Sunday, August 25, 2019

Real Characters Episode 21 Overstock Over his head


                It is late 2015 and Donald Trump is leading the field to become the next Republican nominee for President of the United States.  This has the Obama White House nervous as Obama has been using the IRS and justice department as his own revenge brigade against people he doesn’t agree with.  He’s had the FBI and CIA hound Mike Flynn for about a year and half now because he opposed his Iran deal and now Donald Trump could ruin everything.  Mike Rogers of the NSA has discovered that the NSA database has been approved and 80% of all the queries are fraudulent.  With that avenue closed, the FBI and CIA scurry to find other ways to make sure that if Donald Trump becomes president, none of them are going to go to jail for their criminal activity. 
                FBI director Jim Comey has an idea.  He calls the CEO of Overstock.com Patrick Byrne.  To the casual observer, this may seem odd but millionaires and billionaires tend to know high ranking people in government.  It’s not as nefarious as one may think but rich people tend to make generous donations to campaigns hoping to have their businesses be left alone.  That is also why CEO’s tend to give money to both candidates to hedge their bets. This wouldn’t be the first time Byrne has helped the FBI as he was instrumental in exposing Wall Street corruption a couple years ago.  It was his work on the Wall Street case that makes Comey thing Byrne is up for the job.  Byrne answers the phone and Comey starts, “Patrick, it’s Jim.  I kind of need a favor.”
                “You know I don’t mind being of help if I can, what’s up?”
                “There’s a cute little redhead that has arrived in America.”
                “That doesn’t seem to be a problem so far.  Good looking Russians coming to America is normally a good thing so long as they’re not here as a result of human traffickers that tricked them into prostitution.”
                “Those days are over.  Now they usually just kidnap tourists.  It saves on transportation costs.”
                “Alright, so why do we care about this little redhead?”
                “Her name is Maria Butina. She is a Russian spy and I want you to get close to her and find out what she knows.”
                “You want me to seduce her?”
                “Yea”
                Patrick was a very wealthy man so it wasn’t difficult for him to seduce women.  There wasn’t anything really immoral about it as he was a single man.  At 57-years-old, it didn’t look like he was ever going to really settle down so courting attractive women would kind of be expected of him.  This offer, however, did bother him but when the FBI director asks you a favor, it’s best to try to help.  He responds, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do but you know I’ve lost my boyish good looks.”
                Comey smiled, “I think you could figure something out.  Unfortunately, I’m not done.”
                “Damn, this is a sophisticated operation.”
                “Yes, it is.  I’m counting on you to infiltrate some high level people.  It won’t look too suspicious given that you own such a large respectable company that most people know.”
                “Alright, so who am I infiltrating?”
                “I need information on Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.”
                “Looks like I’m going to have to be social.  Banging a cute redhead is one thing; that’s almost fun but now I have to get involved in the leading Republican candidate campaigns.  I make no promises but I will see what I can do.”
                “That’s all I can ask.”
                Jim lets Patrick know where Maria is going to be so that he can make the introduction.  Patrick goes to the event and approaches Maria and speaks with her.  They spend a lot of time together but Patrick feels too dirty to sleep with a woman just get information so he keeps it plutonic.  This, however, is not what he tells the three people that are supervising this.  As Patrick would find out, Comey was a low level manager in this.  The real brains behind this operation were three very important people in the Obama White House that we will refer to as Persons X,Y & Z.  After a prolonged courtship, Person X calls Patrick and asks, “Is there anything to report about Butina?  Have you found out what she’s doing in the United States?”
                “Well, there’s a lot of stuff about Hillary Clinton.  It seems like she’s been really busy with people in Russia.” Patrick lays out all the information he found.
                Person X responds, “Good work.  We may be able to use this later”
                “Are you planning on blackmailing Hillary Clinton?”
“With all due respect Patrick, I can’t tell you what we’re going to do with the information.  I hope you understand.”
