Real Characters Episode 1 No Tolerance for the Intolerant

                John was a devout Christian living in New York City.  He had lived in New York for over a decade but was born in the Mountain West area of the country.  As he sat in his 500 square foot apartment, he looked around and thought of how big his house would be for the same amount of money he paid for this small apartment.  He was an accomplished baker but for the health conscious New York crowd, baked goods weren’t a very lucrative industry.  As he kept thinking about this, he was getting a little down and decided that a drink was in order. 

                The weather wasn’t too cold so he decided to walk around and go to a bar a little further away from his place.  As he was walking, he saw a young girl around college age with petite features and straight black hair that went down to about her waist.  She had a microphone in front of her face.  Crowds spontaneously arise in New York all the time and John had learned not to be distracted by these things.  He looked up at the building and realized it was the Twitter building.  For some reason, he was intrigued by this event and approached.  He saw another young woman hand cuffed to the door with a large billboard and a megaphone.  John was tired of the various protests in New York City but he knew this one was different because it was civilized.  Liberal protests are very unruly and cause a lot of property damage and that’s the well-mannered ones.  The Occupy Wall Street protest forced the participants to set up safety tents in order to protect women from the widespread sexual assault and rape that occurred within the protest.  This was possible because the crowd banned cops from infiltrating.  When there’s no police, humans’ sinful natures come out and women are vulnerable and make easy targets.  This one, however, had police barricades with police inside and out of the barricades.  The protesters were talking with the police civilly and figuring out where they could stand.  He quickly found out that the handcuffed woman was a young Jew who was banned from twitter for posting a quote exposing a Muslim for Anti-Semitism and defending Sharia Law.  He lost interest quickly.  He never understood how some Christians didn’t respect the Jews.  Jesus Christ was Jewish so do you hate your savior?  He found a bar close by and sat and ordered a drink. 

                It didn’t take long for the long haired girl to come into the bar and sit down.  John wasn’t right next to her but was close enough to hear her if she spoke.  She ordered a drink and started rubbing her gloved hands.  Apparently he was just more accustomed to the cold given he grew up in a mountain area.  Since the girl was attractive, it didn’t take long for guys to approach her and buy her a drink.  They began talking and he went back to his thoughts.  Then one of the guys said very loudly, “You can’t like Trump! Don’t you know he hates women?”

                The girl smiled and said, “What do you mean?”

                “He grabs them by the crotch”

                The long haired girl gave him a dirty look and said, “Come on? You’re a guy, when a guy grabs a girl, do they go for the crotch?”

                “He said it”

                “It was sarcastic”

                “I don’t think it was but whatever, he colluded with the Russians.”

                “Which Russian?” The girl asked?

                “Putin”

                “How?  Directly?  What’s the evidence?”

                “He should be in jail”

                “Again, for what?’

                “Obstruction”

                “How so?”

                “Firing Comey”

                “A President is allowed to fire his subordinates.  Comey was a subordinate, it’s fully legal to fire him.”

                “No but he fired him so he couldn’t investigate”

                “So, after Comey was fired, the investigation stopped? And how do you know that’s why he did it?  The law says he can fire any subordinate as he deems fit.  He saw fit.”

                “Yea, but his intent was for him to stop the investigation, it just didn’t work.”

                “So, you think that if someone commits a legal act, his motive could warrant a criminal offense?  Then any act can be illegal.”

                “That’s a little much”

                “Really?  You bought me a drink.  Clearly a legal act as I am over 21.  What if, however, someone said that your motive was to get me so drunk I pass out so you can take me home and sexually assault me.  Should you go to jail because someone said what your motives were to describe your legal act?”

The guy glared at her and she just smiled back.  “You know what, I like a girl with a brain and if you like and defend Trump, you’re obviously a moron so I’m going to leave.  Enjoy your drink.”

“Thanks for the drink, enjoy your day” her voice turned up the charm really high her smile widened.

John moved next to her and said, “Do you mind if I sit here to keep other womanizers from bothering you.”

“Not at all”

John extended his hand, “I’m John”

                “Danielle” she said as she took his hand in hers and shook.

