Nouno the Vigilante Episode 19 General Skepticism

                In the 90s, a man named Rudy Giuliani came to New York City.  At that time, the Italian mob ran New York and had the police force in their pockets.  Times Square was filled with prostitutes and degenerates and Greenwich Village was littered with crack pipes.  It seemed there was nothing that could turn New York around.  That is until Rudy Giuliani became mayor running as a law and order candidate.  Giuliani’s ‘broken window’ policy had two principles.  The first was that people are less likely to break a window of a building that has no broken windows as opposed to a building that has many broken windows.  His argument was if he painted over all the graffiti on a building and fixed the windows that people would be less likely to do it all over again.  Every Democrat in power before him thought this was a ridiculously stupid idea.  Saturday Night Live mocked him incessantly for his foolishness thinking the gangs would just do it again and it was a waste of money.  The second tenant is that all crimes get prosecuted from turn style jumpers, to personal fireworks display all the way to rape and murder and everything in between.  Prior to this, police commissioners would berate cops that brought in someone on a drug possession charge.  The logic was for every lower level crime an officer prosecuted was one less officer looking for the serious offender.  Giuliani hypothesized that people never start at the big crimes; they always start with lower crimes and work their way up.  Prosecuting all crimes means you stop the murderer and the rapist before he rapes and murders since you nipped it in the bud when he was just jumping turn styles. 

                History would prove Giuliani right on both accounts as the crime in New York plummeted.  He put it on pace to become the safest big city in the United States.  Times Square built hotels and became a huge tourist attractive that every visitor must visit before leaving.  Students at NYU in Greenwich Village could go their entire college career without seeing one crack pipe on the ground.  The mob was a distant memory and carried no power among the cops or anywhere in New York.  Many were very grateful for this.  One of them was a man named Nouno.  Nouno grew up in Cleveland, Ohio to parents that fled New York when it became the cesspool of corruption and crime in the late 70s.  When he wanted to go to NYU, his father told him horror stories of what the real New York was like.  After four years, his father was shocked to find out that the New York his son knew had no resemblance to the New York he knew.  A Republican, Mike Bloomberg, succeeded Giuliani and kept the crime down.  After Bloomberg, the Republican reign was over as De Blasio won mayor of New York.  In just over one term, New York had declined again and Nouno was beginning to see what his parents were talking about.  This is why he fled New York just like they did.  Instead of Cleveland, however, he moved to Arizona where he lived with his wife Abby. 

                Originally, Nouno organized a group of Minute Men to stop invaders into the country by lethal force.  When Trump became president and there was pressure to build a wall and people flocked to the border, Nouno was nervous that he and his fellow Minute Men would be caught so he transitioned to being a vigilante for people the justice system ignored for political correct reasons.  Abby was nine years younger than Nouno and was very proficient with social media and hacking.  She would do the research and choose the victims since Nouno had much less faith in people than Abby did. 

                While relaxing at home, Abby looks up and declares, “We got a case.”

                “Where are we going?”

                “LA”

                “Figures”

                “Yea, this screams you”

                “How so?”

                “Well, it’s a 30-year-old Mexican illegal alien.”

                “Well, 80% of illegal immigrants are Mexican so I’m not sure where the surprise is.  It’s in a sanctuary city.  Yea, the generalness of this is pretty strong.”

                “That’s my point, he was arrested for drug possession and ICE wanted to deport him but the sanctuary city being what it was, they protected him and thwarted ICE from deporting him”

                “Well, you’re not going to choose a case based on drug possession.  Something tells me my man Giuliani’s broken windows theory is going to get some evidence.”

                “Yup, a month after ICE was denied, he killed someone.”

                “One day, I’d like to live in a world where that surprises nobody.”

                Abby and Nouno booked a flight and headed towards Los Angeles.  While on the plane, Abby asked Nouno, “I know what we do gives us a low opinion of the world but I wonder if you’re overreacting to liberals.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “I mean, you act like you’re at war with liberals.  Remember, we only go after murderers and rapists.”

