In
London, England two American cousins are abiding by the ‘shelter at home’
policies that Parliament has put into place.
Kera, who owns the flat and employs her cousin Fanis as a bodyguard
believes the precautions are necessary.
Fanis, on the other hand, frequently rails against it. He says to his cousin, “I mean we are living
in the city where V for Vendetta took
place and the whole world has turned into that society.”
“Calm
down. We’re not even listening. We still travel the world it just takes a
little longer because we have to go to decontamination chambers.”
Kera
has a right to be confused about his anger as his job is to be her bodyguard so
is not affected by the shutdown at all.
He is still gainfully employed and his everyday life remains mostly
unchanged. Despite that, he shoots back,
“That’s not the point. It’s the principle of what it does to society as a whole. This can’t sustain. Besides, when we go to these countries, I
want to actually enjoy the country. I’d
like to do some site-seeing; go to a bar and talk to the locals. You know, do things that people do when they
travel.”
“Well,
we are going to Interlocken, Switzerland.
What would you have done there that you can’t because of the shut down?”
“Is
that a joke? There are a lot of extreme
sports there. I’ve been hang gliding and
canyon jumping there. They got scenic
lakes and the Alps. You can go extreme
sledding. There’s all sorts of shit to
do.”
“There’s
all sorts of shit to do in the winter.
First off, you don’t ski or snowboard so there actually isn’t much for
you to do even in the winter. Secondly,
like you’ve said, you’ve done all those things so there’s no point to do it
again.”
“You
can go skydiving out of a helicopter.
I’ve never done that.”
“Yes
but you have out of a plane. Is it
really that different?”
“Not in
the Alps”
“When
you jump out of a plane, I don’t think the scenery is what matters.”
“It
does after you pull the cord. Besides,
people claim that since a plane is flying horizontal, it eases your stomach
when you jump. A helicopter is hovering
so you get more of the stomach in your throat feeling. I didn’t get that at all when I skydove so it
is different.”
“After
Kobe Bryant, you want to get in a helicopter?”
“Yes,
for the same reason I fly even if there was a plane crash somewhere in the
world.”
“Well,
let’s see if you can do it. I mean those
places are losing money so maybe we can convince them to take you by
yourself. We’d probably get a good
rate.”
“We’ll
see. Anyway, Obama and Warren endorsed
Biden today.”
“Well,
yea he’s the only Democrat left.”
“According
to Obama, he waited because Biden told him not to because he wanted to win fair
and square.”
“Well,
that’s horseshit. No politician wants to
win fair and square. Even if that was
true, it’s better to not endorse him at all because now it looks like he was
holding out for anyone better but nobody stepped up.”
“Yea, I
agree. It makes him look worse.”
“Anyway,
get ready. We’re going to Switzerland.”
On the
plane, Kera comments to Fanis, “The Washington Post just published an article
that the Coronavirus may have leaked from a Wuhan lab.”
“Aren’t
they the ones that attacked Tom Cotton for saying the same thing a couple weeks
ago? They claimed it was a conspiracy
theory.”
Kera
nodded her head, “It’s actually the same writer too; Josh Rogin.”
“I’m
sure Rogin was quick to explain his about face.”
“No, no
mention at all.”
“That
was sarcastic”
“I know
but I answered anyway.”
“Given
that you are this Chinese expert as you deal in Chinese art and that’s what
allows us these fancy digs and travel arrangements, don’t you have insider
information on this?”
“Aren’t
you the one that doesn’t want to know the intimate details of what I do?”
“Yes,
but this isn’t intimate detail. Just, oh
yea, it’s true or not.”
“You do
realize that if I knew the answer to that it would be a deep secret that many
are claiming that the Chinese are covering up.
My knowledge of it would mean I’m highly connected to the Chinese
government and know some highly classified information; information that when
other people tried to tell people, they, allegedly of course, disappeared and
were killed.”
“So,
you’re not going to tell me?”
