Fanis the bodyguard episode 41 It's all about momentum

                Two Americans in London are watching the results come in from Super Tuesday.  Going into the election, many pundits were saying that nothing could stop Bernie Sanders from being the nominee but the establishment Democrats were sure going to try.  As the states kept coming in, it was becoming very clear that Super Tuesday was a huge night for Joe Biden and a massive halt to Bernie’s momentum.  Kera, the owner of the flat, declares, “Holy shit, Biden is winning like every state.”

                Her cousin, Fanis, replies, “Yea, just shows that just like four years ago, the polls don’t mean shit.  This is a new era of elections.  The old rules don’t apply anymore.”

                “When you said that about Trump’s victory, I thought you were crazy but Biden was trailing in most of these states that he’s winning now.”

                In all, Biden would win Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia leaving only Vermont, California, Utah and Colorado for Bernie Sanders.  At the end of the night, Kera exclaimed, “So, it’s pretty much over.  Biden won the nomination.”

                “It’s not over.  Remember we thought it was over when Bernie won Nevada.  Don’t become a prisoner of the moment; Bernie is only 70 delegates behind.  That’s a very manageable deficit to overcome.”

                “Fanis, Sanders lost ground in most of the states from 2016; including his home state of Vermont.  You’re supposed to build from 2016; not decline.  This is very bad for him.”

                “Bad, yes but not over.  To your point about momentum, most of Bernie Sanders’ votes came from early voting not on Election Day.  That suggests that he’s losing steam.”

                “Whatever happened to your ‘Bernie Bros’ and how college kids love Bernie?”

                “People 45 and over make up 65% of the electorate voting in primaries.  Old people vote more than millennial socialists.”

                “I guess Biden is going to get the chance to beat Trump like a drum like he said.”

                “If Super Tuesday is any indication, I wouldn’t count on that either.”

                “Why not?”

                “People have been coming out for Trump and voting in the Republican primary.  I can’t even tell you who’s running against him.  He’s shattering records for an incumbent president in a primary.”

                “That’s not a very impressive record.”

                “I agree, but keep in mind this is the Tuesday after the stock market collapsed.  Yet, he’s still beating the record by two or three times.  More people voted for Donald Trump than all four current Democrats running.”

                “That’s nuts.  Trump fans are really crazy.”

                “That may be the case, but they come out to support and vote for him and that’s all you want.  I’ll give you a comparison.  In 1984, Reagan had 2.86% of the population vote for him in the primary.  Donald Trump, after 13 states, is at 5.92%.  Keep in mind, Reagan won 49 states that year.”

                “Alright, well, you should pack.  It’s a short flight but we got to go.”

                “Where are we going?”

                “Scotland.”

                “Yea, real quick flight.”

                Kera was an international Chinese art dealer. Business had slowed down a bit due to the Coronavirus but people still wanted art.  Kera, on the other hand, was avoiding picking up new pieces in China or anywhere in East Asia.  Instead, she was just going by the inventory she had had for a while.  While on the plane, Kera commented, “You may be right about the new era of elections theory.”

                “Why do you say that?”

                “Biden is on pace to win Minnesota and he didn’t visit nor does he have any staff on the ground there.  Bernie, on the other hand, has a lot of boots on the ground there, which is usually how people win.  The other way people used to win is by outspending their opponent and Bloomberg has spent $13 Million in ads in Minnesota.  Despite all that, Biden is projected to win.”

                “What did we talk about polls?  I do think Biden will win but I’m just saying, the polls sucked for Super Tuesday so what makes you think they will be good for Minnesota?”

                “Hillary outspent Trump and lost.  Bloomberg spent tens of millions of dollars in Virginia and still got crushed.  It’s safe to say that who that spends the most money will not win anymore.”

                They land in Edinburgh, Scotland and check into their hotel to drop off their stuff.  They immediately go to a bar and Fanis orders a scotch.  It is given to him in a shot glass but Fanis knows better than to take it in one gulp like is customary in America.  In Scotland, you sip it from the shot glass and savor the flavor.  Kera still sticks to beer.  After a few drinks, they head back to the hotel and go to sleep.  The next day, they head to the rendezvous point for the deal.  Fanis’ job is only to protect Kera as her bodyguard.  He doesn’t partake in the sale of the items.  In fact, while Kera is negotiating, he normally strikes a conversation with the other security guards.  He walks over and introduces himself.  The Scottish security guard is a few inches taller than the 6’0” Fanis with ripped muscles on a lean frame contrasting Theo’s broad body.  It doesn’t take long for the conversation to devolve into politics.  The Scotsman’s name is Finlay.  Finlay remarks, “President Trump seems very popular in America.”

                “Yea, but most of his supporters don’t announce themselves.  They stay low and just come out on Election Day.”

                “Those that oppose him are pretty loud and obnoxious about it are they?”

                “Oh yea.  That’s especially true for the media.  There’s an organization called ‘Vox’ that threw a hissy fit because Facebook’s most popular story was Hillary Clinton being deposed again for her e-mail scandal.  Vox wanted them to talk about Coronavirus and Super Tuesday so they vehemently attacked them.”

