Presidential Assassins

Chapter One

Madam President

D onna, as I retire and pass on this baton to you, the president-elect, there are a few things you need to know.

I think I can figure it out, Mr. President.

Not this….Listen to what I say. Life outside the beltway is mundane and just bearable until you retreat to the hallowed halls of power. The peasants who watch the media as their source of information turn into useful idiots for people like us. They need to be told what to think, when to act, and how to act, and who to vote for. The media is the conduit for such information or disinformation as the case may be.

Surely they don’t all believe that Glenn?

We don’t need them all to, we need the majority of those in certain states to drink the Kool-aid. That is why we have those wonderful software programs that tell us who to target for which robocalls.

You would think they would know better?

Why, you think Joe six-pack gives a shit about world economics? His only understanding of economics is that he has enough money to buy beer for the weekend.

Mr. President, you certainly don’t think that little of them.

Donna, what you ran on got you elected, trust me, it will never get past the Senate or the house as they don’t want the people having any power at all. Big government telling them everything that they need to know is what will make it out of Congress.

You are kidding me, I campaigned on giving the power back to the people.

Brilliant, throw them a bone and then play ball. That is why we are elected to save the Cretans from themselves. We deserve whatever we can take from them because, without us, they would still be living in caves. They would still kill their neighbor for their stuff, or act like the barbarians that they are. Without rules and regulations and yes nudging from us, they would be animals. Very few rises to the top and those that do we watch and possibly recruit.

I am shocked, no wonder your party is losing seats.

It does not make a difference if it is an R or a D, they, like you, will do what you are told.

And if I don’t?

Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley or JFK ring any bells?

I don’t believe what you are telling me!

"Listen up sister, you won your race now let me tell you how it works. What I am going to relate to you is top secret. If this gets out, they will know who spilled the beans, and you will die mysteriously, capisce?

Yes.

I am glad that you agree. It would not bode the country very well for their newest elected president, to end up dead. Washington was the first and only president that did not want the job. His leadership was required to get us through that unpleasantness with our cousins across the pond. Once we finished with them, we needed the best president that money could buy.

Then we needed the best representatives for the people that money could buy, Glenn continued.

World leaders of many countries all are members of a club. Each leader has its own cadre of exceptional people to do its dirty work. If the leader goes rogue, the special people that belong to the inner circle, are responsible for taking him or her out.

You are talking about a shadow government. She said

No, I am talking about people who live outside all the laws known to man. They are self-policing and very lethal. These people are ghosts. They could be anywhere waiting for orders, or an opportunity to act. When people think that they are electing their leaders, what they are electing is an actor, a puppet. His or her bombast or eloquence is what the people need to see and be familiar with, so they can go live out their mundane lives, feeding the system via their tax dollars. The inner-circle controls the economies of the world. When oil goes up in one country, it is because they are making it cheaper for others, or they are making a correction in the market. The world economy is all linked together, and it must be managed. Rogue elements that threaten the plan go missing.

You have got to be pulling my leg?

Not hardly, throughout history, political leaders who tried to think on their own were killed. The hubris that one believes they can manage this by their self is monumental in some, and it earns them an extreme case of lead poisoning. This secret society is the group who runs the world. Not long ago, I was elected as president. Since that term has ended, I sit out here knowing things that I wish I did not know. The public is blissfully ignorant of how this all works. Before you take your oath of office, let me tell you about the last eight years.

Do I want to know?

Do you want to survive?

Yes.

It all started when we had these issues with people screwing with the election….

Chapter Two

The Campaign

P eter, are you sure that they cannot detect the voter machine inconsistencies? Glenn asked.

Mr. President this is genius, the algorithm looks for sir names that usually vote a certain way. Those votes are counted more than once. As a matter of fact, they can be counted ten or more times each. With the demographic program, we can feed that into the database, so when those people come into vote, their vote might not ever be counted.

Wouldn’t they just count how many people voted against the number of votes?

That is the genius of it. I program the ratio of what I want the output to look like, so if it is a tight race, the ratio is like 1.1 to 1. If the polls and demographics show, it is not a tight race, then I can change the output to look like we want it to.

