text:
付与されたアクセス

The sides of Hayato's mouth flickered upward with the hint of a smile as the message was displayed on the screen. "Access Granted", that was the English translation. Hayato was proud of his English. Knowing it and Japanese together gave one the means by which to achieve so much more these days.

The light from his computer screen reflected onto his window, little digital ghosts shimmering on the glass. The window was frosted with hundreds of raindrops slowly sliding down it, each one refracting the neon lights outside like a tiny prism.

His apartment was on the eighth floor of one of the new generation of skyscrapers. It was relatively expensive, but not lavishly so. His job as a systems network administrator working for Nihon Corporation paid him well. From his office window he had a view out over Tokyo Bay, dotted with the glass and metal structures of the new artificial islands. But the young Japanese man wasn't looking out into the city's nighttime sky. He was in his computer, in the code. He was "in the Mesh" as the other hackers called it. A small ring in the middle of the implant on his right temple was glowing soft blue LED light. He was inside the system. His fingers still flew over the holographic keys, and his eyes still saw what was on the screen, but the rest of his mind was somewhere else, somewhere deeper. He was experiencing cyberspace from the inside, his mind detecting the snippets of code and his nerves feeling the soft vibrations and the low hum of running programs. It was a strange concept to the uninitiated, but he was used to it. He was one with the machine, and that was his advantage.

Gigabytes of data flowed into his system like a river. He could sense it rushing through his connection, a surge of electronic information that was like a rush of adrenaline through his virtual nervous system.

All was going as he had planned. He loved the feeling after a successful hack, especially with his cybernetic neural interface actually letting him experience the pulse of the data as it flowed through him like a bloodstream. He slowly closed his eyes and relaxed.

侵入検出された

Hayato's eyes snapped open as the new message popped up on his screen.

"Intrusion Detected."

The data stream had suddenly ceased and the last few packets had dropped from the connection. His pulse quickened as he felt a probe slicing its way into his system in response.

His fingers flew into action, the keys of his computer flashing like blue fireflies in the night.

"Oh shit," he whispered angrily.

He could feel a loud vibration now. It was like a reciprocating saw spinning through his security codes. It was Nihon Corporation's auto-response server sending a probe to try to trace his system.

The vibrations intensified; the probe was breaking through quickly. It would be inside in seconds.

He pulled out of his data stream connection and activated his second firewall in an attempt to stop its progress. He threw up a screen of code and the whirring sound was muffled like it was coming from behind a thick wall. He then stopped all of his running network programs to keep the server's ping attempts from tracking him.

Then the probe broke through. It sounded like a motorcycle's engine was being revved inside his head. This wasn't a normal probe.

Hayato released his IP address, reached up to his temple, and pressed the small button to disconnect his neural link.

Once his connection was completely severed he realized he was sweating and shivering. His head was pounding from the pull-out. It wasn't safe to disconnect like that without separating your mind from the Mesh. Not good for your head.

Hayato got up from his desk and poured himself a glass of water.

"MedBay, I need some painkillers," he said to the small metal machine on his counter.

It emitted a ping, followed by a quiet whirring as it dispensed two small blue pills. Hayato picked them up and swallowed them with the water. Realizing that he was thirsty, he drained the rest of the glass.

And then he heard it: a buzzing sound from outside his window, like some predatory insect looking for prey. It started off quietly but its volume increased just as fast as the probe. Hayato dropped to the floor as quickly as he could. A second later, a blue plane of light flickered up and then down the walls of his apartment. He was hidden by the counter. The drone stayed in place for a few more seconds before slowly flying away. The vibrations diminished and then vanished entirely.

Hayato swore under his breath. It seemed Nihon Corporation's response systems were better than he thought. They must have run a shadow tracer on his data stream while he was busy dealing with the probe. That meant that they knew his computer's location but didn't have access to his files or hardware.

He leaned around the counter and looked out out of the window facing the street. Sure enough, two police cars were rolling towards the building, their blue and red lights flashing and their sirens wailing. Hayato grabbed his backpack from beside his desk and tossed his laptop inside. He picked his wallet up and put it in his pocket, followed by a small EMP emitter from his drawer. He was going to make a run for it.

Swinging his backpack over his shoulders, Hayato left his room and headed towards the stairwell. The police would probably shut off the elevator tubes when they came inside, and he didn't want to end up trapped in one. He could hear his neighbor Mrs. Ozawa arguing loudly with someone on her holophone as he walked down the hallway. Compared to  the state of the art design scheme of the rest of the building the stairwell looked like something from the 20th century. The steps were bare concrete and the guardrails were painted over with fading green paint. His footsteps echoed loudly as he made his way down as fast as possible.

He was almost panting by the time he reached the lobby level, and Hayato made a mental note to exercise more if he got out of this. He pulled the small metal cylinder out of his pocket and pressed the button on the top right as he opened the door. It vibrated slightly and splashed a small radius electromagnetic pulse through the lobby. That would throw the security cameras off for a while, hopefully giving him time to escape.

There were other obstacles though. He could see four police with their signature flared helmets and gray uniforms with segmented Kevlar material clearly visible underneath. One was walking towards the front desk, another was moving to shut off the elevators, and two more were standing guard outside the doors. That was going to be a problem. He was sure the police knew the name of who they were looking for and had a description but he doubted that they had a picture of him yet. The drone hadn't seen him, and he had hacked and removed most of his information from both the corporate and police databases a while back, so he decided it was worth the risk. There were about ten people in the lobby and most of them were on their way in or out of the doorways. Hayato nonchalantly walked parallel to the exit while looking down at his phone. Glancing up, he saw his chance.

A young attractive girl about his own age had stepped out of the elevator tube right before the policeman had shut them off. She was carrying two large bags and was having some difficulty with them. Luckily, Hayato remembered her name from having met her at a party he had gone to a couple weeks before.

"Oh, hey Mizu!" he smiled and walked over to her while gesturing towards her bags, "Need some help?"

"Yeah, sure. Thanks," she smiled back at him as he picked up one of the bags containing a bunch of soda.

Hayato silently thanked whatever divine power was watching over him that she had not said his name within earshot of the policemen. As an afterthought, he decided that she probably didn't even remember it.

"I wonder what's going on here," she looked around at the police.

"I don't know. Probably just a drug bust or something," he shrugged and responded.

They walked out of the exit towards her car. The police ignored them as Hayato had hoped. They were looking for a single person and expecting him not to have left. With a hiss the trunk of Mizu's car slid open and he tossed the bags inside.

