Nouno the Vigilante Episode 26 Universality of Sports

                Richard Hernandez Cruz is in high school in Fairfax, Virginia.  Like many kids his age, he is active in sports.  Also similarly to many boys his age from foreign descent, he plays soccer.  With his boyish good look and his being an athlete, it wasn’t hard for him to find a girlfriend.  He was dating another girl that liked running around with tough crowds as the security of a man that could take care of her extended to physically as well as financially or emotionally.  When he first met his girlfriend, she wasn’t the petite hourglass shaped girl that is popular in America.  Hispanic women tended to enjoy their curves and if their losing weight caused them to lose form in the chest and backside, then they threw away their diets to get their curves back.  Originally, she thought that that’s what attracted Richard to her but as they talked and she realized he was a health nut and a gym rat, she learned that he preferred the American version of girls.  Who knew how damaging this would become for both of them. 

                During their relationship, Richard’s girlfriend would lose 45 pounds to give her that petite look that Richard craved.  Richard, however, was not the only man showing her attention.  Armando Dogoberty Reyes was significantly older than Leslie, Richard’s girlfriend.  For most 27-year-olds, a 16-year-old girl was someone to avoid a relationship with.  In Armando’s native country of El Salvador, however, it is much more common as statutory laws are non-existent both in culture or in country.  Armando had entered the country illegally and had joined a gang with other Salvadorians.  He was pretty impulsive and enjoyed his power of having people that would back him up to take whatever he wanted by force.  He had known Leslie and when he saw her on the street, he remarked, “Damn girl, what happened to your curves!”

                “My boyfriend doesn’t like that shit”

                “What the fuck is wrong with your man?”

                “Nothing, he treats me right.  He’s in school and is in shape so he wants me to be healthy too.”

                “Girl, that’s some black magic shit he’s using on you.”

                “I don’t believe in that”

                “It doesn’t matter whether you believe in it or not, it’s there anyway.  It’s actually easier for him to use it on you because you don’t believe in it so you don’t know what he’s doing.  You’re just too young and stupid.  You need a real man to take care of this problem for you.”

                “I’ll be fine.”

                Leslie walked away thinking that Armando was just another guy catcalling her on the street. When Armando didn’t follow, Leslie put the encounter out of his mind.  Armando, however did not.

                Richard had just played a game of soccer and was heading home.  He was a little worn out and sore but felt good to get the exercise in and hang out with his friends.  While walking, Armando approached him and called out, “I don’t recognize those colors, who you with?”

                Richard knew what he was getting it, “No man, I’m not in a gang. I’m still in high school and just trying to get home.”

                It was a nice day in Virginia, so Richard thought the baseball bat that Armando was carrying was from playing a game.  Although stick ball is normally the sport played in Latin countries, the conversion to baseball comes naturally to them.  After all, when you practice with a smaller bat and ball, using a baseball bat and baseball seems like chld’s play.  This is one reason why the major leagues have so many Hispanic players.  Armando challenged back, “There are a lot of high school kids in gangs.”

                “Yea, I know but I’m not one of them.”

                “Don’t you fucking lie to me boy.”

                “I’m not.”

                The conversation took a devastating turn as Armando hit Reyes in the stomach with the baseball bat. Richard keeled over and dropped to a knee sucking wind.  Armando put the baseball bat on his head and explained, “That’s for lying to me.”

                Richard blurted out weakly, “For real, I’m not.”

                A fist came across his face sending Richard to the ground horizontally.  Armando stomped on his chest and flattened him on his back, “That was for using black magic on Leslie”

                Richard gave him a confused expression but couldn’t reply fast enough before Armando started stomping his midsection.  Richard rolled to his side to try to shield him from Armando but the kicks and stomps just came at his back instead.  They were in a park so trees shielded their view from anyone seeing from the street.  Armando had time.  Unfortunately, he also had other toys to play with.  As Armando turned, he saw concrete blocks.  He walked over to them and hoisted it up and smashed them against Richard’s body repeatedly.  When he tired with that, he went back to the bat slamming it down on Richard’s body from his head to his toes.  Richard had long been unconscious so he was no longer reacting to the blows.  Normally, this would cause an assailant to stop as beating on an unresponsive victim takes the enjoyment out of it.  Unfortunately, for Richard, Armando wasn’t one of them.  He reached under his shirt to his side and pulled out a machete that he always carried.  He hacked Richard several times killing him. 