“Given
the nature of your job, I think it’s in your best interest.”
“You
don’t care if I die. That’s pretty much
why you hired me.”
“That,
and you’re the closest person I get to
what could be considered ‘trust.’”
“Yea,
makes me kind of irreplaceable.”
“Yes,
it would be difficult.”
“Besides,
the point is for me to die so you could live.
Taking on the Chinese government, we both die.”
“Yes,
so it’s kind of pointless.”
“Fair
enough.”
There
was a brief moment of silence and then Kera declared, “I will tell you that a
cable was given to the US state department about dangerous conditions in the
Wuhan Lab.”
“When?”
“Two
years ago when a US embassy official visited a Chinese research facility in
Wuhan. They made an official warning about the
conditions.”
“Ah, so
that’s how it went from writing articles entitled, ‘Tom Cotton keeps repeating
a Coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debnked’ and calling it a
fringe theory to admitting he was right without mentioning him at all.”
“Well,
it wasn’t just Tom Cotton. An Arkansas
congressman said it too.”
“And
the post and media attacked him for that too but now things have changed.”
“What
changed?”
“Back
then, the narrative was he was a racist and xenophobe that was trying to find a
scapegoat. But now that he’s been proven right, the new narrative is that he
knew and he did nothing. This cable you
speak of helps that. Even though it only
talks about a Chinese research facility not necessarily the one that leaked the
virus and it was two years ago.
Furthermore, ‘dangerous conditions’ translating to ‘huge pandemic that
will shut the world down’ is a huge leap.”
They
land in Interlocken and check into a hotel.
Kera informs Fanis, “Just so you know, they chose Intelocken precisely
because it’s a rural city. Geneva and
Zurich are too crowded so my clients are still afraid of Covid.”
“Why is
that relevant?”
“I
don’t know. You were bitching earlier
about how you want everything opened up so you can enjoy our trips. Keep in mind, travelling for business is very
different from travelling for pleasure.
Most people never get to see the country that they travelled to for
business. You just forego sleep to make
it happen.”
“You
say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Whatever,
let’s just get some dinner and go to sleep.”
“How
are we going to get dinner when we’re in a rural area?”
Kera
rolled her eyes and got ready for bed.
Fanis called out to her, “You know there’s a casino here but we can’t go
because it’s closed.”
“I
don’t gamble”
“But I
do!”
“Good
night Fanis!”
Fanis
put on a sweet yet mocking tone, “Good night my wonderful cousin and employer.”
The
next day, Kera and Fanis head to her rendezvous. Fanis greets the Swiss bodyguard and he
responds, “Good morning sir. How are
you?”
“I’m
doing well.”
“Is
this your first time in Switzerland?”
“No,
I’ve been here before. I travel a lot
actually but I got to say the people in Switzerland are the nicest people than
anywhere else I’ve been.”
“Well,
thank you. I hope I can measure up.”
“Well,
you’re one of the first opposing body guards that didn’t start the conversation
establishing I’m an American.”
The
Swiss guy smiled, “Well, I didn’t really feel the need to ask a question I
already knew the answer to. I’m Alessio
by the way.”
“I’m
Fanis”
“Nice
to meet you”
They
bumped elbows as is the new way to shake hands even in Switzerland. He responded, “Likewise.”
“America
has been hit pretty hard by this virus.
Is it as bad as the news suggests?”
“Well,
we live in London so I don’t really have firsthand knowledge but from what I
hear, no, it’s not. Most of the
hospitals are empty. It seems like they
over-prepared for it. Also, they put a
rule that you get more money if people die from the virus so all of a sudden
people aren’t dying from strokes, heart attacks or diabetes. It seems they are inflating their numbers to
get more funding.”
“It
doesn’t matter where you are; such is the way of government.”
“I
couldn’t agree more.”
“It
does upset me to hear that though. Here
in Europe, we look to America as the last beacon of hope against this
corruption and oppressive governments.”
“We
take that very seriously as well. That
is why you are seeing a lot of Civil Disobedience.”
