The Game is Over

                The year is 2014 and Stefan Halper is teaching students at the University of Cambridge.  His students are very impressed with him and love hearing stories about his work on Nixon, Ford and Reagan’s campaign.  He enjoys telling them because it has the duel effect of endearing him to his students but it also gives him credibility.  At 69 years old, he is set to have a milestone birthday.  70 is not normally a time when people start a new career but that is just what Halper is about to do. 

 

                President Barak Obama is furious.  He just closed a deal with Iran for Uranium and denuclearization but one of his top generals, Michael Flynn, is adamant in his opposition to the deal.  He has advised the President in the strongest terms he can muster when advising the commander and chief of the United State army not to trust the Iranians.  As it turns out, this was a scheme to have Russia buy the Uranium and Iran used it to arm themselves with nuclear capabilities with Russian help.  Michael Flynn was proven right but rather than admit it, President Obama has to make sure that nobody finds out about it.  He tells his department of justice that they need to discredit General Flynn.  The Department of Justice thinks back to 2008 when they made up a Russian collusion hoax against John McCain that was instrumental in losing him the campaign.  The only problem was that George Bush was president and didn’t let them use even more underhanded tactics like implementing spies into McCain’s campaign and abusing the NSA databases and FISA courts to invasively spy on them as if they were foreign terrorists.  Now that Barak Obama was president the gloves could come off. 

                An FBI agent calls Stefan Halper and propositions him to invite Michael Flynn to a dinner at Cambridge.  Halper says, “What exactly would you like me to do?”

                “We are going to accuse him of colluding with Russians.  We need you to help substantiate that claim”

                “Well, I have students from Russia.  I could invite them and have them at the same table as General Flynn.  Would that work?”

                “Yes, try to get one that is noticeable that will draw Flynn’s attention.  He needs to be talking to her.”

                “That seems harmless enough.”

                “Yes, but just so you know we’re going to accuse her of being a Russian asset.”

                “Will she be imprisoned?”

                “No, the accusations will only circulate long enough to discredit Flynn and shun him from any US political office.  After that we will just stop mentioning it and the media will move on to a different topic and she can go on with her life.”

                “That sounds easy enough.  Is that all you need me to do?”

                “Yup”

                Halper invited Flynn and his student Svetlana Lokhova and he seats them together.  He ensures they are photographed together and Obama’s corrupt Department of Justice does the rest.  Lokhova is named a Russian asset and she spends most of her time adamantly denying any ties to the Russian government.  Mike Flynn is disgraced from the scandal and no longer advises the president but he is kept on the payroll so he can’t disclose to the public what was done to him.  The CIA names Halper as an asset for his good work with Flynn.  This would come into play later.

 

                The year is now 2016, and once again the CIA is reaching out to Stefan Halper.  This time it’s about Donald Trump.  The agent tells Halper, “We need you to insert yourself in the Trump campaign.  Given that you have worked for Republican presidents, they will trust you.”

                “Yea, Trump isn’t the typical Republican President.”

                “We know, which is why we have to make sure he never becomes president.  We have forced him to reveal who is on his team and we need you to get a job with the Trump campaign and report back to us.”

                “So you want me to be an informant?”

                “No, an informant is already in an organization and reports back.  Kind of like what you did with Flynn two years ago.  You were at Cambridge inviting Flynn to you to report what happened at a Cambridge event.  What you’re doing now is inserting yourself into an organization we want you to infiltrate and report back to us.”

                “I think we call that a spy”

                “Yes, that’s exactly what it is.”

                “That’s cool, I get to be James Bond”

                The agent laughs and says, “We hoped you’d take it that way.”

