Fanis the Bodyguard Episode 27 Environmentalism leads to death and destruction

               

                Kera and Fanis are cousins living in London together.  Kera is an international Chinese art dealer but you would never know it with her long black hair, sharp facial features, big teeth and olive skin.  She was born in Brooklyn, New York to two first generation Greeks.  Fanis had  a similar background but given that he was three years older than his cousin, he had always sought to protect her much to her dismay when they were younger.  That, however, would be the main selling point why when Kera was successful enough to need a bodyguard, she asked him.   Fanis was the person that scored highest on the only two scales that matter: Trust and willingness to drop their life to follow her around the country.  In truth, Kera didn’t trust anybody but she knew Fanis and since he came from money, he could never be bribed to turn on her.  As for the other thing, Fanis loved travelling so that part of the job was a perk. 

                Fanis is watching TV and frowning.  Kera notices and asks, “Why do you watch that shit if it pisses you off so much?”

                “I want to be informed but I will give it to you.  It is infuriating what the liberals are doing to our country.”

                “Well, we’re in London now so I’m not sure if it’s still our country.”

                “Neither one of us have renounced our American citizenship.”

                “That is true.  So, what’s pissing you off now?”

                “This new Whistle Blower Alex Vindman….”

                “Wait, is this still about the Trump phone call?”

                “Yes”

                “Oh my God, we have the transcript.  We know what was said, move on!”

                “They’re trying to say that this guy is above criticism because he was a Colonel in the army.”

                “What?  Nobody is above criticism.  Democrats said that?  What happened to us being the peace loving anti-war people?”

                “And anti-military.”

                “No, just anti-war.  We wanted to keep our troops home.”

                “Kind of like Trump when he pulled them out of Syria?”

                “Yea, he finally did something right.”

                “If Vindman is beyond reproach, how come General Flynn wasn’t?  He’s in the military too.”

                “Or Tulsi Gabbard”

                “I’m glad you see it my way.”

                “But, what is his defense if we’ve seen the transcript?”

                “They say it was edited but he can’t really tell you how it was edited.  He just said that the idea that the President of the United States is calling you implies a threat.”

                “That’s ridiculous”

                “Yea, even Kenneth Vogel of the New York Times admits that Ukrainian efforts to sabotage trump backfire.”

                 “Let me guess; the left kept running with it anyway”

                “Yup”

                “What do you think of Vindman now?  I mean you’re a pro-military conservative.  How do you feel?”

                “Nobody is above reproach.  Thank you for your service but you’re not making any sense here.  Nobody is forcing you to be on the National Security Council so resign if you don’t like the Commander in Chief.”
                “Besides prosecuting Mike Flynn, did anyone actually attack Flynn”

                “A federal judge said he sold the US out.”

                “For lying about what you said in a phone call?”

                “Yea, he likened it to treason.  He’s a decorated military officer so why didn’t anyone say the judge was not allowed to say anything about Flynn because Flynn was military?”

                “Yea, and the LA Times said that Tulsi Gabbard may not be a Russian asset but she sure talks like one.  Someone should call out Brian Boyle and remind him that she’s a military officer and it’s not allowed to attack the military personnel. 

                “I mean, you can have high morality and not be able to interpret someone’s words on a phone call correctly.  You can still misread a transcript or be biased in your assessment about something.”

                “Are you trying to say that even military people are human?”

                “I guess I am.”

                “Anyway, we got to go.”

                “Nice, where are we going?”

                “Cuba”

                They pack their things and get on a plane to Cuba.  Havana is like walking in a time machine with 1950s cars and the overall vibe.  Fanis always got a creepy feeling.  It’s not that the people were poor as he had been to poor places before.  Poor people, outside of America, still seem happy and are smiling.  In Cuba, nobody is smiling.  When you walk the streets of Cuba, you immediately grasp the difference between ‘poor’ and ‘oppressed.’  On the plane, Fanis was preparing himself for what he was going to be encountering.  Kera turned to him and declared, “Continuing with our earlier conversation, what if Vindman is right that the transcript was edited.  You believed when an FBI 302 was edited so maybe the transcript was too.”