                “I know who we go after but I am at war with liberals but it’s not a war we started; they did.  They want to exterminate us.”

                “Oh come on.  I know you point out that liberals use NAZI and Fascist tactics but they’re not setting up concentration camps.  That talk needs to be eliminated on both sides.”

                “Are you on the WIFI?”

                “Of course, I’m always on WIFI”

                “Go to MSNBC because they are the most liberals.  I give it five minutes before I get proven right.”

                “You think MSNBC is worse than CNN?”

                “Yes”

                “Alright, fine.  You’re on.”

                Abby turns on MSNBC and puts a timer for five minutes.  She offers Nouno one of her ear phones so they can both listen.  He plugs it in his ear and stares at the screen.  Abby smiles at Nouno and states, “Oh, it’s Jennifer Rubin. She’s their token conservative; you’re in trouble.”

                “Don’t be ridiculous.  Fake news doesn’t employ anyone right of center let alone conservatives.  She just labels herself one so they can pretend to be bipartisan.  I still like my chances.”

                Rubin exclaims, “Not only does Trump need to lose but all his enables need to lose and lose bad.  Republicans need to be burned to the ground.”

                The entire panel nods and congratulates her on her bravery and agree wholeheartedly with her words.  Abby stops smiling and looks down and sighs.  Rubin goes on to talk about conservatives needing to take accountability for all the lies that Trump tells.  Nouno calmly proclaims, “You know, every single person on this panel perpetuated the Russian collusion hoax.  They fell for the biggest hoax in American history and they want to lecture us on accountability.  Fucking hypocrites.” Abby closes the screen and goes back to her social media.  Nouno castigates her, “no no no, I get to rant now because I was proven right.”

                “Fine go.”

                “We are in a war and thank God that conservatives realize it too.  That’s why NY times reporters are complaining because conservatives are going into their social media feeds and using old articles and posts against them.  They are exposing them for their bigoted ways and the Times is complaining that we are using media matters tactics against them.”

                “Well if you condemn Media Matters for holding someone accountable for something they said when they were 15, why don’t you condemn conservatives for doing the same thing?”

                “Because if they don’t play by the rules then we shouldn’t either.  We need to get in the gutter with these libelous, scandalous, treacherous liberals and fight dirty.  The problem is, we never go as low as they do.  Like we’re not going to dress in masks and vandalize, rape and attack people for not agreeing with us.  I think that may be our downfall.  There’s no limits to their depravity.  Ww will use dirty tactics but we are so big on not violating their basic rights.”

                “That’s so noble of you” Abby remarked sarcastically. 

                Abby and Nouno land in Los Angeles.  Nouno thinks to use the same crematorium they have used before but Abby refuses.  One tenant to getting away with a repeat crime is to not repeat the same locations.  As they check into the hotel, Nouno prepares it by sound proofing it and covering it in plastic so that the clean up is easier.  As he does that, Abby is hacking into the Mexicans social media to see what his tendencies are.  She notices a pattern and they strategize.  As it is late, Nouno and Abby go to the hotel bar and get a drink.  While there, a white man is overheard talking about Patrick Byrne.  Patrick Byrne just recently resigned as CEO of Overstock.com and came out exposing the FBI for using him as a confidential informant to spy on a Russian national named Maria Butina.  Byrne was asked to infiltrate the campaigns of Rubio, Trump and Cruz in December 2015 and report back.  Butina would end up being charged with not properly registering herself as a foreigner in America with ties to the Russian government.  This is much less than the crime Byrne was asked to find out about to see if she was laundering money through the NRA to Republicans.  The white man articulates, “I mean he just completely blew the whistle on the FBI that they used him for their attempt to take down Trump.”

                “Well, if he’s not lying who cares?” another white guy he’s with says

                “It’s just pointless.  What is he hoping to accomplish?  So, the FBI used him.  The collusion was proven false.  Trump was cleared so just move on.  Let the country heal.”