                As Armando tired, he returned his machete to the holster and took out his cell phone.  He called his friend Cesar Antonio Ochoa Carillo and exclaimed, “Yo Cesar, I need you help in the park”

                “I’m on my way.”

                Armando knew how hard it was to dispose of a body.  He thought he may need more backup so he made another call to his friend Dorteo E Diaz Martinez, “Dorteo, what are you doing now?”

                “Nothing”

                “I got a little problem in the park.  I need you to help me take care of it.”

                “Alright, I’ll be right there.”

                When they arrived with shovels, Armando knew that his message was received correctly. The three of them buried the body and as gang violence was common place, they went on with their lives as if nothing happened. 

 

                On the other side of the country, in Arizona, Nouno and his wife Abby are in their pool enjoying the hot weather.  Abby calls out, “Do you know who Viktor Pinchuk is?”

                “Yes, he is a major donor to the Clinton Foundation.  One of the largest why?”

“They’re saying he’s linked to Trump.”

“He’s a billionaire that owns a company called inter-pipe.  I don’t know if it’s a metal company or an energy company or both but anyway, he’s got a shitload of money.  He was sanctioned by the United States for sending oil to Iran in defiance of US Sanctions.”

“Okay, so how is he tied to Trump?”

“Rich people will hedge their bets and give to both campaigns so that they may help them if they become president.  He gave Trump a nominal amount; it might have only been like five figures.  To the Clinton foundation, however, he gave her $25 Million.”

“Ah so it’s pretty clear where his allegiance lies.”

“Right”

“Or he was just that sure that Hillary would win.  I mean, a lot of us were.”

“I would agree with you but Hillary invited him to a dinner at her house and offered to send Chelsea to Ukraine to meet up with him.”

“Oh, well then yea, I guess he is a Clinton guy.”

“He’s Ukrainian too, I’m not sure I said that.  He was on the board of the Atlantic Counsel”

“Everything always comes back to that.  That’s where Burisma’s CEO had a position.  They just keep coming up with these Ukrainian collusion stories.”

“Yes, suffice it to say it’s an anti-Republican corrupt organization.”

“Being anti-Republican doesn’t make you corrupt”

“True but it does if the US felt the need to issue sanctions against you.”

“Let’s put a pin in this.  We have a case.”

“If his name is coming up, something must be coming out.  I’m going to have to look into this.  Where are we going?”

“Fairfax, Virginia”

“What’s the case?”

“This guy who made his girlfriend lose 45 pounds for him….”

“I know I agreed that you pick the cases with no questions asked but seriously?  I’m putting my foot down on this one.  We’re not killing a guy for making his girlfriend lose 45 pounds.  She should just dump him if she doesn’t like it.  And if she is okay with it, then good for her.”

“Well, if you didn’t interrupt me and actually listened, you would’ve heard me finish the sentence with ‘was killed.”

“Who killed him?”

“A Salvadorian gang member beat him with a machete, concrete blocks, a baseball bat and stomped the shit out of him.”

“MS13?”

“Doesn’t say.”

“MS13 usually uses machetes”

“Alright, maybe it is. Who cares?”

”I don’t.  He is a violent murderer that the justice system won’t do anything about because they don’t want to appear insensitive to illegals.  Is he illegal?”

“Yes, he is undocumented.”

“Never ceases to amaze me that you’re okay with targeting him and killing him but using the politically incorrect term is appalling to you.”

“Hey hey hey, just because we’re killing him, doesn’t mean we have to be rude about it.”

Theo shook his head.  They booked the flight and headed to Virginia.  While on the plane, Nouno declared, “Ah, I found out why Pinchuk is coming up?”

“Why?”

“He met with a Ukrainian lawmaker named Olga Bielkova.”

“Why do we care about that?”

“Well, this Ukrainian parliamentarian just happened to have come to the United States to meet with David Kramer.”

“Again, refresh my memory.”

“David Kramer was the staffer for John McCain that took the dossier that was given to McCain and walked it over to the DOJ.  This was the catalyst to make the FBI believe the information because now it came from a Republican so it had bipartisan support.”

