Birth of an actor

The editor gave this group of photos a very eye-catching title - "Big, Bigger? Biggest!"

One photo is a close-up of the lower body of William and Leonardo while shopping. William wore tight jeans that day, which was quite conspicuous compared to other passers-by, but Leonardo, let alone passers-by, was even more amazing. Even William's towering majesty can't compare with it, which makes people dumbfounded.

The next few photos all showed Leonardo's three inches below the navel from multiple angles, making people highly doubt whether the reporter's aptitude was bent into the Mariana Trench.The last photo took place after the two entered Starbucks, and Leonardo, who was secretly photographed through the window, was ordering at the front desk. Leonardo took out his mobile phone, keys, wallet, etc. from his left pocket one after another. After a pile of things, he finally took out a credit card to pay the bill, and the bulging bag in front of him flattened out very quickly, and finally returned to a slightly curved normal arc.

Then William looked at several other well-known street photography websites, although on the homepage there were also "Pete beach surfing naked and changing clothes in public", "Britney Spears forgot to cut the hot pants tag and went out of the street embarrassingly", "Depp riding The motorcycle accidentally overturned and fell on all fours" There is no such picture recommendation, but the magical street photos of William and Leonardo are still placed in the most eye-catching position on the homepage.

William lay back, with the back of his hand resting on his eyes: "Do these street photography websites have a lot of views?"

To be honest, William has seen his own street photos in magazines or newspapers before. Even if it’s just an ordinary morning run, walking the dog, buying coffee and throwing out trash, the photos are normal. God knows why the style of painting after going out with Leonardo It changed, probably because Leonardo has a deadly infection...

"See this picture?"

"I see. The photo should be normal?"

William moved the back of his hand and saw that Lance turned the computer towards him. On the screen was another street photo of him and Leonardo. Compared with the previous ones, this one is very normal, with no strange angles or special props, the only special thing is that both of them are wearing baseball caps - before they went out that day, they found paparazzi outside, Leonardo first sacrificed his favorite baseball cap (meet the paparazzi It’s more convenient to cover your face from time to time), and William also grabbed one—the baseball cap is still worn backwards, which is probably the only fashion sense that Leonardo has learned from his supermodel girlfriends.

"These two baseball caps are already selling like crazy." Lance tapped his finger on the photo, "It also set off a wave of street photography. Didn't you notice that the celebrity street photography these days is full of people wearing baseball caps? person."

In the photo, William is wearing a deep red baseball cap from Harvard University, and Leonardo is wearing a cap from California State University, Long Beach. These two baseball caps have now become must-have items for street photography in North America. They were sold out and sold out at high prices on Ebay.Not only that, some people have gone to the souvenir shops of well-known universities in the United States to buy baseball caps produced by other universities, in case these caps are worn again, some people complain why they don’t wear professional sports team baseball caps, Like the New York Giants or Boston Red Sox, that's a better buy.

Lance didn’t buy the same baseball cap as William’s, but it didn’t matter, he could wear William’s. Anyway, William went to Harvard’s souvenir shop every school year and collected a lot of hats and cultural shirts.

"I'm going to buy this website."

"Ask them to delete these photos?"

"Yep."

"It's too late, the pictures are all over the place."

"It doesn't matter, anyway, I still think they will make a solo street photo collection for Leonardo every month in the future." As he said, William gave him a few photos that can definitely be called Leonardo's black history The email went through, and used seven capital letters as the subject line.The way out of embarrassment is to find someone more embarrassing than him.

……

The new "Anti-Hate Crime Act" named after Matthew Sheppard was quickly passed by the House of Representatives with 229 votes in favor and 188 votes against, and was submitted to the Senate of Congress for discussion.

According to the latest news from the press box of the Senate, the discussion of this bill in the Senate is also moving in a positive and optimistic direction. Naturally, most of the Democratic senators support it. The Republican Party, which has always been the biggest resistance before, also has many senators. Attitude has loosened.During the break, TV reporters in the Capitol conducted random interviews with lawmakers in the corridors, and some Republican senators directly expressed their support for the new bill.

