Fanis the bodyguard episode 21 Carribean Time Machine

                Kera and her cousin Fanis are hanging out in their flat in London.  Kera is an international Chinese art dealer despite the fact that her and Fanis are both Greek-Americans.  Despite her heritage by blood, Kera was always fascinated by Chinese history and culture, which caused her to go to Beijing for a year to learn Mandarin.  She was now fluent and conducting business on her own.  Since her job required her to travel around the world and most places don’t have the same respect for women as America, Kera hired Fanis as her bodyguard. 

                Currently, they are sitting on their couch watching Corey Lewandowski give congressional testimony about his meetings with President Donald Trump.  Fanis follows politics moreso than Kera so Kera asks, “What’s this about?”

                “They’re still holding on to their obstruction case.  Apparently President Trump gave Lewandowski a memo to deliver to, then, Attorney General Sessions to limit the scope of the Mueller probe.”

                “That’s obstruction?  They couldn’t just ignore the memo?”

                “You can even take it a step forward.  The DOJ and the special counsel are under the jurisdiction of the executive branch.  The executive branch is headed by the president.  He’s legally allowed to tell the special counsel they can’t investigate at all.”

                “There’s a thing called checks and balances and separation of powers”

                “Yes, there is.  Which is why congress, or the legislative branch, has impeachment power.  Still doesn’t mean the president can’t tell his subordinates to limit the scope of their investigation.”

                “Well congress is asking him what he did with the Mueller probe to see if they want to impeach”

                “Yes, because Mueller really wasn’t able to investigate” Theo snapped back facetiously

                “No, he was but I don’t think it’s completely ridiculous that congress is asking him.  What they’re alleging is obstruction is kind of ridiculous though”

                “I’ll take that but it doesn’t change the fact that what they allege Trump did was perfectly legal.”

                “Who called this?”

                “Who else? Nadler”

                “Why though?  Pelosi, Schumer and various Democrats are all against impeachment.  It’s only like a handful of the far leftist congressmen”

                “He’s worried he’s going to be primaried by someone even further left than he is in New York.  It’s just a show.  Even the ‘impeachment’ proceeding isn’t really that.  It’s a vote on whether or not they should meet to see if they should ask the question on whether or not to impeach”

                “Wow this is monumental” Kera opined with heavy sarcasm

                As they watch, Republican Congressman Doug Collins objects to Nadler going over the time limit.  Nadler tries to show power by saying he’s allowing himself to go over.  Collins challenges his power to do so.  They take a vote and it seems close so Nadler calls a roll call.  As he does this, however, the clerk who is in charge of roll calls is nowhere to be found.  They halt the proceedings until they can find him.  Kera and Fanis started cracking up.  Finally Kera states, “This is a circus! I mean is this really what our government has been reduced to?”

                “Government has always been inefficient and ridiculous.  They just expose themselves more now.”

                “What happened to you Republicans taking the high road and being above this pettiness”

                “When Obama and Clinton weaponized the intelligence community and IRS to illegally spy on and entrap their political opponents culminating in the undermining of a duly elected President of the United States, we decided the high road wasn’t working and we’d use your libelous scandalous, treacherous leftist tactics against you.”

                “Ah, well what happened to respecting each other and civil discourse?”

                “You guys destroyed civil discourse a long time ago.  Actually, I don’t think you ever had it.  We don’t owe the liberals anything.  We don’t owe them respect.  Respect is earned so good for Lewandowski for making this a charade”

                “So you admit it’s a charade”

                “I don’t think that can be denied at this point.  Every time they ask him a question, he tells them to give him a copy what they are reading and count the paragraphs to refer to it.  It takes the whole time just for him to find where they’re reading from.”

                “Well, they try to stop the time when he does that”

                “And how has that worked out for them?”

