Fanis the Bodyguard Episode 7 Defend the Iran Deal at All Costs

                Fanis is a far-right conservative who is watching Fox news.  Although he lives in London, he is still an American citizen.  A man is speaking to Hannity about illegal immigration and Fanis hears, “Conflating legal immigration and illegal immigration together is like conflating pharmacists and drug dealers”  Fanis’ eyes widen but he gets the point and thinks it’s a good one.  The commentator goes on, “Calling illegal immigrants ‘undocumented workers’ is like calling a drug dealer an ‘unlicensed pharmacists.”

                Kera, Fanis cousin and employer, also lives in the house and she overhears the TV.  She calls out, “That’s why I love living in England, we are much more accepting”

                Fanis fires back, “What are you talking about?  Most countries have a merit based immigration and none of them like illegal immigration.  Spain has walls along their water border with Morocco to stop them from coming in.  That’s true all over Europe.  America has the most lax immigration laws and it’s getting to be unsustainable.”

                “Well, it’s easy for some white guy to come on TV and whine about undocumented workers”

                “Do you want to know the man’s name that was just talking against illegal immigration?”

                “Is it going to mean something?”

                “I think so” Fanis said with a smile

                Kera was a trader in Chinese artifacts and was used as a liaison between China and Western countries.  She was of Greek descent and an American so it was easy for her to go around Europe and engender trust.  Her being fluent in Mandarin made her an asset to China as well, which is why she was perfect for the job.  Fanis was her bodyguard as some deals went south and most countries do not have the same respect for women as the United States and she was a target.  She loved Chinese culture above all cultures including Greek, which alienated her from her family but she was always a loner.  She cried out, “What is his name?” with obvious skepticism in her voice that it would matter.

                “Fang Zhou.” Although Kera couldn’t see Fanis, it didn’t stop him from having a huge grin on his face as those two words just crushed Kera’s argument.

                Kera hurried to the TV and saw a Chinese-American speaking.  She sighed and dropped her shoulders and Fanis piled on, “I’m really beginning to love Asians for having the guts to do and say what white people don’t.”

                “Shut up”

                “What? You don’t love the Chinese?”

                Kera slapped Fanis on the shoulder, which only made him smile wider.  She said, “People aren’t illegal”

                “When people immigrate to a country illegally, they are illegal immigrants.  This isn’t hard.  It’s a statement of fact.  You’re describing them for the crime they committed.  Like if I said ‘murderer Charles Manson.’  Or if I want to talk about a group of people who committed the act of murder and called them ‘murderers’”

`               “They come and they claim asylum.  They get their day in court.”

                “90% of them don’t show up for court.  American rights and laws are for Americans not illegal immigrants.”

                “Are you just going to keep saying that term to piss me off?”

                “Yes, I will keep saying ‘illegal immigrant’ to piss you off.  Our grandparents came to America legally.  They love America but they put in the time and effort to become citizens legally.”

                “Ann Coulter hates legal immigrants too.”

                “Yes she does, but even she is okay with the ones coming from Europe.  She dislikes Hmong, Somali, and Central American gang legal immigrants.”

                “Well, we need to go to Parliament”

                “Okay”

                Fanis was getting used to these things.  Kera was highly connected to the British government and every now and then she gave him access to someone to whet his appetite for what the media was covering up.  Fanis, as a rule, never asked questions about how or why a Chinese artifact dealer would be so well connected.  They arrived at Parliament and a British member of Parliament “MP” said, “Kera, sit down, we need your help”

                Fanis thought it a little odd that he was on a first name basis with Kera.  He had never been in these meetings, he normally waited outside but Kera told him to come in.  He spoke up, “Should I be here for this?”

                Kera waved him off, “Yes, you’re fine. This has to do with your favorite topic.”

                “Spygate?”

                The MP replied, “Yes”

                Fanis responded, “Does this have anything to do with President Trump just leaving?”

                The MP said nothing but Kera shot him a dirty look as if to say, ‘obviously, stop asking stupid questions.’  The MP turned to Kera and asked, “Should I proceed?”

                “Yes, please”

                Staring back at Fanis and stressing the first clause, he started, “In appreciation of the long standing cooperation between us and our friends across the pond, we are a little curious about a Hezbollah bomb factory that was just discovered in London.  Did you hear about it?”

                Fanis looked at Kera expectantly and Kera gave a slight nod that he could speak.  He declared, “Yes, they had three tons of ammonium nitrate.  The same substance used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995; only Timothy McVeigh only had two tons.  And, when you say you just found it, you’re lying, because it was discovered in 2015.  It was just made public last month.”

                Kera took a deep breath and regretted giving him the okay to speak.  She thought that he would have a filter dealing with an MP but obviously he didn’t.  She articulated, “I’m sorry for his bluntness.  Personal security people aren’t known for their tact.”

                “Actually, that’s what we are getting at.  We want to know if the withholding the discovery from the press was to cover up the Iran deal.”