“I’m
afraid I’m not familiar with that term.”
“When a
bunch of people peacefully but purposely break a bad law in order to sue the
government later for enforcing the bad law.”
“I can
honestly say that is an American thing.
If you tried that elsewhere, they’d laugh at you at best. In some places, they just straight up kill
you but you’re telling me this is so common in America that they have a name
for it?”
“It was
more popular during segregation and Jim Crow laws but every time the government
tries to infringe on our rights, we push back.”
“Is it
successful?”
“Yes,
that’s how marijuana became legal.
That’s why we no longer have segregation. It is quite effective.”
“This
is fascinating to me. Can you give me an
example of this during this crisis?”
“In
Greenville, Mississippi, there was a church service for Easter. People came in their cars and kept their
windows rolled up and listened to the pastor over their car radios. The police showed up and issued them all
fines.”
“Then
what happened.”
“The
Department of Justice, the police for all of America, got involved and told the
Mississippi government they can’t do that because they have Freedom of
Religion.”
“Yes,
that is a big thing with you Americans.”
“Yes,
it is. Hence, it was the very first
amendment.”
“Then
it still does work.”
“Oh yea
but their argument was solid.
Restaurants nearby had drive ins and people ate in their cars and were
allowed to leave the windows open. How
are you going to say that restaurants can have a bunch of cars eating in the
parking lot with windows open but people can’t listen to a service with the
windows up?”
“I’m
not saying it doesn’t make sense but hypocrisy has never been a problem with
government here.”
“Nor in
America but we can fight it more.”
“I
mean, we have protests too but we don’t purposely break laws and expect the law
to change. Do you have any other
examples?”
“Well,
remember, people are still scared. Once
things open up again and people are less scared then they’re coming after the
government for this.”
“Okay,
so right now, that’s the only one.”
“No,
people are petitioning for the governor of Michigan to resign. First, she banned a treatment that has been
shown to work in several studies, and then she went to grocery stores and
stopped people from buying what they wanted.
She forced them only to buy ‘essential items’ so they want her gone
now.”
“Did it
work?”
“Honestly,
it probably won’t work. They did the
same thing to the governor of Virginia for a bunch of things but he’s still
there. They just wait it out and people
get bored and move on.”
“Yea,
having someone voluntarily give up power is tough.”
“Especially
a politician.”
“Yea, I
think Kentucky is in trouble too because they banned drive in church
services. That’ll probably come back to
bite them in the ass.”
“This
isn’t an accusation but I’m truly curious.
Does your constitution protect freedom of speech and religion no matter
what? Christianity I get but some
religions sacrifice people. Are there
any limits?”
“Yes. I can’t threaten to kill you. The most common example is screaming ‘fire’
in a crowded room when there isn’t one just so that the room is no longer
crowded. As a rule, in order to deny a
Constitutional right, you need two things.
The first is a compelling interest.
In this case, you can spread a deadly virus. The second one is that it needs to be done
via the least restrictive means. In this
case, Mississippi picked the most restrictive.
The least restrictive is like “Hey, don’t all gather inside or asking
them to disperse. When you actually
punish them, that’s about as restrictive as it gets. To be honest, I don’t even think they have an
argument for the second part.”
“Power
to the people right.”
“Yes,
see, at first I was worried because this forced shut down reminds me of
socialism and the Democrats have been advocating socialism for a while. Then I realized that there’s another aspect
to American society that I normally don’t like but may help us in this case.”
“What’s
that?”
“We’re
a very litigious society.”
“My
English is good but I don’t know that word.”
“We
love suing people! There’s always
someone to blame and some judge will be willing to listen. Who knows, you just might convince one. In America, it’s never your fault. It’s
always someone else’s fault. If you trip
and fall on the sidewalk, you sue the city, the store the sidewalk is in front
of, the guys who poured the cement to make the sidewalk and everyone else you
can think of.”
“We
don’t really do that here.”