                Unlike before, Halper’s good friend Richard Dearlove had already warned him this request was coming and urged him to accept.  Dearlove is the head of GCHQ, which is the British version of the NSA.  Halper is given a list of Trump campaign members.  He invites three of them to his dinner.  The three are George Papadopoulos, Sam Clovis and Carter Page.  He offers to pay all their travel expenses and when Papadopoulos shows hesitancy, he offers him $ 3,000 to write a paper about energy in the Mediterranean where the Greek Papadopoulos has experience.  This is what lures Papadopoulos to London with the other two Trump aides and Halper begins courting them.  Unfortunately, despite the FBI, CIA and Halper’s efforts, Donald Trump becomes the next president of the United States. Immediately after Trump is inaugurated, Richard Dearlove resigns and Halper quits Cambridge citing that too many Russians have infiltrated the organization and tells the story of Lokhova. 

                Svetlana Lokhova is in her London flat.  Ever since 2014, she has despised Stefan Halper for insinuating she was a Russian asset and taking an innocent conversation at a dinner into a Russian collusion story.  She didn’t have any ties to Russian intelligence. She had been living in England for over a decade.  Mike Flynn was disgraced for not reporting he talked to a foreigner while abroad.  She thought it was quite difficult to go abroad and not talk to a foreigner given that you are in a foreign country that is populated by foreigners by definition.  I’m sure that he also didn’t report all the waiters and hostesses he talked to while dining in England.  It was completely asinine but she had put it behind her.  That was until she was invited to a birthday party for Halper’s wife.  She hadn’t spoken to Halper in over two years and certainly didn’t like him.  She had never met his wife so this really came out of the blue.  She declined to go but when she saw that Mike Flynn had to plead guilty for lying to the FBI even after the FBI agents that interviewed him said they didn’t think he was being deceptive, she knew that this 2014 Russian collusion story was being recycled.  With all this circulating, she went to a pub to get a drink.  She was extremely attractive so knew that guys would hit on her but she was well trained in letting them down. 

                The pub had the news on and Lokhova flirts with the bar tender to turn the sound up.  The pub isn’t too crowded so the bartender does.  James Comey is testifying under oath to congress.  He admits that the October 2016 FISA warrant on Carter Page was an investigation on the Trump team.  Lokhova said, “Duh!”

                A guy sits next to her and says, “It’s not so obvious dearie, In October 2016, Carter Page wasn’t working for the Trump campaign anymore.”

                “One, it takes a little bit to gather evidence.  Two, a FISA is retroactive.  They can look at e-mails prior to the date it opened.  You know, like when he did work for the Trump campaign.  And since the two hop rule with FISA’s, they can read the correspondence with anyone within two degrees of separation from Carter Page, which is pretty much the entire Trump team.”

                “Ah, so you’re a conspiracy theorists?”
                “No, I just have a brain.  Let me ask you something.  Why do you think Page was wiretapped if not because of his association with Trump?”

                “Colluding with Russia.”

                “Where’s the evidence about that?”

                “I’m sure they have it but I don’t know the exact source”

                “The only place Carter Page exists is in the Steele Dossier, which has been completely debunked.  Carter Page, after two years has never been charged with anything.”

                The man says, “Well, the government has access to information we don’t.  Trust me there’s probably somewhere else they heard about Carter Page and the Russians and that’s why they got it.”

                “You’re very trusting of government, which means you are very naïve.  Once again, why didn’t they use this secret information to charge Page with anything?”

                The man doesn’t answer and they continue to listen to Comey and he’s asked about when he briefed various government organizations like the director of national intelligence (DNI) about the FISA on Carter Page.  He goes through all of them but the one of note is when he says, “There was no DNI at the time but I briefed Coats on the same day he took office I think”

                Lokhova gave a dirty look to the man.  His eyes widened and said, “That just can’t be true.”

                “It’s not, the DNI under Obama and until 2017 was James Clapper.”

                “How does the lead investigator of the FBI not know that?”
                “He does, he’s just friends with Clapper so he’s covering for him. Notice how all his answers are I don’t know and he sounds very unsure of himself, non-committal and basically stupid.”

