Fanis and his cousin Kera are in
Kera’s flat in London watching TV.
Yesterday was Election Day in American though it’s an off election so
it’s not going to get much attention from most people. Kera and Fanis are both US citizens of New
York and voted through absentee ballots.
The New York elections were pretty boring as most seats didn’t even have
a Republican running and the initiatives were based on term limits and more
government positions for low level things.
It was definitely not something to get passionate about. Across the Hudson River, New Jersey was
voting on whether to restrict Air BNB by making it more difficult for people to
buy apartments they don’t live in specifically to rent out on Air BNB. The measure passed so now it will be harder
to get an Air BNB in New Jersey.
Some elections, however, are
interesting. The reason they are in
London is that Kera is an international Chinese art dealer and London is more
centrally located on a world stage than New York. Since she had become quite established, she
was in need of a bodyguard and Fanis she knew could be counted on to drop his
life for her but, and more importantly, would never betray her. He was loyal to a fault. The results are in and now it was time for
debates. Kera proclaims, “Oh shit Matt
Bevin lost in Kentucky. Kentucky has a
Democrat governor now.”
“He hasn’t conceded yet. It’s only 5,000 votes, that’s nothing.”
“How many times have these
revotes and refusals to concede twenty four hours from the vote led to the
person trailing winning?”
“I don’t recall any of them.”
“Exactly. It’s over”
“I agree, he lost.”
“That’s huge. Trump won Kentucky by 20 points in 2016.”
“I’m not so sure if that means
that Kentucky is going blue in 2020. I
mean there were five other seats up for grab and the Republicans won those by
at least 15 points.”
“They elected a black Attorney
General. It’s the first time a black guy
has won a state election. It’s blue
now.”
“Cameron, the black guy who won
the Kentucky Attorney General, is a Republican.”
Kera looked it up and seemed
perplexed, “Well….alright fine.”
“Cameron got more votes than
Bevin. Usually the top ticket gets more
votes than the bottom people since a lot of people just leave those blank.”
“I don’t know if that’s true or
not but what’s your point?”
“It just seems like it’s a
problem with Bevin”
“Trump held a rally supporting
him.”
“Okay, so that’s the first time
that Trump lost. He was 8-0 in the
midterms with Senators. He won in
Mississippi and in Dallas but he lost this one in Kentucky.”
Kera wasn’t really listening as
she was trying to research Bevin. She
made a disgusted noise and stated, “This dude’s a dumbass”
“Are you just saying that
because he’s a Republican?”
“No, he went after teachers for
striking,”
“Well, it could have been
legitimate.”
“A girl was shot and he blamed
the teachers saying that if they weren’t striking then the girl would have been
in school so wouldn’t have been shot”
“Oh, yea, that’s pretty bad.”
“Yea.”
“There you go then. He attacked
teachers and people like teachers. It’s
a problem with him not Republicans.”
“Maybe”
“Yea, that’s what I’m saying
too. I know I grew up in Ohio but Ohio
and Kentucky are nothing alike.”
“I’ll take your word for
it. The highest office in the state is a
Democrat. You can’t tell me that doesn’t
indicate something’s turning.”
“Illinois, Maryland and
Massachusetts recently or currently have Republican governors. Are those red states now?”
“Touche”
“State wide elections aren’t
indicative of national elections.”
“Not sure if we can make that
sweeping statement.”
“I thought I put forth a pretty
good argument for it.”
“Yea but you don’t see anything
with the Republicans. Winning in
Mississippi doesn’t really impress me.”
“They picked up some legislative
districts in New Jersey.”
“Alright, that is something,
I’ll give you that. You got to give me
Virginia as a major win.”
“Yes, I will, the Republicans
got routed in Virginia but it seems that all the Californians that left
California for Texas aren’t voting what they ran from since they passed the ban
to increase tax rates.”
“Pennsylvania and Delaware suburbs
went to Democrats; some for the first time in a long time.”
‘Yea, suburbs aren’t doing very
well for the Republicans. Not really
sure why.”
“Anyway, get some sleep. Tomorrow we’re heading out.”
“Where to?”
“Interlaken, Switzerland.”
“Oh nice, are we laundering
money.”
“Nah, Switzerland is no longer
the laundering money hub it used to be.
Now it’s more the Cayman Islands.
In Europe, Cyprus is a good hub.”
“Especially since we’re Greek so
it’s like going back to our home country.”
“Exactly.”
Kera said all this with a
devious smile on her face to make it seem like she was joking but given the
nature of her business, Fanis wondered how much of it was an act. It’s possible she was dead serious and was
very familiar with how to launder money.”