“I know
but I think it will save us from becoming V
for Vendetta if you saw that movie.”
“I did. I don’t know though. This is a global pandemic. How can you blame people for being worried?”
“9/11
was a terrorist attack. It wasn’t New York’s fault yet 19 years later, people
are still suing saying that their cancer was because they lived near the
building and they breathed in the dust.
People will be suing New York for a long time because terrorists decided
to fly a plane into a building. At
first, we came together and united as Americans but now that that’s over, they
are looking for any reason to sue. If
you were a fireman or one of the people that responded and you ever get cancer
during the course of your life, a lawyer will take the case and will take the
city to court.”
“Based
on that, you’d think America should be the nicest society.”
“And
yet, we are not.”
Alessio
laughed and Kera exited her meeting. She
was on the phone speaking Mandarin and Fanis gave her a quizzical look as she
rarely left a meeting on the phone. He
gave a quick good bye to Alessio and followed her. She got off the phone and sighed as she gave
Fanis a dirty look. Fanis returned with
a puzzled look and asked, “What did I do?”
“Your
boy Trump cut funding to the WHO”
“Good;
that saves us $500 Million dollars. You
know, just 4,000 more just like it and we covered that stupid stimulus bill we
signed.”
“Well,
China is pissed.”
“Of
course they are. The organization that
they had cover up the Wuhan Virus and promote their propaganda has just been
punched in the mouth. The WHO did this to
themselves when they thought China’s $ 44 Million was worth more than our $ 500
Million.”
Kera
slapped Fanis across the face. “You
don’t understand! Like it or not, you
work for China. China is my fucking
livelihood and you gave up your fucking life to protect me so it’s your
livelihood too. Putting the WHO in a
position where they have to choose between China and the US hurts us because
we’re Americans working for China.”
“Make
no mistake about it Kera; you work for China; not me. If that fucking country collapses I wouldn’t
care. I can find other work. I have two degrees and work experience before
I decided to help you. The WHO gave us
no choice when they attacked President Trump’s travel ban and told us for a
month that the virus couldn’t be transferred from human to human. Then, when President Trump criticized us, the
motherfucker Tetros or whatever his name is threatened us. He told us that if we keep calling it the
Wuhan Virus when he told us not to, then there will be more body bags. Trump should have pulled funding the day he
fucking said that. This is long overdue.”
“Well,
Trump did say that it was just on hold pending an investigation on if they
covered it up.”
“I hope
they never fund them again. While we’re
at it, we should stop funding the UN and have whoever decides these things give
New York back the land so we can have nice east river front property. Anyone that would have a country that just
unleashed a pandemic on the world on their human rights council should not be
an organization we are a member of.”
Kera’s
body tensed up and let out a guttural roar as she slapped him across the face
again. “I tolerate your shots against
China a lot but not right now. I’m not
in the fucking mood.”
A large
Swiss man approached them. Based on his
accent, Fanis could tell he was from the German side of Switzerland whereas
Interlocken is closer to the Italian border so is on the opposite side. Technically, it would be considered the
French side. He barked out, “Hey, leave
the nice lady alone!”
Fanis
gave him a confused look, “Dude, she hit me.
I didn’t touch her.”
“You
must have done something to make her hit you.”
“Yea, I
offended her.”
“Then
you deserved it.”
“No,
not really.”
Kera
smiled and her tone softened, “I appreciate it sir but he’s my cousin. Everything is fine here. I just have a really bad temper.”
“No,
you don’t have to defend him. I hate how
men like this beat woman into submission and they stand by them and defend
them. No real man hits women.”
Fanis
pointed his finger and made circular motions as he countered, “See, I agree
with that but again, she hit me. If I
really was abusive, do you think she would have hit me? Probably not; she would have been too
scared.”
“Are
you threatening her in front of me?”
“I’m
beginning to think you don’t want to talk about this. You seem like you just want to fight.”
Kera
snapped, “Boys! Calm the fuck down.