"Thanks a lot, I appreciate it," she said as her car door slid open, "Hayato, right?"

Hayato's heart started pounding. It would seem that she had remembered him after all.

"Uh, no," he replied nervously, "my name's Niito."

She narrowed her eyes and continued, "I was almost sure... I remember you told me your name was Hayato. Yes, you did! Hayato Matsuda, that was it."

"I'm sorry, you must be mistaken," he turned around awkwardly and started walking away.

But it was too late. One of the officers outside had heard her say Hayato's name. Now he and his partner were walking towards him as he tried to leave.
Hayato turned left off of the sidewalk and into an alley, trying to ignore the two men behind him.

"Hey you! Stop right there!" the patrolman called out.

Hayato broke into a run. A second later two more sets of heavy footfalls joined his own on the wet pavement. He heard two clicks as a pair of stun-blades were produced from their scabbards. His feet pounded and his legs pumped as he ran into the city, but he could hear the two policemen getting closer. He took a sharp turn onto a small, empty walkway over the water.

"Stop or I will shoot!" he heard from behind him.

Hayato slowed down and then turned around to face them, his hands held up to show that he was unarmed. Both officers had their masks down now and their faces were obscured. One had drawn his pistol and was aiming it at Hayato who remained as still as he could. The other had a stun-blade in his hand and was advancing forward, obviously intending to use it. Hayato could hear its soft electric hum and he shivered in fear. It seemed his escape was over.

"You are under arrest," the closest policeman said gruffly.

Just then there was a sound of rubber screeching on asphalt as a black van spun to a stop on the other side of the walkway. Hayato turned his head to the side to see it. Its logo showed that it belonged to the Special Assault Force, the Japanese SWAT. Hayato thought it strange not only that this much backup was necessary to pursue one unarmed runner, but that the vehicle had pulled up without a siren either.

The double doors on the back were thrown open and four masked men armed with suppressed assault weapons and wearing black military body armor leapt out. Neither of the policemen had time to say anything before they were struck by a hail of bullets. Hayato ducked down and covered his head in panic. The officer who had been holding a pistol was hit twice in the face. His head snapped back as a dark puff of blood and shards of carbon fiber flew forward. A staccato burst of suppressed gunfire riddled the second man's body with a stitch-work of bloody holes. He was thrown backwards and skidded on the wet concrete once before he slid to a stop and lay bleeding profusely.

Hayato tried to move and cry out but he was frozen in shock. He saw two of the masked men silently run forward and push the bodies down into swirling gray waters of Tokyo Bay, droplets of red blood spinning down int the air among the rain. Then he was grabbed from behind and roughly pulled into the van. The other two soldiers ran back across the walkway and jumped into the open doors of the vehicle just as it started to move. The doors were pulled shut and the siren came on. They sped out onto the street and Hayato looked around at the armed men from his position on the floor of the vehicle. They wore no insignia and had nothing that identified them in any way.

"We have retrieved the HVT and are heading back for exfil, over," one of them said into his headset in English. He spoke with an accent that could have been Russian, but Hayato wasn't sure. He did not understand what was meant by the strange terminology but he assumed they were talking about him.

He tried to say something to them, to ask them who they were and what they were doing, but his mouth could not form the words.

The same man glanced down at him struggling to speak, and then turned to one of the others.

"Sedate him," he ordered.

The soldier to Hayato's left pulled a small syringe and planted it against Hayato's arm. He felt a small sting and then a feeling of relief and exhaustion flowed over him. He suddenly realized how tired he was and forgot about the armed men who had killed the policemen and Nihon Corporation and all of today's insanity.

Hayato felt his eyes close of their own accord and lost consciousness.

title: [SF] Digital Ghosts - Originally posted in r/CyberPunk as the prologue to my work in progress novel. Let me know what you think!

question: What does the story say about actual insects?

question: Summarize Hayato's movements over the course of the story.

answer: Hayato begins the story physically in his apartment on the eighth floor of a skyscraper, although his mind is in cyberspace. Once he exits cyberspace, he realizes the police have come for him, and he leaves his room for the stairwell. He reaches the lobby and walks parallel to the exit. He accompanies a young attractive girl out to her car but has to make a run for it when the police give chase after he turns off the sidewalk and into an alley. He runs into the city but is apprehended and taken into a van.


split: test

text:
NAMASTE TRUMP was a tour event held on 24 and 25 February 2020 in India.[1] It was the inaugural visit of the US President Donald Trump and his family to India.[2][3] A rally event of the same name was held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, and was the highlight of the tour, as a response to the “Howdy Modi” event held in Houston, Texas, in September 2019.[4] The Sardar Patel Stadium (also known as the Motera Stadium) hosted President Trump and his family along with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An attendance of over 100,000 people was reported,[5] with some speculating an attendance as high as 125,000.[6] The tour was originally named “Kem Chho Trump” but was renamed by the Government of India to promote Indian nationalism over regionalism.[7]

[Video footage from the event] The main event at the stadium was organised in the afternoon and was the highlight of the President's visit to India. The event served as a platform for the US President and Indian Prime Minister to display their friendly relationship with each other.[8] While initial reports suggested that Trump would inaugurate the Motera Stadium,[9] it was later disregarded as “speculation and assumption”.[10]

Trump also visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on the same day.[11] In Agra, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath welcomed the President and the First Lady on their arrival at Agra Airport. An exposition event with 3000 cultural artists showcasing the art and culture of various regions in India also took place.[12] The Trump family then visited the Taj Mahal informally, with no official personnel except the tour guide and protective personnel such as the Secret Service and the National Security Guard.[13]

After visiting the Taj Mahal, the President and his family headed towards New Delhi, to stay at the ITC Maurya, which was heavily surrounded by security personnel from both countries. They also attended the dinner banquet hosted by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind. The next day, the First Lady visited Sarvodaya Vidyalaya Senior Secondary Co-Educational school in Nanakpura, South Delhi. President Trump and Prime Minister Modi addressed common issues such as 5G connectivity, trade deals, and signed a US$3 billion defense deal.[14]

Ahead of Trump's visit to Ahmedabad, the Gujarat state government had built a new wall.[15] The construction of this wall was protested by social workers claiming that it was created for hiding slums. However, officials denied this and said that it was built due to security reasons.[16][17] In order to keep all roads and walls around the airport spotless from the “red liquid” spat out by the _paan_ () consumers during the Trump visit, the health department of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation sealed _paan_ shops near the airport.[18] The Uttar Pradesh government, too, cleaned up the city of Agra[19] and released 500 cusecs of water into the Yamuna river to improve its “environmental condition” ahead of visit.[20][21]