After the interview was broadcast, the North American LGBT community rejoiced. They all believed that once the bill was passed, it would become the first important milestone in the history of equal rights for gays in the 21st century. Many bars have even begun to organize celebrations in advance.

However, just before the Senate voted on the new bill, the White House suddenly issued a formal statement, saying that the federal government believes that the new "Hate Crime Act" is "flawed" and "unnecessary" from a constitutional perspective. , if the Senate passes the bill and goes to the president, President Bush's top advisers will also persuade him to use the veto to veto the bill.

Although there has not been a situation where Republican senators have defected one after another, the issuance of this statement has made the prospect of the new bill gradually clear, or it can be said that there is no hope of passing it—because in In modern America, the role of the president in making legislation has grown.

In the United States, bills passed by both houses of Congress will be signed by the president, and will take effect after the president signs.If the president disagrees, he can also choose to veto or shelve it. These two options do not require reasons and cannot be overturned.

Of course, in order to limit the power of the president, after the president vetoes the bill, the Senate and the House of Representatives can vote again. If there is a majority of more than two-thirds, the president's veto can be judged invalid.However, it is difficult for both houses of Congress to pass a two-thirds majority of votes at the same time. It is not a bill that is particularly popular among the people and is indeed imperative. The two houses will not be so hard on the president. is clearly not a motion supported by all the people.

The dramatic development once again aroused heated discussions among the people, especially the attitude of the White House who seemed to support it in the early stage and then suddenly reversed it, which aroused various speculations in the media. The Washington Post believed that it was conservatives within the Republican Party that put pressure on the office of the president. , while CNN insists that there must be another inside story.

In fact, although competitors have been slandering CNN for its love of conspiracy theories and exaggerated reports, CNN really guessed right this time. The reversed attitude of the President's Office does imply some inside information that cannot be made public.

In half a day, the Republican senators who had contacted before called or sent emails one by one, apologizing for not being able to help with the new bill. Lance hung up the new call without much expression on his face. He said to himself, "Something must have happened... what is it?"

"Maybe it's just too much pressure from the conservatives in the party." Although William also felt that this was a bit weird, his guess was still biased towards conspiracy: "After all, although the current affirmative action movement seems to be powerful, it seems to have shallow roots. The weeds seem to grow luxuriantly, but their roots are not deep, and most of the participants are young people, and they cannot shake this conservative-majority society at all—even John Kerry changed his campaign strategy in response to the polls.”

John Kerry is the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. He was already a shining political star during Clinton's tenure, and he is very hopeful to be officially nominated by the Democratic Party in the U.S. general election next year. In [-], the U.S. Congress passed the "Marriage Maintenance Act" "(The bill defines that only heterosexual marriage is legal and same-sex marriage is illegal), Kerry clearly voted against it, expressing his support for same-sex marriage, but after announcing last year that he would run for the next President of the United States, Kerry was in the staff A public statement against same-sex marriage was issued under the proposal.

"No. The senators have confidently promised that they will let the bill pass today. The Oval Office also hinted that they will not deliberately obstruct it." Lance frowned: "What kind of pressure will make them pass the bill within a day?" All of them changed their minds? Moreover, they all contacted me in person before, but just now one by one either turned into sending emails, or asked the secretary to shirk..."

"Someone attacked us?" William guessed.

"That's the only explanation. The question is, who would do that?"

Amon Goffman and Barbara Wilson have been worried recently that William will be impulsive and make some irrational decisions due to anger, but in fact William is calm from beginning to end. In addition to being of little use, it was also because Lance had already suggested to him a better suggestion - take the upper route directly from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (where the White House is located) and try it.

Money is the mother's milk of politics, as the American saying goes.American elections have always been a competition for money. It costs $50 to run for the House of Representatives, and three to four million dollars to run for the Senate. The presidential election is a monster that burns money. In 400, the campaign expenses of the Republicans and Democrats reached In 4.8, it was 2000 million U.S. dollars, and now there is still more than a year before the election day next year. The campaign funds raised by the Democrats have reached 6.5 million U.S. dollars, and the Republicans have already raised more than [-] million U.S. dollars. It is foreseeable that , Nine times out of ten next year's general election will burn at least a billion dollars.