                “Not so well”

                As if Lewandowski could hear them, he has decided to say something other than trying to find a document they are reading from.  He doesn’t directly answer a question but he addresses the spirit of why he’s there.  After remarking how he has received thousands of e-mails from the President, he declares, “Unlike Hillary Clinton, I didn’t delete the thousands of e-mails I got from the president, I still have them.”

                Kera giggles and Fanis bursts out laughing.  Kera decries, “I feel like I’m watching Mad TV”

                “Mad TV didn’t last too long, go with the much longer running Saturday Night Live”

                “Whatever, it seems like that right?”

                “Yes, except it’s funnier because it’s real”

                They watch the hearings for entertainment purposes only as they know they will not learn anything.  At the end, Kera articulates, “In the morning we head out”

                “Let me guess, the Caribbean?”

                “Yea, this time Cuba”

                “Oh good, you can see how the country you want is like”

                “Ha ha very funny” she responded in a mocked tone

                On the way to Cuba, Kera and Fanis are on the plane.  Fanis is watching movies and Kera is preparing for her meeting.  Finally, she decides she needs a break.  She signals to Fanis to pause the movie.  He does and she utters, “What do you think about Beto’s gun buyback program?”

                “It’s not a buy back.  Almost all people didn’t buy their guns from the government therefore there is no buying back because that implies the government owned it in the first place.  That’s what you socialists fail to understand, the government doesn’t own everything”

                “When you think of eminent Domain, they might”

                “No, you can challenge that.  You still have to agree.  That’s why they normally have to overpay to get you out.  You, however, can still refuse them because it’s not theirs”

                “What do you want to call it then?”

                “It’s a gun confiscation, nothing more, nothing less”

                “What do you think of the gun confiscation then?”

                “Obviously I’m vehemently against it.  I keep guns in London where it’s illegal and I wouldn’t give them up for anything”

                “Nor would I want you to considering my safety depends on your having guns”

                “Exactly”

                “Beto says that he would fine people who don’t comply”

                “It won’t be enforced.  There will be mass anarchy since most gun owners won’t voluntarily give up their guns.  They mean it when they say, ‘you can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands’”

                “Rednecks unite”

                “Damn right! To further my point, it isn’t a gun buyback, the guns aren’t for sale”

                “Well it worked in Australia?”

                “No it didn’t.  Australia proves my point”

                “That’s not what Beto says”

                “Patrick O’Rourke is a liar.  I mean, he pretends to be Hispanic when he’s Irish.  What more do you need to know?”

                “Well, I guess people will have to pay for their guns twice; the time they purchased them and then the fine when Beto punishes them.”

                “There are 10s of millions of AR platforms across the country.  You really think they’re going to go door to door?”

                “Well, they have registries”

                “Not everyone registers them.  It’s not required by law. That’s one of the things the Democrats are fighting for.”

                “Don’t you think it’s a problem that we don’t know who has the guns?”

                “No, they needed to pass a background check when they bought it.  That’s all we need to know”

                “I’m sure during the background check, they recorded their names.  Big data has a way of knowing”

                “Then why fight for it?”

                “To legalize shit they’re already doing.  Let’s get back to Australia.  How did it not work?”

                “Mass shootings didn’t take a massive decline because of gun confiscation because most of the guns used in Australian mass shootings were hand guns.  Hand guns weren’t part of the gun confiscation.  They went after guns not used in mass shootings.  So, if mass shootings went down, it stands to reason, it wasn’t because they took away other guns they weren’t using in the first place”

                “Well, it destroys your argument that the unknowingness of if someone has a gun leads to less violence.  Guns were confiscated and gun violence went down.  Less guns, less crime”

                “Wrong again.  People were scared shitless that they were doing this so they bought up guns before the confiscation went into effect.  After it went into effect, they bought it on the black market.  There were more guns after the confiscation than before so my point still stands.  You’re point is destroyed”

                Kera looked it up and found that gun ownership went up approximately 50% after the gun buyback was put into effect.  She exclaimed, “Well, gun violence did go down”

                “Yes, it did cut in half after the massacre.  It also was almost nonexistent the 20 years prior to the incident.  Gun violence also fell in America.  It actually fell more in America than it did in Australia.  In 2016, the American Medical Association studied the before and after and found no evidence of statistically significant effect of gun control on the pre-existing decrease of gun violence.”