Nobody is fighting here. He would
never hit me that’s why I hit him; twice in fact. He’s actually my bodyguard. I travel with him specifically to make sure
nobody hurts me. Again, thank you but
it’s really not necessary.”
“Bodyguard? What are you guys FBI? Are you like Strzok and Page?”
Fanis
responded, “No, they were fucking each other; we are not.”
“How
are they not in jail yet? You have their
texts.”
Kera
giggled, “How did we get here? Look,
they were tricked by the Russians. It
happens to the best of us.”
Fanis
tilted his head, “That’s bullshit.”
The
Swiss-German queried, “How would you know that?”
“Like
you said, we have the texts. In
September 2015, way before the election, Strzok texted Page that Putin is good
at disinformation and they had to be careful not to be suckers. They were already nervous about it so how
would they fall for it later?”
“Because
they’re morons.”
“Yes,
but they were only morons because they were blinded by their hatred for
President Trump.”
“That
is a weak argument.”
“Oh, I
got more. July 28, 2016, Page texts
Strzok how she loves the first line of an article as it made her smile. Strzok responds that he thinks it makes Comey
look good. They even text a link to the
article so we know which one they were referring to.”
“That
would be….”
“’What
does the US Government know about Russia and the DNC Hack?” in Lawfare. As for the line that made Page smile,
‘Potentially unpleasant news for Jim Comey; we may need you to intervene in the
2016 election again.”
“Wait,
so then you’re saying Comey purposely interfered in the election. It wasn’t an accident?”
“Yes,
sorry, I thought it was clear. In
English we say that it was malfeasance not misfeasance.”
“What’s
the difference?”
“Well,
let’s take this situation. Misfeasance
would be that you saw a woman hit a man and believed the man was about to hurt
her. You don’t want to get involved so
you just keep walking and let it happen.
Malfeasance would be that you saw the same thing then walked over and
helped the guy beat the shit out of the woman.”
“The
first one you’re not the one that caused the problem you just did nothing to
stop it. The second one, you actively
participated in the problem.”
“Correct”
“So,
you were going to hit her back before I got involved.”
“Are we
still on this? I thought we covered
this. No, that’s not what happened. I don’t know what it is you think you saw but
you didn’t.”
“Any
more texts you just happened to have memorized.”
“Several. August 28, 2016 Strzok texted Page, ‘I’ll
send separately to Andy, McCabe, the Deputy Director of the FBI and their boss,
I’m sure Bill will be okay. That’s Bill
Priezstep, McCabe’s boss. We’re dumping
Hillary angle and going with an article entitled, ‘A powerful Russian Weapon:
The spread of false stories.”
“Wait,
so these texts are saying that they knew what Russia was trying to do.”
“And
they were saying they weren’t going to fall for it.”
“Did
any of these texts have to do with the dossier?”
“A lot
of texts are redacted but there is one from July 18, 2016 that I think
does. There are a whole bunch of them
that are redacted fully then at the end, Strzok tells page, ‘Don’t want to miss
Melania’s big speech. And fuck the
cheating motherfucking Russians.
Bastards. I hate them.’ Page
simply responds, ‘I’m sorry; Me too.’”
“How
does that have anything to do with the dossier?”
“July
18 is the day before a memo is written in the dossier. Remember, the dossier is just a collection of
memos. On July 19th, a memo
is launched in the dossier called memo #94.
This would be the first time that Carter Page is mentioned and it’s
about the alleged bribe between Carter Page and Roseneft. That’s probably what the redactions were
about. They were discussing that. Problem is those shares that Rosneft,
Russia’s largest energy company, offered Carter Page were worth several million
dollars. I actually don’t remember; it
might actually have been over a billion.”
“You
remember all these dates but not the amount of the bribe.”
“Well,
I know that the allegation was full of shit so there’s no point to remember the
details of a complete lie! Speaking of
lying; what makes these redactions even more interesting is that this
conversation was in July but the FBI has always claimed that they didn’t get
the dossier until September 2016. If
they were discussing the content of memo #94 then how did they know? Were they talking to Steele and finding out
from him and telling him what to write in the memo?”