Why do the Republicans and Democrats compete to burn money when it comes to the election year?Because the results of previous presidential elections clearly tell the world that the person who raises the most campaign funds has the greatest probability of being elected president.

The sources of campaign funds for the two parties are mainly individual donations from voters and donations from companies and trade unions. Because the "US Election Law" stipulates that a voter donates a maximum of one thousand dollars a year to a candidate, the use of this fund will be strictly controlled. Supervision, so donations from corporate unions are the bulk of the bipartisan fundraising.

For big companies and billionaires, why do they spend a lot of money on candidates, writing checks of millions or even tens of millions of dollars?Naturally, it is because candidates will be given certain rewards after they succeed in the election.In industries where every step of development is closely related to policies, such as energy, medicine, and finance, many companies will even donate to two candidates at the same time, so that no matter who is elected, their interests can be guaranteed.

During the last U.S. general election, Lance participated in both the campaign receptions of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, and because of William’s intentional or unintentional reminder, the number on the check he wrote to George Bush’s campaign team was not only larger, but also helped Bush The team made connections with traditionally Democratic Silicon Valley and Wall Street—a move that helped him win a lot of goodwill within the Republican Party—and, after Bush was elected, he didn't immediately ask for something in return.

Matthew Shepard and James Bird passed away for several years. Their families and others have been working hard, and finally moved some members of Congress to submit a bill to Congress. In the first two years, they could not even pass the hearing. , Later, between the House of Representatives and the Senate, several rounds of deliberation-amendment-reconsideration-reamendment were also carried out.Of course, there are loopholes and flaws in the bill itself, but more importantly, the two houses are not prepared to pass such a bill that will definitely cause huge controversy across the country. The actions that have been submitted and reviewed are only to appease the gay community and cannot pass. The result is inevitable.

Recently, the affirmative action movement has started again, and the new "Anti-Hate Crime Act" has become a hot topic in the Congress. If William and the others can persuade more members, even if it is only a few dozen, it may change the result of the vote. Asking for some favors from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to help pass the bill is more practical than attending a few marches or speeches.

Fortunately, whether in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, there are only a small number of people with extreme ideas, and the centrists who can swing left and right for the sake of interests occupy the majority.They are happy to vote for a bill that does not involve sensitive interests, but often provokes a lot of verbal wars, just to win over big-spending funders so that they can win the next congressional election. In the end, I can even hope for the location of the White House.

And the Oval Office may not help other things, but it can still be done if the green light is passed by both houses of Congress.

This is not even a plan—as the times progress, the new bill will be passed sooner or later, although the process may take a long time and many twists and turns—to make it come out a few years in advance, you just need to use your connections and influence. Make some promises of favors or money, and then push the envelope when the time is right.

"It's a feedback mechanism," Lance told William at the time. "I've helped them and they've given me back. Politics is a deal. And whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, there's always family and friends who are gay or who are closeted themselves. Members of Parliament."

It is the first time for Lance to operate such a thing, but he is no stranger to the rules. His natural acumen and the influence he has learned since he was a child allow him to communicate with those ambitious politicians with ease and effortlessly. quid pro quo.

It's just that I didn't expect that there would be such a man-made change in the end, and such a timely and deliberate targeting could not be just a coincidence.

The piercing ringing of the bell suddenly awakened the two of them who were in deep thought.

After seeing that the string of phone numbers from New York belonged to Taylor Roderick, William and Lance looked at each other at the same time, thinking of a possibility.

Lance answered the phone: "Good morning, Father."

"It's already afternoon in New York."

"Sorry, it's not lunchtime in Los Angeles—good afternoon, Father, then."

"Are you still going to be so stubborn and rude? My son, even if your surname is Roderick, it's not a good thing."

Although William couldn't hear what Taylor Roderick said on the other end of the call, he judged from Lance's face that it was definitely not an intimate greeting between father and son. To avoid Lance's embarrassment, he directly left the living room to make coffee .

After seeing William's back disappear, Lance said, "If it's stubborn to reject your offer and go to the Roderick Group as a special assistant, then I am."