The next day they headed out and
boarded the plane to Switzerland. While
on the plane, Fanis looked up Project Veritas as he always found their videos
interesting. There was an ABC journalist
named Amy Robach who was complaining because three years ago she had hard
evidence about Bill Clinton and Alan Dirschowitz engaging in scandalous
activity aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s plane and on his island. Robach goes on the say that she doesn’t
believe for a second that Epstein killed himself. The thing that stuck out the most was the she
had uncovered blackmail in her investigation.
The ABC higher ups, however, forced her to scrap the story. They mentioned that Princess Kate and Prince
Andrew wouldn’t let them access if they ran with the story. Fanis told all this to Kera.
Kera responded, “I highly doubt
Kate Middleton would be okay with Prince Andrew doing anything with Epstein.”
“You don’t think she’s cool
enough to let him go to strip clubs and stuff?”
“Strip clubs are one thing but
Epstein had underage girls on his plane with Bill Clinton. I think Kate draws the line at Pedophilia.”
“I heard that the planes and the
islands have heavy surveillance.”
“Oh, so Epstein liked watching? What a sick a fuck.”
“Oh no, allegedly the cameras
aren’t Epstein’s”
Kera had a shocked expression on
her face as it started setting in. “The
blackmail she’s talking about may not be Epstein blackmailing but other people
that had videos.”
“It’s possible. Maybe that’s what was on Anthony Winer’s
e-mails.”
“Did she say anything about the
suicide?”
“Just that the report a couple
weeks earlier that he was roughed around the neck she believes to be just to
plant a seed of doubt. She has no doubt
they killed him.”
“Well, we’ll see how this plays
out.”
“Yea, I just hate that the
mainstream media has no problem running with fake Kavanaugh and Covington kids
but refuse to touch Epstein.”
“Much more powerful people with
Epstein.”
“That’s not supposed to scare
the journalists”
“Yet it does.”
“Given how much they attack the
most powerful man in the world; President Trump. No, I don’t buy that either.”
Interlaken, Switzerland is a
small town in the middle of the Alps near the Italian border. Its scenic snow capped mountains, lakes and
canyons make it a popular spot for skiers and snowboarders as well as extreme
sports. They have the second highest
bungee jump into water as well as gorgeous lakes and fields where people can go
skydiving both out of planes and helicopters as well as hang glide or
paraglide. They check into the hotel and
Kera and Fanis immediately go for a walk to take in the view. Although you’re about a two hour drive from
Zurich, Interlaken is still a good place to visit. As they tour around, they find people
advertizing extreme sledding. Fanis and
Kera look at each other and decide they’re going to give it a try thinking they
would channel their inner child. What
they quickly find out is that this is not your childhood sledding hills. Whereas in America, they ensure safety by
making sure the course is clear. They do
not do that in Switzerland. As your sled
is darting down there may be a tree that had recently fallen to block the
path. You either hop out of the sled and
roll down the hill or you catapult into it and see what the laws of physics do
to you. It is an amazing experience and
Kera and Fanis play in the snow. Given
that it’s done at night, it adds to the adventure.
They returned to the hotel in
good spirits with their jackets covered in snow. Kera had to prepare for her meeting the next
day but sledding had invigorated Fanis.
He found out they were near a casino so he went to the casino to play
some craps. It didn’t take long for
people to realize he was American. He
ended up making small talk with them and celebrating the highs and managing the
lows. The lows actually were what
impressed Fanis the most as they didn’t get as down as people do in other
casinos. The Swiss are the nicest people
that Fanis had ever seen and he had been to 38 countries. Craps ended up going really well as Fanis won
the equivalent of 600 American Dollars.
Afterwards, he was at a bar drinking with people he met at the craps
table. He was with a man named
Liam. Liam asked, “Your ambassador to
the EU was just testifying on your Capitol Hill.”
“Yea, it’s a witch hunt. His name is Gordon Sondland.”
“Yes, we know him. US representatives are very popular in
Europe.”
“I would think that’s especially
true for the EU ambassador.”
“Yes, I heard that he confirmed
what the Democrats were saying.”
“That’s a lie. He said that he presumed the aid to Ukraine
was contingent on anti-corruption attempts.”
Liam noticed that Fanis
emphasized the word ‘presumed’ he asked, “What does ‘presume’ mean?”
“Guess, didn’t know for sure.”
“Ah, yea that’s not confirming
anything.”
“Later in the testimony he said
that President Trump told him ‘I want nothing.
I want no quid pro quo. I want
Zelensky to do the right thing.’
Shocking that the media and Democrats left that part out.”
“That does seem pretty
important.”