                “Why do they care what people are talking about on Facebook?  I mean for advertisement purposes I get but in general?”

                “The liberal media, like Vox, wants to pressure social media companies like Facebook to suppress conservative talk on their platforms.  They absolutely hate free speech.”

                “That’s a little hypocritical from a media agency eh?  They also seem to be in the wrong country for that.”

                “Indeed but nobody ever accused liberals of being smart.”

                “They seem like little babies to me.  We have him here in Scotland too.”

                “Oh, that’s exactly what they are.  They are projectionists.  Vox also printed that Trump supporters only run on emotion and not facts, which is the only reason they’re popular on Facebook since it’s all emotion.  The truth is the opposite.”

                “Well, did they say anything factual in their tirade against Facebook or was it just venting frustration?”

                “The only thing that was true was that people were talking about Hillary Clinton’s e-mail depositions on Facebook.”

                “That’s only a neworthy story if you add emotion.  Otherwise, it’s insignificant rubbish.”

                “Couldn’t agree more.”

                Kera finishes her deal and comes out.  Finlay and Fanis say good bye to each other and leave the building.  As Edinburg is small, there isn’t much to do besides go see the castle, which is at the top of a large hill.  Kera and Fanis opt to walk to the castle.  After touring it and learning how it was used to house American prisoners in the Revolutionary War, they become a little more fascinated.  One inmate carved the American flag into the door of his cell.  Luckily for him, at the time, there weren’t 50 states so he didn’t have to make too many stars. 

                After the castle, Kera and Fanis walk through the graveyard of an old church at the base of the hill the castle is on.  As they are walking, they see some fallen over tombstones and Fanis wonders why it hasn’t been maintained.  As he reads the headstones, he discovers that some of these people were buried before 1776, making their deaths older than the birth of America.  Suddenly, it’s no longer a mystery why tombstones have fallen over.  250 years of Scottish weather will do a number on any substance.  While they are walking, a man approaches them.  He looks at Kera and states, “Ah, an American woman.  How are you?  Callum is my name.”

                Kera shakes his hand, “I’m Kera” she responds with a smile.

                Callum ignores Fanis and Fanis chuckles.  He’s not sure if Kera wants him to tell the truth and introduce himself as her cousin, which may leave the door open for Callum to hit on her more or if he should pretend to be her boyfriend so Callum will leave.  Women always talk about giving the look when they want to be rescued from a conversation but Fanis never could recognize it.  Luckily Callum was about to give a very obvious sign that Kera didn’t want to talk to him.  He announces, “I know how you American girls love to fuck on vacation, so why don’t you come to my apartment and I’ll let you check that off your list.”

                Fanis puts out his hands and shrugs his shoulders, “Dude, what the fuck?”

                Callum glances at Fanis and then looks back at Kera, “I don’t know why you would be with such a cowardly man.  You should let me show you how a real man treats a girl in bed.”

                “No thank you” Kera answers

                “Perhaps, I should prove my point.” He utters as he grabs Kera by the arm. 

Fanis shoots his hands out and grabs Callum by the throat forcing him to release his grip.  “Now would be a good time to leave.” Fanis advises

                Callum puts his hands up in mock surrender and Fanis lets go.  Callum nods, “My apologies, you got a strong grip there man.  Forgive me, but I’m not too fond of Americans right now.”

                “Why’s that?”

                “Your Senator Lindsey Graham has compiled a witness list for the FISA abuse.”

                “Yes, and he subpoenaed Stephen Somma, who was Stefan Halper’s handler.”

                “Did you know that Halper is a CIA spy?”

                “Yes, I did know that.  He’s also friends with Richard Dearlove, who was Christopher Steele’s boss.”

                “Who wrote that lying sack of shit dossier that has sent your country in a whirlwind the last three years.”

                “Unfortunately, that is true.  Why would you have a problem with Graham though?  He wants to know why Somma pushed the investigation into Carter Page when Crossfire Hurricane was allegedly about Papadopoulos and Downer (Australian diplomat).  He’s trying to get him to admit that they had the dossier and that was the sole thing they based the investigation on.”

                “That won’t happen though.  We already know that Somma saw it because the FBI has admitted that even though they hadn’t seen the dossier till September 19, 2016, the New York Field office had it.  Guess where Somma worked?”

                “The New York FBI field office.”

                “Right, so obviously he knew.”

                “You still haven’t told me why you’re mad at Graham.”

                “He’s only pretending to be concerned.  You Americans always put on a front.  You’re liars.  See, in Scotland, everyone tells the truth and they do it in the most brutal language possible.  You Americans sugar coat everything and lie or refrain from saying things because it may hurt someone’s feelings.  Just like when I flirted with her” indicating Kera

                “I’ve been to Scotland many times.  You are blunt people but you lost me at the end because they aren’t normally that obnoxious when they hit on women.”