                Nouno turned to him and Abby rolled her eyes because she knew what was coming next.  He offered, “Oh, it’s a little more relevant than you think”

                “How so?”

                “Maria Butina’s lawyers asked the government if they used any confidential informants.  It’s called Brady material.  By law, the government has to turn over all the information they got from confidential informants especially the information that may be exculpatory.”

                “Alright, so what?”

                “Well, Byrne just admitted that he was an informant they used against Butina so when the government told the lawyers, in writing under oath, that they didn’t have any informants contact Butina.”

                “Oh, shit so the government lied and didn’t turn over the material they were required to by law.”

                “It gets worse.  Butina had a feeling Byrne was an informant so the lawyers specifically asked them if Byrne was an informant and the government categorically denied it.  Somebody’s lying and you got to ask yourself, who has more reason to lie?”

                The two white people looked at each other and back at Nouno who stared back daring them to respond.  The original speaker responds, “Why don’t they just say that then?  I mean, now it makes sense.  It seems like they’re not wasting our time now.”

                Nouno merely nods his head in agreement.  He turns back to Abby who is giving him a dirty look.  He smiles guiltily at her but also unapologetically.  They go back to their room and get some sleep.  The next day, Abby goes to Rodeo drive to look at the high end clothes that she won’t be buying.  As night falls, Abby and Nouno go to where the Mexican said he’d be that night.  Nouno watches his smug expression as the authorities in Los Angeles literally let him get away with murder so as not to disturb their narrative that illegal immigrants never commit crimes.  Abstractly, this annoys Nouno but this particular person it doesn’t because his guard is down.  Nouno follows him out of the establishment and addresses him in Spanish asking for directions.  The Mexican turns to him and snaps back to use the GPS on his phone.  Nouno drives a syringe into his neck and catches him as he collapses in his arms.  Abby drives up in the rental car and Nouno loads him in.  They drive to the motel and secure the Mexican onto the bed that is covered in plastic.  When the Mexican wakes up, he’s disoriented.  Nouno speaks to him in Spanish and explains, “I know you’re confused but you’re here because you killed a person and the cops and justice system of California won’t let ICE deport you back to Mexico so we’re going to deport you from planet Earth.”

                The Mexican responds in English, “I speak English and your Spanish screams ‘gringo;”

                “Well, I’m Greek so I’m not surprised I have an accent in Spanish” Nouno rejoins in English. 

                “You’re fighting a losing battle.  The courts are destroying your country.  Look at Oklahoma, there was just a ruling blaming Johnson and Johnson for pain killer junkies.”

                “I heard, $ 572 Million payout.”

                “You have rulings like that and you’re surprised I get off?”

                “No, not surprised.  I agree that public nuisance rulings are shady.”

                “Yea, blaming the drugs for the junkies.  God, I love this country. You don’t believe in personal responsibility.  No matter how bad what someone does is, it’s never their fault.  Beautiful thing.”

                “Especially when you consider that these are government regulated and approved drugs.  They’re not over the counter. They need to be prescribed by doctors and still they blame the drug companies.  What about the government for approving them?”

                Abby blurted out, “That’s what you respond?  How about this; that’s why we’re here to blame him for his actions?  It’s his fault that he killed someone and we make him pay for it.”

                Nouno nods, “She’s got a point.”

                “I’m nothing.  The government will never take responsibility for anything they do.  Democrats will never be charged with anything.  The Democrats and liberals are above the law in this country.”

                Nouno’s eyes raised, “I can’t say I disagree with you.”

                “I mean look at Andy McCabe”

                “Former Deputy Director of the FBI now he works for CNN but he is being investigated for lying.”

                “They got a lot of evidence too.”

                “I know the inspection division, which is like the internal affairs for the FBI, said that he lacked candor when McCabe claimed he didn’t authorize the Wall Street Journal leak on May 9, 2017.”

                “That’s what I don’t get, he was the deputy director of the FBI, he knows he doesn’t have to talk to them.  Why does he even bother lying to them?  They’re going to find out.  Just refuse to say anything.”           