“Certainly, of course, I was just curious.  It’s just the nature of the information makes it seem like good blackmail material.”
“I would agree. Now we have to see if this information falls into other’s hands.  Then we can determine who Maria is talking to.  Person Y has some questions for you now.”
Person Y gets on the phone and asks, “Have you found out anything about the Republicans; Cruz, Trump and Rubio?”
“No, she hasn’t mentioned anything about them.  I’m not quite sure if she’s affiliated with them at all.”
“What about the NRA angle that we told you about.  Did you try to press her on that?”
“I did but I didn’t find anything out that you didn’t already tell me.  She works for the NRA but there was nothing about laundering money through the NRA to support any of the Republicans campaigns.  She hasn’t told me about giving them any money that’s more than she could afford.  It’s possible she doesn’t trust me enough but I didn’t pick up on anything that would lead me to believe she’s lying.”
“When you say that it’s stuff I already told you, like what?”
“That she works closely with the NRA because she’s a gun-rights activist.  She has invited NRA members to come visit her in Russia but as far as them discussing campaign contributions, everything I’ve learned points to that didn’t happen.”
Months progress and Patrick becomes very suspicious about what the government is asking him to do.  Maria Butina is arrested for not disclosing to the US government that she has ties to the Russian government.  When Byrne finds out about this, he starts speaking to a close confidante of his.  He remarks, “I’m a little confused.  Why are these FARA (Foreign Agent Registration Act) violations such a big deal now?”
“Yea, I don’t know but it seems to be coming up a lot between Flynn, Butina and others.  It’s like if they want to take you down but can’t make anything stick they use a FARA violation.”
“It’s almost Xenophobia.”
                “Yea, funny they accuse Trump of that but they’re doing it.”
                “Sorry man, I know I’m coming to you for advice but there’s some shit I just can’t tell you.  I need to be vague but I also need to get things off my chest.”
                “You’re dealing with some really powerful people here so I’m okay being kept in the dark.  I got no problem with you being vague.”
                “Basically, they wanted me to get close to Cruz, Rubio and Trump to see if this Russian chic was infiltrating their campaign.”
                “Alright”
                “My question is if they think that, why don’t they warn the campaign?  I mean, what if they become successful?  We can’t let the Russians be infiltrated in the campaign of the President of the United States.”
                “Well, based on the list you gave me; Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Hillary, you’re pretty much guaranteed that one of them is going to be the next president of the United States.”
                “That’s what I mean.  Why tell me but not them?”
                “It seems fishy to me.”
                “Unless this is a grenade that they want to pull later.”
                “You’re not saying what I think you’re saying”
                “Like if they don’t like the winner, then they’ll just accuse them of Russian collusion.”
                “I think you’re overthinking this.  There’s no way the FBI and Obama’s White House would let Russians at the top level of government just to bring down someone they don’t like.”
                “Maybe I am.  I don’t know.  We got a while before the election.  Maybe they think that by then they can get rid of the Russian colluder.”
                “If you’re right about the grenade then they want the grenade regardless of who wins.  You said they wanted to blackmail Hillary with Butina too.”
                “Yes they do.”
                “Do you think that maybe they want to find out if the Russians have dirt on Hillary Clinton to protect her from it instead of blackmail her?  Maybe they want just want to find out what Russia knows about her.”
                “No, I’m pretty sure they want to blackmail her if she wins.”
                “Alright, just a thought.  You know more than I do.”
                They continue to spitball back and forth but then Patrick gets annoyed at how vague he has to be.  He hangs up the phone and decides to call Person Z.  Person Z picks up and gets right the point, “Do you have some information for me?”
                “No sir, I just have some questions.”
                “Alright, but keep in mind your security clearance is very low.”
                “I know that but it’s about what I’ve been allowed to know”
                “You can ask but I’m not guaranteeing an answer.”