                Danielle quickly lost herself in her phone and John went back to his thoughts.  He wasn’t very good at breaking the ice and Danielle didn’t seem too interested to engage him in a conversation.  After Danielle had two drinks, she paid the tab on the one that wasn’t bought for her and walked out of the bar.  Something told John to follow so he asked for his tab as well.  Drinking alone was one of the most depressing things to do and going home was in order anyway.  By the time he got the bar tenders attention, gave his credit card and got it back, it had been a few minutes.  Little did he know that a lot can happen in a few minutes.

 

                Danielle left the bar and headed to the subway to go home.  She had covered the twitter protest and even got an interview that she posted on her twitter feed to her many followers.  She had already forgotten the confrontation at the bar.  She was used to people name calling her when defending Trump.  Just like these people, they had nothing to say to back it up.    While walking to the subway, she was grabbed from behind and pushed on a side street.  She wasn’t too scared because there were a lot of people around but she turned to find the guy she was talking to.  She said, “Don’t touch me like that again” in a stern but steady voice.

                “I figured a bitch that defends Trump would like that.”

                “And you’d be wrong. There is no evidence that Trump has ever sexually assaulted anyone.”

                “Golden Shower”

                “One, that was from a dossier that has been widely discredited as oppositional research paid for by Hillary Clinton Two, even if it was true, they were prostitutes so it wasn’t assault because it was consensual”

                The man moved in closer and Danielle found herself against a building.  She said, “If you get any closer, I’m going to scream”

                “The guy put a knife to her side and said, “No, you won’t if you want to keep your skin unblemished and your shirt unruined.”

                Now Danielle was scared.  She looked around and contemplated screaming but the knife was already pressed against her.  She didn’t think he’d try anything with people around but with a winter hat on and a scarf he could easily move up, he could conceal his identity pretty easily.  She said, “Okay, what do you want? My purse? Just name it?”

                “You’re going to get into a cab with me, and we’re going to go back to my apartment and talk some politics.”

                “And if I refuse?”

                He slipped the knife under her jacket and she felt it press against her side.  She took a deep breath, why not just scream?  As she was contemplating how to get out of it, she looked beyond the man and thought she saw a solution. 

                John paid his tab and walked out of the bar.  He walked out and turned on the next side street because the traffic dictated it and he was both south and west of his apartment so he headed east since traffic blocked north.  This is how he walked in New York.  He let traffic dictate his route, he almost always went east west quicker than north south but he avoided waiting for a light for as long as possible.  As he did, he saw a girl pressed against a wall.  He figured they were about to make out but then realized it was Danielle.  He approached them not realizing if he was about to get yelled at.  He asked, “Is everything okay here?”

                He saw the guy’s shoulders tense up and he said, “Yea, it’s fine” not turning to him and still looking at the girl.”

                “Usually when a stranger asks that question, he’s waiting for the girl to answer”

                Even though he was behind the guy, he could tell that he was knowingly looking at her.  This was the first time he was getting suspicious.  John moved his hand to his waist and unclipped something from his waist.  The guy turned towards him and said, “Look old man, mind your own business.”

                John was in his mid-30s, although he knew he wasn’t of college age, he didn’t know if ‘old’ was appropriate.  Then again, this guy looked college age so maybe it wasn’t so off.  John noticed the guy holding Danielle’s hand with his left.  With his right hand, the guy was holding a knife to John’s throat.  John took a deep breath and contemplated how he got into this situation for a girl he didn’t know.  Danielle gave him a sorry look.  John still didn’t know if Danielle was okay with the advances.  Girls often play coy and want the guy to chase.  That or they just get sick of the guy’s advances that they sleep with them just so they stop harassing them.  John never understood the latter.  If he could read the former, maybe he would have had more success when he was in the game.  The problem is, he hated playing the game.  Now, however, he had bigger problems.  John put up his hands in submission but he wasn’t surrendering.  Instead his pointer initiated the spring that would snap open his three inch blade, which was right under the guy’s chin.  With the three inch metallic extension of his hand, the guy found himself in a lot of pain as the nerves in the gums on the bottom of the mouth were severed causing intense pain and a lot of bleeding in the mouth; enough to rob the fight out of even the most hardened fighter, which this guy was not.  He looked down at the man who was now on the ground. John kicked the knife that was formerly at his neck and now laying on the ground away from him.  He looked down and said, “First rule of weapons fighting, never let your opponent know you have a weapon until after you attack him with it.”