                “What do you mean the FBI is going to find out?  He admitted it on November 28, 2017.  McCabe said he did authorize the leak but it was said in passing at the end of the meeting so it doesn’t count.”

                “All of that was under oath so boom perjury.”

                “And how does that not count?”

                “You can say that shit when you’re a Democrat”

                “The worst part is, between those two times, May – November, McCabe was covering his tracks by calling his field office in Washington and New York and bitching them out for leaking it.”

                “Yea, blaming your subordinates for shit you’re guilty of.  Absolutely despicable.”

                “That’s not even his only lie.”

                “Of course not.  You don’t just lie once.  Once a liar, you’re a serial liar.”

                “He told Rubio that there was no effort to impede the investigation into Russian meddling by President Trump and then he filed obstruction charges against the President.”

                “He also said that the original FISA wouldn’t have existed without the dossier.”

                “Yea, but that’s true.”

                “That may be true but the way they got the Carter Page FISA wasn’t”

                “You mean how after they were denied the FISA request, all of a sudden more memos from Steele’s dossier came out talking about Carter Page accepting a bribe from Rosatom?”

                “Yea, they just made it up so they could get the FISA.  They never provided any evidence for that except the dossier.  Remember, to get a FISA, you have to be acting on behalf of a foreign government and it has to be in violation of US law.”

                “Yea, the first FISA they forgot the second part.  How is it you know so much about our justice system?”

                “You have to know the system in order to figure out how to manipulate and work it.”

                “Fair point”

                “I got to say most Americans aren’t too knowledgeable because they have no bullshit meter for the shit they hear on TV, the movies and the news.”

                “Oh, I’m actually woke.”

                “Yea, you’re a cool dude.  You probably also know that despite all this evidence, McCabe will not be indicted.  It’s a losing battle.  Might as well just stop fighting and we should get a tequila together instead.”

                “Why would I do that?”

                “Come on man, you can’t tell me you haven’t enjoyed this conversation.”

                “Oh, I did”

                “So, just let me go and we can be friends.”

                Nouno laughed, “Oh, you think because you prove to know how are system works and you admit that you work and manipulate it to your advantage that that’s going to stop me from doing this” as he slammed his knife into the Mexican’s chest killing him instantly. 

                As Abby and Nouno wrap the Mexican and bring him to the car, Abby constantly gives Nouno a perplexed look.  Nouno finally inquires, “What?”

                “Why do you always talk to them before you kill them?”

                “I don’t know.  It’s fun to hear what they have to say.  They are pretty chatty.”

                “Yea, because they’re trying to save their lives.”

                “Well, I don’t care about the reasons, I just enjoy the discussion.”

                “And it doesn’t make you feel guilty for killing them afterwards?”

                “Hey, have I ever not carried through?”

                “No, it’s just weird.”      

                “I never claimed to be normal”

                Abby and Nouno arrive at the crematorium and they break in.  They run the machine and load the Mexican into it.  Abby turns to Nouno and poses, “So, that sounds like pretty grimy shit that McCabe did.  I know you always complain about Comey and Brenanan.  Who do you think is the worst?”

                Nouno’s eyes dart up as he contemplates this question.  He pauses and then answers, “Well, the David Archie declarations have revealed a lot about Comey’s memos.”

                “What are those?”

                “Someone urging the government not to release Comey’s memo.  He says they have incriminating evidence about foreign governments and their role in spying on American citizens.  He says exposing it will hurt our relationship with other countries because we publicly exposed their malfeasance.”

                “So what?  If they are guilty, they should be exposed.  Stops them from doing it again.”

                “Oh, you know I agree.  The funny thing is, the Democrats claimed that there weren’t too many memos but to hear Archie tell it, Jim Comey may have documented the entire conspiracy of using foreign counterparts to circumnavigate US law by spying on American citizens.  Seems they’re a lot more informative than the Democrats will have you believe.”