Since last year, the Roderick Group has started to set foot in the new energy and high-tech fields. Although it has invested a huge amount of money, its development is not optimistic. I think of his son who has invested in many new energy companies and has a place in Silicon Valley.Old Roderick wants to acquire several companies under the name of Lance. As for Lance, he can join the group, on the one hand, serve as his special assistant, familiarize himself with the board of directors in advance, and on the other hand, he can also be in charge of new energy and high-tech for Roderick Group. Technology business, but Lance turned it down.

"I'm giving you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the group's affairs in advance! Are you going to meet other shareholders after you take the chairmanship of the board of directors?"

"Chairman of the board? Huh. Aren't you the one who reiterated that you have another 30 years to go and made sure that everyone in the group knows this. After 30 years, the shareholders will probably have changed a lot."

"You're dissatisfied. Isn't the position of special assistant high enough?"

"No. What I mean is that I don't covet any position in the group at all. I have my own company, and the development prospects may be better."

"I don't deny that you have achieved some results by fighting alone, but you are too stupid to think that those companies can compete with the Roderick Group! I can easily run you out of bankruptcy!"

Tyler Roderick's threat to scare everyone but his only son: "Try it then."

"Are you trying to compete with your own father? Naive! Ridiculous!"

"You made this call just to reprimand me?"

"I'm warning you not to fight me."

"My answer is 'no.'"

"Then, you have already tasted the pain." Old Roderick's voice was extremely arrogant and self-satisfied at this moment.

Lance also had a premonition: "You blocked the Anti-Hate Crime Act."

"True. Maybe you're good at men, son, but you're not good at politics."

Lance's fist was clenched for an instant, and then slowly loosened.

"During the election I supported Cheney, you supported George Bush, I miscalculated, do you think you won? My son? But don't forget, politicians are bitches, ungrateful, ruthless. Although you He made a lot of efforts in the election, but your help was infinitely weakened the moment he succeeded in the election. Our president pays more attention to the current exchange of interests. Those large companies that also made large political donations before the election Now what do the pharmaceutical companies get? They are eager to deregulate embryonic stem cell research, but our President Bush issued an executive order to put restrictions on embryonic stem cell research. If your last name is not Roderick, that ridiculous bill Not even a vote in the House of Representatives. And, son, you're too young to run a White House relationship."

Although Tyler Roderick was on the wrong side of the Republican Party's nomination and didn't make a few donations to George Bush, he and Dick Cheney had a close personal relationship.Cheney is the current vice president of the United States, and also the most powerful vice president for several times. He is known as the "Darkseid of the White House" and has a deeper influence on the government than the president.

Based on Tyler Roderick's past operations in the Republican Party, if he connects with Bush through Cheney and turns Lance's efforts into water, it will indeed be a breeze.

By the time William made another pot of coffee and returned to the living room, Lance had already ended the call, with an unconcealed anger on his face: "He's showing off his rights to me, like a lion roaring and patrolling his territory. "

"Which right?"

"His and White House's eternal 'friendly' relationship."

"So it's because Mr. Roderick intervened in the bill?" William paused while pouring the coffee, picked up three sugar cubes and threw them into the cup in one go, paired with the freshly baked cookies, and put them on the tray Put it in front of Lance, "At least we don't have to worry about who is behind the scenes."

After three cookies and half a cup of coffee, Lance became calmer: "Fucking politics, it's all for profit."

William raised his eyebrows. The scene of Lance swearing is extremely rare, and this scene must be kept in his mind. "Why did you show interest in the election?" he asked jokingly.

"I admit that part of the reason is to weaken my father's influence in the party, and by the way prove that his so-called far-sightedness is actually a very wrong choice."

"Then you've already done it, haven't you? If you're spinning in the political vortex again, is it possible that you want to run for the president of the United States?"

"I have no interest in becoming President of the United States."

"That's fine, otherwise I should worry about the appellation." William said seriously, as if a gay man could really run for the president of the United States, "The president's wife is called the 'first lady', but the president's husband Well, 'First Spouse' and 'First Husband' both sound awful, and 'Mr.

"—Is this a marriage proposal?" Lance was unresponsively unresponsive.

Only then did William realize that his words sounded like he was implying something, "Uh, there's no ring and the atmosphere is wrong, so it doesn't count?"