                John looked up at Danielle to see her reaction.  If she crouched down, she liked the guy and now hated John for what he did.  He’d just walk away.  If not, he’d stay.  It was all up to Danielle.  Danielle didn’t even look at the guy but stared at John panting with a grateful expression on her face.  John said, “Are you okay?”

                “I am now….Thank You”

                “Your welcome, do you live near here?”

                “No, I live downtown.”

                “Alright, do you want to call an Uber or get a cab, I’ll wait with you till it gets here if that’s okay.”

                “To be honest sir, I would like you to come with me after what just happened.”

                John nodded.  “I can share a cab” realizing that Danielle lived in the opposite direction he was going. 

                “Let’s walk a couple blocks before getting an Uber.”

                “Okay”

                John knew what she meant.  It was weird to call an Uber with a guy writhing in pain at your feet.  They walked two blocks and John pulled out his phone and called an Uber.  In the car, John asked, “Did he use that knife on you?”

                Danielle just nodded, “I was so scared.  I kept telling myself to yell for help but I just couldn’t.  Something stopped me.”

                “Fear”

                “Yea, but it’s so stupid”

                “No, not really.  Fear does strange things.  Why did he pull a knife on you anyway?  Did you know him before?”

                “No, he’s just some stupid violent liberal who got mad at me for being a Trump-supporter.”

                “Yea, there’s a lot of those in this city.”

                Danielle tensed up and turned to look at John whereas before she was staring out the window.  “Sorry, I can’t help it.  I’m kind of a political activist on twitter.  You don’t hate me now do you?”

                “Actually, I’m a Trump supporter too.”

                Danielle smiled, “Holy shit, this night is just getting more and more odd.  I mean what are the odds that you come when I have a knife against me about to be forced into a cab somewhere to rescue me?  Then what are the odds that you’re a Trump supporter in New York City?  I mean two Trump supporting strangers in a car at the same time.  We should probably play the mega millions.”

John laughed, the driver chimed in, “How do you guys feel about him losing on the wall.  Schumer really stuck it to him”

                John said, “Well let’s run the numbers.  Trump wanted 5.7 Billion, he got 1.4Billion from congress when Pelosi said he wouldn’t get a dime.  He has the 600 million in the treasury that nobody disputes he can use, then he’s got 3.5 Billion in the military fund that specifically says he can build fences.  None of that is disputed so now he’s at 5.5 Billion and only needs 200 Million more from the emergency fund that is being fought tooth and nail but by the time he touches that money, there may be a new congress.  He may not even need it because a private company offered to build all 221 miles for the 1.4 Billion that congress gave him.  So, just say ‘yes’ to that deal.”

                Driver said, “If everything you said is true, then he’s a con man”

                “Nope, just smarter than Pelosi and Schumer.”

                “Do you really think we need a wall?  Is it really that bad?”

                “Well yes, there are drug cartels in Mexico and they’re not exactly nice.  The caravans are real and if you really want numbers, there were 76,000 more apprehensions in February at the border.”

                “Numbers mean nothing without a reference point.”

                “That’s 31% higher than January.”

                “Okay, I didn’t know that.  I don’t know, it just seems weird that it’s such a hot button issue.  We live in New York, I don’t really care if there’s a wall, doesn’t affect us up here.”

                Danielle said, “You don’t think we have any illegal immigrants in New York?”

                “I guess I’m outnumbered here.  I’ll just get you to your destination.”

                Danielle and John smiled at each other.  This is probably the only time either of them was not outnumbered in a political debate in New York.  They arrived at Danielle’s apartment and Danielle said, “Do you want to come in?”

                John took a deep breath.  He looked at Danielle and knew she was attractive.  He wanted her but she was vulnerable.  It wouldn’t be right.  He said, “You don’t have to do that.  I think you should just go home.  I’m glad you’re safe.  That’s enough, you don’t owe me anything.  I’m glad I could help out.”

                Danielle smiled, “I got to pay you back somehow.”

