American Entertainment 1982

At the home of Jeff's friend Zach, Tommy sat at the dining table and counted the banknotes. After counting, he put his own one hundred dollars back into his wallet.

The remaining change was only about 400 yuan. Tommy registered the name and donation amount of each donor in his notebook. After confirming that there was no problem with the account, he raised his head and moved his cervical spine.

This kind of donation needs to establish an account book for the election committee to review and investigate, and it must be ensured that every money is used for the candidate's campaign expenses.

Jeff walked around anxiously all the time, seeing Tommy stop, he immediately asked, "Are we going to the police station to bring Martin back? I...you didn't say I would follow your orders, and Martin also To be taken away by the police, Tommy."

"It's not in a hurry, I only took it away for four hours." Tommy picked up the stack of bills and looked at Jeff: "You don't want to know how much donations you have received from those neighbors? Four hundred and thirty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents. "

Jeff froze for a moment, and then said excitedly: "Wow, that's a lot of money, and everyone is willing to spend so much money to support me? I will win, right Tommy?"

More than four hundred yuan, in fact, strictly speaking, it is not much compared with Jeff's income, that is, his income for a week and a half or a week, but the amount is not important. Gaining the encouragement, support and trust of so many people at one time, the neighbors knew that he might not have a chance, but they all encouraged him to give it a try just like Tommy.

Tommy closed the ledger, lowered his head and lit a cigarette, and said disapprovingly:

"In 1860, all the expenses of Lincoln's campaign for the presidency combined were only one hundred thousand dollars, but now, just to find a seat in the House of Representatives with hundreds of seats, it costs about three hundred thousand dollars, and it is still in a poor place like Florida, It’s so cheap. What makes you think that you can win when you receive donations of more than 400 yuan from your neighbors on three streets? On average, it’s equivalent to those parents donating $3.6 to you. Regardless of winning or losing, even if you want to have enough funds to support you to the final showdown, it means you need to find another 100,000 neighbors who are willing to donate $3.6 to you.”

Jeff was stunned speechless by the numbers Tommy said.

With 100,000 people, there are only less than 200,000 people in the entire 18th District. To meet the conditions Tommy said means that more than half of the population in this district is willing to trust him as much as the neighbors who have known each other for many years. Give him $3 and he'll have a chance to raise three hundred thousand.

"I can't do it, Tommy, no one can make a hundred thousand people like it, unless it's Elvis Presley, or the Aerosmith band." Jeff recovered from the shock and looked at Tommy: "It's not as good as us Return the money to everyone, I...and if there are really so many people who support me, I promise to repair the pipes for free to the families who donate. If 100,000 people repair one house a day, how many months will I have to repair? Help me Do the math, I'm... not very good at math."

"About two hundred and seventy years, from this year's practice until you die at the age of eighty-one, you can still leave two hundred and twenty years of free work for your four children to inherit, and each of them will inherit an average of fifty-five years According to the fact that they start paying off your debts at the age of eighteen, everyone has to work until the age of seventy-three without any holidays before they can complete it all." Tommy looked at Jeff with a smile.

Jeff stared blankly at Tommy: "You're joking, aren't you?"

Seeing that Tommy didn't respond, Jeff went to the table frantically and picked up the ledger: "I don't like breaking promises. I promised to give donors free plumbing repairs if elected, but I can't let my son do it for me. The only way to pay off the debt is for me to quit, I don't want my kids to be like me, dealing with stinky plumbing every day, and paying their father's promises, no pay."

"There won't be too many people willing to donate money to you. Your small donations are almost only so much. Why? It's very simple. These people are your neighbors, neighbors, and you have known you for many years. They watched you grow from a The child who lost his father and was taken care of by the neighborhood church has grown up to be a good man who helps the church and the neighborhood take care of other children. They are willing to give you some money to encourage you. Their kindness to you does not mean that this area does not know you The 200,000 people have to follow suit, so the next focus is on those companies, social organizations, churches, etc. that are active in this area, in short, whoever has money, we will raise his money." Tommy put away The money, got up and said.