                “I came to you guys with exculpatory evidence about the NRA laundering money to Trump.  It was a dead end.  Why is that investigation still open?”
                “You’re not the only person we have looking into it.”
                “Well then I must have done a shitty job with Maria because she didn’t talk about anyone else.”
                “You did what you could.”
                “Alright, I was just curious”
                “Thank you for all your help in this matter.”
                “You’re welcome sir.”
                Patrick hung up the phone and focused on his company.  Seven months later, the government would open Crossfire Hurricane and claim that there was nothing going on with Russian collusion before that date.  That is something that Patrick knows for sure is false since he was asked to find out about it.  The grenade still hadn’t gone off.  For the first time, Patrick started thinking that he was involved in a shady mission to undermine the president of the United States and have Barak Obama rule from out of the office.  He becomes disgusted with himself but he can’t tell anyone.  He decides he’s going to keep his mouth shut. 
                It is now 2019, although Persons X-Z are no longer in the White House, they continue to pull strings from the outside.  Person X is talking to Person Y.  The conversation is eerily similar to the ones they had four years ago.  How are they going to stop Donald Trump from winning re-election?  Person X opines, “Well, it’s clear that Russian collusion was a total failure.  He won the election and even though it was a burden to him during his presidency, he did get a lot done.”
                Person Y responds, “Yea, so what should we do now?”
                “I think we should turn the tides.  We should make the reason we lost last time be the reason he loses now.”
                “I’m not sure I follow.”
                “We need to put a message in the conservative community that Trump will win in a landslide.”
                “That way they stay home just like the four million Obama voters that stayed home in 2016 because they knew Hillary would win easily.”
                “Exactly”
                “Trump barely won Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.  Four million people combined with Republicans staying home will easily turn those four and probably other states.”
                “That’s what I’m saying.”
                “I like it.”
                “I wish we could go by the polls though but they were so wrong in 2016.”
                “I wouldn’t say they were wrong.  Most of the polls were national polls so when they say Hillary was going to win, they were right; Hillary won the popular vote.”
                “I was talking about the state polls”
                “The state polls have learned their lesson.  Unlikely voters came out and voted for Trump so rather than take the last five elections to see who’s a likely voter, they’re just going to take the list from 2016 and include them in the likely voter poll.  That will make the state polls more accurate in 2020.”
                “That’s a good point.”
                “I just can’t believe Trump has 94% approval rating with Republicans.  What happened to the Ann Coulter conservatives that turned against him?  Why do the evangelicals like him?  He’s as immoral as they come with objectifying women.”
                “Well, Trump leaves them alone while we harass, ridicule and try to silence them.  At least Trump lets them exist, we want to eliminate them from polite conversation.”

                While Persons X and Y are speaking, Person Z is making sure that the propaganda arm of the Democrat party AKA mainstream media has gotten the narrative right.  He calls Brian Stelter and Brian answers immediately, “Yes sir, what can I do for you?”
                “I need you to attack Spicer and Sanders for joining Fox.”
                “Why?  Former white house employees join the news agencies all the time.  We just hired McCabe.”
                “I need them ridiculed.  Attack them for being on Dancing with the Stars so they can’t be taken seriously.  Be like if you work for a liar like Trump, you couldn’t possible do news.”
                “Doesn’t that seem a little weird considering McCabe is currently under investigation for lying under oath and CNN hired him?”
                “Listen, your ratings are in the tank.  Conservative podcasts that cost a fraction of what your show does beats you in the ratings.  Just do what I tell you to do.”
                Stelter sheepishly responds, “Yes sir” but his blood is boiling inside. 
He hangs up the phone and then speaks with his producer.  He tries a different strategy and point out, “No press is bad press so if we attack Spicer and Sanders for joining Fox, then we’re giving Fox free publicity.  We don’t want to do that.”