                Kera giggled and interjected, “I’ve been hit on by Scots before and they never disrespected me like you did.”

                “Well, it may have been egregious but it’s up to you to decide if this was just an isolated incident or a pandemic with the men of this country.  Graham seems to believe that this rampant FISA abuse was an isolated situation but the institution itself is sound.  He wants to vote to renew it even after everything that has happened with Spygate.  This is touchy for us Scotman since our neighbors to the south (England) love to put us under surveillance.  This makes us a little skeptical of international surveillance.”

                Fanis articulates, “Ah, so that’s your excuse.  Not very good considering Graham is wrong about it being an isolated incident and we know that this situation is an isolated incident.  It’s not a problem with Scotsmen; it’s a problem with you.”

                Callum smiled and then quickly had a stern face and punched Fanis.  Fanis blocked it but was a little surprised with the force that came from it.  Fanis kicked at Callum’s shin and he backed up giving Fanis a disappointed look.  Fanis put up his hands and Callum threw a right jab to the midsection.  Fanis dropped his hands to block but it was a decoy and the left came straight across Fanis’ head.  Fanis rolled with the punch and used the momentum to turn himself around and he shot his right leg back kicking Callum in the sternum.  Kera ran off as she was told to do by Fanis if situations like this arose.  The whole point was to make her safe; if he lost a fight and she was still there then it was all for nothing.  Callum called out, “Bitches kick.”

                “Then you’re about to get your ass kicked by a bitch.”

                Callum came at Fanis and dropped his arms staring at his legs expecting to be kicked.  This gave Fanis an opening and he punched Callum in the side of the face.  Callum twisted to the side but came back with a shot of his own.  Fanis dodged it and drove a left into Callum’s side.  This was retaliated by a headbutt from Callum.  Fanis took a couple steps back as blood emulated from his face.  Callum charged him and drove his shoulder into Fanis’ solar plexus.  Fanis was 224 pounds but Callum seemed to be around that too and was able to move him back.  Fanis was driven into a tombstone toppling it back as Callum landed on top of him.  Callum mounted Fanis and Fanis instinctively bent his knees up as Callum looked for an opening to punch down at his face.  Fanis slipped his right leg to Callum’s left shoulder on the inside of his arm to neutralize a shot from the left.  As Calllum winded up for a left hook, Fanis lunged his palm into Callum’s chest.  Fanis then slapped both his arms against Callum’s right to move it across his body and he tucked Calllum’s arm into his left arm pit.  Fanis then placed his left leg on Callum’s hip and pushed off turning himself to the right.  As he did this, he draped his right leg across the back of Callum’s head so it was behind his left shoulder.  Fanis then interlocked his ankles and flexed his feet choking Callum with his own arm.  Callum struggled and Fanis gripped the back of Callum’s head and pulled down increasing the pressure of the triangle choke. 

                Fanis had to hold on for a while until Callum stopped struggling as hard.  His body went limp and he fell forward.  Fanis eased him to the side and let go of the hold laying Callum out.  Fanis got up and found pieces of the tombstone he was tackled through.  He heard a moan and he turned to see Callum out of the side of his eye.  Fanis had dropped him on his back but Callum was rolled over and pushed himself up to all fours.  Fanis picked up a big piece of the headstone.  He walked over to Callum and swung the tombstone smacking Callum in the back of the head.  He barked, “That’s for calling my cousin a bitch.”

                Callum collapsed onto his stomach as blood flowed from the back of his head and onto the ground.  Fanis dropped the tombstone and made his way back to the hotel.  Kera mocked, “Did you defend my honor?”

                Fanis wasn’t in a jovial mood so he seriously rejoined, “Yes”

                Fanis removed his shirt and walked into the bathroom.  Kera noticed the small cut on his face but when she saw his back, she exclaimed, “Holy shit, look at your back!”

                “I can’t really do that now can I”

                “There is a mirror.”

                “No need, your reaction was enough”

                “What happened?”

                “He speared me through a tombstone.”

                “Here, let me help you.”

                Kera took out some gauze and rubbing alcohol and applied it to Fanis’ back.  She then did his face and proclaimed she was going to get some ice.  When she returned, she wrapped Fanis right hand in ice as his knuckles were cracked.  Fanis iced his hand for 15 minutes and then he took a shower. 

                The next day, Fanis and Kera were on the plane heading back to London.  Fanis pronounced, “You know, I have a strange feeling that Trump is going to win California.”

                “Are you fucking crazy?”

                “No, people are really pissed about AB5.  A million people lost their jobs from that little law.”

                “Is that the Uber and Lyft ban?”

                “Not really ban; you just can’t be an independent contractor.  By extension, it hurts writers, musicians and artists since their organizations can’t hire them full time.  Music and art festivals are being cancelled because it’s too expensive to pay all the performers at full employee status.  After all, that’s why they were free lance to begin with.  When you lose your job and it’s blatantly obvious why you did, you tend not to care about macro-problems and general political topics.  You’re pissed because their law hurt you.  All President Trump has to do now is mention the law and how much he’s opposed it and maybe some of them make an exception just this one time.”