“I don’t even think Sondland
knew much about Ukraine and Burisma anyway.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He didn’t know who Mykola
Zlochevsky was.”
“Don’t want to sound stupid but
I don’t know who that is either.”
“You’re not being questioned as
an expert in Ukrainian affairs.”
“No, I am not.”
“Zlochevsky is the owner of
Burisma. He’s the one they were
investigating mostly for corruption.”
“Not Biden’s son”
“Well, they were looking at the
money that Zlochevsky agreed to pay Hunter Biden. Also, why did he hire Biden to be on the
board of the largest Ukrainian energy company when he had no experience in
energy?”
“That makes sense.”
“That was another thing that was
wrong about Sondland’s testimony. He
claims not to know that Hunter Biden worked for Burisma until the media
reported it recently.”
“And that’s the guy they call as
an expert to what happened?” Liam posed incredulously.
Fanis looks at his watch and
realizes that it’s 3:00AM. He shakes
Liam’s hand and tells him he needs to go home.
Liam shakes his hand and thanks him for the conversation and Fanis
returns it. He then goes back to the
hotel and falls asleep quickly knowing that he’s not going to have much sleep
the next day.
The following day, Kera goes to
her meeting to negotiate a deal. Fanis
no longer cares whether she’s buying or selling. His only responsibility is keeping her
safe. While Kera got down to business,
Fanis spoke with security guards. It
always amused him that in the movies, opposing bodyguards and security were
always in a stand-off. They made it seem
like that in a moment’s notice; they’d be trying to kill each other. What actually happened, at least with Fanis,
was they were both bored so they whispered to each other to not disturb the
client. It helped pass the time. The only topic that was taboo was anything
dealing with the protectee. After all,
the first thing someone wants to know that intends them harm is any information
about them; especially where they will be.
The security guard’s name is Stanislav but he allows Fanis to call him
‘Stan’ for short. Stan queries, “Do you
know anything about Mike Flynn?”
“I do, but why does that
interest you.”
“I was in the military so I’m
interested when a country that someone serves seems to be screwing them over.”
“Well, that does appear to be
what is happening to General Flynn, they threatened his family and buried him
in legal debt to force him to plead guilty.”
“Really?”
“Yea, he even had to sell his
house.”
“Forgive me, I know you’re
American and I don’t want to attack your country but that’s just wrong.”
“No, I agree with you. No apology necessary. Luckily he’s got a new lawyer that’s fighting
the plea and she’s uncovering a lot of interesting things.”
“Like what?”
“Statements from the two FBI
agents that interviewed him; Pietnka and Strzok, don’t match the summary of the
conversations, which the FBI calls ‘302’”
“How are they different?”
“They said they don’t think he’s
being deceptive but the 302s says he was.”
“That is saying the exact
opposite. It’s also not a small thing for it’s what they charged him for.”
“Exactly. Powell realized that the 302s keep changing
and handwritten notes don’t match actual typed notes. It seems the FBI headquarters altered the
302s, which is a big no-no.”
“Well yea, if they’re not in the
meeting, they can’t comment on what was said.”
“Yea, a former FBI agent named
James Cagliano went off on them. He was
talking about that he’s never had a supervisor change a 302 he made and, when
he was a supervisor, he never changed a 302 of one of his subordinates. It’s only minor grammar changes.”
“Like I said, that makes sense. So, we know they changed them because they
don’t match?”
“Well that and they intercepted
an e-mail the FBI director Jim Comey wrote reading, “I made the edits and
updated the 302s”
“Sounds like a set up to me.”
“Then the Department of Justice
actually admitted that they mixed up the notes.
What they claimed to be Pientka’s notes were actually Strzok’s and vice
versa.”
“Why does that matter.”
“At the very least, it shows
they’re not organized so probably not credible.
Pientka, or I guess Strzok’s, were more detailed but I didn’t see why
that was a big deal.”
“Yea me neither.”
The meeting concludes and Fanis
bids good bye to Stanislav. Kera seems
happy about the interview but she knows that Fanis doesn’t want details. It’s not that he’s disrespectful; he just
understands that there’s something a little questionable about why a Chinese
art dealer needs a bodyguard. Worse,
people have offered Fanis a lot of money to turn his back on her and help them
kill her. Those offers have gone away
since his reaction was normally very violent.
He loved when they actually showed him the cash because he’d pick it up
pretending to contemplate it. Then he
would jam into their mouths and choke them with it. Apparently world travelled fast because now
they just tried attacking him. Kera knew
that Fanis suspected something so she let out hints which may or may not be
acting. To be honest, she didn’t want
his opinion on her business so it worked out that he didn’t want to know.