                Lokhova and the man speak some more.  Lokhova is kind of amused that after being rebuked, he kept going.  She already knows he had no chance but she feels she can get some free drinks out of him and so far the plan is working.  The TV has moved on to James Clapper talking on Meet the Press to Chuck Todd.  Todd asks, “If there was a FISA, would you know about?”

                “Yes, especially for something like this”

                “So can you confirm or deny that there was one on Trump campaign members.”

                “I can deny it”

                Lokhova turned to the man and says, “Now you got a choice.   Either you believe Comey in that he didn’t tell Clapper and that’s why he didn’t know or Clapper is wrong that he would know of such a thing.   Which is it, Mr. I believe everything a government official tells me?  Oh yea, Clapper says there was no FISA”
                ‘Well it’s public now.  You can read it, I read it.  It may be heavily redacted but if the question is does it exist, that’s not even debatable”

                “I know right?”

                The reporter says, “These two clips show that newly appointed Attorney General Bill Barr is wrong when he says this…” as it cuts to a clip of Bill Barr telling congress that the Trump campaign was spied on making the Democratic congressman fidget uneasily.  Barr continues that the question was if they had a good predicate reason for doing so.

                Lokhova said, “That’s true.”

                “Yea, what is wrong with the American politicians?  Can they be that stupid?”

                “Yes, they hate Trump so much, that they’re willing to say or do anything without thinking so long as it is against Trump.  Do you still believe in this secret confidential information that makes all these politicians not be the liars that they are?”

                “No, it’s quite obvious when you deny the existence of something that has been released to the public. There’s no turning back from that.  That thing released proves Carter Page that used to work for the Trump campaign was spied on so saying that Trump campaign members were spied on is not a controversial statement.  Though, they probably think what I did and focus that Carter Page wasn’t a member of the Trump campaign in October 2016.”

                “Yea, well, like you, they’re not aware that that is a completely irrelevant point.”

                “Well they didn’t have you to set them straight.”

                “Oh, I’m sure others figured that out and told them, they just didn’t want to listen.”

                The TV cut to local news of Julian Assange being arrested.  Lokhova said, “Oh, this is interesting.”

                The bartender says, “Why, he’s just a computer geek that leaks government information but he can’t do that anymore because he’s been caught so he’s been hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy with no access to the internet.  His hacking days are over.”

                “Exactly”             

                “What do you mean?”

                “What is he going to be indicted for?  He has adamantly denied it was the Russians that gave him Hillary’s e-mails.  What if it comes out that he didn’t hack the DNC?  Let alone he didn’t hack it for the Russians but he didn’t hack it at all?   Then the American media lied to their people about where Wikileaks got the e-mails from.  In the same month, they may find out that the Democrats and the media lied about Trump colluding with the Russians, lied that he obstructed justice and even lied about how the whole thing started with Assange hacking the DNC for the Russians.  What if every ounce of the story is false?”

                The guy said, “Like I said, you’re a conspiracy theorists”

                “I think I proved you wrong the first time you accused me of that.  Now, time will tell if I embarrass you again.”

                “Hopefully we’re still in contact then, can I get your number?”

                “Sorry but I have a boyfriend”

                That was the only time that Lokhova lied.  The guy walked away knowing he had been rejected and Lokhova watched TV some more.  Maxine Waters was interrogating bankers about the student loan crisis.  They all informed her that government took over student loans in 2010 and they had nothing to do with it.  Maxine Waters moved on to small businesses undeterred.  The bar tender said, “You’d think that the head of the congressional oversight of the financial sector would know that”

                “You know, if one of the socialists wins the presidency in 2020, America may fall as the greatest country.”

                “Shouldn’t really say that in London”

                “Fine, the most powerful and influential.”

                “I’ll take that.”

                Lokhova paid her tab which was not even close to the amount of drinks she had as the guy she was speaking to bought her some and the bartender gave her some on the house.  Although it was a perk of being attractive, it didn’t outweigh the constant harassment of going out in public.  She sometimes wished she could just be left alone to her own thoughts.  As she was walking, a gloved hand came over her mouth and she was dragged into a van.  She tried squirming and screaming but the man had her face down and straddling her butt holding the back of her neck down.  He was much bigger and stronger than her and her resistance was futile.  He kept hearing him say, “Calm down, nobody can hear you.  The more you struggle, the more painful this will be.”