                “That guy must have hit you pretty hard in the head.”

                “I’ll admit he punches hard but that’s not why I’m saying this.” 

                “I guarantee that the Democrat candidate will win California.”

                “What if it’s Biden and all the Bernie supporters in California are pissed because they believe the established Democrats colluded to make sure Bernie wasn’t the candidate; just like they did in 2016.”

                “You’re reaching.”

                “Am I?  They’re already pissed at Klobouchar and Buttigieg for dropping out the day before since most California voters vote early though mail.  Now, they’re all frustrated because their vote for Buttiegieg and Klouboucer were wasted but they can’t change it.”

                “When did the ballots go out?”

                “February 3”

                “That’s a long time ago.”

                “Exactly”

                “It’s their fault for not waiting till near the election.”

                “Why?  To see who’s left?  That’s the whole point of voting so you keep people around.”

                “It wasn’t their turn yet.”

                “Clearly.  You haven’t really given me any rebuttal.”

                “You want a rebuttal besides the overwhelming majority of liberals living in California?  How about that there is a huge Hispanic population? They don’t speak English but they know they don’t like Trump’s border wall because they have more family that want to come in.  In fact, I’m going to put it on MSNBC just to show you how liberals still hate Trump and would never vote for him.”

                On MSNBC, the journalist is talking to a store owner who only speaks Spanish.  The journalist finds a translator and asks the store owner who he’s voting for.  Through the interpreter, he says Bernie Sanders.  As they talk, the reporter finds out that he has a daughter so in order to bolster home her point, she inquires, “Who’s you’re daughter voting for.”
                He gives a long answer and Fanis, who is fluent in Spanish, laughs.  Kera turns to him suspiciously as she didn’t hear a candidates’ name.  The interpreter translates that the daughter if voting for Donald Trump causing the journalists to scream, “Why?”

                The store owner calmly responds that he doesn’t know but guesses it’s because of the economy.  Fanis grins at Kera and poses, “You were saying?”

                “Whatever, the Saudis are already helping Trump.  Jeff Bezos claims that Saudis were hacking his phone and Trump is anti-Amazon.”

                “You’d think with all that money he has, he’d hire someone to look into that.”

                “He did.  He has a Cyber security company investigating.”

                “Who?”

                Kera looks it up and answers, “FTI Consulting.”

                “You’re shitting me!” cried out Fanis

                “Why?  You know them?”

                “It’s owned by Anthony Ferrante.”

                “Who’s that?”

                “He’s the guy that Comey sent in to the National Security Council (NSC) to spy on Donald Trump and report back to the FBI for anything he found.  He then resigned from the NSC and worked for Buzzfeed where he tried very hard to authenticate the dossier.  Obviously he failed but he still proclaims it’s true.”

                “What was his role at the NSC?”

                “Cyber Security.”

                “Well then he’s qualified.”

                “Never said he wasn’t, it’s just odd that a deep state Spygate Comey acolyte would be meeting with Bezos.  It’s almost like they’re plotting something.”

                “You’re always so suspicious”

                “It’s what keeps you safe.”

                “That is true but I wish you could turn it off.”

                “Sorry, I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I could.”

                “I guess you’re right.”

                They land in London and immediately go back to their flat to rest.  They go about their lives as Kera contemplates when she could return to the Far East.  Although there are reports that China is back to normal, she knows China well enough to know that they never admit or show weakness so they would have no problem lying about them being back to normal.  The Coronavrirus decimated their economy because all their trade partners are suspicious of them and that is the majority of their economic revenue.  For now though, Coronavirus is still a hysteria so she’s going to wait just in case.

                As for Fanis, he was sore from having his back crashed through stone.  Due to this, he was okay with an extended respite from traveling the world keeping his cousin safe so he could heal up.  If Kera did need him though, no matter how much pain he was in, he would go as that is his duty and his job. 

 

 

 

Larry the Billionaire episode 40 Pelosi thinks she has unlimited power

                Larry is a bllionaire living in Naples, Florida.  As he looks at the current partisan turmoil in the United States, he’s glad that his investments and businesses are in a variety of countries.  He still isn’t sure who’s going to come out on top.  After reading how Glenn Simpson is now writing articles the for the British newspaper the Guardian and writing books linking Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, the Brexit leaders, to Russian collusion much the way Donald Trump was, he thinks Simpson is single handedly destroying the western world.  Larry has extensively travelled the world and the one thing he found was that the rest of the world was keenly aware of American politics.  Americans may not be able to tell you the heads of any other countries but most people knew who the President of the United States was regardless what country they lived in.  This was especially true in England.  After the debacle that was the Mueller probe and the IG report crucifying the Steele dossier, how could people in England believe this hoax?  How is Glenn Simpson not laughed at and mocked wherever he goes? It’s these kinds of things that made him lose all faith in humanity. 