                Kera answered, “I’m not quite sure I know about the Iran deal”

                The MP turned to Fanis and inquired, “Are you able to fill in your boss?”

                His tone was condescending as if to make fun of him for working for a woman but Fanis continued as if he didn’t notice.  He rejoined, “Obama made a deal with the Iranians so they could get access to Uranium if they promise to let inspectors in to make sure they’re not making a nuclear bomb.  It gave them access to sensitive bomb making materials all over Europe.”

                Kera reacted with, “What does that have to do with Hezbollah?”

                The MP offered, “Although they are a Lebanese based organization, there are Iranians in the group and they are closely tied with them”

                Fanis added, “They are terrorists and the stockpile was found a couple weeks after the UK agreed to the Iran deal.”

                Kera digested all this and uttered, “So what do you need from me?”

                The MP answered, “It was a joint task force.  The Chinese were involved too.  We want you to go to Beijing and bring up Project Cassandra.  I got you into an informal gathering as a Western asset.  I want you to not lead on that you speak Mandarin.  Bring up Project Cassandra and see what they say.  We believe what they tell you in English will be vastly different than what they discuss amongst themselves in Mandarin.  I don’t need to tell you to focus on the Mandarin.”

                Kera retorted, “Downplay my role.  Pretend that you’re sending Fanis and I’m just his secretary recording notes from the meeting.  Since he’s knowledgeable on the topic, it might be easier for him to deal with the English side of it.  That way, their guard will be down and I can look like I’m paying attention so that I can take notes but really I’m paying attention to them.  It allows me to focus on my actual task.”

                “That’s a good idea.”

                Kera and Fanis went to the airport where the British government chartered a plane to take them to Beijing.  On the plane, Kera inquired, “What is Project Cassandra?”

                “Well, you know how the British covered up Hezbollah storing weapons in London?”

                “Yes”

                “Well, President Obama had his own cover up.  Project Cassandra was a joint DEA operation that uncovered holes in our southern border to benefit Iran drug dealers linked to Hezbollah.”

                “That would mean that Obama was trying to stop the Iranians”

                “No, the DEA and DOJ were trying to stop the Iranians. Obama derailed Project Cassandra because it would make Iran look bad before his Iran deal.”

                “When was this?”

                “July 2016”

                “During the election”

                “Right and Trump was screaming from the roof tops how the Iran deal was the worst deal ever made and that if he won he would kill it on arrival.”

                “If Britain and the US are looking the other way on terrorist activity, drug dealing and money laundering to protect the Iran deal, then it must have been important to Obama”

                “Yes, he wanted it to be his legacy.  See, this whole Russia-gate and collusion hoax isn’t about Trump.  They started these back channels of Christopher Steele into the Department of Justice through Jonathan Winer back in 2014.  A shady source tells it to Steele or Stefan Halper, who then tells it to Winer, who tells it to the DOJ.  That way the DOJ thinks it’s from a reliable source, WIner, rather than the shady source.  The FBI and CIA also trusted Steele and Halper so the laundering could only go through one degree of separation too.  The media also loves Steele so he could leak it to them.  This system started to go after opponents of the Iran deal.  Mike Flynn was one of the earliest targets as he was the Director of National Security and was very vocal how bad this deal was.  Suddenly, he’s being called to Cambridge for a dinner where he gets accused of colluding with Russians.”

                “And since Trump was also vocal about how bad the Iran deal was, he got the same treatment.”

                “Right, it’s like the movie Romeo Must Die anyone unwilling to sell their waterfront property and block the building of an NFL stadium was killed.”

                “I didn’t see that movie but I get the point.  But If you already know about Project Cassandra, this meeting is pointless.”

                “Maybe the Chinese know something I don’t”

                They land and the overcrowded Beijing streets was never something anyone could get used to.  Even Kera, who once called Beijing her favorite city, had turned against it because she likes cities where she can walk around.  That was why she loved her native New York.  New Yorkers think they have to dodge people on the sidewalk but compared to Beijing, New York was like walking down a six lane abandoned highway by yourself.  Kera forgot that she was supposed to not speak Mandarin and hailed a cab to take her to the hotel.  Fanis doubted the cab driver would get the information to the government quick enough but then again this was a communist country and big brother was always watching.  They rested up and the next day headed to the meeting.  Fanis lied and offered, “I’m working with John Durham of the United States.  We are trying to determine how this whole Russia probe into our president had started.  It has led us to a Project Cassandra.  Are you familiar with this?”

                A translator translated for Fanis said and the MP was right.  It unleashed a hail of conversation between the Chinese people there.  The translator came back, “It was on operation to make sure that bad wings of the Iranian factions don’t abuse the deal.”

                “Specifically?”

                “It was an American operation, we don’t really know.”