                Lokhova stopped resisting and lied still.  The man said, “If I take my hand off your mouth, will you promise not to scream.”

                Lokhova nodded and the glove came off her mouth.  She said in a calm voice, “What do you want?  Please don’t hurt me.”

                “I need you to forget you ever heard of Stefan Halper.”

                “I already have, he was my professor two years ago.  I haven’t spoken to him since.”

                “Yes, but you’ve been very vocal to the press and the media about how he lies.  You need to stop talking publicly about that.”

                “You can’t silence me.”

                “Yes I can, and yes I will.   You know, the ancient Greeks used to sodomize their students to get them to listen to them.” With that the man took a knife and cut her pants along where her two butt cheeks met and pulled the two ends apart revealing her underwear. 

                Lokhova said, “No, please don’t, okay, I’ll be quiet, I will never talk about Halper.”

                The man pulled down her underwear and undid his pants and lowered them.  He said, “You should be in tune with Greek history.  You were pretty friendly with one named George Papadopoulos in 2016 at Cambridge.”

                “We were just talking, it was innocent.”

                Lokhova felt herself be penetrated vaginally from behind.  He said, “You don’t know Papadopoulos.  You don’t know Halper.  Cambridge never existed.  Do you understand?”

                Lokhova started crying.  She said, “Yes, George who? Stefan who?”

                “Just remember that I can get to you anywhere at any time.  As you can tell” as he stroked her hair and continued to thrust himself into her.  “we are working very closely with the Democrats.  We will get Barr impeached and the Democrats will take over in 2020.  If you continue to help the other side, you will see me again, and it will be much more painful than this.”

                “I swear, I won’t.  Please stop.”

                “Oh wait, I forgot, I said sodomize” as he pulled out and reinserted himself into her anus.”  Lokhova gasped in pain and soon she felt a cool sticky liquid explode into her rectum.  Despite the pain, she felt this was a good sign because it meant it was over.  The man pulled out and grabbed a spray bottle that he inserted into her anus squirting a liquid inside.  She didn’t know this, but it was ammonia, which would make it impossible to pick up and DNA from the semen.  Blood was trickling down her leg and on the van.  The man pulled her underwear up and opened the van door tossing Lokhova out unceremoniously.  She lay on the ground in intense pain as tears streamed down her cheeks. 

                It didn’t take long for someone to notice a woman with no pants lying on the ground.  It was a guy and he bent over and put his hand on her back sympathetically.  He said, “Are you okay?”

                He had an American accent.  Lokhova said, “No, help.”

                The guy called an ambulance and said, “Don’t worry, I called an ambulance.  You’ll be okay.  Lucky for you this is England and your care will be free.”

                Lokhova snickered but she didn’t have the strength to argue.  She just said, “Thank You”

                Lokhova was in dire need of affection.  She turned toward the man and wrapped her arms around him.  Whereas before he was on all fours, he repositioned himself to be sitting on the ground and Lokhova wrapped her arms around his neck and straddled him nuzzling her head in his chest.  The guy returned the hug and said, “Everything is going to be okay.”

                Lokhova said, “What’s your name?”

                “Steven, yours?”

                “Svetlana”

                “That’s a pretty name”

                Svetlana smiled.  The ambulance came and the paramedics brought Svetlana in the ambulance.  Steven said, “Alright, you’ll be okay.  Just let them help you.”

                Svetlana said, “Come” and then signaled with her arms for Steven to come with her.  He looked at the paramedics and they said he could. 

                Steven and Svetlana went to the hospital where they were led to a waiting room.  Steven sat with her and said, “That’s weird, normally if an ambulance brings you to the hospital, you see a doctor right away.”