                Larry found himself on a plane on his way to New York to take care of some business.  He made the trip often and given that he spent most of his life in New York, he considered himself more of a New Yorker than anything.  When his business was concluded, he wanders the city and ends up in a bar.  He orders a drink and takes a long sip losing himself in his thoughts.  He sees a bunch of people toasting as they are celebrating something.  As he listens in, he realizes what they are celebrating; the impeachment of Donald Trump.  He walks up to the group and asks, “You really think it’s something to celebrate that the first time in American history, a president is impeached for winning an election that nobody thought he could win?”

                “That’s not why he was impeached” fired back a male in the group.

                “Then why was he?”

                “Abusing his power and obstruction of congress.”

                “How did he do either of those things?”

                “He abused his power by threatening Ukraine by withholding aid.”

                “Did you listen to the testimony or hear the Ukrainian statements?  The Ukrainians didn’t even know the aid was withheld nor did they feel threatened.”

                “He’s the president; it’s intimidating when the most powerful man in the world calls you.”

                “By that logic, he isn’t allowed to ever talk to the head of a country.”

                The group thinks about this and comes up with nothing.  A woman tried, “Well, he didn’t let people testify.”

                “He’s legally allowed to.  It’s called ‘executive privilege.’  He used it less than any recent president.  He fully complied with the Mueller report but enough is enough with another fake hoax.”

                “Look, I’m sure congress knows better than you or I.  They had a reason or else they wouldn’t have impeached.”

                “That’s the problem with people, they refuse to think and trust the government to think for them.”

                “I can think for myself thank you very much.”

                “Really? Then how do you explain that there was bipartisan support against impeachment but not for it?  If the congressmen know so much, why did only Democrats vote to impeach?”

                “I don’t know.  All I know is that you’re just bitter because your president got impeached.”

                “No, I actually think it might end up helping Trump.”

                “How?”

                “Before, people looked at how inept the Democrats running have been and thought that President Trump, if the economy stays strong, was going to win by a landslide.  This discourages people from going to the polls.  It helped Hillary lose because everyone knew she was going to win.  Now, Republicans and independents are pissed that the Democrats ignored the constitution and impeached for personal reason and used it as a political tactic.  Now, all Trump supporters are motivated to go to the polls and vote out the Democrats so we can take back the house.”

                “People will calm down in 11 months.”

                “Oh, don’t worry the President and conservatives are good at holding a grudge and keeping the issue fresh in people’s minds.  Never before has America been so divided.  Maybe in the 60s with the same communist sympathizers but there are now two Americas.  There’s the MS-13 gang loving, Kim Jung Un rooting, Police tyrant left and everyone else.”

                “I suppose the Republicans never do anything wrong and they’re the solution.” This comment was riddled in sarcasm. 

                “That’s not what conservatives believe.  They want limited government so they don’t like either party.  We don’t believe Republicans are the solution to our problems, but we recognize that the Democrats are the cause of the problem.  All we do is remove the cause, the solution is on us.”

                “I think you’re in a minority.”

                “Not as much as you think.  Why else do you think President Trump’s approval rating is up six points since the impeachment launch?”

                The male spoke again, “Hey man, why don’t you just let us enjoy our drinks?  Who are you even here with?”

                “Nobody”

                “Figures, well you’re not welcome to join us.”

                Larry shrugged his shoulders and went back to the bar.  He continued to daydream and this time he ignored everyone.  A couple hours later, the girl he had been debating with came over.  “Hi, I’m Alex.”

                “I’m Larry.”

                “I’m sorry about my friend; he’s kind of an asshole.  That was pretty harsh what he said.”

                “I’m used to it.  Liberals can’t rest on facts and data so they resort to personal attacks.  When it happens, I feel like I won the debate.”

                Alex seemed stunned by the comment, “I’m not sure I would agree with that but okay.  I watched the impeachment. The Democrats kept saying that it was a somber day.  They didn’t want to impeach but they felt backed in a corner.”

                “How?”

                Alex looked back and forth.  She was 5’5” with long Japanese straightened red hair.  She was very thin with brown eyes but large breasts and a round tight butt.  Her skin was pale and freckled as was typical of redheads. After an awkward silence she uttered, “I don’t know.”

                “It wasn’t a somber day; they’ve been planning this for three years.  During the midterms, all they talked about was taking back the house so they could impeach the President.”

                “Pelosi was against it at first.”

                “Then she caved to the more radical members of her party.”

                “Talk is cheap.”

                “I agree, that’s why when Rashida Tlib took a video of her going to the Capitol building to impeach the president she was smiling and happy and her staff members were cheering.  Everyone was happy and having a gay old time.”

                “I must have missed that video.”

                “Did you also miss this picture?” Larry took out his phone and showed a Washington Post picture stating, ‘Merry Impeachmas’ with a table full of people smiling.”

                “Yea, didn’t see that either.”

                “You said that you watched the impeachment.  Did you notice what happened when Pelosi hit the gavel announcing that he’d been impeached?”
                “What happened?”