                “The NY Times already had an article confirming that a Ukrainian official said it was an accurate transcript.  The Ukrainians said, ‘no significant information was omitted.”

                “Well that could mean anything” Kera replied with a smile and a giggle.

                “I know right?  Also, the whistle blower himself rebutted criticism of the transcript.  He verified that it was not a note or a summary but that it is ‘standard practice of the White house’ to write word for word transcripts.  That is why it’s kept so secret.”

                Someone on the plane overheard their conversation and called over, “Sorry, for eavesdropping, but I do have some more information on Vindman’s testimony.”

                “I’m all ears”

                “The NSC told Turmp to call Zelensky to congratulate him.”

                Kera inquired, “Alright, he should congratulate the new president.”

                Fanis had a dire expression, “No cuz, the Whistleblower, which is Eric Ciaramella by the way, works for the NSC.  If that’s true then that means that a member of the organization that suggested Trump make the phone call accused him of misconduct to try to get him impeached.”

                Kera’s eyes lit up, “Oh God, why did you tell him that?!  Now he’s going to be on this conspiracy theory that Trump is constantly being set up.”

                Fanis snapped back, “I didn’t even say anything.  You saw that it was a set up not me.  But, his suggestion that Trump was eager to extort the Ukrainians about Biden when it wasn’t even his idea to call doesn’t make any sense.”

                “Just keep an open mind.”

                “If you did that, you’d be on my side.”

                “I conceded that we have the transcript so you can’t say there was no quid pro quo.  You can give me something.”

                “You don’t get credit for recognizing truth.”  Kera rolled her eyes.  Fanis turns to the man that informed him of the recent knowledge, “What else happened at the testimony?   Anything significant?”

                “Well, not to start another fight but when they asked Vindman what in the transcript was deleted, he didn’t know.”

                “Yea, that part I knew.  Thanks for the knowledge.”

                “You’re welcome.”

                They land in Havana and check into their hotel.  Fanis always insists on staying at a mob hotel.  This one is the hotel flamingo, which is a small hotel on a side street that you could miss.  Fanis heads to the water and looks up at a giant Jesus statue.  He shakes his head because he can’t understand how the communists let that stand.  He heard the story that the blessing looks like he’s smoking a cigar and drinking a mojito just there is no glass or cigar.  Fanis never bought that story.  He looks over at the old city that the statue was blessing.  It really was a pretty city.  He went into a café that Ernest Hemingway wrote in.  Kera met him there and they had a drink.  Afterward, they went to sloppy Joes as there is a sister store in Key West.  They drink some mojitoes and go back to their hotel. 

                The next day is Kera’s meeting.  Fanis is fluent in Spanish so he tries to talk to the security guards for the people Kera is meeting with.  They, however, are very squeamish by his attempt to talk.  As they look him up and down, he can tell they are suspicious so he just stands in silence until the meeting is over.  This is actually the worst part of the job.  As they leave, Fanis and Kera walk around the city knowing what’s about to happen.  People will start following them and talking.  They won’t ask for money as that is illegal in Cuba.  Instead, it’s just implied that’s what they want.  Kera and Fanis are used to New York City where the homeless are never shy to ask you for money so avoiding Cubans is a piece of cake because they can just play dumb and think they just want a conversation.  The other thing about these Cubans that follow you for a conversation is that they claim to have any job that you can possibly come up with.  One guy says something that intrigues them.  “Hey, I saw you guys by the sloppy joes, are you looking for one?”

                Fanis and Kera look at each other.  Fanis shrugs his shoulders and replies, “Sure.”

                Fanis was surprised how everyone spoke English.  Although most of the world did, he assumed Cuba would be all Spanish and Russian.  When Cuban defectors come to play baseball in America, they often times don’t speak English but they do in Cuba.  This is really only true for Kera as Fanis is fluent.  The man leads them to the back of a restaurant and serves them sloppy Joes.  He poses, “Are you Americans?”