                “Well, can you tell me how the Iran deal proceeded?  What was discussed? How did it come about?  Was China pressured by Obama to sign it?  Was a compromise made?  If so, what did the Iranians want and what did our side want and how was it resolved?”

                There was more talk amongst themselves and the translator spoke, “China was not pressured.  We believed it to be a good deal and an effort for America to stop policing the world.  It gave us access to Iran and made them a partner for us and for Europe.”

                The conversation didn’t go anywhere but Fanis kept asking questions and getting generic answers that lacked substance.  Finally it was over and Fanis and Kera went back to the hotel.  Kera remarked, “Well, the MP called it.”

                “What do you mean?”

                “The head of the security on the border for us was a task force called OCDETF.  It was spearheaded by Bruce Ohr, who sidelined it because of pressure from Obama.  He was then taken off the border security and was the fourth highest member of the DOJ”

                Fanis piled on, “Where he walked over a flash drive given to him by Christopher Steele to the FBI on July 30, 2016.  The next day, the FBI opened Crossfire Hurricane.”

                “Yea, I knew that name was familiar.  I guess your suspicions that the motive to do what they did to Trump wasn’t because he was a conservative but because he was against the Iran deal.”

                “Motive?  Are you insinuating that they committed a crime?” Fanis pronounced with a giddy grin.

                Kera giggled and confessed, “You’re beginning to make a lot of sense.”

                Kera went to Parliament and briefed the MP on everything she heard and the massive cover up of terrorist activity.  It led to England promoting Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization.  Before, they only considered the military wing terrorists, not the political wing.  Now, the entire organization was.  The United States made this distinction in 2016, shortly after Donald Trump became President.  The MP stated, “That’s why Christopher Steele specified he only wanted to talk about the Trump dossier.”

                Kera retorted, “Yes, he had been writing dossiers since 2015.  He commonly bypassed US intelligence agencies to get information laundered into the DOJ without being vetted.  The Trump dossier was just another example of a systematic operation to influence congress without being thwarted by official intelligence channels”

                “This is an outrage”

                “Is it though?  Or are you doing the same thing with me?  I’m not an intelligence source and I’m briefing Parliament on information.”

                “You’re not pretending it’s your information.  I know who you heard it from and therefore I know to vet it.”

                Kera looked around the room and conceded the point.  She returned back to her flat with Fanis and she checked her twitter feed.  She expressed, “Paul Krugman is debunking the myth that Republican tax cuts pay for themselves.  Says the debt still increased.”

                “That’s a nonsense statement” fired back Fanis

                “Look, you only have a Bachelors in Economics.  This guy is a PHD”

                “All the more reason why he’s a snake because he knows he’s misleading.”

                “Convince me”

                Fanis pulled up charts on his phone and showed Kera, “Look, every time we lowered taxes, the tax revenue went up.  When Bush did it, there was a $785 Billion dollar increase the highest increase ever.  When Trump did it, the tax revenues hit all time highs, meaning it went up since it’s never been higher.  When Raegan did it, tax revenues soared as well.  Every time we’ve cut taxes, the government got more money.”

                “So why did Krugman say they didn’t?”

                “That’s not what he said.  He said the debt went up.  That’s true.  So, if the debt goes up but you made more money, what happened?”

                Kera thought about it a second and answered, “You spent more than you earned”

                “Right”

                “Like when you get a raise and start spending more money thinking that if you were affording your lifestyle before everything now is going to be a bonus.  Then after a year, you wonder why your bank account didn’t go up.  Why is he doing this now?  Trump’s tax cuts were two years ago.”

                “Bernie Sanders is giving a speech about the benefits of socialism.  In order to do that, they have to instill seeds of doubt in the mob’s mind that capitalism doesn’t work.  They have to paint the picture that high taxes are good so when Sanders says to more than double your taxes to pay for his programs, Americans aren’t put off by it.”

                “His ideas aren’t so bad.  I mean don’t you think everyone has a right to healthcare?”

                “No, I don’t.  That’s why so many people here in England die waiting for a specialist.  The lag teams are ridiculous here and you have to wait on average nine months to see a specialist after a primary care person refers you.  When you declare something a right, you infer an obligation on someone else.”

                “Why can only the American forefathers declare rights?”

                “The Constitution’s Bill of Rights don’t infer an obligation on someone else.  They prohibit the government from getting involved in things.  The government should not be involved in free speech.  The government shouldn’t stop people from owning a gun.  The government shouldn’t search people and take their stuff unnecessarily.  There is no government arranging the transfer.  If healthcare is a right, the government forces doctors to provide care for free.  If you declare housing a right, the government is forcing landowners to give away their land.  In England, when they issued Prima Nochte for the Scottish.  The government forced husbands to let an English nobleman fuck their wives on the first night.  They called that a right too.”

                “So, if the government isn’t forcing a transfer to uphold the right, it’s good.  If, however, the government is inhibited from doing something to preserve it, then it’s a good right.”

                “Yes”

                “That actually makes sense.”