                “Look, I’m just saying crime went down”

                “The way science works is to compare your test group to a control group.  In this case, compare Australia after gun confiscation to a country that didn’t confiscate guns.  If there’s no difference, than it hurts your theory.  Obviously a lot of variables go into this.  If we compare America, America’s gun violence fell faster than Australia so that would say the gun confiscation slowed the decline of gun violence since the rest of the world saw steeper declines”

                “Like you said, a lot of variables go into crime”

                “You’d be surprised.  It’s like father absence, police tactics and abortion frequency.  That’s pretty much it.”

                “You didn’t say guns”

                “Because everyone has guns in the developed world”

                “I’m just saying Australia’s gun violence went down”

                “Data is meaningless if you aren’t comparing it to anything.”

                “Fine”

                Fanis went back to his movie and Kera started preparing for her meeting memorizing all she could about the item she was selling.  They land in Havana and go to the hotel.  They are staying at the Hotel Nacionale, which was featured in Godfather II.  Kera doesn’t know that but Fanis gets really excited about it.  They get into a cab surprised to find a 1950s classic convertible is their cab.  They ride in the back taking pictures of it and the cab driver took a picture of them in the car before letting them out at their request.  The Hotel Nacionale has an ornate lobby and a chandelier with a back way with cushioned chairs and tables.  The swimming pool is nothing to write home about but it’s right on the water with a nice view as it’s on top of a large hill.  The hotel came with a cigar and Kera and Fanis go outside to the outdoor café to smoke the cigar and drink mojitos as is the Cuban way. 

                The next day, they go to the meeting and Fanis waits outside the door while Kera conducts her business.  He has an ear piece in so he can hear her in case she’s in trouble.  The sale goes off without a hitch.  The meeting is in the old town of Havana, which is not where the mob hotels are.  Kera decides she wants to walk along the water.  They are surprised to look across the harbor and see a large statue of Jesus.  Fanis asks, “How did the communists let that happen?”

                Almost on cue, a guy walks up to him and explains that as Jesus has three fingers extending on one hand and the other is open near his hip, they argued that he was holding a mojito in the hand by his hip and a cigar in the other hand with the fingers extended.”

                “The communists believed that?” Fanis asks incredulously

                “Yes, they did”

                “I think it’s pretty obvious that Jesus is blessing the old city”

                “Well, you are a Christian so you can tell these things.  They cannot.  What do you do?”

                “I’m her bodyguard”

                “Oh, I used to be a bodyguard”

                Kera declares, “I trade in Chinese artifacts”

                “I also used to sell antiques.  I worked for a collector and tried to sell to people without the government finding out since a lot of it was contraband.  Hey, do you guys have a newspaper?  We don’t have access to outside news?”

                Kera looked at him strangely and responded, “No, I just read the newspaper on my phone now”

                The man seemed disappointed.  Fanis couldn’t help but think that he had walked into a time machine with the cars from the 1950s and people seeming to be confused that people don’t actually read newspapers anymore.  The man talked to them for about 10 minutes following them as they walked.  He never asked for money but just wanted to have a conversation.  When he finally left, Kera and Fanis glared at each other.  Fanis pronounced, “Wow, these beggars are aggressive here.  I mean, to actually pursue us for 10 minutes”

                “He didn’t ask for money though”

                Fanis looked confused, “You’re right”

                This went on and Fanis and Kera noticed a pattern so they started lying about what they did just to see if the person would claim that they once had that job too.  Sure enough, they claimed to have every job that one could think of.  Fanis couldn’t tell if they were lying or if this was just how communism was where they moved people around to various industries since they denied that anyone was an expert in anything so experience didn’t matter for your position.  The government merely assigned it.  Eventually, Kera got tired of the constant harassment so they got a cab back to the hotel. 