Peter, I thought you were working on some game, when did this voting thing come up?

Mr. President, your poll numbers are not looking good this term, so I was asked to look into working on this voting machine.

How do things like this get certified?

The algorithm, like any virus, does not go live until a set time and date. Those people who certify this machine can run trials until the cows come home and they will be perfect.

I never thought I would need this to win.

We need you to win this second term I was told, so, as soon as this is over, I will get back to the game.

Lord help us if the people ever learn about what we do.

If anyone learned of it they would be dead before they could pick up the phone, Mr. President.

Walking back into the war room with his staff, Glenn was curious about what they were working on. His daughter was helping analyze the data.

Has Tom given us any hints of his support, Glenn asked?

Dad, Norma talked with his daughter the other night. Shelly told her that her dad is really excited about funding for an update at their local airport.

Christ, is he back on that kick again? How can I justify three hundred million taxpayers’ dollars to upgrade a general aviation airport in that part of the country?

Tom’s support is rather critical as we are running low on political favors.

Is his one vote worth that kind of money?

Tom and Sheila party a lot together. I think that Tom and his wife may be swingers on the side.

Is there a politician in DC that does not think with his dick?

There are female politicians, besides Tom drives a Corvette, so I imagine that he has no dick to think with. Now, Sheila’s husband, I understand from the boys in the locker room is well put together.

That is not a mental picture I needed! Do you think he is stooping Tom’s wife?

Could be, but I am more interested in how many votes we could get for an airport upgrade?

If I understand the reasoning correctly, he wants to make that airport larger to take traffic away from JFK, thus bringing more revenue into his district.

I think he is selling that to his constituents, but in reality, I think he hates driving from JFK to his home, so he wants to take his private jet there from DC.

So he wants me to spend $300,000,000, so he doesn’t have to sit in traffic?

This goodwill gesture might be worth more political capital later.

Can we get the votes?

For the spending bill for the airport?

Yes.

If we sell it as upgrades for homeland security, I think we can.

More thousand dollar hammers?

Dad, three hundred million, is nothing. Tom spent twenty million dollars of his own money for a job that pays $175 thousand a year.

You would think that the voters of this country would see through someone spending that kind of money for that kind of pay. You would think that would trigger a red flag!

This guy goes to Europe and spends millions on art, Dad, he is just stupid with money!

To spend that kind of money on decorations is crazy. He must be stupid. I guess his constituents are too because they vote for him.

People are not engaged in the process, they have to worry about rent and things. Few if any even know about his brush with the Italian authorities over that woman they say he killed.

The public is stupid or at the very least apathetic. Thank god the media is on our side, or they would be analyzing every dollar we ever spent. Whatever happened with that case?

She was fifteen and found dead. His DNA was all over the place, and people even placed him at the scene.

How did he shake that?

It helps when you hire the wife of the owner of the network to work in the White House. The story just did not get any press, and the Italians like money.

We spend more taxpayer dollars keeping these assholes out of trouble, what is it that you have Dawn doing again?

His wife a foreign delegate to France. She and her husband go there to ‘work’ with the president of France.

You mean they go there for multiple vacations a year on the taxpayer's dime?

No, they provide some great information about, well fashion and art, I guess. You see, three hundred million is a drop in the bucket.

Ok get in touch with Tom, and make the deal.

Crafting the bill to include an extra expenditure of three hundred million dollars would need to be tucked away in a significant spending bill, so it would be seen as small potatoes. The Democrats are prominent on infrastructure spending, so this could easily be considered part of that. He thought.

Glenn wondered if the money for the airport would get out of committee. He did not like the idea of spending this much political capital for one vote.

Before the day would end, news from Texas would cause him to re-think his strategy for dealing with corrupt politicians.

Chapter Three

Toxic Cleanup

R ick, what do I hear about this cancer hot spot in Irving, Texas?

They can’t prove a thing, Mr. President. We have the media talking about greenhouse gases and ozone that could cause all sorts of health issues from asthma to cancer.

How can ozone cause cancer in just one area?

Cancer is everywhere. People move around so they can’t tie it to the fracking that has been going on.

This report tells me that they brought up all sorts of radioactive brine. Are we hurting people?