                “In America yes, not in London.”

                After waiting a couple hours with Steven playing on his phone and Svetlana sleeping, an employee came over and said, “I’m sorry but we’re really busy today.  We’ll make an appointment and can you come back in a couple days?”

                Steven said, “A couple days!!! She’s been raped.  She needs care now.  She doesn’t have a couple days! What kind of hospital is this?”

                “Sir, calm down.  There’s just no doctor that can take care of her right now.”

                Steven looked at Svetlana who’s eyes were open and she gave a condescending smile.  Steven said, “Can I take you somewhere?  A family member?”

                “My family’s in Russia”

                “Alright, so should I take you home?”

                “You should take me where you’re comfortable to stay with me.  So my place or yours?”

                Steven’s eyes dated back and forth.  He didn’t know how to respond so he just said the truth “You just met me, why would you trust me?”

                “You saw a half naked girl on the ground and your instinct was to help her.  You didn’t graze your hand along my ass.  You didn’t touch any erogenous zones.  You were very respectful and you tried to get me help.  That, and you’re all I got kid.”

                Steven was 19-years-old and looked it.  He said, “Alright, let’s go back to my hotel and figure this out together.”

                Steven gave Svetlana the shirt off his back, which acted as a dress for her.  He put on his coat and walked out of the hospital with Svetlana’s arm around his neck helping her walk.  He got into a cab and told him the address to his hotel.  The cab driver turned around and saw that Svetlana was conscious so figured it was okay.  He drove them to the hotel and again Steven helped her to his room.  He lied her on the bed and his body started shaking.  He said, “I don’t know what to do.  I’m going to get some food, do you want some?”

                Svetlana said, “No, I’m okay.”

                Steven grabbed his passport and his computer bag with his computer in it and took it with him.  He had his money, his phone, computer and his passport so if she ended up stealing things from his room, at least he had the most important things.  He felt bad not trusting her when she trusted him but it was a very strange sequence of events for someone unfamiliar with government run healthcare.  He found a café with Wifi and called his mom.  His mom forwarded him to a doctor friend of hers.  The doctor told him to go buy rubbing alcohol and go back to the room and call him back.  Steven did so and went back to the room where he found Svetlana sleeping.  He called back and said, “Okay, I’m here.”

                “Alright, now you’re going to have to examine her.  Steven nudged Svetlana on the back and she woke up groggy.  He said, “I’m on the phone with a doctor.  Are you okay with being examined?  How do you feel?”

                “Like shit.  Yea, do what you need to do.” As Svelana rolled onto her stomach.

                Steven slowly and cautiously lifted his shirt that she was wearing so he could see the bottom half of her body.  The doctor said “Ma’ame, where were you penetrated?”

                “The ass and the pussy.”

                “From behind or the front vaginally?”

                “Behind”

                “Steven, pour the alcohol on your hands and then on her butt.”

                Steven did so and when he poured it on her butt, Svetlana screamed in pain.  Steven said, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

                The doctor said, “There’s no nice way to say this.  Spread her butt cheeks and put the phone near it so I can see.”

                Steven hesitated and Svetlana said, “You heard him.”

                Steven did it tenderly and cautiously and blood emulated from her anus as she cringed in pain.  The doctor frowned, “She needs to see a doctor.  She needs to be stitched up there’s significant tearing.”

                “The hospital said she had to wait a few days.  Should we make an appointment?”

                Svetlana said, “No, you need to go into my purse and pay for a flight to America”

                “I’m afraid she’s right Steven” the doctor said. “If she waits, it could get worse.”

                “How am I going to transport her?”

                “I’ll tell you what to get from the pharmacy and how to set her so the pain is minimal and she’ll be able to walk. “

                Steven followed directions and they got a flight out the next day which Svetlana paid for.  They got on the plane with Steven having a hand around her waist whenever he could to help her balance but make it look like they were a couple.  After take off, Svetlana leaned back and smiled.  Steven said, “So, what happened?”