“Oh God, yea I know this part.  They sent the dossier to all these people to give to the FBI and DOJ and then leaked it to the press so that the DOJ and FBI thought it was coming from multiple sources and they didn’t need to verify it but it was really all from the same source.” Abby’s tone was mocking

Ignoring her tone, Nouno rejoined, “That’s exactly right but it gets worse.  During Bielkova’s stay in the lovely Washington D.C., she met with a former National Security Council (NSC) member Eric Ciaramella who, despite his name, is also Ukrainian.  He just happened to resign from the NSC because he was afraid of death threats.”

“It’s been three years, just drop it.  Nothing will ever come out of it.”

“I do agree with that.  Despite the IG report coming out soon, I think it’ll be a dud just like the last one that conservatives got so excited about.  Dan Bongino kept telling us it wasn’t a nothing burger since it said, ‘we cannot rule our bias in Comey’s decision to prioritize the Trump Russian collusion case over the Hillary E-mail case.’  Whoa, that really buried Comey! Bongino went on to explain that IG reports are never explicitly damning and that is how damning it gets.  If that’s true, then I’m not too hopeful about this.”

“So stop talking about McCain, he’s dead.  Stop living in the past and just think presently or future.”

“If you don’t know your history, you’re doomed to repeat it.  Look at all these assholes that believe communism is good.  It’s because they don’t know the history that communism has failed everywhere it’s tried and it’s not because of the leaders but it’s because of the system.  Knowing the past makes you better equipped for the future.”

“Whatever”

“Not whatever.  Since I know the past, I know that it’s awfully fishy that the Ukrainian post published an article quoting Olga Bielkova as articulating, ‘Biden’s candidacy would be good news for Ukraine.’  Also, interesting about present times based on the history I just told you is that it’s widely believed that Eric Ciaramella is the whistleblower.”

“Wait, that means that someone that is meeting with a Ukrainian Parliamentarian, someone that makes the laws in Ukraine.  This same woman meets with a big Clinton foundation donor and is sanctioned by the United States for helping Iran.  If he’s the Whistleblower then he may be doing Hillary’s bidding.”

“Bingo, see what happens when you know history.”

“Or, you know, it’s three degrees of separation and is just circumstantial and means jack shit.”

“A little coincidental that the guy that made a scandal about hearing from someone who heard a phone call between President Trump and new Ukrainian president Zelensky is tied to people who colluded with Ukraine to help Hillary Clinton.  Ideally, you want your whistleblower to be non-partisan and have no ties to Ukraine.  He just heard some troubling information.”

“Well, you can’t always get the ideal.”Abby was doing research of her own.  She continued, “Ha, look e-mails show that Clinton denied she met with Victor Pinchuk.  Also, her campaign spokesman, Nick Merrill says that Clinton never met him and was never even on her schedule.”

Nouno stared at Abby’s face of victory but he was smiling with a look of cockiness.  He turned his phone towards her and pronounced, “That’s odd, because what do you think this is?”

Abby takes the phone and looks down at an invitation written from the Clinton foundation inviting Victor Pinchuk to a dinner at her home.  Her shoulders slumped, “Well, I’m sure she has many soirees at her house.”

“Wouldn’t a good host greet her guests?  Or, you know, doesn’t someone want to know who’s coming to their house?”

“Fine, they probably have met but that doesn’t mean she colluded.”

“Do you have anything remotely similar about Donald Trump with any Russians or Ukrainians?”

“No but I don’t follow this as closely as you.”

“Well, as closely as I follow it, I don’t got anything either.”

The plane lands and they check into their hotel to drop off their stuff.  Afterwards, they canvas the area looking for crematoriums.  That night, Abby hacks into Armando’s social media page.  While she does that, Armando turns on the TV. Although anger comes easy to him and doesn’t hesitate when he goes for the kill, he does think it’s better to get himself riled up and angry as they prepare.  To do this, he watches mainstream media.  He turns on CNN and sees Chuck Todd interviewing Rand Paul.  Rand Paul brings up how he’s concerned how Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election by meeting with Democrats and Republicans and it needs to be stopped and discouraged.  Before Nouno can get angry that Paul threw in the Republicans to shield himself from the leftist mob, Chuck Todd expresses in an appalled tone, “I’m sure the Republicans want to gaslight people into thinking Democrats colluded with Russians but…”

Theo cried out, “There a leftist goes again, accusing Republicans of what they do.  It’s pretty much a confession at this point.  That proves that all the left does is gaslight that Republicans colluded with Ukraine or Russia or whatever country they think now.”