                “I know” Fanis boasted.

                Kera gave him a dirty look and decried, “I’m beginning to think Obama was really a shitty president.”

                “Why?  Because the Chinese said it?

                Kera giggled and shot him a sarcastic look and confidently declared, “Yes”

                Fanis rolled his eyes and they changed the subject.  All Fanis could hope for was everyone involved in the back channel and information laundering campaign that had been going on for at least five years was going to be reprimanded and punished for it. 

 

Nouno the Vigilante Episode 8 Tough to Swallow

                John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon are a middle-aged couple in Martin County, Florida.  John is thinking about what to do for his 60^th birthday next year.  Although at his age, birthdays don’t mean much, he’d like to do something on this milestone.  He discusses it with his wife Michelle who still has a ways to go as she is six years his junior.  As they walk along the beach of the scenic Treasure Coast, they enjoy the sun and nice weather.  At this relaxing moment, they didn’t know that John’s thoughts about his sixtieth birthday were fruitless as he wasn’t going to make it.

                After a nice dinner, they come home to the Southeast Kokomo Lane.  They turn on the TV and watch a hearing in which John Dean is testifying before congress.  John and Michelle know a little about the news but it doesn’t consume their lives as it does most people.  Michelle hears Jerry Nadler accredit John Dean as being a highly dignified and reputable lawyer that represented Richard Nixon.  Michelle says, “Well, I’m not sure how good he is if Nixon had to resign.”

                John responds, “Well, he’s been going around criticizing Nixon and commenting on obstructing justice ever since, that’s why they’re bringing him on.”

                “Was he involved with President Trump in any way?”

                “Nope”

                “So, why should we listen to him?”

                “They’re making the argument that since he was involved in Watergate; he knows what obstruction looks like.  Really this is just a fake impeachment hearing since they don’t have the votes to actually impeach Donald Trump.”

                Ohio representative Jim Jordan is the first to speak and asks Dean, “Did you ever advise Michael Cohen or his lawyer Lanny Davis not to turn over his testimony to the Republicans for as long as possible?”

                “No, I never directly spoke with them.”

                “That’s not what you said publicly on a recent media appearance.  You said that you advised Lanny Davis to tell Michael Cohen not to turn over his testimony to the Republicans”

                “I’ve known Davis for decades so yes I talked to him.”

                John stated, “He just contradicted himself.”

                Michelle added, “Some witness” sarcastically

                Jordan drove the point home by saying that Dean advised Cohen and Davis to obstruct justice by not turning over subpoenaed documents.  Michelle and John couldn’t help but agree with Jordan. 

                As they continue to watch, Matt Gaetz has been recognized to question Dean.  John says, “Oh good, now we’ll get to see what our representative has to say.  Gaetz is a representative for Florida and he immediately interrogates Dean about how much money he’s made accusing presidents of being Nixon.  John opines, “Wow, he set him up perfectly.  He got Dean to brag that he wrote a book called, ‘Worse than Watergate” to describe the first President Bush and then transitions to how he just plays the Nixon card to make money through books and appearances on CNN.”

                Michelle pronounces, “Not to mention that he claims not to have any idea how much money he made.  That’s preposterous.  Just for good measure he played the card against the second Bush too.”

                It is now the representative from Texas, Louie Gomert’s turn.  He goes on a long rant comparing Nixon’s illegal spying campaign with Barak Obama, the DNC and Hillary Clinton.  As he goes back and forth between what Nixon did and what Obama or Hillary did, Michelle and John can just nod as it seems to be making a lot of sense.  John says, “Well between that and the fact that this ‘esteemed lawyer’ Nadler talked about has been disbarred, I’d say I’m not going to really believe anything he says.”

                “Yea, if this is the best the Democrats can come up with, they’re in trouble” Michelle stated. 

                A short while later, there is a scream at the door that leads to their garage. A younger looking man is screaming for help and knocking on the door.  John goes to investigate as he doesn’t like seeing people suffer. 

 

 

                Austin Harrouff is not a normal 19-year-old boy.  He has a long history of bipolar disorder and depression.  He often has delusions of grandeur and has been known to consider himself MLK and Jesus.  It all stems from believing he is super-human and that people are out to get him because society can’t handle superheroes.  Although he’s often medicated to control these urges, he turns to marijuana more than anything.  After smoking weed all day, his father forces him out of the house to go to dinner.  At dinner, Austin becomes frustrated with how slow the service is so he gets up and walks out of the restaurant.  It is not uncommon for manic episodes to cause someone to walk for miles and Austin is no exception.  He started thinking that people were trying to lure him somewhere to kill him.  As he tried to avoid these people, he noticed a light on in the neighborhood he was in.  He ran to the house and banged on the door screaming for help.