                “I was attacked for saying things I shouldn’t have said.  We don’t have the same Freedom of Speech as you Americans.”

                “What did you say?”

                “Given what happened to me for saying it the first time, I’m not going to say it again.”

                “Right, sorry.”

                “It’s okay.  You’re young, you still believe in the good of the world.  Sorry, this is a reality check”

                “Well I’m a Democratic Socialist so we’re getting equality in America.  We’re going to be more like Europe, which will be good.  Tolerance is needed in America”

                “How much time have you spent in Europe?”

                “My family’s Greek so we go there a lot.”

                “London?”

                “This was my first time I’ve been anywhere in Europe besides Greece.”

                “And the Greeks, are they tolerant of all cultures like you say?”

                Steven thought about it, “No not really.”

                “Yea, well the rest of Europe is the same way.  Trust me, I live in Europe.  I’ve travelled extensively in Europe.  It’s not the utopia you think.”

                “Well, I still support Bernie Sanders.  I’m a Democratic socialist, we can make it even better”

                “You’re ideology has killed tens of millions of people.”

                “No, that’s totalitarianism”

                “You think it’s just a coincidence that all socialist countries turned totalitarian?”

                “They just had bad leaders.”

                “No, you just can’t force people to work.  You eventually run out of other people’s money and you have to force them to work by the edge of a gun.  You can’t be the head of a socialist country without being a totalitarian because without force, the invisible hand will bring about capitalism”

                “Yea well, insurance companies make healthcare so expensive that poor people can’t afford it.”

                “We’re on a five hour plane ride to America because I am in desperate need of immediate medical care that I couldn’t get in your precious Europe.  You don’t think that’s odd?”

                “That’s just a shitty hospital”

                “Do you think there isn’t another hospital in London within a day and five hours? Because that’s how long it took to get a last minute flight.  Not to mention that it costs a shitload of money.  I could have just saved that if I went somewhere else in England”

                “Do you know about Sander’s plan?”

                “Yes, I do.  It’s like England’s.”

                “Well if you don’t like it, you can keep the one you had”

                “Do you remember when Obama said that?  Millions of people lost their doctors the second ObamaCare went into effect and this is much much more extensive than ObamaCare.  You can’t keep your current Medicare.  In fact, he admitted that private insurance is legally banned.  He’s promoting the very thing we have in England that we are fleeing from to get real access to medical care.”

                “Well his plan is more efficient.  You don’t get caught up in administrative costs”

                “I know Americans aren’t too good at math but you do know fractions right?”

                “Yes, I’m an engineer.”

                “Oh okay, Mr. Engineer what happens if you have a number on top of a fraction and the bottom number gets bigger.”

                “The top number is called the numerator and the bottom is called the denominator, if the denominator gets bigger, the number gets smaller.”

                “Very good and the numerator”

                “If it gets bigger, the number gets bigger”

                “Okay, so in Sander’s plan, other government organizations like the IRS are paying the administrative costs.  That money is taken from you In the form of taxes.  So, the number got smaller right even though not really, it just got spread out.”

                “So it could be the same price just other people are paying it?”

                “No, you already paid for it.  If you missed the point about Sander’s medical plan than you think money grows on trees.  The government only makes money by taking it from their citizens in taxes.”

                “I know that.”

                “Fine, so the numerator is also smaller because socialized medicine is tax exempt but private care is not and they count the taxes as administrative costs.”

                “That doesn’t seem fair but it’s saving you money because now you don’t have to pay taxes because of your medical care.”

                “Didn’t we just establish that you already paid the tax? So no, they’re using your money they just already took it!”

                “Right, okay but we pay taxes”

                “You’re going to pay more.  He said that everyone will pay an additional 4% of their income in payroll tax to pay for it.  Then businesses will be taxes an additional 7%, which makes them that much less likely to hire more people because it costs more.  Then there’s all sorts of wealth taxes and taxing inheritance through death.  Right now it’s 40% over 11 Million now it’s going to be 45% over 3.1 million and they’re taxing the rich 70%”

                “Rich should pay more.”