“That seems like the older version of ‘I know you are but what am I.’”

“Except when I say it, I’m right.  When they say it, they’re lying. Besides they started the ‘I know you are but what am I.  Is that not what Chuck Todd just said?”

“Started it?”

“How many times do I have to tell you men don’t mature past the age of 12?”

“It just baffles me but you’re right, you have told me this before.”

Nouno changes the channel and sees Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press.  He’s interviewing Biden and asks him about the bevy of corruption and nepotism with Ukraine.  Biden replies that he never talked to his son about Burisma or any of his deals.  Then, in a power move to make him feel important, he mentions that he only talks to CEO’s.  Nouno blurts out, “Yea, you met with the CEO Devon Archer in order to get your son on the board at Burisma.  That’s exactly what we’re claiming.”

Nouno changes the channel again as listening to Biden’s smugness bothers him.  He’s surprised to turn it to ABC and sees Hunter Biden being interviewed. He listens in intently as Hunter had been missing in action during this whole scandal.  Hunter denies talking to his dad about Ukraine.  Within two questions, he states that “My dad told me that he hopes I know what I’m doing, and I told him I do.”

Nouno asks the TV, “Why would he say that if you never told him you were on the board at Burisma? Isn’t that talking about Burisma with your dad?  Something needed to elicit that response.”

                As the interview continues, Hunter is put on the spot on if he was ever hired because of his last name.  Hunter, in a rare show of honesty, admits that there are a lot of things that wouldn’t have happened if he last name wasn’t ‘Biden.”

                Nouno calls out, “And that is our point.  Your dad traded access to the president and United States favorable policy in exchange for high paying jobs for you that you weren’t qualified for.”

                “He says he was.”

                “But doesn’t back it up and admits he had no energy experience when he was named as a board member of the largest energy company in Ukraine.”

                “Everyone has gotta start somewhere.”

                “Right but it’s almost never a board member.”

                “I know I’m just being a punk.”

                “Well punk, riddle me this.  If Hunter’s dealings with Burisma is so legitimate than why are they so secretive about it?  Why are they hiding it?  Why would Burisma invite him to be on the board if it wasn’t in exchange for access to Joe?”

                “I don’t know but I do know everything about where Armando hangs out.  Now we need to make a plan.”

                Apparently it wasn’t coincidence that Armando was in the park as he frequents it a lot.  Nouno heads to the park and knows Armando is going to show up soon.  He has a bottle of tequila with him and when Armando walks by him, he calls out in Spanish, “hey Amigo, come celebrate with me.”

                “What are we celebrating?”

                “I got a raise today.  Here take a shot with me.  That’s all I ask.”

                “I never turn down a free drink but I’m not sure how great it is to be sucking on the tit of a boss.  You need to make your own dough man.”

                “I’ll drink to that”

                Nouno poured a shot of tequila and handed it to Armando before pouring himself one.  They clinked glasses and Armando waited for Nouno to drink his first.  As he did, Armando downed his own glass tilting his head back.  When he tilted it forward, however, it was right into a waiting syringe by Nouno. Nouno eased Armando onto the bench and put the tequila in a backpack he brought.  He put Armando’s arm over his shoulder and pretended he was helping a drunk man to his car.  Abby was waiting in the driver’s seat and when Armando was packed in they headed toward the motel.  When Armando woke up he started screaming Spanish obscenities.  Nouno responded in Spanish, “Why do you guys always do that?  Do you really think I’m going to let you go because you call my mom a whore?”

                “What else do you want me to say?”

                “How about that you’re sorry for killing a 16-year-old kid because you thought he put black magic on a girl.”

                “He was in a rival gang.”

                “Which one?” Nouno fired back knowing the answer

                “Not sure, he didn’t tell me.”

                “That’s odd; people normally love representing their colors.”

                “I didn’t recognize them.”

                “That’s because they weren’t colors you Puta Madre.  He wasn’t in a gang.  Didn’t you see the news reports about him?  Why would they lie?  You didn’t even have the decency to see the news coverage of your deed?”