                The next day, Kera and Fanis elected to take a guided tour of the city.  The tour guide tells them not to order seafood in Cuba as the communists didn’t let them prepare it so they’re not used to it since they only recently started cooking seafood.  Instead, they were told to order Ropa VIeja as that is their staple dish.  Fanis tried it but it wasn’t too good.  The mojitos were good but it’s not a drink Fanis normally drank.  One person on the tour asked, “Where did Fidel Castro live?”
               

“Nobody knows.  It was a widely kept secret.  Raul Castro is now in charge now and he lives where Fidel did but nobody knows where that is still.”

                When the tour guide spouts off about how Cuba has free college, Fanis can’t help himself.  He asks, “When you graduate from college, do you get a higher paying jobs?”

                Even though Fanis knew how economics works and that Scandinavia sees no increase in income for going to college, he had no idea how much worse it was in communist Cuba.  The tour guide responds, “Well, we just started having private jobs and we don’t really like it.  When we worked for the communists, we didn’t have to pay taxes but now, in the private sector, we do.  To answer your question though, I think the fishermen on the side of the road who sell fish on the black market make more than college graduates.  I graduated college, I don’t make anything.”

                Fanis decided there was so much wrong with that statement he didn’t even know where to begin.  He just said nothing, which was rare for him.  When they got back to the hotel, Kera commented on it, “I mean, she didn’t know that when they worked for the communists, they just stole the taxes from their paychecks so they were still paying them?  And who sells fish on the black market?”

                “She said that the communists didn’t let the restaurants prepare them so that’s how you get seafood.  You get it from the black market”  Fanis replied with shock on his face

                “No wonder nobody know where Raul Castro lives, they don’t want people rioting or storming his house”

                A man from the hotel walked over and states, “Raul Castro is not the Preisdent of Cuba anymore”

                “Who is?” Fanis inquires

                “Esteban Lazo Hernandez”

                Kera and Fanis exchange glances.  Fanis is the first to speak, “Why wouldn’t the tour guide know who the President is?”

                The man rejoins, “Couldn’t tell you that but before you judge, you may not want to throw stones.  You’re Americans right?”

                “Yes” Fanis announces confidently

                “You have congressman that marry their brothers”

                Kera groans, “That’s a myth”

                Fanis retorts, “No, Ilhan Omar deleted a tweet in 2013 wishing her father, Nur Said, a Happy Father’s Day. She also thanked Allah for having the best father”

                The man chimes in, “I’m not really sure your point.  I’m Yasiel by the way”

                “Hey Yasiel, when you consider that Ilhan Omar married a man in 2009 named Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, it makes sense”

                “The last name is Elmi then”

                “That’s not how Arabic works.  In Arabic, the first surname is the father’s name and the last one is the grandfather’s name”

                “I’m actually not familiar with the specifics.  Is that what the issue is?”

                “Oh, it’s a lot more complicated.  Ilhan divorced Elmi in 2012 so she could marry Hirsi.”

                “Isn’t divorce frowned upon in Muslim culture?”

                “Yes, but to get around that she claimed she hadn’t seen Ahmed Nur Said Elmi since 2009 and had no contact information for relatives.  With his absence, the marriage is called off.”

                “Do we ever find out what happened to Ahmed Elmi?”
                “Oh yea, there’s a picture of him on Instagram holding Omar’s baby girl a day after she delivered.  The caption on the instagram says, “Niece fresh out of the vagina”

                “Yea, she really can’t find him” Yasiel blurted out contemptuously

                Kera blurted out, “In Asian culture, it’s not uncommon to call older people Auntie and Uncle as a sign of respect.  Asia has respect for their elders so just because he called the baby his niece, doesn’t mean that it’s his actual niece as in his sister’s kid.  I mean, you call your closest friend’s kids nieces and nephews”

                “I’m not done with my evidence.  We’re just talking about whether or not Ilhan Omar has no way of finding Ahmed Nur Said.  He seems to be at the hospital after she gives birth.  Since she’s an ex-wife, you wouldn’t think he’d be so happy to see her baby with the new husband.”