                John thought of something he had been contemplating for a while.  He said, “Give me your number; if I think of something, I’ll call you.  Tonight, however, this is where our encounter ends” he said with a smile. 

                Danielle gave him his number and he plugged it into his phone, “Just how many followers do you have on twitter.”

                Danielle smiled, “Thousands, odd question though.”

                John smiled coyly.  “Seems that way now maybe, but it might make sense later.”

                “Well, call me whenever, I owe you my life….unfortunately that might not be hyperbolic.”

                “Good night Danielle.”

                “Good night John”

                John plugged in his address and the Uber driver accepted it and went back up town to his apartment.  When they pulled away, the driver said, “You should have tapped that ass man.  She wanted it.”

                John sighed, “I actually don’t think you’re wrong.  I’ll probably regret that in the morning but right now I think I’m okay.”

                “Okay”

 

                John didn’t last much longer in New York.  He moved to Colorado thinking that since they had legalized recreational marijuana use first, they would be in need of some baked goods.  He opened a bakery and found himself happier.  He started reading Thomas Sowell’s Vision of the Anointed and felt that he learned more about economics from that book than he had in his four years at college in which he attained a bachelors in economics.  The problem with the American education system is he could have that degree and still had never heard of Sowell.  School was all about Keynes but studying abroad in Italy, an Italian professor berated and castigated a room filled with Americans because the Americans had no idea how great America is and how much better the American economy was compared to the rest of the world.  Odd the American professors in his college said the opposite.  He had to go to Italy to find out how great America was.  New York or Colorado, the result was the same.  He was back at a bar drinking by himself.  He heard some people talking about Kamala Harris’ latest spiel about how America should pay for Reparations.  The thing about Colorado is they were much more open to people who overheard to engage in a conversation.  He turned to them and said, “Then what?”

                It was a group of four with three of them being men and one woman.  One of the guys spoke up, “Huh?”

                “That’s actually my question” John responded, “What’s your point?  Are you saying that because of slavery, blacks are incapable of succeeding because they’re inherently dumber?”

                “What’s your name?”

                “I’m John” They went around the table and he found out that their names were Manny, Aaron, Franklin & Abby.   John said, “Nice to meet you.”

                “Likewise” said Manny.  “I’m not saying that, they were just dealt a worse hand because employers and teachers prefer white people.”

                “There is absolutely no evidence of that.”

                “Well there was a doll study….”

                “Yea, the kids in the white school preferred the white doll”

                “Right”

                “Yea, they never tell you that they tested predominantly black school, and equally white and black schools and the black kids chose the white doll at the same rate as the white kids in each of the three schools”

                “Didn’t know that.  So are you saying there’s no bias?”

                “I’m saying that there’s so many reasons why someone might be worse off that isolating one and saying that’s the only reason is just irresponsible.  Even in the same families you don’t see same success outcomes.  The first born child has statistically higher IQ’s than their siblings and achieve more success in life.  For instance 22 of the 29 astronauts that made it to the moon were first born.  Should we give money to anyone not first born?  Every generation has their one factor.  It used to be genetics, then it was exploitation and now we’re talking about something that happened over 200 years ago.  You have to be really sure intelligence is genetic to make any argument for reparations.”

                Abby said, “You don’t think everyone should be equal”

                “Yes, I do, and that’s why I’m against all these quotas and affirmative action and, in this case, handing someone unearned money.  Ironically, any government equality program intrinsically forces you to treat people unequally.  You can’t control outcomes.  You can’t play God.  I also think these programs are a way to keep people down because when you lower the standards on anything people aren’t as motivated to work.”

                Aaron said, “Come join us”

                John got up and sat at their table.  Aaron said, “Maybe we don’t have affirmative action but what about just taxing the rich.”

                “They already pay a majority of taxes”

                “They can afford more.  They hide it well though, that’s why I like this wealth tax, you tax the assets so they can’t just buy things to get out of it.”

                “First off, you want rich people to spend.  Secondly, it’s impossible to tax the greatest wealth.”

                “Being what?”

