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SEMI-NEWS: A Satire of Recent News

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SEMI-NEWS: A Satire of Recent News, July 20, 2014 Edition

Roberts Says Wolf "too Inexperienced for Debate"

Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan) continued his refusal to debate challenger Dr. Milton Wolf prior to the upcoming August 5 primary election date on the grounds that "Wolf is not qualified to hold such a high office."

"I've been in this political racket for nearly 50 years," the 78 year-old Roberts pointed out. "I didn't just leap into the national arena as my first venture into joining the governing elite. I served on the staff of Senator Frank Carlson and Representative Keith Sebelius for over 12 years before I ran for Congress in 1980. Then I put in 16 years in the House before I ran for the Senate."

"Dr. Wolf wasn't even born when I began my political career," Roberts pointed out. "He was just a fuzzy-cheeked kid when I first started bringing home the bacon for the State of Kansas. Even as an adult Wolf made no effort to work his way into government. So he has no track record by which voters can judge his suitability to participate in ruling them. If I debate him it would lend a sheen of credibility to his candidacy that would only make it easier for every upstart outsider to gain unearned attention. This would shake the foundations of the way we do business in Washington. I won't be a party to it."

Arizona Anti-Abortion Law Racist Says ACLU, NAACP

The ACLU has filed suit alleging that an Arizona law that bars sex-selective and race-based abortions is racist. He suit was filed on behalf of the NAACP and the National Asian-Pacific American Women's Forum.

Alexa Kolbi-Molinas of the ACLU insisted that "this law has a racially disparate effect as its intent. African-Americans are nearly four times as likely to opt for abortion as the end point of a pregnancy compared to whites. Consequently, the Arizona law has a chilling impact on what should be a freely taken choice."

"The barrier to sex-selective abortions introduces a culturally insensitive affront to persons of Asian descent," Kolbi-Molinas asserted. "In these cultures a male child is valued more highly than a female child. Seeking to block women from terminating a low-valued pregnancy would, in effect, impose a costly unwanted burden in order to mandate adherence to a largely white ideal of equality between the sexes."

Rep. Steve Montenegro (R-Litchfield Park), sponsor of the law in its course through the Arizona Legislature, maintains that the new lawsuit against the law "reconfirms the necessity for it. The desire of a mother to abort her baby because of its race or sex is barbaric. Whether this barbarism stems from cultural pressures or individual cruelty we owe it to the innocent victims to try to deter such crimes."

Cost to House Influx of Illegals Stuns Senators

In testimony before the Senate Budget Committee, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson shocked senators of both parties when he disclosed that it costs between $250 and $1,000 per day per person to house the illegal immigrants that have been surging across our border with Mexico.

"There was an audible gasp, a bipartisan gasp," Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) recounted. "I could take a luxurious Caribbean cruise every day of the year for a lower total cost. I cannot fathom why the spartan accommodations we are providing for these people should cost so much."

Senate Budget Committee chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash) questioned the applicability of Rubio's luxury cruise comparison. "While the amount may appear excessive to the untrained observer I'm sure there are unseen factors that we just don't realize," Murray presumed. "If Senator Rubio takes a cruise he makes all his own arrangements and may exert some judgment over whether the expenses are worth it. No such latitude is available for these refugees. Housing them is official government business entailing multiple layers of authority and decision making. Who are we to second guess what they do?"

Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) was one of the few that weren't shocked by the expense. "We pay upwards of $50,000 per year for each prison inmate," he pointed out. "Let's face it, government housing is expensive."

Housing prisoners at $50,000 per inmate per year comes to around $140 per day—far lower than DHS's estimate for housing the immigrants. "You've got to remember that the budgets for prisons aren't arrived at in a panic situation," Johnson said. "There's time to reflect on what might be the most cost-effective methods. The urgency of the immigration crisis eliminates the opportunity to pursue issues of efficiency. It's Congress's duty to appropriate whatever amount the President has requested to handle this emergency."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi suggested that "the high cost of housing these immigrants could be averted if we make use of the vast inventory of unused housing that exists in this country. How many American families have more room than they need? Can't some of this space be made available on an emergency basis?"

Pelosi said she was unsure of how to make unused housing available but speculated that "President Obama could issue an Executive Order compelling home owners to provide access to their excess capacity. We could look at a home's square footage and number of rooms, compare that to census data on who currently lives there and make a determination of which homes can take in some of the refugees."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees concurred in Pelosi's assessment noting that "the typical American family has far more living room than the refugees that need to be accommodated. Simple equity demands that this excess be shared among these less fortunate people."

In related news, the New York City Council announced it is prepared to grant citizenship to up to 500,000 illegal immigrants. Mayor Bill de Blasio called the passage of this ordinance "a proud day for our City. While Congress may be too indifferent to act in this time of emergency I'm pleased to see that New Yorkers have stepped in to fill the void. And with the documents we will be giving these immigrants there will be nothing to stop them from enjoying the full fruits of living in America no matter where they choose to go."

Bill to Curb "Operation Choke Point" Introduced

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo) is sponsoring H.R. 4986, the End Operation Choke Point Act of 2014. The bill aims to stem Department of Justice abuse of legitimate businesses.

Under Operation Choke Point the DOJ working in concert with the FTC, FDIC, OCC, CFPB, and FBI has been intimidating banks in order to deny these financial resources to targeted commercial operations. While DOJ claims it is merely combating criminal activity, legal, but pariah businesses like firearms vending, marijuana dispensaries and check cashing firms have frequently been shut off from the banking system.

The Administration opposes the bill. "Even though some businesses may technically be legal their existence still poses a threat to the community," Attorney General Eric Holder explained. "If we can take action to cut these businesses off from being able to deposit money and write checks we may be able to achieve a goal that Congress has not shown the guts to accomplish on its own."

"Achieving a policy that Congress has declined to enact is beyond the scope of the Attorney General's authority," Luetkemeyer pointed out. "The role of the DOJ is to enforce the laws that exist not concoct schemes to implement laws they think should exist."

In related news, the DOJ has opened an investigation of Dale Remmich whose float depicting an outhouse labeled "Obama Presidential Library" in a Fourth-of-July parade in Norfolk Nebraska was deemed "unacceptably disrespectful of the President." "Freedom of speech is not a blank check," Holder argued. "We have to draw a line. Mr Remmich needs to answer for his insult. At the very least we can make him sweat a bit."

White House Claims President's Appointees "Absolutely Immune"

Despite audio evidence of prohibited political activity by Obama Administration officials, White House Counsel Neil Eggleston rejected House Oversight and Government Reform Committee requests for testimony from David Simas, director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach.

"Mr Simas and, in fact, everyone working for the President is absolutely immune from any demands Congress or the Judicial branch might seek to impose," Eggleston contended. "To hold otherwise would undermine the President's authority to rule this country."

"It would also be unfair to those attempting to carry out the President's wishes if they were to be held answerable to any other center of power within the government," Eggleston added. "Their work is difficult enough without adding the complication of worry over whether what the President has ordered them to do may be illegal or not. Obedience should be their only concern and must grant them immunity from oversight."

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) characterized Eggleston's argument as "disturbing. In effect he's saying that none of the President's henchmen need answer to anyone other than the President. This is not the action of a limited government as conceived by the Founding Fathers."

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md) denounced Issa's "persecution of the servants of the President" and maintained that "only after proof of wrongdoing should we even consider asking for testimony. The only evidence that Mr. Issa has is against former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. Since she is no longer with the government the whole issue is, in my opinion, moot."

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