                When the door opened, Austin slapped the man in the face and tackled him to the ground barking like a dog.  Austin took out a small pocket knife and stabbed John repeatedly.  Michelle heard the screaming and came running.  Unfortunately, she still thought that the boy wanted help but instead she found herself being thrown to the ground of her garage.  Austin mounted her and slashed her with his knife with his right, and punched her with his left.  After John and Michelle were incapacitated, Austin alternated between the two biting and chewing their faces and chest pulling out bits of flesh.  The commotion caused a neighbor, Jeff Fisher to hurry over to the house. 

                When Fisher got to John and Michelle’s garage, he was shocked at what he was seeing.  Austin was straddling Michelle and chunks of her face and chest were missing.  Austin turned to Fisher and cried out, “You don’t want any of this.”

                Although Fisher would agree that he didn’t, he had to do something.  The cops were already called but he sat there stunned.  Austin swung his right hand at Fisher and slapped him in the face.  Fisher blocked with his arms and swung back defensively.  This blocking and defensive swinging went on for a while until Fisher grabbed a hold of the young adult who thinks he’s half dog, half man and threw him to the ground.  That’s when Fisher realized he was cut and bleeding.  He assumed that the boy had a knife but he just placed him in between him and the entrance to the garage.  He noticed that the house door was open so he opted to run inside the house.  The cops showed up a short time later and Fisher gave his statement and offered any help he could.  Unfortunately for John and Michelle, they wouldn’t get to press charges as they were both dead. 

                At court, Harrouff’s lawyer pled insanity to give him a lesser sentence.  An expert from Cleveland, Ohio came down and interviewed Harrouff.  At first he thought the teenager was lying about having a mental illness but at the end concluded that he did.  Having done his job, he flew back to Cleveland only to find out that Horrouff would do minimal time due to his mental illness.  The expert picked up the phone and made a phone call to someone that used to live in Cleveland. 

 

                Abby and Nouno were both raised in Cleveland.  Abby was born there but Nouno moved when he was three so although his earliest memories were in Cleveland, he technically wasn’t born there.  They now live in Arizona.  They are out for dinner when Abby overhears people from California talking.  Abby is much more outgoing and extroverted than Nouno is and he disliked how she engages in conversations with strangers when they’re out.  Abby knows this but she doesn’t care.  She knows that as much as Nouno says he dislikes it, he almost always participates in the conversation.  Abby asks, “You know lately there’s been a lot of people moving here from California.  Why is that?”

                A California girl says, “It’s too expensive to live there.   They keep raising taxes and gas is over five dollars a gallon.”

                Abby just nods and utters, “Yea, I’ve heard that.”

                “It just keeps getting worse.  Now that they want to give healthcare to illegal immigrants, it’s really going to bankrupt them.”

                Nouno articulates, “That’s basically offering healthcare to the whole world”

                The California girl shrugs her shoulders and she puts on a higher pitched voice.  She says, “I mean, I understand that they want a better life and healthcare is a right and everyone should be taken care of but….”

                Nouno fired back, “You have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not healthcare or any of the millions and millions of things you liberal West Coast people call rights.  Rights incur an obligation on someone else and people should not be forced to do things.”

                Abby rolls her eyes and gently states, “I’m sorry for him, he gets pretty zealous with this stuff.”

                The California girl responds angrily, “Well, it’s worth a shot to see if Bernie Sander’s healthcare for all campaign will work.  I mean if it fails, then we can save the country from a horrible idea.”

                Nouno retorted, “It was already tried in Vermont by the same Bernie Sanders running for president.”

                “And what happened?”

                “Vermont’s total revenue is $1.7 Billion dollars.  That is how much they make through tax collections a year.”

                “Alright”

                “To give healthcare to everyone, they found out that they would need to increase their revenue by $2.6 Billion”

                “So, they have to more than double their income”

                “Yup, tax people twice as much.  That, however, won’t work because if you double people’s taxes, they are less motivated to work and may leave the state. Or do you think that that’s ridiculous that people leave states because of high taxes” Nouno smiled condescendingly at this point daring her to contradict herself.

                Abby chimed in, “I’ve tried to work with him on his delivery.  Try to ignore the confrontational tone and go just with the information.”

                The California girl utters, “I don’t think I’ll be able to but fine, we can’t afford it.  California can’t deal with more taxes, we’re taxed enough as it is and it’s leading to a lot more poor people, which means a lot more crime.”

                Nouno adds, “And shitting in the street.”

                “Yes that too” admits the California girl.  “Anyway it was nice meeting you” she says to Abby and walks away. 

                Abby glares at Nouno and reprimands, “Why can’t you just be nice to people?”

                “I hate stupid people and I’ve given up on educating them.  They can’t be helped.”

                Abby thinks about it and realizes that if Nouno has to deal with her sparking conversations with random strangers, she has to deal with his aggressive first impression.  It is who they are and they wouldn’t want the other person to not be themselves regardless of how it may hurt them in a public social setting.  One of the other pet peeves Nouno has with Abby is about to come to fruition as she receives a phone call and answers it despite being at dinner.  The conversation is quick and Abby looks at Nouno and decries, “That was a doctor friend from back home.  We have a case.”