                “By birth yea but we live in London” Fanis offered

                “Not LA I hope?”

                “No, we’re on the other coast; New York.”

                Kera pronounces, “Why?”

                “Well it’s a disgrace with all the fires in LA”

                Fanis waved his hand, “Oh that always happens.  See, it almost never rains in LA so things are really dry.  A simple spark or a cigarette can ignite an entire forest.  What’s your name by the way?”

                His face contorted into one of extreme seriousness “I’m Ricardo, but I’m afraid you don’t understand.”

                Kera retorted, “Yes we do, PGE had a faulty wire and ignited.  Also, because of global warming, fires are more frequent.”

                Fanis rolled his eyes, “Global Warming is a hoax” he fired back and Kera just smiled but Ricardo was incredulous.  Fanis guessed he just didn’t get that they were teasing each other.  

                Ricardo looks around and then turns on music.  He turns the volume up loud and articulates, “Can I see your passports?”

                Fanis scolds, “You can look at them but I’m not giving or selling them to you.”

                “That’s fine”

                Fanis has a dual citizenship in England, which is why he was able to go to Cuba.  He shows it to him as does Kera giving Fanis a look that it’s getting sketchy.  The only reason she followed a strange guy to a back room of a restaurant and was no showing him the one thing that could get her home is because Fanis was with her.  Despite that though, she was getting nervous.  Ricardo’s eyes got wide and his body tensed.  “I thought you said you were Americans”

                Fanis was more intrigued than anything.  Ricardo didn’t seem sketchy, he seemed terrified.  , “We told you we were born in America but live in London now.  That’s why we have British passports.  We’re dual citizens.”

                “Can you prove you’re American?”

                Fanis reached in his pocket and took out his New York driver’s license and showed it to him.  Kera picked up that this man was worried and not looking to scam them.  She’d been ripped off in New York plenty of times to know the difference.  The only question was why he was scared.  Ricardo turned to Kera looking expectantly.  Kera sighed and took out her license and exclaimed, “What is this about?”

                Ricardo looked around and took a deep breath, “I know things you don’t about the LA fires.”

                Kera looked at him skeptically but Fanis was amused.  He pronounced with obvious doubt in his voice, “Oh, yea, what’s that?”

                “What Elizabeth Warren calls ‘Stakeholder capitalism’ is actually socialism.”

                Fanis nodded, “Yes, I know that.”

                “But the LA Fires prove it.”

                “You lost me.”

                “Utilities are heavily regulated in California.  There was a stakeholder meeting for the energy companies.  The state decided what the output of electricity should be.  They based it on those that don’t own the company’s opinions and environmentalists.”

                Kera blurted out, “Come on.  Everyone wants a clean world.”

                “It’s not about the environment!  It’s about power.  Governor Newsom got $208,000 in donations from PG&E.  This has nothing to do with global warming, it’s government regulation of the utility industry.”

                “Corporations donate to campaigns all the time.  It doesn’t make them corrupt.  I don’t like the California governor but accepting the donation doesn’t make him dirty.”

                “That’s not all.  The commission and state legislature also dictate energy investments.  State law requires utilities to obtain 60% of their power from renewable sources by 2030.  Utilities need to buy energy from homeowners with solar panels giving them above whole sale rates.  Instead of updating their infrastructure and making sure their wiring was new, they were forced to set up electric car refill stations.”

                Kera still didn’t believe anything Ricardo was saying but Fanis was no longer mocking him but interested.  “How do you know all this?”

                “Don’t worry about it.  I’m just saying that the government tells PG&E and the utility companies what to invest in, how much output to have and they banned control burning of forest debris because of environmental groups.”

                “I do always say that the new communism is not taking over the means of production but regulating the companies to death forcing them to do what you want but when they fail because they can’t be efficient due to government interference, instead of blaming communism, they blame the corporations.”

                “Yes, that is what’s going on in California.”

                Kera called out, “That’s not new. Ayn Rand wrote about that in Atlas Shrugged.” 