Trump's visit coincided with 2020 Delhi riots,[22][23] with some Indian politicians and political commentators accusing the rioters of tarnishing the country's image, and some criticising the organisation of the event.[24] The visit was criticized by the Indian National Congress, which is the main opposition to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.[25] They claimed it to be “extravaganza” and advised the government to use this opportunity to discuss key issues.[26] Further, the leader of the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi, demanded to know which government ministry was funding the private welcoming committee with the estimated amount of 100 crore for organising the Ahmedabad event.[27] Earlier, India's Ministry of External Affairs had stated that a private organisation, Donald Trump Abhinandan Samiti (), was responsible for organising the Ahmedabad event.[28]

[1]

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[15]  Wall built in Ahmedabad ahead of Trump's visit|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/watch-wall-built-in-ahmedabad-ahead-of-trumps-visit/article30869407.ece%7Caccess-date=7 June 2020|issn=0971-751X}}

[16]

[17]  Kerala social worker Aswathy Jwala launches hunger strike against wall 'to hide slums'|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/donald-trump-visit-to-ahmedabad-kerala-social-worker-aswathy-jwala-launches-hunger-strike-against-wall-to-hide-slums/article30854419.ece%7Caccess-date=7 June 2020|issn=0971-751X}}

[18]

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[28]

title: Namaste Trump

question: What is the focus of this article?

answer: Namaste Trump was a tour event held on February 24 and 25 in India and was the inaugural visit of the US President Donald Trump and his family to India.


text:
6.30am. “It could be worse”, he muttered under frozen breath. The bus trundled past him remorselessly, gradually fading into the frosty distance. He would have made it only he had to placate a distressed 2 year old who didn’t think too kindly of him going to work today. “Great start”, he mused as he turned to start the walk towards the tram station. An option which entailed a ten minute walk either side of a 20 minute tram ride. His wife worked locally which afforded her more time at home in the mornings.

For over 20 years now he had been traversing Dublin city daily to the insurance company offices situated in the financial district on the less salubrious north side of the inner city. An area of the city best avoided outside of necessity he thought.

That said, however, somehow the juxtaposition of (mostly) sober suits and gaunt, shuffling, glass eyed drug addicts and ne’er do wells seemed to function rather well as if one had become used to ignoring the other as a matter of course.

The daily commute was necessitated by 2 rather large mortgages and child care bills for their 2 children. They had bought an apartment 5 years previously when still single and childless. Houses were too expensive for their means at the time due to effects of Ireland’s property boom/bubble which pushed property prices to hugely unrealistic levels. Fortunately they had not bought at the very peak of the property boom but they were currently in negative equity and would be for some years yet. Ireland had experienced a property bubble fuelled by cheap credit with banks bending over backwards to offer people mortgages/loans regardless of prudence or future ability to repay. This in turn led to inflated governmental coffers due to enormous stamp duty returns. This then led to the powers that be turning a blind eye to the obvious eventual consequences of such a boom and bust cycle which was so clearly playing out in pain view for all to see. Dissenting voices warned of the inevitable crash to come and the government countered with talk of a “soft landing” to reassure the masses that they had a handle on matters and knew what they were doing.

When the fall happened it was brutal. Exacerbated by the world financial crisis Ireland entered a downward spiral of failing banks and escalating national debt which eventually led to a bail out by the European powers who took the reins of Ireland economic sovereignty and assumed the role of fiscal overlords for the following number of years.

The birth of their first child eventually meant they needed more space than their apartment afforded. Their assumption was that in the prevailing economic environment any bank would have expected them to sell the apartment before issuing a new mortgage for another (larger) property. To their surprise, and after a number of refusals, one bank agreed to issue mortgage approval for a house and allow them retain the apartment as a rental property. They rented their apartment successfully (so far) and had found a house in good location which suited family and transport links and their second child arrived shortly thereafter.

Fortuitously they both managed to retain their above average (if less than stellar) salaries throughout this uncertain period of financial armageddon and did not feel any real pinch from budgetary adjustments until almost the end of the European bailout programme. Even then it was more a case of not being able to put as much aside as before and experiencing the occasional (yet increasing) necessity to dip into existing savings. Reaching the tram station he broke his train of thought and nodded to the newspaper distributor who smiled and handed him a copy of the free newssheet they distributed daily. Descending the flight of stairs he read an opinion piece discussing how successive budgets had massively increased the onus upon those taxed at source. Tell me about it he thought, Even more so if you happened to own any property in addition to your primary residence. Property tax had been introduced, domestic water charges were on the way. Tax on deposit interest was now at penal levels. The government even introduced a “temporary” pension levy essentially stealing citizen’s pension money. Not much incentive to put something aside for a rainy day. It seemed that the wolf had moved from circling the perimeter to knocking on the door. The reality of being only a few pay checks from being unable to service their obligations was increasingly pervasive, like a brain worm furrowing ever deeper. Against that backdrop who could blame him for taking an opportunistic punt?

The oil exploration company was called Excobex. They planned to drill off the southern coast of Ireland. Excobex stock was listed on the alternative Investment Exchange. It was a sure thing, once they secured funding to drill that is. The share price was currently “artificially” low due to the unusually low oil price at present. But he believed that would not last for long. Eventually oil price would rise again, a funding partner would announce themselves and the share price would be re-rated to multiples of its current value. He had secretly cashed in post office bonds and certs, index funds and other equities with less potential return and plunged everything into Excobex shares in one fell swoop. It was only a matter of time until they struck oil. Then he would reap enormous rewards. Enough to make their lives very comfortable and enable his wife to leave her job and spend more time with the children, maybe he could work part-time or do something he actually enjoyed instead? Fortune favours the brave he thought at the time, be greedy when others are fearful. He reasoned that if you don’t take chances you cannot reap commensurate rewards.