                “Where to?”

                “Palm Beach, Florida”

                “Nice! It’ll be nice to see the ocean. Maybe instead of the crematorium, we’ll rent a boat and just throw the body in the water.”

                “Do you know the tides in Palm Beach?  Where to drop the body so that they carry it to the middle of the ocean far far way from swimmers?”

                Nouno dropped his head and pronounced, “No”

                “Yea, stop thinking you’re Dexter”

                “I know, who is the target?”

                “Well it’s a white guy for a change.”

                “Alright”

                “19-year-old pothead that killed a couple in their 50s and chewed their faces.  He’s getting off for insanity.”

                “You know, I think if you just left it at he killed them and ate their faces, I could have figured out he was white.”

                Abby shot him a strange look and said, “Why?”

                “White people are crazy.  When they do shit, it’s always heinous and disgusting.  I mean Hispanics decapitate and kill you brutally but they’re not going to like take out your eyes and use them as click clacks or something.”

                Abby shakes her head and says nothing.  After a period of silence she declares, “Weed doesn’t make you violent though.”

                “It does now”

                “What does that mean?”

                “This isn’t the weed you smoked in high school.  Now that it’s legal, they lace it with more THQ.  It went from 8% to like 30% THQ”

                “So legalizing it made it dangerous?”

                “Yes, if the government is making money off it, they want to make it more addictive so you keep doing it.  People dying was bad for business for drug dealers and it was their only source of income.  A drug dealer has less incentive to kill their clients than the government does.”

                “Wow, the government really can’t do anything right.”

                “Right, or you could say that since pot dealers have to pay taxes, it’s an added cost they didn’t have before so now they have to increase the use by making their product more addictive.”

                “I get it, government bad, free market good, even for weed.”

                “There you go” Nouno articulated with a wide smile and caused Abby to smile as well. 

 

                They got on the plane and headed to Palm Beach, Florida.  While on the plane, Nouno found out that an Obama state department official, Jonathan Winer, organized meetings between Steele and various State department officials as far back as 2014.  He mentioned it to Abby and she stated, “Well, that’s why Nunez always talks about that none of the information came through official intelligence, it was all unofficial.”

                “Are you beginning to come over to the dark side?” Inquired Nouno since Abby was normally left of center.

                Abby gave him a charming look and spoke, “Don’t worry I still hate Trump”

                “This isn’t about Trump; this is about the Iran deal”

                “What do you mean?”

                “On December 11, 2014, Winer pressured his colleagues to get Steele’s reports to Victoria Nuland and Paul Jones so they could influence the president.  Trump wasn’t even thinking of running in 2014.”

                “I know that, he ran in 2016, I’m a pretty smart cookie.  That’s why you love me remember?”

                “Well, you were 21 when this happened so who knows what you were doing in college.”

                “And you were 30”

                “You’re still not”

                “Fine, whatever” she countered as she rolled her eyes. 

                “Do you understand what this means?  As far back as 2014, Winer was acting like a liaison between Christopher Steele and the State Department.”

                “Yes, the Democrats were colluding with the English way before Trump.  Winer was the predecessor of Bruce Ohr.”

                “That’s a very good comparison.  Yes, but how long was the pipeline between Steele and the State Department going on?”

                “I don’t know, how do we have all these e-mails?”

                “Judicial Watch got it through the Freedom of Information Act”

                “How can Judicial Watch get this shit but Republican congressman and the President of the United States can’t get it when they subpoena and order it to be declassified?”

                “What do you think I’m going to answer” Nouno responded with an intense stare

                Abby shook her head slowly back and forth in a mocking manner, which matched her tone as she articulated, “The private sector is always going to be better than the government”

                Nouno was undeterred and pronounced, “That’s right!”

                Abby smiled and continued, “I guess that’s why Victoria Nuland was saying there were many dossiers like Steele writing a dossier wasn’t a big deal”

                “Yea, he’d been giving dossiers to bypass the intelligence community to influence policy for years before the Trump surveillance and Carter Page FISA”

                “Well, Steele wasn’t the only one who wrote a dossier.  Cody Shearer did too and he gave it to Sydney Blumenthal to influence policy”

                “You do realize that Cody Shearer is Jonathan Winer’s brother-in-law right?”

                Abby put her head down and quietly mumbled, “No, I didn’t”

                “I think that Winer is the key to all of this.  He linked Halper and Dearlove to the state department to tell them about Mike Flynn and Svetlana Lokhova, which was a made up story because there was nothing to them.  They just happened to be sitting at the same table at a Cambridge dinner.  There was no romantic interest.”

