Abortion the Great Equalizer

By John Semmens — Semi-News — A Satirical Look at Recent NewsFormer president of Planned Parenthood Gloria Feldt told a Cornell University audience that “abortion gives women an equal seat at life’s table. Putting all of the burden of child-bearing and birthing on women violates the Constitution's equal protection clause. Abortion is the remedy. Freeing ourselves of the obligations imposed on us by a patriarchal society is the only way we can enjoy the same power that men have monopolized through a discriminatory reproductive system.”Feldt's remarks mirrored those of former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton who also advocated an economic rationale for preserving the court-granted right of reluctant would-be mothers to abort their unborn children. Clinton's argument pointed out that “women who were freed by the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision from the encumbrance of an unwanted child were able to join the workforce and add half a trillion dollars to the GDP between the years 1973 to 2009.”However, the research cited by Clinton was more ambiguous than she let on. On the one hand, one of the studies showing that women denied third-trimester abortions under some states' laws suffered economically in the short term experienced economic outcomes equivalent to women who underwent first-trimester abortions after five-years. Then, too, the analyses of the income status of the women completely ignores the loss of the future economic contributions of the children killed by the procedure.Meanwhile, at the Senate hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh pro-abortion activists became so unruly that more than 70 had to be arrested. Their outrage was stimulated by the portion of Kavanaugh's testimony where he dared to offer an opinion that “when the Government forces someone to take an action contrary to his or her sincere religious belief or else suffer a financial penalty, the Government has substantially burdened the individual’s free exercise of religion.”Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) complained that Kavanaugh's perspective “elevated a strict adherence to the First Amendment over every woman's right to have an abortion. It is a basic principle of legislation that a later law automatically modifies an earlier law. The Supreme Court's 1973 decision essentially legislated a universal right to abortion for every woman in America. This later legislation clearly supersedes the 1789 adoption of the First Amendment's protection of freedom of religion.” Unfortunayely for Hirono, her conception of the law contradicts the Supreme Court's validation of Kavanaugh's interpretation.Clinton Stumps for Menendez in NJFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is going “all-in” for the reelection of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) despite the formidable cloud of criminality overhanging the Senator. Late last year his bribery trial resulted in a hung jury. Clinton will speak at a fancy fund-raiser for Menendez in October.“I feel we are kindred spirits,” Clinton said. “Both of us have been unfairly criticized for our politics. The whole corruption case against Bob for the special favors he did for a constituent sought to punish him for behavior that is typically overlooked. Should a constituent be denied a senator's services merely because he is also a generous friend? Bob, myself, and practically everyone I know has done something similar during our careers. In my case, the names of persons receiving special treatment from the State Department also being the same as donors to the Clinton Foundation was blown out of proportion as if it were some sort of quid-pro-quo rather than the odd coincidence it actually was.”Clinton pointed out that “voters in New Jersey were too smart to be fooled by the innuendos thrown at me by Republicans and chose me over Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. I hope they will do the same for Sen. Menendez and give him the nod over his Republican challenger in this Fall's election.”Obama Claims Credit for Economic BoomAs we move closer to the mid-term election day, the stream of favorable economic news following the Republican tax cuts and President Trump's moves toward deregulation has spurred former President Obama to step forward to try to make the case that his policies were the real source of the current boom.In a speech at the University of Illinois, Obama attempted to persuade people that “the credit for the prosperity that is breaking out today truly belongs to me. The GOP tax cuts wouldn't have been as effective if taxes hadn't been so high during my term. Likewise for the deregulation. I mean, you can't have deregulation unless you first have regulation.”