“You
really are interested in these texts.”
“The
morons unraveled and revealed the entire hoax to each other. They were dumb enough to put it in writing on
FBI phones knowing the FBI had access.
Hell, they were the FBI. They
thought that Hillary would win and all of it would be covered up so they were
sloppy. Now that she didn’t, we know
everything. The thing that upsets me is
Barr hasn’t declassified everything. He
should. It’s time.”
“Well
we all know that Trump didn’t collude with the Russians so is there anything in
the texts that isn’t widely known?”
“Like I
said, a lot of it is redacted but of the unredacted parts, there’s one on May
9, 2016. The date is weird because it’s
the day before they opened investigations on Carter Page, George Papadopoulos
and Paul Manafort but they are texting each other about a Romanian named
Guccifer. Both of them are talking about how much they hate Romanians and how
sleazy they are. They compare them to
the crookedness of a Russian and the entitlement of an Italian. I don’t know how Romania has anything to do
with this. I’ve heard Australia, and
England played a big part. Russia
actually didn’t play as big a part as the Democrats will have you believe but
Romania? How do they fit in?”
“Romanians
are feisty people let me tell you.”
“Have
you heard anything?”
“No,
this is new to me too.”
“Yea, I
never got an answer for that.”
The
Swiss-German turned to Kera, “Miss, I have been distracting him so you could
get away. Why are you still here?”
Both of
them rolled their eyes. Fanis exclaimed,
“Jesus Christ, you’re still on this.
What is wrong with you?”
The
Swiss-German shoved Fanis and Fanis instinctively chopped his hands away and
drove a palm into his chest. The
Swiss-German backed up taking heavy breaths trying to get the wind back that
was just knocked out of him. Fanis
exclaimed, “I always said that if a Swiss ever hit someone then I’d join in
because they must have done something shitty but man, I guess there are
exceptions to every rule.” Fanis put his
hands up, “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Too
bad” he snapped as he charged at Fanis tackling him to the ground.
Fanis
rolled with the blow and positioned his right leg against the Swiss-German’s
thigh and lifted his leg up causing the Swiss-German to flip over his head and
land on his back. Kera stood in the
middle and screamed, “Stop it!” he turned to the Swiss-German, “I’m fine. Listen to me.
He has never and would never hit me.”
“What
happens if you don’t say that?”
“Nothing!”
The
Swiss-German darted forward and spun avoiding Kera and going right around
her. He wound his fist and put his full
body behind a punch. The Swiss-German
was 6’4” on a broad muscular frame compared to Fanis who also had a broad frame
but was only 6’0.” Fanis lifted his
hands making a fist with his right hand by his chin and his left hand on the
back of his head. The Swiss-German right
arm collided with Fanis’ elbow stopping the momentum and the fist never
collided with Fanis’ body. Fanis twisted
his wrist to grab a hold of the Swiss-German’s sleeve at his bicep and twisted
his arm to cause him to be off balance.
Fanis yanked him to his left putting his left foot at the Swiss-German’s
knee tripping him but continuing his grip on the arm. Fanis then unleashed punches to the
Swiss-German’s face in rapid succession.
He tried to coordinate his blows with each syllable of, ‘I do not hit
women’ but his rhythm was off. The
Swiss-German managed to shove Fanis off him with his left arm but his face was
now a crimson mask. Fanis let the man
get up and when he did he walked over him and shot his right hand to the
Swiss-German’s neck gripping his carotoid arteries and squeezing. Fanis then dragged the struggling
Swiss-German as he gurgled as his brain was screaming at him that he needed
blood and caused his body to go into a panic.
Fanis brought him to the edge of a lake and tossed him in. Immediately geese started pecking at the
Swiss-German and he waved his arms trying to make them go away but Swiss geese
were fearless.