                “Okay, I’m not as obsessed with this as you are.  You say how the state department is giving information to the FBI and the FBI is running with it.  You state that as if it’s a bad thing.  I believe you it is but you never really explained how it’s supposed to work.  If you explain that, then the contrast will help your point.  This is what I mean by your delivery being shitty.”

                “My tone has nothing to do with it?”

                “Oh that’s the main problem but baby steps”

                Nouno gives a wry smile and starts, “It’s supposed to work that the intelligence community gathers information.  Once they vet it and make sure it’s verified, then they tell the State department.  The State department then decides how they’re going to legislate said information.  Non-intelligence agents should not be briefing the State department nor is the state department supposed to be telling the intelligence agencies anything.  It’s one way traffic.  Intelligence tells state, state acts on information.”

                “So, state department should never ask intelligence to verify or help them.”

                “I mean, they can and it’s the intelligence’s job to vet it and verify.  They didn’t in this case but honestly no, they shouldn’t.  It influences them too much and the intelligence communities shouldn’t be bothered with gossip from powerful people because they may be pressured into pleasing them.”

                “Alright, wait, so that’s probably how Steele ended up talking to Kavalec.  Winer set up the meeting since he wanted Steele to meet with as many state officials as possible so the FBI had the same information from multiple sources.  Also, Steele talked to the media outlets too.”

                Nouno’s eyes darted up as if he had an epiphany, “Yes, that’s correct” he cried out 

                Nouno and Abby landed and they scoped out the area.  The next day, Nouno went to the beach and went swimming.  Abby met him later and they spent a day relaxing before doing what they came to do.  Abby had located Austin and was telling Nouno her plan.  Nouno was hardly listening as he wanted a day of relaxation on the beach.  That night, they went over it again.  It was time to act. 

Nouno had a friend that was bipolar.  He had witnessed one of these psychotic breaks and it almost landed him in jail as the girl who had asked him to pick her up in his neighborhood ended up accusing him of stalking her.  Before that, they walked over 10 miles around New York City until he finally gave up and went to his apartment thinking she’d come back eventually.  Instead, she went to the wrong building and when he got the address from a doorman. He hurried over only to find she already called the police and set him up.  That ended a friendship that lasted about a decade.  Due to this, he knew how to trigger these breaks.  He found Austin and walked up to him and said, “The Earth’s vibes are off balance”

Austin’s body tensed and he muttered under his breath, “You’re right, I’m dizzy.”

                Nouno suggested, “You think that witch you killed may have put a spell on you before you killed her?”

                “I don’t know maybe”

                “If you’re dizzy and can’t handle the Earth shifts and the negative vibes, come back to my hotel, you’ll be safe there.”

                “No, I won’t.  You’re trying to kill me.”

                Nouno shook his head back and forth and said, “Yea, I am” as he stuck him with a syringe knocking him unconscious as Austin gaped at him in shock that he admitted it. 

                Austin woke up tied down to a bed with plastic.  He demanded, “Let me go?  Do you know how important I am?  I’m not going to sacrifice myself like MLK and Jesus did.”

                “No, you won’t because your death will mean nothing.  Nobody is going to make a religion off of you.  School will be open on your birthday.”

                “Why are you doing this?”

                “You killed two people.  They weren’t witches or evil beings.  They were innocent people and you killed them.”

                “I had to, I’m half dog, half man”

                “Well, dogs don’t normally attack humans.  They’re normally man’s best friend. Also, if a dog does act up and attacks a human, humans react by putting the dog down so you’re saying we should kill you.”

                Abby liked toying with Nouno so she raised, “What do you think of Russia-gate?”

                Nouno chuckled because he knew what she was doing.  Like Abby, though, he was curious what he would say.  He got involved with the other girl because psychology interested him and the psychotic mind was intriguing to view.  What would they come up with?  It definitely ended the monotony of the day and normal conversations.  He was surprised when Austin offered, “It’s not Trump-Gate or Russia-gate, it’s Spygate”

                Abby replied “What do you mean?”

                “Trump was just the most recent manifestation.  Obama did this in his first term.  It all started with Iran.  Obama used the United Kingdom to go after all opponents of the Iran deal.  That’s how Mike Flynn was targeted at a dinner in Cambridge with CIA spy Stefan Halper.  They lied that he was fucking a Russian student, Svetlana Lokhova.  That’s how Russia started but it was only because Flynn was vocally against the Iran deal.  He resigned and kept talking so Obama tried to shut him up with a Russian collusion myth.  Just like he did to McCain and just like he did with Trump.  He used British intelligence because they aren’t held down by our laws so they are free to invasively spy on us.”

                Nouno couldn’t believe he was taking this seriously.  A lot of what he said checked out with what he knew but the best lies have an element of truth to them.  He curiously posed, “Well, you’re talking about Russia again.  You said it wasn’t Russia-Gate, it was Spygate, so any other countries.”

                “With all the turmoil going on in Libya when Kaddafi was ousted, a lot of money could be made in that chaos”

                “Kind of like how Manafort, Hillary, Biden and George Soros made money off the turmoil in Ukraine?”