                Nouno and Abby talk for a while longer until it’s time to dispose of the bones as they don’t burn.  They then return to their motel and clean the room to leave it just as they found it. The next day, they take a flight back to Arizona.  On the plane, Abby ribs Nouno with, “Looks like Trump has a primary opponent”

                “Who’s that?”

                “Joe Walsh”

                “Who’s he?”

                “He was a congressman in Illinois.”

                Abby used to live in Chicago, which is probably the only reason she knew that.  Nouno shrugged his shoulders, “Alright, well he’s got no name recognition so I doubt he can really compete with Trump.”

                “He has a conservative radio show.”

                “So, he’s a conservative and I don’t know who he is?”

                “I guess” she responded shyly

                “Yea, I’m not too worried.”

                “Well, it turns out he doesn’t have a radio show anymore.”

                “Well that makes sense”

                “Why?”

                “Well, if you’re running for president, you can’t have a radio show because of equal time laws”

                “What are those?”

                “If you’re a radio station and you give a candidate air time, you have to give equal time to the opponent.  There are exceptions like if you bring them on for an opinion or something but having a candidate actually having his own radio show. Opponents would be coming out of the woodwork just to get their equal time.”

                “His show is three hours”

                “Yea, that would be a disaster for the radio station.”

                Abby sighs as she keeps watching the interview.  She bursts out, “Oh God”

                “What?  Are you finding out how retarded this guy is?  Did he realize that Trump’s approval rating among Republicans is between 84 and 94% depending on which poll you’re looking at?  Chances are your viewers aren’t too happy with you.”

                “Yea, he just said that.  He gave a number, 80-90% of listeners support the President.”

                “There you go”

                “The worst part is, he actually seems surprised that the radio station dropped him.”

                “Yea, he’s a real winner.” Nouno exclaimed sarcastically. 

                “Fine, I agree, you don’t really have anything to worry about.”

                When Nouno and Abby got back to Arizona, Nouno receives a call from his cousin.  He answers and exchanged pleasantries and then he gets to the point.  Nouno’s cousin is a data analytics genius that has a CPA but doesn’t use it.  Instead, he programs and arranges online tournaments for E-sports and designing online courses to teach accountants data analytics.  He asks, “Remember when you took me to a casino and you was perplexed that I was really heated about you telling me to give the pit boss my license to get a player’s card?”

                Nouno did remember that.  ‘Heated’ is an understatement.  His cousin was so mad that he almost went home and ended a weekend trip after a couple hours.  He merely replied, “Yes, I remember.”

                “Well, now Silicon Valley is building a social credit system.”

                “Like China?”

                “Yup, I mean not as sophisticated.  China has 200 Million cameras that monitor people with facial recognition and gait recognition so even if you keep your face hidden, they still know who you are.  They post all the shady things you do on the internet and sometimes ban you from leaving the country based on your behavior in public.”

                “Yea, China is a police state.”

                “Well, it’s coming here.  Insurance companies are going through social media and charging people premiums based on what they find.  There’s Patron scans that if you misbehave in a bar, they send your picture to all bars so that you are blacklisted from all the bars.”

                “Yea, and insurance companies give you things to plug in your car so they can spy on your driving habits.”

                “Those are optional.  These won’t be.”

                “Yea, I see your point.  This is like big brother.”

                “It’s exactly like big brother.  You’re publicly shamed for everything you’re doing.  Silicon Valley is becoming the new Big Brother.”

                “As alarming as it is, it’s better from a corporation than a government.  Government has the power to force you to pay fines and ban you from travelling.  Corporations don’t have that power so it sucks but not as bad.”

                “I’m just saying be careful.”

                “Of course I know to be careful.  I’m married to a woman that finds out everything she needs to stalk people and meet up with them using social media.  I realize now that you were right.”

                “Alright, I just wanted to gloat a little bit and warn you.”

                “I appreciate it.  You were right.  You happy now?”

                “Yes I am.”

                Nouno hung up the phone and decompressed.  Nouno was pessimistic about the future.  He knew that if McCabe and Comey aren’t indicted, it would just confirm what he talked about with the Mexican; that Democrats really are above the law.