Jack of Harts

The search for the former Vice President’s wife started a firestorm of media interest on some networks. It was dismissed as obvious fake news by other networks, and numerous networks that covered it found themselves entirely shut down by an alliance of other networks. Those networks that survived invariably had one hundred percent control of their own servers and network access. Some broadcasted from outside the United States entirely. Some networks blocked anyone from accessing them, and virtual private networks were the only way many people could access that news at all. It was a difficult time to broadcast news that the new administration did not approve.

Some thought the Second Great Depression was the end of America as we knew it. Others believed it was time to start a new golden age of America. They were all right in the end, though none exactly in the way they feared or hoped. There were many times when history proved to be in the balance. Times when the wrong thing done by the wrong person could have derailed everything we know happened. One of those times was when confidential sources began to spread the word that Ruby Freemon had died in Federal custody during an extended interrogation session. The Federal government denied the reports that former Vice President John Jefferson Freemon’s wife was dead, but they also refused all “proof of life” requests from the Freemon Family lawyer. That did not go over well with the political opposition.

The northeastern counties of Virginia did not walk away from Richmond or Washington D.C. when the time came. Some tried. Most did not. There was too much historical inertia built up over the decades for them to reverse the flow of history in a few days or weeks. Those that tried were crushed under the weight of a bureaucracy that would not accept any competition. Even hemorrhaging money and power on a world-wide scale, the American Federal government could still take care of matters closer to home. They wielded what law enforcement, military, and media capabilities they retained to jail any political enemy they could, and destroy the fortunes and lives of those they could not. It was not a happy time for those who did not sufficiently support and acknowledge the very fair and honest election of the new President.