                “The news is gullible man.  I mean they believe that US ambassador to the EU about Trump”

                “Gordan Sondland?  You think he lied about Trump telling him that there was no quid pro quo?  You have a problem that he took him at his word on that?  I mean, Sondland was also in a face to face meeting with the Ukrainian president the day after the phone call and he also said there was no quid pro quo.  Was he lying too?”

                “There’s a five hour delay between the text to Sondland about the quid pro quo.”

                “Yea from Bill Taylor right.  Funny how damning his texts are.  It clearly says exactly what the whistleblower alleges and when the Democrats reported on it, they didn’t bother to include the response, which is always assuring him that it was a lie and never happened and an invitation to talk more about it.  Usually when people are lying, they don’t want to talk more about it on the phone when they have to react.”

                “Exactly, it took him five hours to react”

                “Because Sondland had to confirm by calling the president.  He needed time.  Or he was just busy for those five hours.  There are a lot of explanations.  Maybe he was at a baseball game….probably not.  Maybe he was in a club and couldn’t hear his phone with the music.”

                “I think you made your point but it doesn’t matter, they’re going to impeach Trump.”

                “That’s weird too.  I mean they threw Matt Gaetz out of the impeachment hearing.”

                “It’s grand jury testimony.  Grand Juries are secret.  He doesn’t leave office if they vote yes.”

                “Impeachment and indictment are two different things.  All two and half previous impeachments; Johnson, Clinton and, the half since he resigned, Nixon, took a vote of the entire House of Representatives and it was public.”

                “This one is different.”

                “No, precedents mean something.  Let’s pretend that you’re right.  Even if it was a grand jury, people are never kicked off a grand jury for their political leanings.  You’re supposed to get a bipartisan staff so even if it was like a grand jury, it still doesn’t makes sense they kicked Gaetz out.”

                “Yo man, I’m not from this country.  I don’t know.”

                “Just as how Democrats kicked Gaetz out of the impeachment inquiry, I’m’ going to kick you out of the realm of the living” Nouno uttered as he jammed a knife into Armando’s chest. 

                Nouno and Abby wrapped the body and brought it to the crematorium and set up the machine.  As they loaded Armando into it they turned around and headed out.  They would return in a couple hours to clean out the machine and discard the ashes and bones.  When they returned, Abby queried, “I don’t want you to get really into it like you normally do.  Just answer me if you ever think this is just a conspiracy theory.  I mean the collusion hoax is so elaborate with so many different angles; I’m not surprised so many people fell for it.  What if the conservatives are doing the same thing?”

                “If they are, then why is Marie Yovanovitch monitoring conservative journalists and Trump supporters that are speaking out against the Democrats colluding with Russia and Ukraine?”

                “Who’s that?”

                “She was the ambassador to Ukraine for the United States until president Trump recalled her.  By the way, the second in charge at the US embassy in Ukraine was Bill Taylor, the dude sending all the revealing texts.”

                “But why do you think those texts are a set up and Strzok and Page’s aren’t?”

                “Page and Strzok’s texts are in code.  They don’t explicitly say anything.  People are ‘Katie’s husband’ and ‘Charli’ is used to describe any informant who may or may not be named ‘Charlie.’  The text about the White House wants to know what we’re doing but doesn’t actually say what the ‘what’ is.  Compare all that to Taylor’s text that explicitly mentions withholding military aid in order to investigate Biden.  Throws in how frightened and crazy it is.  Nothing is left to interpretation or guesswork, it’s stated plainly.”

                Abby sighed, “You always have an answer.”

                “That’s not a bad thing.”

                “So how was the US ambassador to Ukraine monitoring people?”

                “She asked Ukraine to monitor Dan Bongino, Mark Levin, Sarah Carter…”

                “So not even politicians or people in power but journalists and commentators.”

                “Well, Donald Trump Jr. was on there too.”

                “He’s not a politician; his dad is just the president.  I guess he’s like Hunter Biden.”

                “Except we have an allegation for what Hunter Biden did and are investigating the crime.  That’s how the justice system is supposed to work.  You investigate crimes not people.  In this case, you investigate money laundering and strange money transfers of a Ukrainian energy company.  In doing that, you find it lands into the bank account of Hunter Biden, then you are suspicious of Hunter Biden.   Whereas here, nobody alleges a crime from anyone.  This is what happened in Stalnist Russia.”