"The next most important thing is to go to the police station to rescue Martin. He has been taken away for four hours." Jeff remembered Martin who was taken away by the police, and urged Tommy: "He... I don't know why you want Martin to lie, and you want me to act with him in front of everyone, it doesn't feel good to lie."

"Wait a little longer." Tommy sat on the sofa, turned on the TV, and tuned to the news channel of the local TV station: "Wait for all four local TV stations to publish Martin's stupid social news, especially BT TV, which black people like to watch. After the broadcast on the Internet, we will visit him again, I... oh~ look, it's Martin's news, and I finally waited for you."

When Jeff heard Tommy's words, he also looked at the TV, and saw that the hourly news program on the TV was broadcasting local news, and the picture showed the scene that happened in the school parking lot in the morning. Martin stood on the roof of the car and said loudly that Jeff Regarding the matter of sending letters to the parents, the host looked at the camera:

"Just on the second day of the special election in this district, there was a campaign turmoil. Martin Hart, the campaign manager of the registered candidate Jeff Lavine, that is, the black man standing on the roof and shouting, took the initiative to ask The gathered people broke out about Jeff’s election bribery, and he took the initiative to call the police. The funny thing is that when the police arrived at the scene, all the voters at the scene did not think that Jeff bribed votes. Jeff also expressed that he had no knowledge of vote bribery. According to him, Martin - Hart met him only yesterday. After learning that he was running for the election, he offered to be his campaign manager. The people present were willing to prove that Jeff was framed, and they suspected that other candidates might have ordered Martin to frame him. Jeff, but Martin insisted that everything was instigated by Jeff. The police said that Martin was taken back to the police station for interrogation because he was suspected of slandering others. The latest news this station has learned from the police is that the so-called Jeff Lavin The handwriting on the handwritten letter matches that of Martin Hart, which proves that Martin Hart lied, and yesterday someone saw Martin Hart following Jeff Lavine into the Costco supermarket, and the supermarket salesperson also said that the lost Bought ten boxes of ten Torjan finger sleeves worth seven dollars."

After the host introduced the news, he shook his head and looked at the camera: "Martin Hart, I can believe that you are the campaign manager, but I don't quite believe that you serve Jeff LaVine."

After watching the news, Tommy said to Jeff: "Tomorrow, the local newspaper will continue to publish Martin's troubles as a joke. Guess how the three black candidates are feeling at this moment?"

Jeff shook his head: "What does this have to do with them?"

"The three of them were the first to be suspected of sending Martin to frame you. Black people in this district only account for 18% of the total population. These three black people are typical runners. All black votes have no chance in this district." Tommy crushed out the cigarette, picked up a pack of potato chips on the coffee table, took out a piece and sent it to his mouth:

"So, black votes are their trade goods. The more black supporters you have, the more rewards you can get when negotiating cooperation with other stronger candidates in the later stage. Whoever gets the most black support, who You can get better resources within the party, for example, although you can’t win the House of Representatives seat this time, the elected person can, in return, nominate him to run for the Florida Assembly on behalf of his party.”

"But, they didn't frame me, it's more like you framed me, Tommy." Jeff frowned and said to Tommy, "Or... I framed myself."

Tommy ignored Jeff's words and continued: "Martin's performance is too much like an executor who was ordered to deliberately frame you. The three black candidates will not miss this opportunity. They all know that they absolutely did not do this. Therefore, they will doubt the other two opponents, and even pour this kind of dirty water on each other's heads as much as possible, because if they find some stains on the other side and quickly enlarge them during the election, it will obviously be very helpful for them to win over black supporters. That is to say, the three blacks will go to Martin, hoping to get the so-called truth. They will observe Martin's follow-up actions, and they may even find someone to contact him, and they will not hesitate to offer him benefits, so that he can attack his other two opponents for themselves .”