He turned to the business page of the newssheet.  His breath caught in his chest, his heart skipped a beat. He read the headline again and again. "I guess it could be worse," he told himself, at least he had kept up the payments on his comprehensive life assurance. Looking around he found himself becoming irrationally annoyed by his fellow commuters. With that thought he dropped the newspaper at his feet, stepped from the platform and met the underside of the oncoming 7.15 tram with a sickening crunch. Screams echoed around the platform as realisation struck the early morning commuters. On the platform the newspaper fluttered against the side of a metal bench. The blood speckled business page was still clearly visible to passer-by’s: “Excobex Oil Campaign dead in water, trail of corruption leaves Investors wiped out”.

title: It could be worse [MF] 1st attempt at shortstory

question: What does the story tell us about the protagonist?

answer: His wife works locally. He has been traversing Dublin city daily for 20 years. He has 2 large mortgages and child care bills for 2 children. He and his wife bought an apartment five years previosuly when still single and childless. He has an above-average salary. He invested all his finances into Excobex shares. When he discovers that Excobex has gone under, he commits suicide.

question: What are some negative things that happen to the narrator over the course of the day?

answer: The narrator misses the 6:30 am bus. He then learns that the company he invested all his money in, Excobex, has gone under. He kills himself by jumping onto the train tracks.

question: What does the story say about how to invest?


text:
As Georgia has become one of the world’s COVID-19 hotspots, Republican gov. Brian Kemp has swatted away pressure from experts to shut down the economy, and he has taken punitive action against localities that try to impose mask mandates. It now appears that his administration is also obscuring a graphical presentation of coronavirus data on the state’s Department of Public Health website, the central clearinghouse for information on the public health crisis.

Specifically, as infection rates have skyrocketed, Kemp administration officials have shifted the color-coding of Georgia’s virus tracking map in ways that make it seem as if nothing is changing.

The revelations are the latest example of states obscuring hard data about the pandemic. In May, it was revealed that Texas, Vermont, and Virginia were artificially inflating their perceived testing capacity by combining the totals of the antibody tests and the regular COVID-19 tests. Under scrutiny, all three states changed their reporting method to record the different test types separately.

A new national survey shows more Americans are questioning the severity of the pandemic and how many people are dying, even as coronavirus cases are exploding across the country.

Georgia has become ground zero in the emergency. Conservatives had touted the state as a laudable model of success in allegedly inhibiting the virus while reopening the economy. But cases in the state have steadily risen since the beginning of June, with the seven-day rolling average of cases increasing by 47 percent since July 2.

As Kemp faced criticism for aggressively reopening the economy just before that spike, his health department has been criticized for obscuring the crisis. In mid-May, Kemp’s administration issued an apology for falsely presenting downward trends on a bar graph of cases in the five hardest-hit counties.

Now, his administration is publishing maps that purport to track infection rates in the state, but that are adjusting color codes in ways that seem to downplay the crisis.

Maps Whose Colors Barely Change, Even as the Emergency Worsens

The issue was first pointed out by Twitter user @andishehnouraee, who posted screenshots on July 17 in a widely shared thread indicating that the Georgia Department of Public Health’s county heat map for cases per 100,000 had not noticeably changed since July 2. Some areas were a shade darker, but overall the differences were not immediately apparent. The map remained largely blue with just three red counties signifying large caseloads.

Behind the striking consistency were adjustments to the map’s key — expanding or contracting the maximum number of cases in each tier almost by the day.

On July 2, the maximum case number in the lowest tier was 620. By July 7, that had climbed to 715. By July 17, it was at 949 — still with just three counties shaded red. The next day, it was down to 819 cases with four red counties. It remained that way until Monday when the maximum caseload for the bottom tier hit 834. Tuesday, it jumped to 867 and Wednesday 907.

[]

[]

The Georgia Department of Health did not dispute that the heat map keys are being altered regularly. Spokesperson Nancy Nydam told me that the changes to the key were done for the benefit of Georgians.

“These maps are not designed to show increases over time, but rather to show density by location and differences between counties,” Nydam explained. “They should not be compared to each other. If the ranges are not periodically reset, the entire map would end up one color and viewers wouldn’t be able to make distinctions between locations.”

She noted that case trends over time are presented on the website in a different chart._ _

While that chart does display the upward trend of COVID-19 cases alongside the dates of Kemp’s executive orders, the labeling is almost comically misleading.

It notes for April 27: “shelter in place extended for at risk.” But that’s not all that happened: on the same day, Kemp also started allowing restaurant dining rooms, movie theaters, gyms, and salons to reopen.

[]

Follow-up questions such as how the case ranges for the heat maps were decided upon and what role Kemp’s office plays in determining the presentation of information on the department’s website went unanswered.

A call-in assistant for the department previously directed me to contact the governor’s office for questions about the maps.

Dr Jennifer Nuzzo, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told me that the presentation of information on the Georgia Department of Public Health website “is not easy to interpret.”

“To understand trends we either need to see new case numbers or, better yet, new case numbers compared to recent reports or averages,” she explained, noting that the heat map’s “changing bin sizes” made it “hard to discern how much worse it has gotten.”

“It’s not just that the number of red spots changed,” she said, “but that the number of cases per 100,000 for each bin went up so much.”

GOP Governor Continues Reopening as the Pandemic Intensifies

Georgia’s recent surge in coronavirus cases has not deterred Kemp. The governor has followed the lead of the Trump White House, which responded late to the pandemic out of the gate and has since sought to politicize the public health recommendations of the medical community to justify a push to reopen the country prematurely. The president, who polls suggest is facing a difficult reelection campaign, has attempted to cast doubt on the numbers coming out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), even going so far as to strip the body of control of COVID-19 data.

It took Kemp nearly two weeks to declare a state of emergency after the state confirmed its first two cases on March 2. Two days later, he ordered the closure of schools statewide. It would be another week before the order came banning large gatherings, closing bars and nightclubs, and requiring the state’s medically vulnerable to shelter in place. Finally, on April 2, a month after those first coronavirus cases, Kemp issued a statewide shelter-in-place order.

Eighteen days later, however, on April 20, the governor announced that he was easing the restrictions to begin reopening the state. His executive order on April 23 allowed dine-in restaurants, gyms, salons, tattoo parlors, and bowling alleys to resume operations on April 27. The move was heralded by the Trump administration and conservatives.

For a few weeks, the numbers remained relatively constant, as a May 8 opinion piece by _Wall Street Journal_ editor James Freeman noted.

“Not only has the virus curve flattened in the Peach State,” Freeman wrote. “Data from the last 14 days show a welcome trend of declining new cases and deaths.”

But then cases began to surge. Kemp has responded by pushing forward on reopening in spite of the worsening crisis. Over the weekend, he encouraged the reopening of in-person classes at schools across the state.

Kemp also took aim at local mask requirements in a public battle with Democratic Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The conflict began on July 15 when Kemp issued an executive order prohibiting cities from mandating the wearing of masks. The order coincided with a visit to the city by Trump, who arrived without a mask. Bottoms pointed out that he was violating the city’s order.