                Kera got Fanis into Ayn Rand and it changed his entire outlook on life.  Fanis knew Kera was uncomfortable so uttered, “Alright Ricardo, it was nice meeting you.  We’re going to go now.  Thanks for the burgers.  How much do we owe you for them?”

                “Five dollars”

                Fanis handed up ten pounds and explained, “It’s easier to exchange pounds than it is dollars in Cuba.”

                “Thank you”

                Fanis and Kera left and Kera started giggling hysterically.   She articulated, “Wow, what a crock of shit.  Blaming environmentalists for the LA Fires, do you believe that shit?”

                “Actually I do, I think it makes sense.”

                The debate ends there and later that night; Fanis and Kera go to a burlesque show.  They are amused by the fact that you get a free cigar as you enter.  Each table also comes with a bottle of rum.  Fanis orders coke and they drink rum and cokes as they watch the show.  During intermission, people at their table query, “You American?”

                “Yes” Fanis answers

                “What’s going on with this impeachment of your president?”

                “The Democrats won’t give a clear answer on what they’re doing.  Is it an inquiry? Is it impeachment?  They change their story.”

                “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

                “Steny Hoyer, the Democrat from Maryland, stated it’s not an impeachment resolution yet they call it that on the news. Nancy Pelosi also said it’s not an impeachment resolution.  Of course, they’re both lying because they know they need a set of rules for impeachment they just don’t want to follow.”

                “Why would they do that though?”

                “Moderate Democrats can’t be on the record that they voted to impeach the President.  Impeaching President Clinton hurt the Republicans so the Democrats don’t want to make the same mistake.  This way, the ones who vote ‘yes’ can claim they didn’t vote for an impeachment, they just voted on a resolution for more information.”

                “What about the Republicans?”

                “Representative Jordan attacks Schiff for denying Republicans to ask questions.  He even referenced one of America’s forefathers Alexander Hamilton that he warned against this exact thing.  The house having the sole power to impeach, they may abuse it.  Jordan says that Pelosi should have a mistrial.”

                “The Democrats are in control then?”

                Fanis picked up an accent that was not Cuban, “Where are you from?”

                “Germany”

                Fanis kicked himself as he should’ve known that.  “Well, the Democrats hold multiple hearings since the Republicans keep forcing themselves in them.  With multiple hearings, the Republicans don’t know which to crash.”

                “How do you know this?”

                “Various alternative media sources and AOC loves to drop the ball”

                “What does ‘drop the ball’ mean?”

                “Mess up.  Make a mistake.  Do something you’re not supposed to.”

                “What did she do?”

                “During a hearing with Kelly Armstrong, Armstrong wanted to leave the meeting.  AOC complained and he told her he had to be at a SCIF about oil and there’s an impeachment hearing going on.”

                As Fanis was relaying this, he noticed that the Democrats were meeting with oil companies too.  Even though Armstrong was a Republican, he couldn’t get what Ricardo said out of his head.  “Alright so a meeting between the house about oil was going on at the same time as the impeachment hearing.”

                “Republicans had to be at the oil meeting.  Since they had to be there, they couldn’t crash the impeachment hearing.  Armstrong is a Republican so they wanted him occupied.”

                “Now I get the connection, thank you”

                “You’re welcome”

                Intermission was over and they went back to watching the show.  When the show was over, Kera went to the bathroom and Fanis waited outside.  Fanis looked around as security guards shuffled people out of the venue very quickly.  He yelled in Spanish, “I’m just waiting for my cousin to get out of the bathroom.” But nobody seemed to pay attention to him.