                “Ideas, the human intellect”  Aaron just smiled.  John continued, “I’m serious, if you raise taxes on the people that have multi-million dollar ideas they either stop implementing their ideas or they move to a country that appreciates them and that country gets richer with their presence.  That’s how Uganda got so horrible.  They taxed wealth, all the smart people left, those people became rich in Asia while Uganda plummeted. ”

                Aaron said, “You have to fund the government some way.”

                “And you do buy removing disincentives to implement ideas.  Ideas can be re-used.  You need to tax economic activity and the people with most economic activity are the rich and taxing them will make them stop the economic activity. “

                “Well there’s got to be a way to redistribute wealth.”

                “No, you don’t.  Every way is stupid.  Even best case scenario; you tax the rich 70% and none of them stop working.  Government makes like 200-400 Billion over 10 years.  40 Billion a year won’t help at all and that’s a best case scenario.  Especially if you’re talking about the Green New Deal that has a price tag of like 94 Trillion over the same 10 years.  That’s best case.  Reality, rich people leave, no ideas, no goods to consume, economy collapses” 

                Manny chimed in, “Alright, so don’t tax the rich.  Maynard Keynes kind of agreed with what you’re saying.  You want to make people consume rather than invest so you keep interest rates low so people buy instead of invest.”’

                “That’s not what I’m saying.  You need a balance of the two.  Keynesian economics has been debunked but that statement is meaningless; why would you trust me?  Think about it, how do you get the money?”

                “Borrow it”

                “Okay, so your borrowing all this money.  You’re making it not profitable or advantageous to save money.  You spend all your money on goods.  How is a new business going to get money if nobody is investing in banks?”

                “Bank is borrowing money too.”

                “How long is the rest of the world going to let you borrow from them when you have no way to pay them back?”

                “We will when they buy goods.”

                “How? Any money someone gets, they spend.  The economy isn’t producing anything because countries aren’t putting money into research and development. Rich people aren’t putting money in the bank so that they can lend it to small businesses or home owners.  People stop lending.  How do you convince people to give you money when you constantly stiff them?”

                Aaron thought about it, “I’m not sure.”

                “What would you do if your savings account gave you 10% interest rate?”

                “Like not a CD”

                “Nope, savings account.”

                “I’d put my money in there.”

                “We’d have to do the same thing in order to borrow more money.  Raise interest rates to get them to invest again.  Then you’re doing the one thing you wanted to avoid.”

                “There’s got to be another way.”

                “Let me know what it is”

                Aaron thought about it, and John said nothing.  As he thought through it, he said, “Well someone smarter than us would figure it out”

                “Nobody ever has, which is why Keynesian economies fail.”

                Franklin said, “Well, most people are in the middle class, so maybe just have everyone pay more and tax the middle class”

                The other three people cringed at the statement.  John said, “Most voters are in the middle class.  The only reason the tax the rich narrative works is nobody realizes it affects them because the rich pay their paychecks or invest in the banks which then lend to them for their small businesses.  Now, you’re taking all that out and admitting that they have to pay for it and you’re hurting them.  Do you think you can win an election that way?”

                Franklin said, “No, I guess not” as he dropped his head.

                Abby said, “I think we need the woman to try.  Just print the money.”

                “Modern Monetary Theory?” John said condescendingly

                “Yup”

                “Just because you got an acronym doesn’t mean it’s a good policy.  MMT is retarded”

                “Funny how you had facts and reason to back up the other three ideas, but not this one.”

                “Fine, so the Fed prints money.  They tried that in Germany to pay for reparations after World War I, it led to hyperinflation.  People went out shopping with wheelbarrows of cash it was so worthless.  Restaurants stopped printing menus because prices rose by the time the ink was dry.  They just wrote it on a board.  Prices rose, on average, every hour.  Imagine if while at this bar, if we stayed for an hour, the price of the drink went up?  It’s hard to imagine the invisible hand worked that fast, but it did.  Even Keynes knew this was stupid.”

                “Yes but you already proved that Keynes wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”

                “Fine, you’re right don’t name drop.  More recently, Venezuela used the money to sew purses because their money was worthless so using it to buy a purse wasn’t as efficient or as useful to make a purse from your money that will lose value in a couple days.” 

                “Just don’t tell anyone you printed the money.”

                John took a salt shaker and a dollar bill from his pocket.  He said, “Economics says to always make ridiculous assumptions to simplify the world.  Let’s assume this salt shaker represents all the goods you can buy in a country.”