The next day, Kemp sued the city of Atlanta to block enforcement of a number of restrictions related to the pandemic including the mask requirement. Then he blamed the surge in cases on the widespread racial justice protests across the state. Health experts disputed the claim.

question: How is handling of the Coronavirus epidemic politicized?

answer: Conservatives argue that it's not that big of a deal and promote practices that obscure the true nature of the epidemic while Democrats strive to present the information as accurately as possible.


text:
Shortly before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. called for an economic revolution with protections for the poorest Americans. Half a century later, a group of religious and moral leaders are planning a revival of the Poor People's Campaign, with a wave of civil disobedience in Washington. Rev. William J. Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign, joins Judy Woodruff for a conversation.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Next, an effort to revive a famous movement of the sixties focused on reducing poverty, inequality and tackling social justice.

    But with such a broad agenda, will it find enough support at a polarized time?

    We start with a look at the campaign that began 50 years ago.

    Shortly before his death in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expanded his civil rights campaign to include calls for economic justice. He called for an economic revolution that included protection and services for the poorest Americans.

    He would call it the Poor People's Campaign.

-   MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.:

    We're coming to get our check.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The campaign would bring together poor people from across the country, and from across racial, ethnic and geographic lines, including poor whites, for a March on Washington.

-   MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.:

    Even if you have to bring your whole family, we are going to have in Washington facilities and we're going to have food and we're going to demand that the government do something about these conditions.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The first step was to construct a shantytown called Resurrection City on the National Mall, housing thousands of participants in a form of nonviolent civil disobedience. Dr. King himself would never make it to the March on Washington. He died that spring.

    But weeks after his assassination, 50,000 people gathered in solidarity, demanding economic reform on the steps where Dr. King had professed "I have a dream."

-   MAN:

    We come with an appeal to open the doors of America to the almost 50 million Americans who have not been given a fair share of America's wealth and opportunity.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Half-a-century later, a group of religious and moral leaders are planning a wave of civil disobedience in Washington, a revival of the Poor People's Campaign.

    It's headed in part by the Reverend William Barber, who's the co-chair of the campaign. He led demonstrators at a rally in front of the U.S. Capitol this month. And he was arrested, alongside the Reverend Jesse Jackson, a key figure in the 1968 movement.

    I spoke with Reverend Barber recently when he was in Washington.

    Reverend William Barber, welcome to the "NewsHour." Thank you very much for joining us.

    When the original Poor People's Campaign took place, it was 19 — it was 50 years ago. Dr. Martin Luther King was involved. After he was assassinated, it continued, but what is the connection between then and now?

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Well, thank you so much for having us, and on behalf of the campaign, the national — Poor People's Campaign, A National Call for a Moral Revival, and my co-chair, the Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis.

    Let me say that the connection was, first of all, it did continue, that people realized Dr. King was right. Racism, poverty and militarism were interconnected.

    The connection today is, we did a study, we commissioned a study with the Institute for Policy Studies, and also had some help with Urban Institute, anecdotal and empirical data.

    And we found — we did something called the Souls of Poor Folk, auditing America 50 years after the Poor People's Campaign. What did we find? Today, there are 140 million poor and low-wealth people.

    Today, there are 250,000 people that die every year from low wealth. We have less voting rights today because of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act than we had in 1965, that we have 62 million people who are working poor, who work less than a living wage, and 14 million children who are in poverty.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Those numbers are overwhelming. They're daunting. You're not proposing to do away with poverty, are you?

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    We are saying there are five interlocking injustices that America has to face, because they continue to cause policy violence.

    That is systemic racism, particularly seen through the lens of voter suppression, where people use voter suppression to get elected, and then, once they get elected, they pass policies that hurt the poor, mostly white women, children and the working poor.

    Systemic race — systemic poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and militarism, and the false moral narrative of religious nationalism that says, you don't have to address those issues.

    We are saying, yes, America is going to have to face these five interlocking injustices and change them.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Why can't you work through the exiting political system, work to elect political figures who agree with your agenda?

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Well, several reasons.

    Number one, we had 26 presidential debates in the last presidential election on the Democrat and Republican side. Not one hour was spent on poverty. Not one hour was spent on voter suppression and restoring the Voting Rights Act, not one hour on the war economy and militarism.

    So, if we're not even having the conversation, the first thing we have to change is the attention violence. We have an attention violence when it comes to the poverty and the poor. And we must change that before you can change the agenda, and there must be a movement of the people from the bottom up.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Reverend Barber, I talk to people. I have read folks who agree with much of what you are saying you want, but they also are saying, you're asking for too many different things, that you should narrow your chance of ambitions, that you will have a much better chance at getting something done.

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Well, then those same people should say narrow the Constitution, because it's pretty ambitious.

    It says domestic tranquility, establishment of justice, providing for the common defense, promoting the welfare, general welfare. Narrow the moral call of the Bible that says you're supposed to care for the stranger, the hungry, the sick, the left out, the lonely, the imprisoned.

    Why is it that wealth and greed gets to ask for everything? They want tax cuts, they want that. They want to block health care, they get that. But then we tell poor people, you have to ask for one thing — 37 million people without health care? We have to fight for health care.

    Millions of people without living wages. We can't just ask for one thing, because they are systemically interlocking injustices.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    If there are so many who you define as poor in this country, why aren't we seeing more people rise up and make this argument?

    I mean, right now, it's left to you and a relatively small group of people who are making this argument, having your — having the march, having your demonstrations and so forth.

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Well, I don't know if I would say a relatively small group of people.

    We have organizing committees in 40 states. We have people who are organizing. In the last two weeks, we have had thousands of people attend, over — nearly 2,000 people do civil disobedience, more than ever in the history of this country simultaneously doing nonviolent moral fusion, civil disobedience.

    There is a rising. And why? And so what we're doing is, we're launching a movement. We're not ending a movement. We're launching a movement and calling people to action. Many people do not know how bad it is. And many people who are poor and low-wealth have been broken and pushed down and ignored.

    But where we're going, from West Virginia to Wisconsin, from Alabama to Alaska, we're finding that there are thousands of people who are saying, it's time for us to stand up and refuse to be silent.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    You have said that the nation's problem is not that we don't have enough money. You said it's that we don't have the moral capacity to face what ails society.

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Yes.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    What did you mean by that?

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    That when you look at our deepest moral framework of the Constitution and our deepest moral values of our religious tradition, we too often have a political conversation that talks about left vs. right, military or middle class.

    That's too puny. It's too narrow; 43.5 percent of this country is poor and low-wealth. People are dying.