 It was everyone else that was being forced out.  It wasn’t long till he was the only one there and the place got quiet.  It was quiet, that is, until an ear piercing scream came from in the bathroom.  Fanis hurried toward the bathroom but a security guard wrapped a knight stick around his throat and pulled.  Fanis shifted his weight back and to the left.  He snapped his head back hitting the guard in the nose.  Fanis then grabbed the guards left arms and flipped him over his shoulder.  Fanis held onto his arm then wrapped his leg around the guard’s elbow.  He snapped the elbow against his leg and used his hands to twist the wrist simultaneously breaking his wrist in three places and dislocating his elbow.  Fanis realized there was a guard in front of the bathroom.  He took two steps forward and jumped putting his entire 6’0” 215 pounds behind a punch that struck right into the guard’s jaw knocking him out.  Fanis hurried into the bathroom.  Kera was squirming as a man had her pinned to the ground and her shirt ripped.  Fanis hurried forward and jumped on the man’s back and wrapped his right arm around his throat.  He reached across and grabbed his left bicep as his left arm pushed on his right hand and grabbed his right shoulder.  Fanis rolled over forcing the guard off Kera and wrapped his legs around the guard’s waist squeezing and pushing down.  Kera rushed out of the bathroom and Fanis held the hold waiting for the guard to lose consciousness. 

                Unfortunately, it wasn’t over.  Kera backed into the bathroom with her hands up.  Through the door was a guard with a gun.  He grabbed Kera and turned her around and wrapped a left arm around her neck and held the gun to her head.  “Let him go” he barked in Spanish

                Fanis released the guard.  The guard immediately elbowed him in the face.  The guard got up and grabbed Fanis by the throat who couldn’t fight back.  The guard punched him in the face and then grabbed his own throat coughing.  Fanis stared back unimpressed.  He asked in Spanish, “What do you want?”

                Another guard walked in with a machine gun in one hand and something in the other.  He pulled a man in front of him and forced him to his knees.  Fanis looked at the kneeled man’s face that was covered in a crimson mask.  Fanis was confused but Kera was not, “Hey, we just met that guy.  He gave us food that’s it. Whatever he’s in, we have nothing to do with that.”

                Fanis looked again at the bloodied man and realized it was Ricardo.  He looked up and uttered in Spanish, “What did he do?”

                “We found him with a Wall Street Journal.  Did you give it to him?”

                “No”

                Ricardo stuttered out, “They’re innocent   I got it from someone else.”

                Kera looked confused as she doesn’t speak Spanish.  Fanis inquisitively stared at them, “You were going to kill us for giving him a Wall Street Journal?”

                The guard walked toward Fanis with the gun and held it in his face.  He yelled, “You will not insult us.  This is our country.”

                “Get that gun away from my cousin’s head” Fanis ordered staring passed the machine gun in his face to Kera.

                “We give the orders” replied the man with the machine gun. 

                Fanis noticed that the guard that had Kera didn’t have his hand on the trigger.  Instead, it was on the hilt.   Fanis rehearsed in his head what he was planning and then slapped down at the machine gun.  He used the other arm to finish the twirl so the barrel pointed to the guard holding it.  Fanis pulled the trigger and bullets flew into the man’s midsection and he collapsed holding his body.  As he did this, Ricardo shot up and pushed the gun up on the man that held Kera.  Kera wiggled out of the man’s grip during the struggle and huddled in the corner.  Fanis held the machine that he stole from the guy he shot.  He raised it and fired it into the head of the guy who used to have Kera.  The man he had in the chokehold tackled Fanis to the ground causing him to drop the machine gun.  He pulled a knife out and slammed his arm down but Fanis grabbed his arm blocking the knife’s trajectory to his neck.  The knifeman kneed Fanis in the groin but Fanis didn’t release his grip on the man’s arm.

                As Fanis struggled, Ricardo grabbed the gun from the cold dead hands of the guard and walked to Fanis.  He put the gun against the knifeman’s temple and squeezed the trigger.  Fanis shifted his body from the falling knife but it sliced his side.  Fanis shoved the carcass off him and got up.  Ricardo collapsed again as his adrenaline was gone.  Fanis helped him to his feet and they hurried out of the bathroom and the venue.  Surprisingly, a cab picked them up.  While sitting in the convertible of a classic car, Fanis exclaimed, “We need to go.”

                Kera shook her head, “You’re such a fucking idiot.  I can’t believe you did that?”

                “Did what?  They had guns on us.”

                “You can’t fucking kill law enforcement in a foreign country.  You hurt them; you don’t kill them.”