                “The Democrats started cheering, Pelosi gave them a dirty look and subtly signaled for them to the stop and then the Republicans called them out on it.”

                Alex took out her phone and searched for the video only to find it.  She put in her ear phone so she could hear and it confirmed what Larry had told her.  She sighed.  “Can we start over?  What do you do?”

                “I’m involved in a lot of venture capitalist deals among other investments.  You?”

                “I was a teacher.  I tried to be doctor.  I even took the MCATS but I couldn’t get into any medical schools so I went the teaching route.”

                “Are your scores still valid or did they expire?”

                “They’re still valid.”

                “Do you still want to go to medical school?”

                “Of course” Alex answered suspiciously as she was unsure where the conversation was going.

                “Well, I have a messed up proposal for you.”

                “I’m listening” she replied hesitantly. 

                “If you fuck me, I’ll get you into medical school.”

                “How do you intend to do that?”

                “I have connections.”

                “I think people just got in trouble for paying to get their kids and people close to them into colleges.”

                “Yes, but it still happens.  You’re not my kid.  You’re not my wife.  It’s going to be a tough sell.”

                “Have you done this before?”

                “Does the answer really concern you?”

                “No, I guess not.  It’s none of my business but how would I even know you can do it?  We just met.  Why would either one of us trust the other?”

                “You’ll receive an acceptance letter.  You can even call the school to confirm.”

                “Which medical school?”

                “Does that matter?”

                “If I’m selling my body like some fucking prostitute than yes it matters.”

                “McGill”

                “The one in Montreal?”

                “You know it?  Yea, like you said, American schools are looking hard at bribery so it may be better to go to Canada.”

                “McGill is one of the most prestigious medical schools in the world.”

                “I’m aware.”

                Alex went silent and her head dropped as her chin went to her chest and her mouth opened.  She didn’t really know how to respond.  Larry maintained eye contact with an indifferent expression on his face.  He knew better than to say anything at this point.  Finally, Alex blurted out, “Do I have to give you an answer now?”

                “Nope”

                “You didn’t even ask me if I was single.”

                “That would be your problem; not mine.” Larry pulled out his phone, “What’s your number?”

‘               Alex gave it to him and he called, “That’s my number.  Let me know If you agree.”

                With that, Larry got up and left Alex to think about his offer. 

                It didn’t take long for Alex to call him.  He answered the call, “Hello”

                “Hey, Larry?”

                “Yes, how are you Katie?”

                “I’m well.  Does your offer still stand?”

                “Yes”

                “I don’t want to do it in New York.  Is that okay?”

                “Considering I live in Florida, that’s not a problem at all.  Are you willing to do it here?”

                “Yes”

                “Okay, when do you want me to fly you out here?”

                They discuss a date and coordinate schedules and Larry books the flight.  When she lands, Larry personally comes to pick her up.  As she gets in the car, she announces, “I know I keep jacking up the price but can we get dinner?  I’ll pay my way if you want; I just don’t want to come just to fuck you and leave.”

                “I have no problem buying dinner.”

                “Really?  I feel like I keep jacking the price up.”

                “Trust me, I don’t mind.  You’re not asking for anything extravagant.”

                “Thank you.”

                “You’re welcome.”

                They sit down at a restaurant and Alex remarks, “Did you hear Pelosi is threatening to delay the articles of impeachment?”

                “Yea, unless her demands are met.  Kind of sounds like what they accused the president of doing?  Didn’t they call it an ‘abuse of power.’  She is withholding something unless it’s exchanged.  Kind of like a quid pro quo.”

                “You really don’t like her.”

                “I don’t but that doesn’t make what I’m saying any less true.”

                “Do you think liberals are stupid?”

                “Yes, just look at them on twitter.  They’re all freaking out that Mike Pence is president.  They don’t even know what impeachment is, they’re just happy they impeached president Trump.  And yes, he still is ‘President’ Trump.”

                “You can’t judge a group by a couple idiots in the group.”

                “It takes an ignorance to believe the government can solve problems and will take care of you.”

                “And Capitalism does?”

                “Better than any other system.”

                “That doesn’t make the people who get left behind feel any better.”

                “So because of them we have to lower millions of people to their level so their misery has company?

                “No, I’m not saying that.”

                “Then what are you saying?  The government is a benevolent force that can’t be corrupted?”

                “I won’t get into this.  We’re talking about Pelosi.”

                “She is only delaying the impeachment because she’s trying to do the impossible by appeasing the radical extreme left and the moderate Democrats in Trump districts who are going to be excoriated now that they voted to impeach Trump.”

                “How many of those could there be?”

                “31”

                “That is enough to turn the House back to the Republicans”

                “Now you know why they’re worried.”
                “But McConnell has already said it was a hoax so he can’t be a fair juror.”

                “Impeachment doesn’t operate like a standard trial.  It’s a political proceeding.  If it did, Cory booker, Amy Klobuchar, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren couldn’t be jurors because they are trying to run against President Trump for the presidency.  It doesn’t get a more biased juror than that!  But, you don’t hear us complaining it’s unfair.”