    Even Joseph Stiglitz, the economist, said that America has to face the cost of inequality. What I'm saying is, we can't just have a left-right argument anymore. We need to have a deeply moral argument that says, this is not just about Democrats or Republicans, this is about America.

    What kind of democracy do we want to be? You cannot have a democracy continue to exist when 400 people make an average of $97,000 an hour, and you lock people up who simply want $15 and the union.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Does either political party come closer to your goals?

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Well, I think they can.

    I think they hear that. I think, of course, the extremists who have taken over the Republican Party have just gone so far extreme. You know, they are more focused on tax cuts to the wealthy. They want to blame poor people for their problems.

    Democrats, on the other hand, are willing to talk about, say, the Affordable Care Act and talk about the middle class.

    But the reality is, neither party is willing to put right in front of America the issues of systemic racism, of systemic poverty, ecological devastation,the war economy, and say the word poverty.

    It's almost as though we have tried to remove even saying the word poverty, when, in fact, the majority of the poor people in this country are white, women, children, working people and the disabled.

    So, we have to change our narrative in this country. And the only way you can change the narrative is to change the narrator. That's why this campaign is focused on three things, breaking through the narrative, massive voter mobilization among the poor, and power building from the bottom up.

-   JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Reverend William Barber, the co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign in 2018, thank you very much.

-   REV. DR. WILLIAM BARBER:

    Thank you so much. Thank you.

question: According to Reverend Barber, what are the main issues confronting the poor in American society?

answer:
Reverend Barber raises up issues like poor people dying due to poverty. There are also fewer voting rights for people on low-income or living in low-income areas of the country. He says that there are people working but not making enough to live on - he calls these folks the "working poor".
Barber also raises the point of systemic racism, ecological devastation, and false moral narrative of religious nationalism that tend to ignore the issue of poverty.

question: Why did Reverend Barber pick up the mantle of Martin Luther King Jr. in organizing the Poor People's Campaign?


text:
[Voting booths are pictured. | Getty]

In a state in which voters are reluctant to embrace Republicans, Sharpe plans to present himself as a potential alternative to voters who don’t like Cuomo. | Getty

ALBANY — The $5.9 million in contributions Gov. Andrew Cuomo received in the past six months easily topped the growing field of potential challengers this year.

Who came in second place? Not Republican Brian Kolb ( who raised $16,026 for governor on top of $42,387 in his Assembly account), Democrat Terry Gipson ($6,092), or Republican Joel Giambra ($0). Republican John DeFrancisco raised $116,452 for a pair of state Senate committees, but has yet to declare whether he’ll seek statewide office.

By a wide margin, the declared candidate who received the second-highest contribution total was Larry Sharpe, who’s planning to run on the Libertarian line. He raised $102,596 during the filing period, most of which he said came from small donors who contributed online.

In a state in which voters are reluctant to embrace Republicans — Democrats have won the past 19 statewide races — Sharpe plans to present himself as a potential alternative to voters who don’t like Cuomo.

“The Republican vote is a wasted vote,” he said. “There is no way a Republican can win in this state. The advantage that I have is I’m not a Republican, I’m a Libertarian. … So when New York state looks at the Republican and says, ‘Not that guy,’ and they look at Cuomo and say, ‘Not that guy’ — I’m their guy.”

Sharpe, a former trucking company executive and Marine, sought the national party’s nomination to be Gary Johnson’s running mate in the 2016 national election. He came close, losing with 47 percent of the vote on the second ballot at the party's convention to former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld (who once ran for governor in New York himself).

He’s already gained Johnson’s endorsement, and partially as a result of his efforts in 2016, Sharpe has a substantial online presence. A Facebook page for his gubernatorial campaign has 41,000 followers. Cuomo’s political page, by comparison, has 129,000, and neither of the two declared Republicans has many more than 3,000.

Much of that following and his fundraising likely comes from Libertarians from other states. But the magnitude of it, coupled with the fact that Sharpe already has started to campaign, makes it realistic to imagine a scenario in which he crosses the magic threshold of 50,000 votes.

When a candidate hits that number in a gubernatorial election, a little more than 1 percent of the votes cast, the party becomes official in New York. For the next four years, the party has automatic ballot access, appears on voter registration forms and has the state fund its primaries.

Eight parties crossed that threshold in 2014. But outside of a 48,359-vote performance by Warren Redlich in 2010, Libertarians have never come particularly close.

Sharpe said it was "a joke" to talk about his chances of garnering at least 50,000 votes. “I already have a base of [176,000] people who vote for Gary Johnson and Bill Weld in 2016," he said. "I’ll get that easily.”

Third-party candidates have rarely been competitive in New York’s gubernatorial races. Paychex founder Tom Golisano drew between 4 and 14 percent of the vote in a trio of campaigns that began in 1994, but there have only been two elections since the Civil War in which a candidate not running on either the Democratic or Republican lines has come close to finishing in even second place.

Despite this track record, Sharpe says he’s running not just to legitimize the party, but to win.

“Only about 4 million New Yorkers are going to vote,” he said, suggesting that somebody might win election as governor without a majority in a three-way race. “So that means all I need is about 1.5 million and I’m governor. That’s a mountain, but that’s not impossible.”

He says there are four areas that will determine who is ultimately elected — traditional media coverage, public speaking, social media and debates. While he’s ready to concede coverage by traditional media, he thinks he can be competitive in the other three.

“When it comes to speaking and events, it’s not his skill set, he’s not good at that,” Sharpe said of Cuomo.

Cuomo has had lackluster grass-roots support online in the past, and Sharpe is confident he’ll outshine the incumbent in this arena. “He is a dire soul when it comes to social media," he said, "so I’ll beat him there for sure.”

And he says he’ll handily beat the governor in any debates, asserting that Cuomo is "not a very good debater."

When asked what he would do if he wins, Sharpe said he would make entities like the Board of Regents and Metropolitan Transportation Authority be more accountable, putting them under the authority of specific offices that would have to answer for any problems.

Before he even gets on the ballot, however, he’ll have to win the Libertarian Party’s state convention in April, but doesn’t see this as a roadblock.