They can’t prove anything, the company is loading up the brine into trucks and moving it off-site.

Rick, maybe I don’t want to know this but, who in their right mind would take radioactive brine and store it?

Um, they don’t store it, sir.

I am going to get a migraine over this, aren’t I?

If you don’t know you cannot be held to account sir.

Some things cross the line that even I will not deal with. What are they doing with it?

You have to understand that the radiation from the brine is in small quantities and would be equivalent to a few chest x-rays and maybe a cat scan or two.

Look, the EPA is on my ass. This report says the area of the main fracking well is a cancer hot spot. We know that radiation is there, what are they doing to get rid of the problem?

As I said, they are hauling it off. Some of it, the workers pump back into the ground.

Rick, where are they taking it?

We hired some scientist to do some studies, and we found that by dissipating it over a wide area that the radiation levels were marginal and should not affect anyone.

Wide-area? Back in the mid-1900s, our government deployed all sorts of chemicals and radioactive substances over cities to see what effect it had on the people, did you know that?

As I remember they sprayed it over highly populated areas. And where they did it, we ended up with all sorts of people with cancer.

Mr. President, we are not spreading this stuff over cities or towns. We are using open highways.

Open highways?

This has been going on for ages. Companies that need to get rid of toxic waste store it into tanker trucks and wait for a rainy day. In the spring or fall, these trucks take to the roads with slightly open valves. A few hundred miles and the tankers are empty, and the toxic waste becomes part of the land that it came from.

Who approves stuff like this?

People who need funding to get re-elected.

So it is a wink and a nod and what, they tell the EPA to look the other way?

No, it is a wink and a nod, and we cut funding to the EPA, so they have nobody to look at what is going on.

I cannot believe that we can’t fix this the right way.

We are removing the radioactive brine offsite, so there will be nothing other than background radiation at the site which is hardly worth mentioning.

You're spreading the radioactive material out over the whole country!

Some of it goes into 55-gallon drums, and it is stored that way.

Stored Where?

It goes to the docks, do you really want to know more?

Shit, you are telling me it is going into the ocean!

I am not telling you anything, Mr. President Sir.

I can’t testify to what I don’t know about is that it?

No president has ever been subpoenaed to testify?

Yes, but four have been assassinated!

If you go outside, you get radiation from the sun. When we fly, we get radiation from the cosmos. When they go to the dentist, they get it from x-rays. You go in for a medical procedure you get it from ct scans or x-rays. If you fly, you get it from the backscatter security scanners. Radiation is everywhere, what is a little more on the highways!

The people that work on the roads don’t they get a high dosage of this?

No impact studies have been done as far as occupation and cancer, including road workers. Besides a lot of those employees are from other countries, and they get paid pretty damned well to stand around and watch one guy work with a shovel.

Even I know that things like that happen in stages, so you don’t think that they stick with it long enough to get cancer?

"I doubt it, and if they do, they work with tar and other toxic solvents. We could assume that they got it from those chemicals. They are taught proper handling methods, but how many don’t take the precautions that the EPA recommends?

Another word, prove it?

Exactly, the burden of proof ends with them, and they don’t know that the highways are repositories for carcinogenic chemicals, not to mention radioactive brine.

If the American people learn of this, they will find a tree and lynch us all!

This is all tin foil hat stuff, they would never believe that their government would sell them out like that. Besides, all the major countries do this. How else do they get rid of that stuff? This is a win for everyone.

How so?

Social Security will be bankrupt as we are using it to buy votes. With all of this radioactive stuff everywhere, people will not live as long.

Did you learn that in college?

We have them believing they will live longer, but in truth, the middle class is dying much younger. Cancer is the number one cause. We still blame the cigarettes and soft drinks, and they think it is something they did.

But it is not?

No, if they were to buy radiation detectors, they would see that their food is radioactive.

What if they did, what if some Brainiac finds someone to take the story and run with it.

We blame the radiation from that reactor in Russia or Japan. Let them prove it is not from there.

Christ, we are poisoning the world.

Just middle America sir, the ones that don’t vote for you.

You’re right, I did not want to hear that. Are you sure these are not lethal doses?

