Senator Seeks Meeting with FBI Informant

By John Semmens — Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent NewsA lawyer representing Sen. Diane Feinstein (Calif)–the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee–requested the opportunity to meet privately with former FBI informant, William Campbell. Campbell helped the FBI chronicle bribery, kickbacks and money laundering connected to the Uranium One scandal.Victoria Toensing, Campbell's attorney, agreed to meet, but questioned the time and location suggested by Feinstein's lawyer, saying that “a midnight meeting at Fort Marcy Park strikes me as unusually inconvenient, probably unwise, and potentially dangerous.”Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called Feinstein's request “premature. Mr. Campbell will be testifying before the entire Committee. Every senator on the committee will have an opportunity to question him. If any senator has additional questions afterward a one-on-one meeting in a more conventional time and location can be arranged.”In related news, Hillary Clinton insists that “any effort by the Department of Justice or Congress to investigate me is an abuse of power. All of the actions I took while Secretary of State are exempt because of a concept called 'sovereign immunity.' Namely, every agent of government is free to carry out his or her duties without interference and second-guessing by outsiders.” Clinton pointed out that “this isn't the first time that my enemies have tried to drag me to court. But let me remind you that in so may instances fate has intervened to eliminate my accusers before any harm could be done.”Update on Sexual Allegations Sweeping the CountryThe rising tide of allegations of sexual harassment that swept through Hollywood is now inundating politics and moistening persons of varying ideological proclivities.So far, eight women have accused Alabama Republican senatorial candidate Roy Moore of sexually inappropriate behavior dating back several decades. The most serious accusation alleging attempted rape was made by Beverly Young Nelson. The veracity of this allegation was cast into some doubt by Nelson's own lawyer—Gloria Allred—who refused to attest to the validity of the signed high school yearbook offered in support of Nelson's claim. As she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer “I haven't asked my client whether the 'Roy Moore' signature is genuine. Even if it is a forgery, though, that wouldn't prove that he didn't try to rape her.”Moore has demanded that the yearbook be examined by an independent handwriting expert to assess whether it is or isn't a forgery. To date, Allred has declined to submit the book for forensic examination, insisting that “the time isn't yet ripe for such a step. My client's credibility shouldn't be held hostage to the admittedly imperfect art of handwriting analysis.”While a number of leading Republicans have asserted that Moore must give up his run for the Senate because of the allegations, sexual abuse allegations against sitting Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn) have inspired only a call for an “ethics” investigation from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “Sen. Franken is already a colleague and, as such, is entitled to certain privileges and immunities,” McConnell contended. “We need hard evidence before we jump the gun on him.”Interestingly, there is a photo of Franken fondling the breasts of his accuser while she slept. Kasie Hunt, the Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC News, brushed aside the photo evidence saying that “since the woman was asleep I can't see that any real harm was done to her. I mean. Franken is well known for his crude sense of humor. Leeann is only degrading herself by bringing this up after so many years have passed.”Meanwhile, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif) revealed that Congress has a slush fund that has paid out $15 million over the last 20 years to “hush up incidents of harassment and abuse carried out by members of congress. The ironically named Office of Compliance (OOC) essentially protects the offenders by forcing victims to sign nondisclosure agreements as a condition of getting a settlement. Leadership's notion that mandating sexual harassment training for all lawmakers and staff will solve the problem is ludicrous. Congress is purportedly the elite of our democratic society. How could any member not already know that fondling, groping, intimidating, or sexually assaulting is wrong?”In related news, disgraced former purveyor of fake news Dan Rather absolved former President Bill Clinton from “any blame that might attach to his alleged improper behavior. Even if he did rape Broadderick, so much time has passed that she is a hideous old woman now. She is not the kind of person that a man of sophistication and taste like President Clinton could be seriously suspected of assaulting.”Dems Introduce Articles of ImpeachmentThis week Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced Articles of Impeachment against President Donald Trump, saying that “this usurper must be held accountable for his high crimes and misdemeanors before he drags the country into the hellish tyranny he has designed for America.” The list of offenses includes...“On election night in 2016, rather than gracefully and rightly conceding to the winner of the popular vote, Donald Trump exploited a the loophole of the Electoral College to unfairly declare himself president,” Cohen charged. “Millions were summarily disenfranchised. Women and minorities were especially hard hit.”“He continues to steadfastly refuse to release his income tax returns, relying on the so-called legal right to privacy that the IRS law allows to every taxpayer,” Cohen complained. “Privacy is a bourgeois conceit that has no rightful place in a socially progressive society. It is not up to the individual to decide what is to be private. That is a decision belonging to the government.”“In defiance of the norms under which members of government obtain wealth by trading on their positions of power, Trump continues to hold an ownership share in capitalistic enterprises that reap their profits from offering services for which customers voluntarily pay,” Cohen revealed. “This raises a 'red flag' that suggests he cannot be trusted to act in the best interests of the governing class.”“And just last week he couldn't give a speech without pausing in the middle to drink from a bottle of water,” Cohen said. “No other president has ever done this. Is he merely uncouth? Or does he have a serious medical problem? Either way his fitness to hold the office must be questioned.”