostage situation. He was surrounded by MAGA extremists. He could've easily been killed at any moment. Using the wits that many Republicans insist he doesn't have, he grabbed a MAGA hat and put it on his head. The MAGA folks were mollified and allowed him to leave unharmed."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) demanded "an FBI investigation to see if any charges should be filed. Threatening a president is a serious offense, obviously not as serious as killing him, but certainly more serious than a superficial ear injury to a mere candidate for president as happened in July."

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