                “You’re being hyperbolic”

                “Unfortunately, I don’t think I am.”

                The next day, Nouno and Abby boarded a plane and went back to Arizona.  On the plane, Abby poses, “What do you think of your boy Lebron now?”

                Nouno grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and considers June 19, 2016 the greatest day of his life when he watched his team win their first ever NBA championship.  Although he credits Kyrie Irving more for finally hitting the shot to break the seemingly endless 89-89 tie, he knows it’s ridiculous to claim that Lebron James wasn’t the biggest factor.  In Cleveland, they point to ‘the block and the shot’ meaning Lebron James’ block as he chased down Stephen Curry and blocked his layup attempt toward the end of the game as well as Kyrie’s shot.  Nouno points to just the shot.  It was this joy that made Nouno accepting when Lebron decided to move to LA in order to build his brand and try to become a billionaire.  Though what Abby was talking about had nothing to do with basketball.  Even though Nouno loved Lebron for giving him that joy, he was honest for everyone.  That is why he responded, “He did it to himself.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “Well, you can’t go around saying that injustice anywhere affects people everywhere and then chastise Daryl Morey for supporting Hong Kong as the Chinese oppress them.”

                “You have to understand that Nike has a lot of shops in China.  Lebron has a $1 Billion deal with Nike so if China gets pissed at them, it’s money out of his pocket.”

                “I get that so just don’t say anything.  Be like, ‘look I’m here to play basketball.  Morey can say what he wants but for me, I’m staying out of it.’  Instead, he attacked Morey by calling him uneducated on the situation at hand and calling him selfish.  Morey doesn’t benefit at all from the comments he made.  The only people who may benefit are the people suffering injustice in Hong Kong at the hands of the Chinese.  It’s not selfish at all.”

                “Well, he did it in a week where the NBA was in China.  Lebron’s point was he could have waited a week.”

                “Real social justice warriors don’t do it when it’s convenient.  Of course you do it then because China is a topic since the NBA is there.  If the NBA wasn’t there, nobody would be asking NBA players about China.  If he waited a week, it would have been cowardly.”

                “He’s just saying be careful with your tweets.”

                “That goes for Lebron too.  Lebron comes off like a hypocrite because whereas Morey’s comments will not help him financially, Lebron attacking Morey is solely because Lebron may lose money over it.  Lebron is the one speaking out of selfishness.  He’s really big on perceived injustice in America but doesn’t seem to care about actual injustice in China so long as it doesn’t affect his billion dollar deal with Nike.”

                “A lot of people not just Lebron, could be hurt financially for what Morey did.”

                “Next season, Lebron will make $37 Million with the Lakers.  That’s in addition to his Nike deal.  Yes, a lot of people have business ties to companies that do business in China.  I, however, don’t feel bad for them that they are losing money in order to try to get China to stop forcefully grabbing the organs from their detainees and harvesting them.  It may be inconvenient to the millionaires but these people need back up and they are struggling a lot more than the athletes endorsed by companies with shops in China.”

                “The NBA called a meeting.”

                “Yea, and my man Kyrie said he’s rather not play than have to answer questions about international conflicts and issues.”

                “I think Lebron asked why he was being asked about China anyway.”

                “People are going to ask.  It’s how you respond that’s key.  Lebron should know how to avoid a question by now.”

                “They’re burning Lebron jerseys in Hong Kong.”

                “So what?  Cleveland burned Lebron jerseys when he went to Miami too.”

                “I think Lebron regrets it that’s why the players are trying to say they just want to focus on basketball.”

                “Yea well they did it to themselves.  Remember how pissed Steve Kerr, Chris Paul, Lebron James and others got when Laura Ingraham told him ‘shut up and dribble?’  They were so mad they made a movie with that title talking about how athletes need to use their platforms to speak out against injustice everywhere.  You know, unless it hurts your sponsor deals.”

                “I bet they’re wishing they listened to Ingraham now.”

                “Looks like it.”

                They land in Arizona and go back to their house.  Luckily, it was a late flight so it was night time when they got home.  The cross country flight took a lot out of them so they went right to sleep.  They knew they would have to get into the normal routine before another case came calling.