“And let me further remind everyone that today's historic lows in unemployment for minorities hasn't come without a significant cost,” the former president maintained. “Every Black and Latino forced off of welfare and food stamps and into a job is a person who has lost a substantial portion of his former freedom. The freedom to loll around has value, yet no one is pointing out the discomforts faced by those who have lost this freedom.”Obama also wondered “whether herding minorities into wage-slavery might be evidence of Trump's racism. The disproportionate racial impacts heralded by Trump and his ilk seems to vindicate Joe Biden's prediction that the Republicans aim to put Blacks back in chains—maybe not literal chains, but social pressure to accept jobs when you'd really rather have the time to yourself. We need to resist this kind of bullying by electing Democrats who will undo the damage done by Republicans over the last year and a half.”The former president's pitch relies on the premise that minorities would prefer to be lazy louts rather than working to support themselves and their families. The evidence that might confirm this premise is mixed. On the one hand, Trump's approval ratings among Blacks have breached the 30% mark. On the other hand, nearly 70% still disapprove of the President.In related news, the South African government's plan to expropriate white farmers' land and maybe kill them at some point in the not too distant future has been followed by a drastic 29% decline in agricultural output this year. President Cyril Ramaphosa blamed the anti-social attitudes of whites for the decline contending that “just like Stalin, we are faced with our own kulak saboteurs who place their own well-being ahead of the demands of the collective. We will isolate these enemies of the state and subject them to a harsh lesson.”Dem Uses Kavanaugh Hearing to Jockey for Position in 2020Fresh from his preposterous antics in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Kavanaugh nomination to the Supreme Court in which he characterized himself as a “Spartacus fighting against tyranny,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) brushed aside Wall Street Journal reporter Byron Tau's attempt to ask him a question about it, asserting that “it is unconstitutional for anyone to question me about anything I said in Congress in any other place.”Booker's heroic moment came when he made a show of releasing what he called “wrongly classified documents that Republicans are trying to hide from the American people. I know that my violation of the rules could lead to my expulsion from the Senate, but the stakes are higher than my seat. Even if I am expelled, my fight for the truth will go on to the 2020 presidential election where my selfless sacrifice will demonstrate that I am the essential man needed to carry on the social revolution begun by former President Obama.”One flaw in Booker's grandiose plans, though, was the fact that the so-called “hidden documents” had previously been cleared for release by the Committee's Republican majority prior to his stunt. Another flaw is that the documents that Booker accused the GOP of trying to hide actually confirm that Kavanaugh voiced opposition to racial profiling in the memos Booker held in his hand as he ranted against the Judge. Perhaps Tau's knowledge of these facts may have been the main source of the Senator's post-hearing snit.Meanwhile, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif) mocked Judge Kavanaugh for carrying a copy of the Constitution in his pocket “as if it is some sort of bible. It's only words—very old words. I find it scary that someone who aspires to join the Supreme Court would need such a crutch. I think we need Justices who are creative and open to new ideas if we hope to transform our form of government to keep pace with changing times.”California Dems Vote to Seek Mutual Defense Treaty with ChinaCiting the “common interests we share with China,” eighty California State Assembly members have unanimously passed a bill to declare the legislature's support for “a mutual defense treaty to deal with the threat posed to both our nations by the Trump regime.”Assembly member Evan Low (D-Campbell) said “the Trump Administration's policies constitute a mortal danger to every Californian. It is our natural right to sever the political bonds with his tyranny and seek new guards for our liberties. Given the military might of the armed forces controlled by Trump it is imperative that we, much like the confederation of colonies that sought independence from our British overlords in 1776, align with a foreign power of sufficient strength to deter the oppression Trump would impose on California.”Among the specific grievances listed by the bill, Low highlighted “the most egregious of affronts to our state's rights, including the interdiction of the immigrants needed to provide the votes necessary to reattach lands stolen from Mexico by United States aggression in 1848 and preventing the abolition of fossil-based fuels that would lead to a cleaner, greener environment.”“I know some people will question whether China could be trusted to respect California's independence,” Low acknowledged. “They say the Chinese one-party government is too different from our democracy. But wasn't the same thing true during the American Revolution when the French autocratic government sided with the rebellion against the British? The important thing is that even though our two governments have a different form of rule we do share a common devotion to socially progressive ideals. I believe these shared ideals can be relied upon to ensure a live-and-let-live long-term relationship between the liberator and the liberated.”In related news, Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic candidate for US Senate from Texas asked that the American flags be removed from the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall that he rented for a campaign rally in Navasota. A spokesman for his campaign explained “a lot of our supporters aren't Americans. By virtue of great effort and arduous treks across the barren wastes of Mexico they have arrived in Texas in time to vote for Beto to represent them in Congress. Why should they be forced to look at a flag they consider a symbol of oppression?”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.” This post is also available on Facebook.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.