Lance nodded as if nothing had happened, but he was actually relieved from the bottom of his heart.He's secretly planning a marriage proposal—the Netherlands and Belgium have laws allowing civil unions for same-sex couples, and they can also hold secret weddings, but no state in the U.S. has made it so far, so it's always a bit imperfect—and he Knowing that William is also planning, they are actually competing secretly, and they can't let each other get ahead of them.

"Politics is pretty fucked up, and so are politicians." William, who also wanted to shift the focus, returned to the previous topic: "I also realized not long ago that politicians will only follow public opinion in most cases. The idea of ​​taking a shortcut really doesn’t work.”

The United States is actually a very religious country that expresses its belief in secularism. When taking the oath of office, successive presidents have to press their left hands on the Bible, and they often quote famous quotes from the Bible as their own oaths. President Bush Sr. took office The Bible used at the time was the one used by Washington, and Bush Jr. almost chose the same one. For various reasons such as these, after the rise of the gay rights movement in the 70s and [-]s, how could one choose between the two types of voters, the gay community and the church? It has become a must-do multiple-choice question for candidates in election campaigns.

And how to answer this multiple-choice question, most of the time, does not depend on the candidate's own wishes.In other words, the attitude of the candidates themselves is the most irrelevant, even if they are successfully elected, they cannot do anything arbitrarily.

John Kerry is a typical example. On the other hand, in the 1992 general election, in order to win the votes of the LGBT group, Clinton promised to abolish the ban on "homosexuals are not allowed to serve in the military" that has been in use in the United States for more than half a century. Legalize same-sex marriage.

However, after Clinton was successfully elected, he first implemented the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and later signed the "Marriage Protection Act", that is, the federal government only recognizes the legality of heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman, and authorizes states to refuse to recognize it. Legal rights to same-sex marriage in other states.

The "don't ask, don't tell" policy seems to be a compromise strategy to allow homosexuals to serve in the military, but it just doesn't allow the military to actively ask soldiers about their sexuality, and requires servicemen to keep silent. If soldiers come out publicly, they will also be punished. Mandatory discharge does not actually give homosexuals equal rights, and it is discriminatory to a certain extent.

The reason why Clinton, who has always stood in support of gay equality, agreed to sign these two bills was that apart from the strong opposition from Congress and the military, the polls at the time showed that less than 20.00% of the people supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, even if Even he, who has become president, dare not rashly challenge public opinion.

In contrast, the incumbent President Bush has always strongly opposed homosexuality during his election campaign, and it is also because it is the main voice of the Republican Party. The Bush family itself is not so extreme. In fact, many of his family members have gay friends, such as his father Bush Sr. and Wife Laura, the daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney is also an openly gay man with a regular partner.

It can be seen from this that the positions that all politicians show in front of the public are actually based on approval ratings, which are the results of calculations and calculations after referring to public opinion surveys.

"So, even if the bill is passed, it will not be able to solve the fundamental problem, because society as a whole is still opposed to homosexuality." William finally came to a conclusion.

"Will, you don't seem disappointed?"

"If you understand the real crux, there is no need to be disappointed." William said to Lance: "You don't have to be depressed, Lance."

Lance wasn't actually upset.He cared about gay rights because William cared, and he ran around to pass the bill because of this. William always thought he was thinking about the LGBT community, but he didn't. Lance has Roderick's genes in his body, but Because of his mother, he has improved a little bit, so there is still a soft place in his heart.

"So, you have another plan?" Lance saw the eagerness and morale on William's face.

"It can't be regarded as a complete plan, and many ideas have not yet taken shape." William said: "It just suddenly occurred to me that if we want to change the attitude of the whole society towards LGBT groups, we must first change the thinking of ordinary people. Actively fighting for rights and interests requires the popularization of movies and television to make people realize that homosexuals are just like them. Love and be loved are the birthright of all people, no matter what era and environment they are in, None of this right should be taken away."

William's eloquence made Lance look a little fascinated, which is one of the reasons why William is fascinating-he always pays attention to people and things other than his own interests.

"So, what are we going to do?" Lance asked.

"It's not us, it's me," William finally said. "I need to talk to Ang Lee."