"Why do you want to do this? Isn't it good for everyone to compete fairly? Why did you let those three black people fight each other?" Jeff listened with a blank face: "The truth is that none of the three of them have contacted Martin."

"No one wants to believe this truth. Even if Martin said it, the black people would not believe it, because they need another truth, that is, the opponent asked Martin to do it." Tommy looked at Jeff: "Don't worry, Martin will not frame anyone."

Jeff was relieved to hear Tommy's assurance.

"Martin will not name anyone. He will bear all the charges including stealing Trojan and slandering you alone, and you must stand up generously, forgive him, issue a letter of understanding, and not hold him accountable. Legal responsibility, and, most importantly, you have to continue to hire him as your campaign manager in the name of heavy election work." Tommy turned and looked at Jeff.

Jeff has tried his best to keep up with Tommy's train of thought, but unfortunately, he can't understand why Tommy went around and came up with such a thing: "I don't understand, Martin was the campaign manager before, you got It’s so complicated and it doesn’t seem to have changed, why do all this.”

"Martin has been refusing to say who was behind that who didn't exist, and the three black candidates have always enjoyed this kind of questioning, and because they firmly believe that they didn't do it, they will try to attack other people with this kind of thing. Two, because Martin would rather risk going to prison for slander than reveal who is behind the scenes, so everyone thinks that Martin is a very loyal subordinate to that person." Tommy said to Jeff:

"He refused to betray that person, even if that person didn't guarantee him to come out, he didn't confess to the other party, even if you rushed over to issue a letter of understanding to forgive him, he would not confess to the other party, but he can be moved by your kindness, I offered to continue to serve as your campaign manager, so he will serve you wholeheartedly in the future, and it will be convenient for him to accompany you, a white man, to set foot in a black area to gain support. Black people who have watched this scene from beginning to end You will feel that Martin is not wrong. He was loyal to the man behind the scenes before, and would rather be accused and keep the name of that person, but if you choose to forgive him, black people will understand why Martin took you, a white man, to the black community to win votes, because Martin This black man has the virtue of loyalty, and Martin is paying you back, you are a white man who pays black people with kindness."

"Why should I go to the black district... Also, can we pick up Martin now?" Jeff had completely given up thinking and asked Tommy.

Tommy shook his head: "No, you have to go to Costco first, and as Martin's friend, compensate him for the loss of the supermarket, in exchange for the supermarket issuing a letter of understanding to Martin, under the witness of the cameras and reporters."

...

Sitting in the interrogation room of the Miami Police Department's Upper East Precinct, Martin watched nervously through the open venetian blinds as officers in the Miami Police Department's signature blue uniforms moved down the hallway.

He has been sitting in the police station for seven hours, and it is the most dangerous police station in his opinion.

There are two independent police departments in Miami. One is the Miami Police Department that brought him back at the moment, referred to as MPD. The uniform is brown.

Martin didn't know the meaning of having two police stations in Miami, but he knew that the MPD who brought him back was notorious in Miami. He was notorious for being unfriendly to black people, and he was good at shooting unarmed black people. The deceased was then framed as a mortal threat to the police.

Little Haiti in North Miami and Liberty City, the two major black gathering places, have never been afraid of the MDPD police in brown uniforms to handle cases, because the law enforcement methods of the other side are relatively mild, but the blacks in the two communities are trembling towards the MPD.

The year before he went to Los Angeles, there was a big scene in the Miami Police Department that all three elite departments, the full-time SWAT team, the helicopter squad, and the anti-gang task force, were mobilized to catch two black car thieves in Little Haiti.

Two car thieves who just stole a second-hand Ford Mercury worth at most seven hundred dollars were killed by three snipers from three MPD departments. Their death was worse than that of President Kennedy. They couldn't figure out why they could enjoy a higher standard of death than Kennedy's when it was just stealing a car.