                “Right, before Ukraine there was Libya.  Sidney Blumenthal was close with Obama and he wanted Libyan Government contracts”

                “And Winer at the time was the special envoy to Libya”

Austin gave an appreciative nod and said, “You are well informed.”

“I am, I’m just surprised you are?”

“What you don’t think bipolar people pay attention to the world and the news?”

“I just think they’re susceptible to being brainwashed by the fake news of mainstream media.  You know the real story.  The stuff the news doesn’t tell you.”

“You can’t be brainwashed when you’re a super human” 

“And your back”

                “Maybe this is easier for you to swallow.  When you’re psychotic, you are more skeptical of shit.  You don’t believe everything you see on TV because everyone is full of shit so you research it more.”

                “That makes sense.  Back to the story though.  So Blumenthal wants government contracts and Winer is in a position to provide them to him.”

                “And Winer does.  See, he worked for APCO Worldwide, which is a lobbying firm.  They are longtime associates with John Kerry, who was a familiar character in the Iran deals by talking to the Iranians representing the United States.  A clear violation of the Logan Act that they charged Flynn with a couple years later.”

                “Since Winer worked there and he likes setting up meetings.  He probably set up a meeting between state department officials and APCO so they could better influence policy on behalf of their clients.”

                “And what clients they had.  APCO gave hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pro-bono services to the Clinton Foundation.  Rosatom gave APCO three million dollars in 2010.”

                Abby asked, “Who is Rosatom?”

                Nouno answered, “They are one of the largest Russian energy companies.  They bought the Iranian company Tenex, which gave them access to United States Uranium that we had sold to the Iranians as part of the Iran deal brokered by Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.”

                “Right the Uranium One Scandal.  To be fair though, lobbying firms such as ABCO do have multiple clients.  You can’t assume all their clients are connected” Abby offered

                “Yes, that is true but the optics suck” Nouno turned to Austin and stated, “There was a recent article about Iran being linked to stockpiles of explosives they found in northwest London.”

                “Did you catch when they were stockpiling it” inquired Austin with a smile

                “Autumn 2015”

                “Which was a couple months after Britain agreed to the Iran Deal”

                “So, the British covered it up so that they don’t have a Lebanese Hezbollah organization holding Iranian ammonium Nitrate, which is used to make household bombs, stockpiling Uranium right after they just gave Iran access to buy Uranium from them and the Americans”

                “That would be quite embarrassing”

                “Why now though?” Asked Abby

                Nouno opined, “Because of the declassification.  Last year, Britain was most against declassification.  I thought it was because of their involvement in the Trump collusion story but it’s also this.  All the spying they did for Barak Obama is going to come out with the declassification so they’re trying to get ahead of the story and spin it how they want to.”

                Austin remarked, “Well, Britain wasn’t doing it out of the generousness of their hearts.  The Iran deal was a disaster for them too.  That stockpile in northwest London was just the tip of the iceberg.  They needed to keep all opponents of the deal from being proven right.  That’s why they helped Obama silence Flynn and anyone else that opposed the Iran deal.  It was a stupid idea that Britain and Obama fell for.  They were tricked by the Russians through the Iranians”

                “You’d think the Iranians running around screaming ‘death to America’ was a clue.”

                “You would”

                “I truly enjoyed our conversation”

                “We can take down the Democrats together.  We can go after all those involved in Spygate.”

                “John Durham and Bill Barr are already doing that.  That’s why Durham expanded the scope of the investigation.”

                “No, they’re part of the conspiracy; you and I can do it together.”

                Nouno slit Austin’s throat and said, “No, you were right originally, I was going to kill you.”

                Abby looked quizzically at Austin.  She said, “Nouno, you normally kill them quickly with a stab in the main artery in the chest.  Why slit his throat?”

                “He reminds me of that bitch that falsely accused me of assault and stalking her.”

                “Luckily the cops knew she was full of shit.”

                “Yea but if I was in her neighborhood, it may have been different.  I had been to her apartment several times before so it wasn’t out of the ordinary.”

                “You weren’t. Stick to what happened not what could of happened.”

                “I guess you’re right.”

                They cleaned up the room and drove the body to a boat they rented.  Abby checked the tides and the ideal place to drop the body and they did.  They then made love on the boat before heading back to shore.  The next day, they flew back to Arizona.  When they got back, Abby said, “That’s the last time we get sloppy and not just go to a crematorium”

                “Are you worried we’re going to get caught?  It’s already been a day. The salt water will destroy all evidence. They’ll never link it to us all the way over here.”

                “Yea, but it’s not our specialty”

                Nouno put his arm around her and spoke consolingly, “Remember, you’re a smart cookie, you did it right.”
                Abby leaned against his chest and smiled.  She tilted her head up and Nouno kissed her affectionately on the lips.  They went about their lives awaiting their next mission.