“Assuming there’s no celebrity that jumps in and says, ‘I want to be on the ballot,’ the odds are very high I’ll be the nominee,” Sharpe said.

question: Summarize the main news event.

answer: The Republican party is looking at something of an revamp-if not overhaul-in the politician who came second place in raising contributions this year [as of the time of this article]. Larry Sharp, running on the Libertarian ticket, is seen as a contender to the candidates in both majority parties. He maintains that he is getting ahead because New Yorkers know that the Republican vote is a "wasted vote",and many more conservative voters may be looking to new ways to reinvigorate the political landscape in accordance with their evolving values as the world continues to change dramatically at a faster-than-ever pace. Sharpe may prove to be a viable gubernatorial candidate.

question: Summarize the typical turnout for Libertarian candidates and their place in the political lineup.

answer: Libertarians have never come close to getting the votes and endorsements to make it into a gubernatorial race, but Larry Sharpe has raised a whopping $102,596. His base generating these funds is mostly online, utilizing tools in social media to market him as "not the other guy". What is interesting is that typically the Libertarian party accounts for about one percent of the vote, but this year, Sharpe is coming in second only to the formidable Gov. Cuomo, whose wealth far surpasses all other contenders. Perhaps part of the reason for this third-party surge is that traditional media coverage doesn't have the leverage that it once held compared to more viral methods of communicating and attracting supporters.

question: Summarize what this piece has to say about the larger context of voter demographics in the United States.

answer: It could be said that younger voters are seeking candidates who know that their delivery method as well as the content of their message matters. It seems that Sharpe makes for a formidable contender because he is rallying on social media, a grouping of social media platforms that appeal to the younger voters-who are more eager to see change on the political landscape. Third party voters have been disgruntled with the stolid old guard in politics in both Republican and Democratic parties, but it seems that the former has had a particularly rough time aligning their moral and social values with the more progressive perspectives that are much more common amongst younger voters.

question: Describe the core reasons for dissonance between younger and older voters in the United States.


text:
PUBLISHED September 29, 2018

As the Senate is divided on President Donald Trump's Supreme Court pick, so too are women across the country.

Female voices have echoed throughout the U.S. Senate this week demanding male senators justify their support for Brett Kavanaugh's U.S. Supreme Court nomination despite an allegation of high school sexual assault.

But other women have spent hours calling Senate offices in support of Kavanaugh, condemning what they saw as an anti-Republican ploy that's damaged not only Kavanaugh's reputation and livelihood but also his accuser's.

To Hannah King, a college senior from Bristol, Tennessee, Christine Blasey Ford's allegations of a drunken attack by Kavanaugh at a 1982 party when both were in high school were jarring and scary. But while King expressed empathy for Ford, she also said she's concerned about the timing of Ford's allegations, which surfaced publicly only after Kavanaugh - already a federal judge - was nominated to the Supreme Court.

"It was too timely and strategic," said King, 21. "Anything like that makes you question how true it is."

King spoke Friday after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance Kavanaugh's nomination to the full Senate. Hours later, Trump ordered an FBI investigation of Kavanaugh upon Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's insistence. Flake's demand came after two women who said they had experienced sexual assault confronted him on an elevator at the Senate and demanded he take action against Kavanaugh. Two other women besides Ford have also lodged public sexual misconduct allegations against Kavanaugh.

"A lot of times, you cope by suppressing and forgetting," said King, who leads the King University College Republicans. "But someone's promotion isn't something that should prompt someone to come forward."

That sentiment was shared by Sarah Round, 69, a retired elementary school teacher of Newport Center, Vermont, who felt empathy for Ford but not at the expense of Kavanaugh's reputation and future.

"Possibly something happened to her," Round said. "But I think she embellished what happened, or she would have gone to some authority or said something about it years ago."

Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel and a Republican state representative from Daniel Island, South Carolina, said she had been sexually assaulted as a teen herself. She expressed sympathy for Ford, but said Kavanaugh deserved protection, too.

"I'm very empathetic to women who've been through this type of situation," said Mace, 40. "But on the other side, we have laws in this country that protect individuals from being wrongfully accused."

Emma Scott, an 18-year-old University of South Carolina freshman from Charleston, South Carolina, said that, while she doesn't doubt Ford endured a trauma of some kind, she wasn't convinced it could be tied to Kavanaugh.

"If you're going to use sexual assault to slow somebody down, it had better be the truth," Scott said. "Even if Brett Kavanaugh is innocent, he is still going to live with this the rest of his life."

Mace said that she viewed the testimony as an "at all costs" effort by Democrats to win back control in Congress and possibly hold the seat open until a future Democratic president can fill it.

"Ford is political collateral, and they do not care," Mace said.

Susan Conger, 64, a former math teacher from Augusta, Georgia, who also worked in the Reagan administration, said she turned off her television during Thursday's hearing but has followed the news coverage of the testimony.

"Instead of watching, I decided I would be better served by praying for the people who were talking and listening," Conger said.

Conger has spent time volunteering with her local women's Republican club, calling the offices of senators asking them to support Kavanaugh's nomination.

"I'm sorry that this terrible thing happened to her at the hands of someone," Conger said. "It's not that I think that his accuser is a bad person. It's not my job to judge her because I don't know her."

Kevin Bishop, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham - who gave a fiery defense of Kavanaugh after the judge's testimony Thursday - said Graham's office has received as many women calling in support of Kavanaugh as in opposition.

Round, of Vermont, said she feels the whole episode could end up hurting Democrats more than helping them in this fall's elections, just more than a month away.

"I am digging my heels in, and I'm hoping that a lot of conservatives are determined to vote Republican," Round said. "I think it's galvanized the women on the right more than it's galvanized the women on the left."

___

Kinnard can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP. Read her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard.

___

For more coverage of Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, visit https://apnews.com/tag/Kavanaughnomination

question: What has Kavanaugh been accused of?

answer: Sexual assault.

question: What position is Kavanaugh being nominated for?

answer: A supreme court justice.

question: When did Kavanaugh commit the alleged assault?

answer: High School.

question: What have Republicans claimed?

answer: That the allegations were not true.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The article discusses allegations of sexual assault against Brett Kavanaugh on the eve of his hearing for confirmation to the supreme court. It summarizes the views of both those who raised the allegations, and those who claim the allegations are false.