                Kera then picked up the phone and dialed a number.  She started rapidly speaking in Mandarin.  Ricardo looked at Fanis questioningly.  Fanis shook his head and in Spanish pronounced, “Thank you for helping us back there.”

                “No, I’m sorry that I got you into this.”

                “Not your fault.  We know we didn’t give you the paper.”

                “They don’t like us knowing about the outside world.  I asked a tourist for a newspaper and they provided it for me.  All that stuff about the LA fires I got from there.  Where are we going now?”

                “To a plane.”

                “I can’t leave the country.”

                “I hate leaving you because I don’t think Cuba is safe for you now.”

                “Cuba isn’t safe for you either.”

                “Yea, I’m beginning to think that’s true.”

                They arrive at a small airport and Fanis, Kera and Ricardo get out.  Fanis sticks out his hand and Ricardo shakes it.  Kera is off the phone and she announces, “No good bye, he’s coming with us.”

                Fanis shrugged his shoulders and even though he was still bloodied, Ricardo’s face was beaming.  They get on the plane and Ricardo still looked nervous.  The plane starts taxiing and Ricardo is shaking.  Just as the plane is taxiing, a series of cop cars rush to the plane and block it.  The plane stops and Fanis pulls out his guns that he keeps with him but had no chance to grab during the fight.  Ricardo notices but he’s still visibly shaking.  Kera, on the other hand, is completely calm.  Fanis looks over to a smiling Kera.  He asks her in Greek, “What did you do?”

                “You’ll see.”

                Fanis sighed and his shoulders slumped.  The smile ran away from Kera’s face and she frowned.  As authorities approached the plane, they all of a sudden stopped.  Fanis was watching them through the window but couldn’t hear them.  They were pressing ear pieces in their ears and listening.  Suddenly, the cars pulled away from in front of the plane and the plane gets waved to go.  The pilots move the plane forward.  Fanis doesn’t put the guns away till the plane takes off.  Kera is back with her smug smile and states, “So, Ricardo, we are not taking you back to England.”

                “Then where am I going?”

                “We’re going to drop you off in the Dominican Republic.  What happens after is your problem.  We’re even now and owe you nothing.  You helped us out and we got you out of Cuba.”

                “Thank you.”

                “Good, now we’re going to be there soon so go to the bathroom and clean your face.”

                Ricardo does that and as he does, Fanis takes off his shirt to see the stab wound in his side.  It’s not deep so he takes out a first aid kit and cleans and then puts a bandage over the wound.  Ricardo came out and declared, “You have to stop Elizabeth Warren or else America will be like Cuba.  You don’t understand, the Medicare for All isn’t free.  Cuba has a 97% literacy rate but that’s all we have.  It sounds good but it’s not and it certainly isn’t free.”

                Fanis put out his hand, “Ricardo, I know.  I’m an economist and I used to work in Accounting.  I know all the numbers for Medicate for All. In addition to what we already pay, there are a lot of possibilities.  We can either raise the payroll tax by 32%, 25% Income Surtax, 42% VAT Tax, A public premium of  $ 7,500 per person, more than double the individual and corporate tax rates.  Since there are other costs of government, you have to take that into consideration too.  There would need to be an 80% reduction in non-health federal spending, a 108% GDP increase in national debt, impossibly high taxes on earners and corporations in financial sector, or a combination of the above.”

                Kera’s eyes squint as she challenges, “Didn’t she just say she’s going to tax the rich?”

                “If you took all the wealth of every billionaire, it would only cover Medicate for all for three years.  What are you going to do after that?  They all add up to only $ 8.7 Trillion and it costs over $3 Trillion a year.”

                Ricardo nods, “Okay, so people do know.”

                “Yes, but the question is do enough people know.”

                They arrive in Santiago, Dominican Republic and let out Ricardo who thanks them profusely.  He hugs both Kera and Fanis good bye and then the plane takes off again to London.  When airborne, Kera walks over to Fanis and slaps him across the face.  Fanis looks up confused and queries, “What was that for?”