                “She was recovering”

                “That’s a stretch but then later that year, there’s a picture of her and him together at an ATM night”

                “Fine, they kept in contact and the annulment of the marriage was a fraud, doesn’t mean they’re brother and sister”

                “Ilhan Omar’s sister’s marriage certificate names the father as Nur Said”

                There is an awkward silence and Yasiel breaks it with, “You really followed this closely”

                “I have.  Liberals in our country lie and want to turn America into Cuba”

                Kera gives Fanis a dirty look but Yasiel doesn’t react.  He merely fires back, “If they knew what really goes on here, they would never wish that upon their country.”

                “Oh, they’re okay with it so long as they’re in power.  Communism was very good for Castro, not so much everyone else.”

                “Even the government officials couldn’t trust each other.  They were constantly paranoid of a coup and killing each other.”

                “As much as I would love Bernie Sanders, Warren, Harris, AOC, Ilhan Omar going to war with each other sentencing each other to death, I don’t want it at the cost of my freedom or my country.”

                “You are very wise”

                Kera cried out, “Well, at least nobody hear begs you for money.  They just want to talk and be friendly.  In America, you can barely walk two minutes before someone asks you for change.”

                Yasiel gives her a condescending look and explains, “It is illegal to ask for money in Cuba”

                “What?”

                “They expect you to imply that’s what they want but they can’t explicitly say it.”

                “But, we were walking on the pier…oh”

                Fanis finished her thought, “In a communist country, you never know who’s listening”

                Yasiel shrugs his shoulders “Exactly”

                Before Fanis could react or realize what was going on, Yasiel grabbed Kera by the arm with his left and pulled her toward him.  He wrapped his arm around Kera’s neck and shot his right hand, which now wielded a machete, against Fanis’ neck.  Fanis was rather impressed how quickly he got the drop on him.  Fanis was well trained but didn’t see this coming at all.  Yasiel calmly said, “Don’t be a hero.  I need to educate your girl here.  I’ll return her to you when I’m done.  Don’t bother hoping hotel security will help you.  It’s easy to buy them off and nobody cares about American tourism since the relations between our countries is suspect at best.”

                Fanis smiled and responded, “You really don’t know the mistake you just made.”

                “How’s that?” Yasiel challenged back with confrontation in his voice

                “Try to walk away with her”

                “No, you have that backward; you’re going to walk away.”

                As Fanis was talking, his right hand was inching closer and closer to Yasiel’s machete hand.  When he decided he was close enough for a quick movement, he gripped Yasiel’s hand driving his thumb into the pressure point in the palm and squeezing hard.  The machete fell at their feet and Fanis darted his hand toward Yasiel’s throat.  Yasiel was quick and moved his head out of the way while tossing Kera to the side.  Yasiel drove the heel of his palm into Fanis’ midsection repeatedly and followed up with a punch across the face.  Fanis was caught off guard at the speed of Yasiel.  He backed away and when Yasiel charged, he locked arms with him.  As Yasiel resisted by pushing back against Fanis, Fanis rolled back lifting his foot in the air as he rolled onto his back flinging Yasiel over his body by using his weight against him.  Yasiel flipped over and landed on his back.  They both hurried to their feet and as Fanis was getting up he unclipped his four inch spring assisted knife.  He twirled it against his wrist concealing it.  He didn’t want Yasiel to know he had it until after he attacked him with it. 