We have hired some scientist, sir.

Christ! Who comes up with this shit?

Those people who pay for your campaign, and those of your constituents.

I guess if someone figured it out, the media would cover us?

One of them has asked if you could get the IRS to stop looking so closely at their taxes.

Invite Louis over for lunch when my schedule permits. I am certain we can accommodate them.

They will appreciate that. I can just imagine Pennsylvania Avenue crowded with people carrying torches, and pitchforks, if they didn’t, or turned on us?

Don’t you remember when those scanners at the airport were installed?

You mean telling the public that this was safe radiation?

Yes, what a joke, the people are so gullible they will buy whatever you tell them! Well, with the credibility of the nightly news anchors, and our friends in Hollywood, the polls show us who they believe.

That one station that is looking at us crossways is gaining in the ratings.

That Kelly girl was on this toxic cancer stuff the other night. She is so determined she scares me. Glenn said.

She will never see the proof. Not one of our people will talk to her, they all know better. Besides, we put in a plant to speak with reporters through their communication offices.

Keep an eye on her, she is one determined lady.

She would be telling the world tin foil hat stuff.

We should set her up with some story that would ruin her credibility.

What I remember from school is people will not believe that which is repugnant to them. If you tell them they have cancer, they will deny it. If they are determined to smoke, they will ignore the warning labels. If you have several news outlets telling them that this is safe radiation, they will buy it, as they don’t want to think about what is actually happening to them.

When our friends that made those things developed them, we thought that the risk of cancer outweighed the risk of terrorist attacks. Now, as far as frequent flyers, there could be issues.

Again, prove where you got your cancer. Carcinogens are everywhere. Millions of people spend hours a day on a cell phone pumping radiation into their brains, and don’t think anything of it.

We warned them that it is a hazard like cigarettes are. Can you imagine how old it must get to sit around and look at black and white images of naked people all day? Glenn asked.

I am sure that some that applied for that job thought it would be cool to sit and look at naked folks all day long.

Look, I don’t like to see myself in the mirror and let’s face it, most people are overweight and not attractive. Clothes hide a lot of sins. Glenn said.

Have you seen some of those videos feed from the smart TVs and phones that people keep with them? Holy shit it is almost too much to bear.

If this ever gets out we will need a scapegoat. They just thought Orwell’s 1984 novel was tough stuff.

Our progressive socialist of the early years, Ah Orwell. Ahead of his time. How is that guy doing with the software?

Peter, I have a meeting with him soon.

If he gets that working right, we will be able to have the kids show us everything we want to see.

It will be great for homeland security.

If they only knew they would not complain about the porn scanners at the airports.

Rick, my brother in law, is a gynecologist. He got into it because of his fascination with women. I can tell you that he cannot get it up to save his life! Glenn said.

It is like having steak every day, sooner or later you will crave a salad!

Look, do some damage control in Texas. We are close to turning that state Blue so if you have to lean on that outfit a little bit, like a show of strength from their government, do it!

The lobbyist will not be happy with us.

It is not the lobbyist that scare me, it is Mr. Dowd who calls me every time someone complains of a small tremor in Texas.

Have you heard from anyone?

So far I am ok, there is this fine line I have to walk, or I could be number five.

Kennedy was too much, I don’t think they would risk another one in this day and age.

I don’t intend to have any bay of pigs. Again, it is a fine line. The facts are that I cannot look the other way if they are creating a cancer hot spot! We already have them giving Texan’s earthquakes for Christ sake!

We spun that as a natural fault line and nobody can prove any differently.

It helps to have friends with impressive credentials that can be bought, Glenn said.

Ok, Mr. President I will go myself with the head of the EPA and talk to the media.

Don’t do anything too radical but, if you found a leaky valve or an old well that is not producing and shut it down as a show of good faith, it would save face for our party.

Maybe I can speak with that Kelly person and let her discover the leaky valve?

I don’t know, part of me wants her out of the way, and part of me wants her on our side.

I see her, and I wish I were single again.

Rick, she would cause you to have a heart attack! Stick with your wife.

Chapter Four

Fire from Below

L isa, what is this I heard about fire coming out of someone’s water faucet in Texas?