                “One, killing cops in foreign countries but, mostly, because I saw that look when the Cuban authorities surrounded us.  You actually thought I sold you out.”

                Fanis took a deep breath.  He spoke slowly and deliberately in a compassionate tone, “Kera, you have to understand.  Our entire arrangement is when shit hits the fan, I die you live.  Neither one of us trusts anybody including each other so it’s not too far-fetched for me to believe that.  You know I’d die for you so if I was captured so you could go free, I’d be okay with that.”

                “Just know that I would never not try to negotiate for you to come with me.”

                “That’s because I’m one of the only people that can do this.  You know I would never hurt you or betray you.  You also know that I’ll follow you anywhere.”

                “One of these days you’re going to see that even though I’m not going to jump in front of a bullet for you or pick a fight with someone so you can escape, that doesn’t mean I’d sell you down the river without a moment’s hesitation.”

                “It doesn’t matter.”

                “Actually, it does Fanis.  I really wish you knew that.”

                The rest of the trip is done in silence.  When they arrive back in London, both have moved on from the conversation.  The situation was what it would be.  Kera was a little angry so he baited him in an argument.  They got something to eat and Fanis was using a plastic straw.  She chastised, “Oh come on, plastic straw?  You know that’s bad for planet because it ends up in the ocean.”

                “90% of all the plastic in the ocean is from 10 rivers.  Eight of them are in Asia and the other two are in Africa.  No, London and America aren’t the problems.”  

“ Fanis! You agree plastic is bad, then it doesn’t matter how much we pollute, it matters that we’re still polluting.  3^rd World countries have different resources than ours. It’s no excuse that we can’t change little things for the sake of living in a clean place”

 

“ Kera!! I don’t agree plastic is bad, I agreed it wasn’t bio-degradable. Not the same thing.  It doesn’t matter that we pollute because humans are powerless to defeat nature.  Nature always finds a way.  It’s not ‘a little thing’ it’s a thinly veiled attempt for control of our means of production aka socialist takeover of America.  Except this time, they do it through oppressive regulation so that when the corporations fail, the government can pretend that it wasn’t their fault but the ‘evil’ corporate owners.  Handicapping us so that we can’t compete in the world market because the rest of the world doesn’t have to play by the same rules IS very serious, very dire, and exposes environmentalists as hypocrites since you freely admit that ‘pollution doesn’t matter for 70% of the population on an individual basis.’  It’s not little things, it’s destroying our entire economy and stunts our growth.”

 

“ I think we’re growing just fine.  Europe has had climate policies in place for a long time and they’re fine.  You think what you’re really saying is we’re greedy.  You call it a spiral into socialism that stunts growth, but it’s just us wanting more than we need, more than we would ever need.  China and India cannot compete because of their needs.  They have to feed a huge population, which we don’t have.  They have to spend most of their GDP on just living.  But, even they are starting to care about pollution because it has tremendous health consequences.  Plastic is bad when it’s wasteful.  And, I would argue that adherence to regulation is what makes our country the best.  Unregulated pollutants does impact our lives as much as chemicals near a water facility impacts our health.  Sometimes (not always) regulation is needed and the fact that we enforce that because we have strong laws, means that we’ll always be competitive because the best of the best want to come here and live and work.  Of course we have controls in place.  If we didn’t then we would be living in a place with no accountability.”

 

“ Europe is not doing just fine.  Paris had rioting in the streets to combat the overreaching of government in the name of “protecting Mother Earth”.  Companies cannot afford the alternative to plastic.  When an entrepreneurial person creates a cheap, and just as convenient alternative to plastic, then a switch can be made.  Obviously, some regulation is needed but the degree is the issue, banning plastic straws and disallowing restaurants from serving meat for a manufactured crisis is overstep.  I don’t think we’re growing just fine, our debt & spending is increasing at the same rate as revenue; that’s unsustainable. “

 

“ Meh, that’s the same argument they used when they got rid of child labor and slave labor.  They’ll be fine.  I’ve made you into an environmentalist!”