Fanis
shook his head and walked away with Kera.
Kera interlocked her arm in his and turned and smiled at the Swiss-German
and skipped to Fanis’ pace. Fanis turned
to her and chuckled, “What the hell was that?”
“Seems
like someone wants your job as my bodyguard.”
“I
guess so.”
“It was
kind of sweet though don’t you think?”
“No, I
don’t”
“I
don’t know I like the idea that a perfect stranger was willing to defend me.”
“You do
know that after he did, he probably would want to fuck you right?”
“Well,
if he really saved me from an abusive guy or stopped me from getting my ass
kicked, raped or mugged, then I think I’d owe it to him don’t you think?”
“I
never got that logic. Someone stops a
man from raping a woman so the woman, who wasn’t planning on having sex with
the protector previously, now has to fuck him out of some sense of obligation? Either way you fuck someone that you weren’t
attracted to.”
“How do
you not see the difference? In the first
instance, I have no control. He would be
able to do anything he wanted to me and I’m helpless. In the second, I’m in control. I can tell him to stop and have reasonable
confidence he will. Besides, I would be
turned on if a man saved me from being raped.”
“You
weren’t turned on by that guy.”
“He
didn’t save me from anyone or anything.”
“He
thought he did.”
“That
doesn’t count.”
“I
guess not.”
“Anyway,
I found out where we can get food. After
we eat, do you want to see if I can figure out how to let you jump out of a
helicopter?”
“No,
that’s okay I wasn’t really interested.
I just want to know I had the option rather than the government telling
me I can’t”
“Gottcha.”
They
spent the rest of the day walking and taking in the scenic landscape of the
mountains, valleys and lakes. Afterward,
they returned to the hotel and talked until going to bed. The next day, they were back on the plane
heading to London. Kera queried, “Do you
think the US will be able to vote in person by November?”
“Not if
the Democrats can help it.”
“Why
would they want to stop in-person voting?”
“It’s
easier to rig an election with mail in votes.
The potential for fraud is enormous.”
“That’s
just fear mongering.”
“No,
there are many cases. Voter rolls are very rarely updated for when
people move or are deceased. The only
way they confirm a mail in vote is comparing signatures and I highly doubt they
are either highly qualified to do so or take the time to do every single one.”
“Also,
it’s easy to forge a signature if you know the person.”
“Exactly.”
“The
Republicans can cheat too.”
“Traditionally,
Republicans don’t cheat nearly as much as Democrats. In LA, a bunch of Democrats went to the
homeless people and offered them a dollar or cigarettes to fill out a mail-in
ballot. They also promised them that
they would reduce their jail time and forged signatures so they could vote from
jail.”
“Yea,
but they got caught.”
“Who
cares? They did it.”
“In-person
voting doesn’t go completely flawlessly either.”
“Traditionally,
it’s twice as safe as mail-in voting.”
“This
virus is going to come back though.”
“Hopefully
we learned from our mistake and we don’t shut down in November.”
“I
don’t think it was a mistake to shut down”
“I do.”
“I
guess we’ll just see in November.”
“Yea,
it sucks. Never before have Americans
bent over and taken it up the ass from the government like they are now. They are sacrificing their liberty for the
illusion of security. The founders were
very clear that if you sacrifice liberty for security, you’ll have neither.”
“I
think Benjamin Franklin said that and he wasn’t a founder.”
“Still
made it on our money.”
“The
highest bill no less. Well, it doesn’t
really affect us. We’re in London so we
have to vote by mail.”
“Yes,
it should still be an option but this sending a ballot to all voters is a bad
idea. It should be the way it is now;
you have to ask for one.”
“I’m
okay with that.”
“Alrighty
then.”
They land
in England and go through a decontamination tent. Afterwards, they go back to the flat to
decompress. As they sit on the couch
watching TV, they wonder what the world will be like once everything opens up
again. Fanis is hoping it happens sooner
rather than later. Kera, is still unsure
when she wants it to happen.