I have already talked to Bill Dowd, and I have our favorite reporter on the way to debunk this claim as an anomaly.

Dowd, what did he say?

He was not happy to see this on TV.

Is this from fracking again?

When they frack, sometimes methane comes up and gets into their well water. The smell is one thing, but if you strike a match to it, the methane will light up.

If the methane can get into their well water, what about the chemicals that they frack with?

It has happened, that farmer that lost his livestock was due to chemicals from fracking.

How did that not make the news?

Rick went and covered it, and the company bought his silence!

Wait, I heard he was found dead in his car.

His silence was purchased, I did not say how. I am sure it was a coincidence.

Ay, Yi Yi! If there are more videos of fire coming out of kitchen sinks, this may blow up in our faces.

Not our faces, Mr. President. If they lose containment of the story, then we send Rick and Bill down there to shut them down!

You mean shut them down until the story dies?

We have already had to move people from Oklahoma to Texas as they were creating too many earthquakes.

Funny thing, when the earth shakes in a place like Texas, it is like snow, they freak out!

That is why they have operations all over the country, when one gets too hot, they shut it down for a while.

Stories on the TV that night were rife with farmers and fire coming out of their wells. The flame coming out of water wells at dusk made good TV ratings as now the American public was up in arms about this fracking stuff. PR firms went into action, putting the correct spin on the stories to make any news outlet that sensationalized or ever reported on it out to be a climate change denier, or worse.

Bill, what kind of luck are you having in Texas?

I don’t have to tell you what it looks like to have fire coming out of a kitchen sink in the heartland of the country!

I have some people putting together some media on how safe fracking is, now I owe them a political favor.

How in the world do they walk back, fire coming out of a kitchen sink?

They said they are going to get some experts to testify that it is a natural occurrence with methane and sometimes it just bubbles up into the next water table.

Do you think that the American people are stupid enough to buy it?

The American people are not educated enough to stay out of the sun or not smoke. Those Texans are the hold my beer and watch this kind of people, three fries short of a happy meal."

Mr. President that is harsh, even for you.

Bill, do what you can to control your people. This shit cost me political capital.

Your capital cost me money, so I hear you. What about these Texan’s?

Do you ever watch TV interviews when there is a disaster? Most of them are toothless and can't string a noun and a verb together in the same sentence. Christ, they make those East Texas Rednecks look like intellectuals. We are doing them a favor by protecting them from themselves.

I think the media look for people like that, as it makes for better ratings.

Bill, it also makes what they are saying less credible. The media is on my side.

Not that one girl, who the hell is she?

She cares about the average Joe and Jill. Don’t ask me why. She lives in DC.

Can we remove her?

I would rather not, her ratings are through the roof.

Is it her, her tits, or what?

Not sure but, the people trust her.

Can we get her on our side?

I am toying with that idea, I have a few calls to make.

If you could, we could just do our thing and let her spin it.

I would get her working on other things, give her a bone and let her chomp on it.

Distract her, ok I like that. If the good people of Texas ever realized that fracking makes gravel out of the substrate, which allows the fault lines to open up and move, they would come after us with more than votes. This fracking is why the methane from below is bubbling up. Bill said.

With the right PR firm, we can spin this as a good thing! We can spin this as energy independence! Other countries are experiencing the same things. Some activists are openly protesting fracking. Glenn said.

Those are the same protestors that want pot legalized. Somehow they think that smoking pot will make them brighter. I would not get too anxious about this, we can always create a distraction if we need one.

Distraction, how about those protests at the border?

That is old news, how much does it cost us to hire those protestors?

A few million dollars, look, we got kids out of their parent's basements, and actually doing something! We need a diversion, Mr. President, why not get one of the senators who owes you a favor to start making noise about legalizing pot again?

We do need this fire from the faucet story to go away, what about abortion, that is still hot, isn’t it?

All of those are good distractions, but I think the pot thing would be good to distract these people in the alt-right.

Do you think those people will do pot if it is legal? Glenn asked.

It will stir them up either way. It is just more noise that we need. So those that are protesting fracking will shut up.

You are talking about the folks that hate capitalism while texting on their thousand-dollar smartphones?