Fanis and Kera go for a
walk. While walking, a man appears and
Kera and Fanis think nothing of it. That
was until he approached them and exclaims to Fanis, “Are you some mathematician
or something?”
“Nope, bodyguard” Fanis replies
confused
“You did pretty well at the
craps table last night.”
Fanis noticed him glaring at
Kera hoping that this knowledge would upset her. He seemed disappointed when Kera giggled and
turned to him, “You won last night? Good
job!”
“Only 600 Swiss Francs”
“What is that in dollars?”
“Pretty much the same.”
“People don’t do that here. How did you cheat?” the stranger challenged.
“I didn’t”
“You rolled for forty five minutes”
“It happens. It’s not my first time.”
The Swiss man threw a punch at
Fanis and he instinctively ducked it. Fanis
drives two fists into the Swiss man’s kidneys and when the Swiss goes for a
back hand, Fanis ducks again and uppercuts him.
The Swiss guy takes two steps back and Fanis thinks the fight is
over. Instead he dove forward and
tackled Fanis to the ground. They
scrambled on the ground a little bit as the Swiss mounted Fanis only to have
Fanis pick his leg and turn him over.
They both got up to their knees and interlocked arms trying to force the
other down. The Swiss man head butts
Fanis. Fanis shifts his body
anticipating the Swiss to lunge, which he does.
Fanis jumps on the Swiss’ back and wraps his right arm around his
neck. Fanis spins to his right and uses
his elbow to pull on his right hand as he crosses his left behind the Swiss
head and grabs his right shoulder for leverage.
Fanis’ right hand is also gripping his left shoulder as he flexes his
arms and wraps his legs around the Swiss’ midsection flexing is feet and
pushing down. The Swiss man squirms and
tries to claw at Fanis’ hands but in the end his eyes glaze over in
unconsciousness. Fanis tosses the Swiss
off him unceremoniously and gets up.
Kera nods her head in surprise and comments, “Maybe, you shouldn’t go to
the casino tonight.”
“Guess not. How does a casino get so sensitive about
$600?”
“Yea, not a very good casino.”
They go canyon jumping and then
walk around a lake with swans that is glass flat. As the sun goes down, they go back to their
hotel to rest. On the following day,
they’re back on a plane heading home.
Kera inquires, “Do you think Biden is going to be hurt by this Ukraine
thing?”
“I don’t think he’ll be the
nominee.”
“Let’s just say he is.”
“I don’t think he can keep up
with this narrative that he didn’t know Hunter worked for Burisma”
“That does seem a little
far-fetched. He may know but he didn’t
have anything to do with the hiring”
“Maybe at first you could have
said that but a recent FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request revealed that
the State Department felt Burisma was a Biden issue.”
“Why would a document just say
that? That seems a little random.”
“When the Ukrainian ambassador
Yovanovitch was bring prepped for her Senate confirmation hearings, she was
instructed to answer any question about Bursima by referencing them to the Vice
President’s office. The Vice President
at the time was Joe Biden.”
“Now that makes a little more
sense.”
“It also revealed that she
ordered Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr., Sean Hannity, Sarah Carter, Dan Bongino,
John Solomon among others to be monitored.”
“I can see Giuliani and Trump
Jr. but journalists?”
“Yea, the State department
agreed with you as they told her it was illegal.”
“Well that gives me some hope
for our government.”
“Yea, but that’s fading.”
“Wasn’t Switzerland beautiful?”
“Yea, it was. Not even just the mountains but the lakes and
valleys and stuff. It really was
picturesque.”
“Makes me want to start caring
for the environment.”
“Oh no, that’s just an attempt
for control.”
“97% of scientists agree that
Climate Change is a real threat.”
“No they don’t. They reviewed a bunch of environmental
papers. Two thirds of them didn’t take a
position either way so they just left those out. Then they determined that if a scientists thought
that man had any participation in climate change whatsoever, it counts. If they thought it was minor and not a big
deal, they put it on the same level as AOC.”
“What’s the conclusion?”
“Two thirds of scientists don’t
take a position either way but of the one third that do, 97% think that humans
contribute in some way to climate change but differ on degree.”
“That doesn’t sound as
good. Nobody is going to be called to
action on that.”
“As the saying goes, ‘don’t let
the truth get in the way of a good story.’”
Kera gggled. They land in London and head back to their
flat. They relax and Fanis contemplates
on what happened in Switzerland. He was
still impressed how most of the people he met were extremely nice. The man that picked a fight with him was an
anomaly and he couldn’t understand what happened at the casino to warrant
that. It couldn’t have just been the
$600.
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