                Yasiel and Fanis circled each other.  Yasiel was surprised that Fanis wasn’t going for the machete.  He just let it lie on the ground.  Yasiel jabbed with his left as a decoy before swinging hard with his right.  When the left came, Fanis raised his left hand and rested his hand on the back of his head as he raised his right hand to his chin.  When Yasiel came with the right, his hand harmless ricocheted off Fanis’ elbow, which gave Fanis the opportunity to wrap his left arm around Yasiel’s bicep and pull him back.  Fanis slammed his fist down into Yasiel’s midsection as the knife he was palming was colliding with Yasiel’s torso.  Yasiel snapped his wrist against Fanis’ groin forcing Fanis to release the hold and drop the knife.  Yasiel grabbed his chest while Fanis bent over.  They both quickly ignored it and got up with arms up facing each other. 

                Fanis went to lock up with Yasiel again but this time Yasiel grabbed his arm and shot his body up wrapping his legs around Fanis’ head and taking him to the ground.  Fanis instinctively clutched his hands together knowing that if Yasiel broke them apart, he could break his right arm.  Fanis turned with Yasiel’s body and got his feet under him.  Yasiel kept rocking back and forth trying to unlock Fani’s hands.  Since he was so focused on the arms, he eased the grip on Fanis neck and Fanis squirmed his head out.  He then turned his body in and got his legs underneath him to give him leverage.  He used his body to move Yasiel’s legs and stepped through dropping his left knee on the back of Yasiel’s neck as he turned him onto his stomach.  Fanis leaned his bodyweight against Yasiel’s legs with his hands still trapped underneath Yasiel.  Pain shot through Yasiel’s back and as he realized he was no longer in position to execute the arm bar, he released Fanis’s arms.  Fanis immediately grabbed Yasiel’s leg to apply more torque on his back but Yasiel lifted his head and rolled through the hold.  Fanis stumbled forward and turned to find Yasiel back up. 

                Yasiel was closer to the machete now and he picked it up and brandished it.  Fanis reached to his back and took out a Cuchari that he carried.  They circled each other and Yasiel swung the machete, which Fanis blocked with his Cuchari. As their blades pushed against each other, Yasiel punched Fanis in the face.  As Fanis staggered, Yasiel swung again and Fanis again blocked it but this time he kicked Yasiel in the stomach backing him off.  Yasiel charged and Fanis hopped out of the way rolling toward his pocket knife picking it up as he rolled to his feet.  This time he pushed the one hand trigger but still kept it turned into his arm.  This time Fanis came at Yasiel swinging his Cuchari but instead of moving towards him, he sidestepped him.  Yasiel was able to perry but Fanis twirled back his arm.  The lack of resistance forced Yasiel to the left while Fanis was sidestepping right.  He gripped his pocket knife and slammed it into the back of Yasiel’s knee.  Yasiel yelled out in pain dropping the machete again.  Fanis swung his right arm back and buried the Kuchari into the back of Yasiel’s neck killing him instantly.  He put away his blades and panted. 

With his adrenaline gone, he felt the body blows he sustained in the beginning of the fight and he took deep breaths trying to regain his wind.  Hotel security came out and Fanis smiled.  He was fluent in Spanish so he decided to speak in Spanish; especially since he wasn’t going to be too kind.  He scolded, “Oh, now you show up.”

The security guard kept the Spanish and announced, “We’re sorry sir, that man is very rich.  We don’t like how he harasses tourists but what can we do?”

“Your job”

“It’s not that simple. You get to leave the country, we have to stay here.  It causes a lot of problems if we anger him”

“So what problems do I face now?”

                “I don’t know.  Although he’s well connected, the bosses don’t like how he rapes tourists.  They kind of expected this would happen but they typically don’t come looking for him.  When do you leave sir?”

                “Well, given that you don’t stop him from raping your guests, I don’t think you’ll have any problem telling them when we leave if they ask.  You’ll excuse me if I just don’t answer any of your questions.”

                “I understand sir.  I can refund your room and call another hotel to book you a room since you probably don’t feel safe here.”