                “Us….I wish it wasn’t ‘us’ vs. ‘them.’”

                “We all do but that’s not the reality.”

                “What do you think should happen?”

                “McConnell should declare impeachment null and void if Pelosi doesn’t pass it along.”

                “That’s really not fair.”

                “Yes it is.  The Constitution is very clear. The house has the sole power to impeach.  Once they impeach, it goes to the Senate.  It doesn’t say, ‘it goes to the Senate when the Speaker decides to send it.’  No, it happens automatically.  It’s out of her hands now.  She is abusing her power.  Just like she abused her power when she declared America was staying in the Paris Accords.  Pelosi thinks she’s president and thinks she has unlimited power.  Someone needs to remind her that she doesn’t.”

                “The Democrats don’t have enough witnesses.  They need more for the Senate trial.”

                “That’s not how it works.  When Clinton was impeached, the Senate didn’t call witnesses.  That shit is supposed to happen in the house.  Schiff didn’t want to wait.  They rushed the impeachment so now the Senate needs to decide based on the presented evidence, which was pathetic at best.”

                “There’s nothing wrong with trying to get more information.”

                “There was for Schiff.  What are you saying?  They didn’t have sufficient information to impeach but they impeached anyway?  If it’s good enough for the house, it’s good enough for the Senate.”

                “You’re a little biased.”

                “Not really.  I saw the polls.  With every impeachment hearing, President Trump raised more money and swing state polls swayed more toward against.  President Trump’s approval waiting went higher every time they had an impeachment hearing.  Independent voters also supported him more after the inquiries than before.

                “There were only two.”

                “The pattern is the same.  If they keep dragging this out, America will be distracted by it that they won’t notice the Democrat running  To my point, did you know about the Democrat debate the day after the impeachment?”

                “No, I forgot.”

                “There you go.  Nobody cares about the Democrats running for president.  All they care about is Donald Trump.  Every indication says that more hearings helps the president so my bias would be to have more of them since I know he did nothing wrong.”

                “Why aren’t you then?”

                “It’s bad for the country.  It’s annoying and it’s an indication on how far our country has dropped.  I think it makes our country weak so it’s better to just move on to important things like the national debt and the economy.”

                “Alright, thank you for dinner.”

                “You ready?”

                “Yes”

                Larry gets the check and they go back to a hotel room.  As Alex looks around, she starts getting nervous.  In the time between her phone call and her coming down, she had received the acceptance letter and even called the school to confirm.  She still couldn’t help feeling like a whore.  It was one thing when she was in college but she was 35 now.  On the other hand, there were fewer people on the street propositioning her as there was when she was in college.  She sighs, “I’m sorry.  Can we talk before we do this?”

                “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?”

                “Yes, but I just don’t feel comfortable.”

                “You don’t have to do this.  I can call the whole thing off.  It’s not too late.”

                “No, I do want to.  I do.  I just need a little more time.”

                “What do you want to talk about?”

                “Let’s get away from impeachment.  What do you think about gun control?”

                “It only keeps guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens.  There is no good way to enforce it.”

                “That’s fear mongering.  Just a conspiracy the NRA tries to tell people.”

                “Tell that to Virginia.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “90% of Virginia counties have declared themselves ‘gun sanctuary’ counties.  The movement has spread to nine states already.”

                “Can they do that?”

                “Hey, if liberal cities can declare themselves sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, they can declare themselves sanctuary cities for guns.  They have a better argument because it’s actually in the Constitution that we can have guns but nowhere in the constitution does it say anyone is allowed to come into our country in violation of US law.”

                “Where did this happen?”

                “Most of Virginia, now it’s in Illinois, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Tennessee and three other ones that I don’t remember.”

                “What does the local Virginia government who passed these law say about this?”

                “They’re threatening to sick the National Guard on them to force guns out of their hands.”

                “Ummm, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”

                “Yea, it creates very bad optics.  Now that everyone has a cell phone and can post videos, there will be no way to contain it.  It’s a very dangerous system and unfair to the National Guard.  It puts them in a really dangerous situation.”

                “Yea, the whole ‘you can have my gun when you pry it from my cold dead hands’ mentality.”

                “Yea, that does create a problem.”

                “Alright, thank you for indulging me.  You’ve actually been really nice and understanding through this whole process.  It makes me feel a lot more comfortable to be alone with you in a foreign city.”

                “Florida is hardly foreign.”

                “You know what I mean.  I’m kind of at your mercy.  I don’t know anyone in Naples and yea a couple people know I came down here but you have the resources to be long gone by the time they come.”

                “You must be really comfortable around me to tell me that.”

                Alex tensed up as she realized what he was getting at.  “Fuck it, let’s do this.”

                “Good idea” he said with a smile.