Those would be the ones!

There is an overabundance of proof that the education system is failing!

No, it is working just fine. Keep them just smart enough to be useful, but dumb enough or ignorant enough to not care.

Sometimes, I hate my job. I cannot imagine how history will judge us.

If you are rich and happy right now, why do you care?

There is a part of me that would like to make things better than I found them.

Leave your kids some money when you die, and let them worry about it. That has been going on for centuries, why buck tradition.

When I ran, it was to buck tradition.

You got educated quickly enough, just relax, we will handle things.

Bill, make this story go away, so I can stop wasting political capital on this.

I will go to Texas and see what I can do.

On a different news outlet that night, they found the story of flammable water and ran with it.

"For some reason, the EPA is burying this story on fracking. Fire from a faucet is big news, and yet they are covering it up. We ran this water through an independent lab and found chemicals in it like they use when fracking. There can be little doubt that the water is poisoned.

We at this news station will investigate the source of this, and keep on top of it. We smell something that is not right! It is more than just the stench of the methane!" One reporter said.

Kelly was headed down to Texas to cover it. She heard of another Farmer who lost his livestock and had developed cancer. She was more dogmatic about it because it was the right thing to do. One farmer found dead, and now this.

Others in the area had seen enough and were ready to take things into their own hands. She would soon have more of a story than she bargained for.

Chapter Five

Down Under

B lake, did you see this news from the States?

Is their president bloviating about Climate change again?

Not this time, it appears that what you have been fighting against in the UK is happening in Texas.

Blake came into the sitting room just below the bridge of his yacht. Watching the TV with Monica, his sometimes girlfriend, they were transfixed as the fire went out of the kitchen sink.

How will they spin this?

The other channels are not even covering it. That is just what they did in the UK.

Money talks darling. The equipment we sell is safe and traditional. These boys are digging up dinosaurs in a perilous way.

I dare say that fire from water hydrants will get someone’s attention.

Thank goodness our friends in Dubai are still interested in getting oil the old-fashioned way.

If you are going there, drop me off in a country where I can be a real woman, and not some token wearing a bedsheet.

Darling, it is not all that bad, you get to have your eyes exposed after all.

I chose not to take any chances offending someone. I respect their culture, I chose not to partake in it.

You have issues with living in the 1700s where men rule?

I will show you ‘rule,’ bitch! Let’s play in the dungeon tonight, dress you in a bedsheet and let me take a cane to your back!

Ok, I get it, don’t get pissy. We will stop in Spain. You can sunbathe on their nude beaches and get all warmed up for my return.

Is that prince going to purchase from you?

They are not into fracking, so yes, he is good for a visit, even if you did have to cover your lovely self-up.

I wonder what he would think of our lovely playroom.

What we do would be tame for what he is used to.

Playing and beatings are two different things, how are the conversations with other companies coming?

They are looking for cheaper ways to dispose of the byproducts, which has me thinking they have found a low-cost way.

Oh dear, do you think they are dumping it?

Radioactive brine does not just disappear. They are doing something with it.

It takes years for the cancers to develop, but, if Americans are smart, they will put two and two together.

I read a story that their wildlife has cancerous tumors growing on some of the deer population. Those animals must have drunk contaminated water. Like many other countries, they only know what the media tells them. The question is, who owns the media?

Cancer is such a nasty business, and these people just don’t care. I wish there were a way to make this all visible to the entire world.

That reporter on the American channel seems to be chasing this down, can we find a way to throw her some information? Monica asked.

Dear, admit it, you would like to meet her.

There is something about her that just exudes danger. You know how I love to flirt with danger.

You only love danger when it is at the end of my crop.

Naughty boy, do we need to have a session in the dungeon?

If we got her in your hands, we might learn if she is owned or not. I think she is the real deal.

She should be on the silver screen, not that damned cable news show.

We will never meet her, let’s just try and fight the battles we can win. I need to make this sale tomorrow so I can take my campaign of safe drilling to more people.

We should try she is singing your song.

Against fracking?

Yes, she seems to be looking out for the little people.

"The world needs energy, we just need to go about it without hurting people. Currently, that