                “Again, you knowing where I’m staying is a problem for me.”

                “Yes, well, I will refund your money if you like.  That’s the best I can do.”

                “I’ll think about it, in the meantime I’m going to leave right now.  Please don’t ask where I’m going”

                It wasn’t a big secret where he was going.  He went back to his room.  Kera was happy to see him and hugged him as he came in.  Fanis winced.  He removed his shirt and found bruises on his chest from the palm strikes.  Kera went into the bathroom and wet a cloth putting it against his face, which was cut.  Yasiel hit hard.  Fanis revealed everything to Kera that he talked about with the hotel security.  Kera soaked it all in and declared, “No matter where we go, people are watching.  I honestly think the least likely place they’d suspect is right here.  You already intimated we were leaving.  What if we decided we don’t care about the refund and snuck out?”

                “Yea, I guess that plan is as good as any.  Put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door.  They could always send the maid to check on us, and then they have a reason to see if we’re in here.”

 Fanis didn’t get much sleep that night but Kera slept like a baby.  I guess that was the nature of their arrangement.  The night was uneventful and the next day, Kera and Fanis checked out and went to the airport.  When the plane took off, Fanis finally let his guard down and fell into a deep sleep.  He didn’t wake up until they landed in Heathrow.

When they got home, Kera took out her vaping pen and inhaled it.  She expressed, “I know you support Trump and all but he wants to ban these”

                “No, he doesn’t.  He wants to regulate flavored vaping so that it’s not marketing to kids”

                “Adults like flavored things too”

                “Yes, but that’s the fear.”

                “Do you agree with it?”

                “Not really.  I think it’s parent’s jobs to raise their kids to not give in to peer pressure and fall for these marketing techniques”

                “So, you think drugs should be legal?”

                “I go back and forth.  On one hand, you can’t reward bad behavior, on the other everything I can say about drugs, I can say about alcohol.  Just, crime was worse when alcohol was banned.  Vaping is a healthier alternative to smoking and it seems to have done a good job in getting people to stop smoking,  I know a lot of former smokers, including you, that vape now.”

                “You know it’s a process not a product right”

                “No, that wasn’t clear”

                “Yea, vaping is just using a hot coil to heat a liquid.  The thing it’s heating are called pods.  Those come in different flavors and different potencies.”

                “Right, and the fact that there’s no combustion makes it healthier since there’s no tar”

                “Yea”

                “I understand it’s not healthy, just healthier but what’s the problem?”

                “People are mixing it with THC oil.  That oil encases your lungs and that’s when people get pneumonia and die.”

                “Like everything else, it’s being abused”

                “Yea, but 80% of people who get sick from vaping are mixing it so it’s not the vaping industry’s fault”

                “I don’t blame tobacco companies for smoker problems either.  I’m a conservative, I blame the individual.  Even if it’s the 20% that is caused by using vaping correctly, I’m against blaming the companies.”

                “Right, well that’s good then”

                “It’s just that the argument to make something legal is that it gets regulated so this mixing stuff doesn’t happen.  The fact that it is means that argument is false.  It started out as a good idea to get people to stop smoking but now it’s being abused in a couple years.”

                “Vaping has been around since 2003.  The recent health scares are new.  It’s a recent thing causing these deaths”

                “Like the legalization of marijuana making THC more accessible”

                “I’m not going that far”

                “Seems likely to me”

                “Correlation doesn’t equal causation”

                “Doesn’t it though?  Yea, something tells me that this is why we kept weed illegal.  I was almost convinced too.”

                “You can’t blame marijuana legalization either”

                “Then what recent event do you think it is?  When it wasn’t popular, people weren’t dying.  Now they are.”

                “I don’t know”

                “Well, then I’m going with my theory.”

                “You’re such a dork”

                “I know”

                Kera and Fanis smiled.  They decompressed from their trip and Kera made sure that her sold item made it to Cuba and the money was safely cleared in her bank account. 

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