                Abby said, “Okay”

                John held up the dollar, “This dollar represents all the money in the country.”

                “Got it”

                “Right now, everything is balanced right?”

                “Yup”

                John took another dollar out of his wallet and threw it on top.  Now there’s twice as much money, what happens?”

                Abby stared at the two dollar bills and the salt shaker.  She said, “Well now the government has it.”

                “What can the government do with it?”

                “Spend it on roads”

                “Things that can be bought?”

                “Yea”

                “Yea, that’s the salt shaker but the other dollar covers all that.”

                “Okay, so now you have a fraction of the dollar….no, because then nothing really adds…..it’s not balanced anymore.”

                “So what do you need to do?”

                “Well the other dollar seems useless unless you make the salt shaker twice as much.”

                “We call that inflation.  Would you like to have everything you buy double in price?”

                “No, alright fine, stupid idea.”

                “Yea, any others, because I can do this all night?”

                “Yea I can tell.”

                The rest of the evening went off with no fan fare.  They had superficial conversations and said their good byes.  John needed this.  He was drinking because at his bakery, a gay couple came in and asked for a custom made wedding cake with two grooms.  He told the couple they could pick any pre-made cake but they got offended and stormed out.  Today they came back with a lawyer and a subpoena from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  He was going to fight this because it was an infringement on his freedom of religion.  As a Christian though, people cared less about your freedom of religion.  They’d rather let Muslims decapitate people in the name of Allah then to allow him not to bake a cake for a gay marriage.  Turns out this was the beginning of a multi-year battle that ended up in the Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court ruled in favor of John 7-2.  Finally it was over.

                John was at his bakery and a woman walked in that looked like a man.  John asked, “Can I help you.”

                “Yea, I’m having a gender transition party, so can you bake a cake where the inside is pink but the outside is blue?”

                “Sorry, I can’t.  It violates my religion, I’ll sell you any other cake you want though that’s pre-made but I can’t custom make a cake that violates my religious beliefs, I’m sorry.”

                “You’re a homophobe”  she said before she stormed out. 

Couple minutes later there was another subpoena from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission.  He laughed.  He looked at the lawyer and said, “Here we go again.  You couldn’t just enjoy your victory in court to allow gay marriage; you have to punish anyone that doesn’t agree.”

“No tolerance for the intolerant”

“Yet, you’re intolerant of me practicing my religious beliefs and allowing me to run MY store the way I want to.”

“Don’t act like you’re the victim, you’re the bully and I love putting bullies in their place.”

“Well, I’ll see you in court then.”

“Can’t wait.”

Given that the first case went to the Supreme Court, it made national news.  That meant that money flocked to John in droves he could never imagine.  He had read the book Who Really Cares that proved that conservatives give much more to charity than liberals even after you control for income.  It’s one thing to read about, it’s another to see it.  The first legal fight almost bankrupted him and he was contemplating how to pay for this.  He didn’t have that problem now.  Money swarmed in to fight this latest charge.  This time, he countersued for harassment.  The campaign was so successful that John found himself in the office of the Colorado Civil Rights Company.  The smug lawyer said to him, “You know we want to just move on from this.  It’s really getting out of hand and getting to be a mess.  We’re prepared to drop all charges if you drop your charges of harassment against us.”

“No”

“What?”

“You have harassed me, defamed and attacked me for the last six and half years.  I don’t only have lawsuits against your company; I have one against you personally for harassment.  I also have one against the woman that wanted the cake for her to pretend to switch.  I’m coming after all of you.”

“Be reasonable”

“I am”

“We have a lot of resources”

                “I know, I’m not greedy.  I’m only looking for your two million dollars a year.  For six years, that’s only 12 million from the company.  I don’t know how much you are worth personally but I will subpoena your financial records to see how much you’ll owe me.  Also with everyone else that I have named.”

                “You can’t sue us all”

                “That’s for the judge to decide which to throw out.”

                “What happened to being a good Christian and turning the other cheek?”

                “I’m a sinner.  Just like every other Christian” he said with a smile.

                “Nobody cares about white Christians.  This is a waste of time.”