                They each stripped themselves of their clothing and Alex smiled and softly kissed Larry on the mouth.  Larry kissed back tasting her lip gloss and closing his eyes.  His eyes were still closed when Alex pulled back and she shoved him onto the bed.  Larry was already getting aroused and Alex shook her head.  She crawled on top of him and turned her body to face his legs and lowered her groin onto his penetrating herself with Larry’s penis.  Larry grabbed her butt and Alex leaned forward so he could get a better grip.  Alex gyrated her hips towards his feet vigorously and felt him grow inside her.  Larry sat up and grabbed Alex by the waist and eased her to the side on her back careful to exit her before she was brought to the side.  He mounted her and Alex bent her legs slightly along his torso.  Larry lunged himself inside her but straightened his arms so his upper body was elevated over her.  Alex smiled back at him and said, “What? You want to look at me when you’re fucking me?”

            Larry smiled and said, “Yea” as he humped her harder. 

            After a little while, Alex lifted her legs to his shoulder and Larry pinned her legs behind her head.  He jerked himself further inside of her penetrating deep behind her vaginal walls.  Alex tightened her legs around his head and shifted them to the side bringing Larry around and rolling with him so she was on top.  She gyrated her hips and rode him but didn’t get a chance to get a rhythm as Larry finished rather quickly.  The entire experience lasted only two minutes. Alex looked down at him and said, “Damn, we switched positions way too quickly!”

            Larry chuckled, “Well, I guess we’ll have to do better next time.”

            “What?  Next time…but…” as her face contorted but she was still straddling him

            “I’m just kidding.  Your debt is paid.”

            Alex rolled off him and lied next to him.  She was trying to get her thoughts straight.  After all the worrying she had done, now that is was over, she couldn’t believe she stressed herself out so much.  She knew that when she returned to New York, she’d have to get the IUD he forced her to get inserted taken out of her.  The silence was bothering her so she went right back to the only thing they seemed to be able to talk about.  She articulated, “When you say that all the information has backed up that Trump didn’t do anything wrong, the IG report did say that the FBI wasn’t biased so that was bad for Trump.”

            “Michael Horowitz did not say that.”

            “I heard…”

            “Fake News.  Did you see his testimony?”

            “No.”

            “That’s why they had the impeachment, to distract the country from the IG report and his testimony.”  Larry hands her his phone and shows her a video of Senator Ron Johnson asking Horowitz, “Did you find political bias during your investigation?’  Horowitz responds, ‘We found through the text messages, political bias, correct.”

            “Well, that’s pretty clear.”

            “Just in case you think he misspoke.” Larry shows her another clip where Josh Hawley (R-MO) inquired, ‘was it your conclusion that political bias did not affect any part of the Page investigation, any part of Crossfire Hurricane.”  To which Horowitz answered, “We did not reach that conclusion.  We have been very careful in connection with the FISA for the reasons you mentioned to not reach that conclusion.”

            “I’m beginning to believe in fake news at this point.  They clearly lied to us.”

            “There you go.”

            “So, what’s next?”

            “Barr and Durham release their report in the spring.”

            “That’s like six months from now.  That’s a long time.”

            “Unfortunately, yes it is.”

            “Why do you think it’ll be different from Horowitz’ report?”

            “Barr was on Fox telling Martha MacCallum that he is looking at everyone including private department and actors, so it’s a much broader investigation than the IG report.  He’s not just looking at the FISA but all the conduct before and after the election.”

            “So, it’s a more thorough investigation.”

            “Correct”

            “At this point, do you think we’re going to learn anything we don’t already know?”

            “Stefan Halper may have co-written the dossier.”

            “Wait, what?”

            “There’s an office of net assessment in the Pentagon that paid him a million dollars.  They say it’s for three reports that he never wrote but he still got the money.  It had to pay for something and he arranged for President Trump’s campaign members to come visit him in Cambridge at the school he worked for.  They include Mike Flynn, Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos”

            “All people the FBI targeted.”

            “Yup”

            “But Comey said he was seven steps removed from the investigation.”

            “Barr told Fox that’s patently false.  First of all, an investigation of this magnitude, the director would be heavily involved and briefed.  Barr believes it went ever further than that.  He thinks the problem was that it was pulled up the seven levels to the highest executive levels of the FBI and only handled by the upper echelon.  This happened specifically so Comey could run it.  The idea that he had seven degrees of separation is simply not true.”

            “Do I have to leave or can I sleep here?”

            “Your choice.”

            “I’ll sleep here.”

            Larry put on a pair of boxers and Alex put on a T-shirt and short shorts and got back in bed.  Alex grabbed Larry’s arm and pulled it around her and rested it on her stomach as she nuzzled her back into him.  Larry used his other arm to slip under her neck as an extension of the pillow.  They both fell asleep quickly.  The next morning, they said good bye and Alex left.  She called an Uber and went to the airport to fly back to New York.  In the fall, she made the move to McGill to attend medical school.  As she did, she contemplated calling Larry but he never called her so she wasn’t going to initiate it.  She felt that he ripped him off but if he was okay with it, why should she feel bad?  It didn’t take long to move on but she never forgot how she was able to pursue a medical career.