 

“ No, your argument is the same one HIlter used when he wanted the German speaking section of Czechoslavakia.  Both your God, AOC and Hitler have the same end game.”

 

“ Stop watching Fox news I beg you.”

 

“ Every slave owner at the time of the Civil War was a Democrat.  It is no surprise the same party of slavery is the party of environmentalism.  I don’t watch Fox News ever since they fired Bill O’Reilly.”

“ We can’t make everyone an enemy who disagrees with us and call them Hitler.  There’s no one like Hitler in this country.  We’re not talking about mass extermination of an entire people.  Every time people equate regular Americans to Hitler I shake my head.  It’s too much of a vile quip.  Party doesn’t matter with slavery.  What matters is if you recognize it’s wrong.  I have a lot of Republican friends who struggle to reach that conclusion because of the economy.”

“ Child labor laws I actually am against.  My friend grew up really poor & he wanted to get a job to help his mom out.  He had to petition the state of Ohio so he could work but he was delayed.  If kids want to work, let them work” Kera slapped her head but Fanis was undeterred and carried on “ It’s not a struggle, it’s very consistent with conservative thought.  Freedom is key; you should be free to work or not work.  That makes forced labor AKA slavery wrong.  Socialism has caused mass killings everywhere it’s been tried.  You can shake your head as much as you want but history backs me up.  It always starts with ;little things.’  You’re right; Hitler only killed 6 million people.  Communism has killed 50 Million.  No comparison.”

“ Having accessible education to all economic groups is a good thing because we like an educated society.  Having people fed is a good thing.  Having a society of health people is what gives us a productive working population that in turn becomes a large group of consumers.  Infrastructure is a good thing. These are all for the betterment of society.  A civilized society.  Making these basic things accessible to people at all income levels only helps society.  And in turn, helps our economy. We have a large middle class because Roosevelt didn’t just say “Oh Well” and give up after the Depression.  You should learn from these dire moments in history and make sure we have universal access to help when help is needed.  The US has always been capitalist, but also realistic.  You need these social concepts and supports in place as a crutch.  Don’t worry we can all still make lots of money here.”

“ Education: are you in favor of Charter Schools?  Fed: Again, it’s a question of degree not yes or no.  A safety net is good, a disincentive to work (Europe’s problem) bad.  Healthy People: It is not the responsibility of the government to be parents.  If people want to be unhealthy, that’s their prerogative.  Oh, you’re saying health insurance.  Health: private sector more efficient than public (always) a third of government spending on health is too much (again degree) I think you get government out.  Treat doctors like lawyers, if you do pro-bono work, it’s tax deductible.  Let hospitals and doctors use their greed to help the poor in order to get tax breaks.

“ Mosquitoes have killed billions.  These are not equateable.  What killed more doesn’t detract from the fact that Hitler should not be used to compare reps.  We’re not that guy.  I hear you but we can’t just have an entire sector of society dying.  It’s an economic nightmare.  We need a working population.  We spend too much on health care because private companies that really manipulate pricing in this country.  That topic would need some expertise I just don’t have.”

“ FDR turned a recession into the Great Depression by slaughtering six million pigs and subsidizing sugar so that food was expensive.  Result people couldn’t afford to eat and massive starvation.”

“ I’m a huge public school advocate but I wouldn’t stop people from sending kids to charter schools.”

 

“ A return to free market rules post WWII got us the recovery.  Okay, good we agree Charter Schools aren’t bad.”

Kera laughed “we are not a free market.  I never said they weren’t bad, just wouldn’t stop people from using them.  I have to jump into a meeting we’ll pick this up next time!”

 

“ If FDR said ‘oh well’ after 1929 Stock Market crash, there never would’ve been a Great Depression.  Mosquitoes kill billions because 3^rd world countries can’t afford the alternative to DDT, which was banned due to a book by an environmentalist named Sarah, who did no testing.  There has been no evidence DDT kills birds.  You made my point, environmentalists lead to mass murders.  Enjoy your meeting.”

Kera left the room after that and Fanis watched TV.   It was a stressful day in Cuba but they were back home safe and that always meant a successful mission.