“Finally, he has cast aspersions on the media, repeatedly referring to it as 'fake news,' thus undermining the credibility of our nation's foremost arbiters of truth,” Cohen concluded. “Thomas Jefferson warned us against this threat to our freedoms. Those who question the media strike at the very heart of our constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press. If the people lose faith in the media they will be set adrift in a sea of cacophonic and disparate opinion with no reliable guide to correct thought.”In related news, Attorney General Jeff Sessions told the House judiciary committee that “there is not enough evidence to support a special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton.” He differentiated Clinton's situation from that of President Trump by pointing out “in the case of Trump and the Russians there was the GPS Fusion dossier that provided a sound foundation of evidence for appointing Mueller to probe further. There is no similar dossier on Mrs. Clinton.”Socialist Students Reject Food Drive ChallengeAt Kent State University in Ohio, two left-wing student clubs—the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and the Socialist Collective (SC)--rejected a challenge from Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) and Turning Point USA (TPUSA) to see which organization could gather the most food for poor people in a campus-wide canned food drive.YDSA chapter co-chair, Ethan Comeriato, explained “While in the short run the food drive would benefit the public our participation would detract from our long-term goal of helping the poor through socialism. The flaw in all charitable giving is that the giver has the option to refuse. In the progressive America toward which we are working the option to refuse will be replaced by government control of all resources. Rather than having to rely on individual generosity to care for the less well off, government experts will dole out the necessities of life for the collective benefit of all.”Comeriato also labeled the challenge “a capitalistic trick aimed at supporting the false consciousness of individualism. By making the collection of food a competition it obscures the reality that the poor have every right to seize the food they need from those who have a surplus. This is a dangerous idea spewed by dangerous organizations. If the challenge entailed breaking into the homes of the rich and confiscating food for distribution to the poor we'd be all-in.”YAL chapter president, Kevin Cline, expressed his disappointment of the rebuff, saying “the purpose of our challenge was to extend an olive branch to our ideological counterparts on campus, open up a mutual dialogue and friendly channels of communication, and accomplish some good for our community in the process.”“Socialists cannot be friendly with capitalists,” Comeriato replied. “These exploiters of the working class must be dispossessed and punished for their crimes against humanity. As Marx proved so long ago, those who resist the revolution for social justice must be reeducated or liquidated, as the people's tribunals will decide. There is no point to a dialogue with Cline or his ilk when it is people like him that we mean to publicly hang as an example to everyone that we are serious about transforming our country.”Dems Demand Free Abortions for IllegalsSen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and 15 other Democratic senators signed a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) assailing a Trump Administration policy denying illegal unaccompanied minors access to abortion.“Long ago the Supreme Court decreed that it is every woman's constitutional right to abort her unwanted child,” the letter said. “The Administration's attempt to get around the Court's decree by asserting it doesn't apply to females in the country illegally is reprehensible. Their argument that providing free abortions to illegal immigrants would only encourage more illegal immigration is irrelevant. Providing a refuge for those seeking abortions outlawed in the Latin American tyrannies from which these women are escaping upholds the longstanding traditions of our country as a beacon of freedom.”Sen. Murray elaborated on the letter, insisting that “laws against using taxes to fund abortions are obviously unconstitutional. What good is a theoretical right to an abortion if you can't afford to pay for it? The whole point of an impoverished female coming to America to abort her unwanted child would be completely thwarted if the government can refuse to pay for it. In light of recent scientific findings showing that having children is harming the planet, it would be insane for us not to fund every possible abortion we can before it is too late.”In related news, another new constitutional right was recently announced by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley who asserted that “the Constitution's 'pursuit of happiness' clause says that Army personnel have a constitutional right to change their gender and the government has an obligation to provide the medical and financial resources to see that this right is fulfilled.”Biden's Bizarre Gun Control LogicDespite the availability of an AR-15 to Stephen Willeford being a crucial factor that helped him bring and end to the Sutherland Springs, Texas church massacre, former Vice-President Joe Biden adamantly asserted that “this is the type of gun no one should be allowed to have.”“I know some will argue that Willeford saved lives by shooting the guy who was killing dozens of people in that church,” Biden acknowledged. “But we've got to look at the bigger picture and be willing to make the sacrifices that promote the greater good. If Willeford hadn't had the AR-15 the killer might've shot a few more people. On the other hand, widespread ownership of AR-15s poses a much more serious threat that anti-government types could mount a dangerous resistance to government authority.Eliminating this greater danger by confiscating weapons like the AR-15 is clearly the better policy.”The editors at the Boston Globe newspaper took an even more extreme view than the former Veep and demanded that all 300 million privately held guns be confiscated. “One of the commonly overlooked advantages of the former Soviet Union's gun control policies is that when only government authorities have legal access to firearms the ability of private citizens to shoot one another is drastically curtailed,” the editors observed. “Perhaps it's time for us to accept a sinilar trade-off and give up our freedom to own guns in exchange for the freedom to not be shot by our fellow citizens.”In possibly related news, a former Secret Service agent assigned to guard Biden during his vice-presidency claims that agents frequently had to intervene to protect women from being fondled by him. “He'd get 'touchy-feely' at every opportunity,” the agent recalled. “We couldn't avert all the groping and would later cringe when we saw the evidence captured in photos of official events he attended. I mean, he doesn't have the same senility escape clause employed by former President Bush and his demented 'Copafeel' magician joke.”A Satirical Look at Recent NewsJohn 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.Please do us a favor. If you use material created by The Arizona Conservative, give us credit and DO NOT change the context. Thank you.