                “Oh, I don’t have to win in court; I have to win with the public.”

                “Good luck with that”

                “Thanks, enjoy your day sir.”

                The lawyer was a little unnerved that John was smiling so widely.  He’s just being cocky. 

John had kept in contact with Danielle.  He called her up and said, “Hey Danielle”

                “Hey John, you’re pretty famous now.”

                “I am, and I’m rich.”

                “Oh yea?” she said mockingly

                “Yup, and I need to call in that favor.”

                “What do you need from me?”

                “I’m not charismatic, but I got money.  I need you to send a message out to your thousands of followers.  I will pay them for a protest but it needs to be like a liberal protest; very unruly, ruthless and merciless.  I will pay for air fare, and they’ll get like $50 a day. 

                “So, you’re basically pulling a George Soros”

                “Yup”

                “I actually like it.  I heard they wanted to drop the charges though.  What are we protesting?  The media will be against us.  Christians don’t garner much sympathy.”

                “But Slavery does.”

                Danielle smiled.  How did she not think of this?  She had always believed that barrios and inner cities were the new plantations.  Just like the slave plantation of the south circa the Civil War, the new plantations were also run by Democrats.  She saw the play.  “If I do this, then you no longer have the whole you saved my life thing over me anymore?”

                “Like that situation, I think you’re willing to help for free.”

                “That is true.”

                Danielle immediately went to twitter with the offer and her followers flocked to Colorado.  They made signs and stood outside the Colorado Civil Rights Company screaming that they were slave owners.  The media showed up and interviewed the protestors trying to find one that was inarticulate and sounded dumb but they were well trained.  The cake maker was being harassed and they were trying to force him to work against his will; the very definition of slavery.  It took one day for the Company to call John.  Little did they know, John was recording the conversation.  After pleasantries, a different lawyer that he had been dealing with before said, “We are prepared to offer you two million dollars to make all this go away.”

                “You tried to treat me like a slave”

                “No, the man was willing to pay you.”

                “She was a woman.  Her chromosomes have two X’s not a Y”

                “Slaves don’t get paid.”

                “So, if Hitler paid the Jews for their labor, it would’ve been okay?”

                “Yea, it wouldn’t have been slave labor.”

                John smiled.  The problem with liberals is they were so used to media spinning for them they never watched what they said.  That exchange was broadcast by megaphones and was on many signs outside the Company’s office.  It led to his termination.  To which, John sued him personally. 

                The NY times and Washington Post came out calling John a disgrace to Christianity.  They tried to get bishops and cardinals to condemn him.  Not many took the bait and the ones that did backed down at the enormous backlash.  Danielle’s protest was expanding and money kept flowing in to finance it.  Conservatives were rallying behind John.  The judge didn’t throw away any of the law suits.  Everyone was liable.  Once again, John sat at a table with everyone he had sued.  He smiled for he and some lawyers representing each side were the only ones leaving with more money than they came with.  They finally settled on a sum that could only be described as a King’s ransom.  It made the Colorado Civil Rights Company wish they accepted the 12 million that John originally offered.  Minorities were large clients of the Company and with all these ties to slavery, the minorities were no longer accepting their help.  When adding up all the checks that had been given him some having individual names, others by companies. He also sued the NY times and Washington Post for harassing him with the disgrace to Christianity comments.  All the checks totaled an amount that covered all his legal fees and the money he spent on the protest.  The lawyer that originally gave him the subpoena said to him, “Have you no shame?  You practically bankrupted many people in this room.  Our company is crippled to help anyone anymore.  What happened to greed being a deadly sin?  What happened to modesty?  Have you no compassion?”

                “One, your company didn’t do good work, they harassed good people and exploited minority communities so no, I believe crippling you was helpful to the community and society.  Two, no tolerance for the intolerant” he said with a smile. 

                John took a bullhorn and walked to the protest.  He said over the speaker, “We’ve reached an agreement.  Thank you very much for all your help.  It’s over….WE WON!!!!”

                There was a loud cheer.  Danielle ran up and hugged John tightly.  John picked her up soaking in the moment.  All the protestors went home and John went back to work at his bakery.  He was left alone to run his business as he saw fit and nobody bothered him again.