The producer fires back, “Stelter, it is comical that you can talk about people’s career opportunities.  Do you really think you could work anywhere but CNN?  I mean the only reason we keep you around is precisely for what you just said; no press is bad press.  The entire media world likes making fun of you.  That negative press against you is free press for CNN.  Do you know how powerful Person Z is?  If he tells you to say something, you say it.  No matter how disingenuous or hypocritical it is.  I would urge you to go on TV and spout all the ridiculous things he tells you to bait the conservative community and Fox news to mock you incessantly.”
                Stelter lowers his head and pouts.  Those words stung but the reason why is because they were true.  His skin wasn’t thick enough to be the laughing stock but he really didn’t have any other career prospects.  He walked out of the office, took a shot of some strong liquor to take the edge off and went on the air and did exactly what he was told to do. 
                Person X has become heavily involved in the justice warrior cause lately.  He understands that if you control the language, you control the world.  This is how tyrannical regimes get to power and the last year has seen several words banned.  He calls the mayor of San Francisco and utters, “I need you to ban the word ‘felon.’
                “Why?”
                “Well, we’re making a push to let inmates vote so the best way to do that is to make a euphemism for criminals so that it’s easier to digest for the American people.”
                “What should we call them now?”
                “Justice involved.”
                “Okay, that does sound better but isn’t the whole point of going to jail for rehabilitation?  Isn’t rehabilitation easier if people actually feel shame for what they do?  In easing the language for the masses, don’t we run the risk of ensuring that criminals won’t feel bad for what they did and will do it again?”
                “We’re at war.  We need their votes.  At this point, we don’t care about how many crimes they commit we need to get Trump out of office and make sure that this never happens again.”
                “That seems dangerous to me but whatever it’s not a big ask.  I can do that for you.”
                “Thank You”
                While this is going on, Person Y calls Barack Obama.  He starts, “Mr. President, I need to talk to you about this $15 Million home you’re buying in Martha’s Vineyard.”
                “What about it?”
                “Don’t you think it makes you seem disingenuous that you spent eight years talking about distributing wealth and telling people that they don’t need assault rifles or millions of dollars and then you go buy a mansion on the water?”
                “I’m not president anymore.  I’m enjoying myself not having to deal with the stress of running the country.”
                “What about Climate Change?  Hard to argue you think Massachusetts will be under water in eight years when you invest so heavily on ocean front property. “
                “AOC has already ruined the climate change arguments.  Everyone else gets to be hypocrites why can’t I?  Besides, I have a good alibi.”
                “What’s that?”
                “Michelle’s bestselling book.  See, I’m not the one that made all the money as president so have the means to make a ‘fuck you; purchase.  My wife did and people love female empowerment.”
                “It is public information that you both had your incomes explode after you became President sir.”
                “Let me ask you a question that will make this perfectly clear.”
                “Okay”
                “What is the point of having ‘fuck you’ money when you never say ‘fuck you”?
                Person Y sighs.  “Just think about it Sir.  Take it under advisement that’s all I’m asking.”
                “I’m pretty sure I won’t change my mind but thanks for the advice”
                Person Y hung up the phone and buried his head in his hands.  This has been a really bad three years as he constantly keeps getting outmaneuvered by Trump.  At least Trump didn’t get the wall built and he hasn’t gotten any of his opponents in jail yet. 
                Person Z is also frustrated for he is battle weary after three years.  He turns on the TV and sees that Bernie Sanders says he plans on making wage boards to set wages and hours for people.  This is laughable to Person Z because Bernie doesn’t pay his own employees the minimum wage he advocated and cut their hours to make sure that he didn’t have to.  If someone can’t meet the minimum requirements in his own campaign, how is he going to do it for the entire country?  Person Z smiles and the next day he goes to a video conference with Persons X and Y.  As they all voice their frustrations with the last three years, Person Z remarks, “Well, at least we aren’t trying to provide cover for Bernie Sanders”
                All three of them laugh.  Fourteen months till the election.  A lot can happen. 


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