                “They already pay pretty much all the American taxes.  They’re the ones that hire people, you want them to have more money.  They’re not going to be motivated to grow anymore.  And, you have to pay for it.  When they get charged more to do business and hire people, you are less likely to get a raise and the costs of the products they sell goes up because their costs went up.  This is true in every industry so you falsely made all prices rise and forced inflation.”

                “Back to your fractions.  Old people are sicker and need more expensive care.  So, the denominator, cost of care, gets higher, which means the number goes down.  Say if it’s $30 for administrative costs for someone that needs $100 in care.  The Administrative cost is 30% and that’s for a minor problem.  Now let’s say it’s $1,000 for an older person so it’s more expensive care, now it’s 3%.  So, under the current Medicare plan, the percentage should go down since you’re only dealing with older and sicker people.”

                “All you did was prove that comparing fractions is misleading because the administrative costs stayed constant.”

                “Yea, so we need to find another way to do this.  It seems misleading than to take administrative costs over cost of care.”

                “Okay but just remember what we’re doing.  There’s only two ways to distribute scarce resources, price like they do in America where we’re going because I need medical care desperately and rationing, which is what we’re fleeing because some government bureaucrat decided my condition isn’t serious enough for immediate care.  There’s a big problem in England that people are going blind because they can’t get cataract surgery because the government deems it of little need.  Yes, seeing is overrated according to the National Public Health administrators in England so people are going blind for a very easily treatable condition called cataracts.  You don’t have that problem in America because people pay for cataract surgeries and given how many doctors you have performing, the cost is lower.”

                “You could be an exception”

                “Trust me, I’m not.”

                “Yea but if it’s free more people go to the doctor so they get preventative medicine, which means they need fewer ER visits.”

                “Did we just not go to an ER and find the wait time was days?”

                “Yea but…”        

                “No, don’t give me that exception speech again.  God, I want to slap you right now but I don’t want to seem ungrateful.  I’m really thankful that you helped me out when you don’t know me.  So, in respect for that, feel free to believe Bernie”

                Steven pulled out his labtop and started typing keys.  He found an NPR piece about an Oregon study.  He said, “This is perfect.  People in Oregon had Medicare for all.  Since they couldn’t afford it for everyone, they made a lottery system where people randomly got to be in it.  Then they compared the people who didn’t get chosen vs. the chosen one.”

                “This already doesn’t seem fair.”

                “Of course it’s fair, it’s a random drawing.”

                “Yea, and it’s impossible to rig those.” Svetlana said sarcastically

                “Let’s just see what happened.”

                “You’re right, I’m sorry.”

                Steven started reading and the smug expression he once had was sagging to distress.  He said, “Well, according to this there was no difference in ER visits between the two groups.  It also says the people who were chosen went to the doctor more.”

                “So what you’re saying is…..” Svetlana felt bad so she didn’t finish but Steven did for her.

                “Everything I said was wrong.  Well, I was right about people going to the doctor more but if the ER visits stayed the same then it was more expensive.”

                Svetlana just nodded her head.  Steven spent the rest of the flight researching and said, “A good way to test this is to calculate administrative costs per patient.”  He typed incessantly on his computer and found a study of this for Bernie’s plan.  It costs over $100 more per patient administratively than it did with private care.  He closed his lab top and sighed.  Svetlana said, “Well, they say people should travel to get an education.  Look how much you learned going to London and helping a rape victim”

                They landed in New York and Svetlana went right to a hospital and they treated her internal tearing in her anus and vagina.  It wasn’t a long recovery time and Svetlana stayed with Steven a little longer before heading back to London.  She never spoke about Halper or the people she was introduced to at Cambridge ever again.  Steven was confused what to believe.  He still believed in Democratic Socialism but his London experience seemed to put a wrinkle in that.  In the end, he decided that Svetlana was just unlucky and it was an exception.