The same question as the car thief was an unlucky black drug dealer in Little Haiti that day. The drug dealer thought that the police were coming to arrest him, and consciously had nowhere to go. How the heavy firepower of the police can quickly turn a living person into a puddle of foam within ten seconds.

I don’t know if the MPD is trying to stimulate the black people in Little Haiti. Most of the police officers in the operation that day were black, especially those who shot. This made many blacks in Little Haiti very dissatisfied with the MPD's black police, but they had no choice but to pray that they would not provoke the MPD when they made a living, because they never relent when they killed blacks.

While Martin was sitting idle to pass the time, the old policeman Fitz who brought him back opened the door and came in from the outside, holding a cup of steaming coffee, sat across the interrogation table and looked at Martin: "Are you sure? Don't make a call to a lawyer, or your family, or whoever set you up for Jeff to come and take you out? You stole items worth seven dollars, it's not a felony, and the bail is very low, you go to the supermarket as soon as you get out If you make up the debt and apologize, it should be easy to get a letter of understanding from the other party, but if you stay here to enjoy the free air conditioning at the police station, Costco and Jeff will arrange lawyers for your apology and defamation during this time Sue, and you'll be in big trouble."

"I have nothing to say, officer, it was Jeff who ordered me to steal and then write to his neighbors." Martin took a deep breath and continued to say: "Jeff is actually very insidious, all you see is his. Pretend, who else can know his true face better than me, the campaign manager? I know him better than his wife, and he is the real mastermind behind all this."

"The purpose of his planning all this is to offend all the neighbors who have known him for many years? In exchange for the support of blacks and Cubans?" Fitz took a sip of coffee and looked at Martin dissatisfiedly: "You'd better say what is really instigating you The man who framed Jeff, confess everything, so that he can get Jeff's forgiveness for framing him, and I'm personally curious, which black candidate came up with such a stupid frame method, they should frame Candidates who have a better chance of getting elected, rather than ... framing a Jeff whose odds are infinitely closer to zero."

Martin scratched his face, avoiding Fitz's gaze in embarrassment: "I got the name wrong, no...I mean, I didn't expect Jeff's support to be equal to zero."

"So, someone ordered you, right? You were supposed to frame another person, but for some reason, the victim became poor Jeff." Fitz had an expression I had guessed a long time ago: "I Don't care about politics, but if you want to get Jeff's understanding, you have to tell the truth and explain who made you do all this."

"Jeff Lavin instructed me. He framed himself to gain sympathy." Martin was silent for a moment, looked at Fitz and said seriously.

"If he has this kind of mind, he won't have the naive idea of ​​going to Washington and telling all Americans that he is a fool." Fitz emphasized: "And you, if you insist on continuing to talk nonsense, the recorder will record all your words Come down, these words will be written and submitted to the court as evidence for your defamation of Jeff LaVine, I don't care, sitting in the car or here, it doesn't affect my coffee, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, a policeman opened the door outside, poked his head in and said to him, "Fitz~~Jeff LaVine came to take him away, and... also brought him a signed contract in his own name and Costco Mostly a letter of understanding issued by Martin Hart."

Fitz was stunned for a moment, then looked at his companion: "No! This black man is still insisting that Jeff ordered him to steal and write letters to humiliate those neighbors. He doesn't deserve the forgiveness of Jeff, that kind fool!"

"Jeff insisted, the sheriff has agreed, and he can go now." The companion added.

Fitz looked at Martin and lowered his voice: "Get out of the Upper East Side, go back to your Little Haiti, and don't appear in my jurisdiction. If you let me know that you still want to trouble Jeff, I will let the hounds of the police dog team Bite your eggs off, nigga, you can go."

Martin stood up, moving his numb waist: "Jeff is very insidious, officer, this is his intention, to show his generosity, that's all he ordered me to do."