text:
Upon arriving at the school I was groggy. Not much sleep last night. I was at an elementary school serving as security. Today there was going to be a demonstration for the kids on military might and air superiority, as a way to get young kids excited for the military. They're trying to grab 'em while they're young I guess, influence 'em now and over the years that's what they'll want to do or so they hope.
The school was located next to a mountain that the military had barred off to the public. Convenient enough there was a base not far from the school. The mountain was off limits to civilians since an accident occurred there involving military personal and the story was that some chemicals leaked out, so no one was allowed to enter it. Today however was going to be an exciting demonstration of what one of the airforce’s top-of-the-line jets could do. They were going to blow up a bus. Jets weren't actually going to do anything as explosives had already been planted and were set to go off as the jets approached for a realistic effect.
I was standing with my back next to a pillar just outside the school fences with some kids next to me eagerly awaiting the big event. The military had brought in some tanks but we were told they wouldn't be firing, they were just for show and so most of the kids weren't as exited for them.
I figured there would be a speaker giving some talk on how great these new jets were. That was the whole point right? As we waited our attention was gathered to some General Pierce, who just told us two jets would fly by once to let us know they were preparing to “fire” and then on their second approach would fire at the bus, afterwards they would come around and land for the kids to ask them questions. This is where I came in. I'm here to make sure the kids don't rush mob the guy, don't know why they would but that's what I'm being paid for.
After Pierce said his few words he left with what seemed like more protection than anything else. Don't know what that was about except that his ego is probably through the roof.
The jets made their first pass and the kids cheered and then got quite and awaited their next one. Then on their second pass, before they flew over the bus it exploded and all the kids cheered once again. Military personnel went to the bus and began to extinguish the fire and gather debris from the explosion.
The jets begin to land and the first one landed outside of the school fences next to me. I didn't like the idea of the pilot landing and standing near me, all I could think was that he would end up making some crack comment how I'm what happens when you don't join the military.
After landing the pilot came out and greeted the kids. He told them to gather behind me and sit on the ground so that he could see all of them, and to raise their hands when they had a question. Everyone rose their hand as soon as they sat. As he began listening to their questions and answering them I went to spit out some gum I was chewing on and accidentally got it on the pilot's uniform. “My bad man” I said, but he just looked at me as if he didn't know why I was apologizing. The kids were kind enough to point out what I had done and he just gave me a look of disapproval. I'm sure in his head he was calling me an asshole.
He started talking again telling the kids how great it was flying a jet, how cool it was and some such nonsense. I was aggravated by the whole thing. I guess it was my fault for being security at some school. He kept talking about the perks of being in the military and not just the airforce. It was then that people starting shouting. I looked around and saw it was the cleanup crew near the bus. The were running from the mountain and just then I heard gunshots. Someone was shooting and I had no inclination as to who or where it was coming from. I immediately told the kids to return to the classrooms.
As quickly as the shootings began, the tanks rolled up and began firing on the mountain. What the hell was going on? I looked and saw that there were men emerging from the somewhere in the mountain. They were wearing black uniforms and looked like part of the military but why would they be shooting each other? I had no idea.
The pilot went to his jet and tried to lift off but their was something wrong with it. He got out and I heard him communicating with someone, his superiors I guess. They had remotely disabled the jets as there was an immediate no fly order given over the area. The pilot was upset and he displayed it.
He pulled out a rifle from a compartment on the jet began to head toward the mountain. I asked him what he was doing and he just looked at me and kept going. I don't know why but I followed him. He told me one the way to wherever we were headed that I needed to go back. I told him I wasn't going anywhere, I wanted to find out what was going on.
As we got closer I noticed there were shipping containers scattered about near what appeared to be the entrance to the mountain. They were covered with rock and camouflaged netting colored just like the mountain. Inside it looked like there was some installation. I had no idea what it was. People began to open fire on us as and we took cover behind one of the containers.
He handed me a pistol along with a few clips and asked me if I knew how to use it. I had previous training and told him so.
As the men got closer we shot them one after another but I knew we both would run out of ammo soon. We got lucky as two of them had somehow snuck past us and made their way behind the containers we had been using for cover. I only noticed them because I had just reloaded and after shooting them my heart was pounding. This was scary. I picked up their guns and they looked almost exactly like the rifle that the pilot had but there was something different about them but I couldn't put my finger on it.
The pilot told me he was planning on heading inside. I didn't know why and he told me to stay here. I told him he was crazy but that if he was going to go in I was heading in there with him, that I couldn't let him go in alone. I must be crazy too.
He had his orders just like the men in the tanks had theirs. They were still firing on the mountain and it could only mean that they were ordered to fire until given the order to recede. I had my orders too.
We noticed that men stopped exiting the facility as we got closer and I told him it could be some kind of ambush. He agreed and we proceeded with caution.
Entering the facility we found men ripped apart. Their bodies were scattered about and neither of us had any idea what was did this, only that they were slaughtered. There was gunfire coming from down one of the halls. Just a few shots from a pistol I imagine. It stopped just as quickly as it started. We crept over to the one of the consoles located in the center of the room and the pilot started reading the displays. I wasn't sure what he was looking for and he didn't say when I asked him. Shortly after some of the same men we were firing upon began to rush into the area from one of the halls. They were retreating from something. Five of them kept firing down the hall and only hid behind the corners when they needed to reload. Some switch was activated and a doorway leading into the hall was closing, but slowly. Two of them were struck with something and fell to the ground. As one of them began to reload he saw us and yelled out to “get the hell out” while we still can. The other three didn't last long and each of them were each struck as the door finally closed. Only the one that yelled out to us seemed to be alive. I rushed over to him to find out what the hell was going on.
There was something on the other side of the door, I could hear screeching and something clawing at the door. It sounded pissed. I asked the guy what the fuck was going on. He told me “there isn't much time. You need to leave...You need to get out...get out before...before...”. That was it, that was the last thing he said before he died.
When I looked back to the pilot he was still on the console. I took a moment to just look around the room. There was shipping containers in here as well, some surrounding the console. After looking more closely at the containers there appeared to be burn marks as well as giant scratch marks on the edges of each. What the fuck. I didn't know and I continued to look around. There were a total of fourteen halls, and as it stood twelve of them were closed. The two that were open were on the opposite side of the room that the men just came from. Side by side and both of them went in opposite directions after a few yards.
This pilot was still concerned about his mission and I didn't even know his name. I asked him and he just said it didn't matter, the only thing that did now was sealing the facility. I asked him why and he didn't say. He managed to get the right door to close. Damn did it close slow. I kept looking at both the last two doors expecting some horrific monster to appear but nothing did. The pilot had a grim look on his face and told me I needed to head back to his jet and bring back something just in case. I asked him about the other pilot and he assured me he was already dead.
My head was turned only for a few moments but it was enough time for something to shoot out before the door completely sealed and hit the pilot. He fell to the ground and within seconds some sort of poison began working through his body. He wasn't in any pain other than the area he was it that I could tell. I tried to have him hang on to me as I carried him but I knew it wouldn't work. I laid him against the side of one of the containers and brought him his rifle. I asked him what I needed from the jet and through slurred words he told me there was a belt in a compartment inside the jet. He mumbled something like “I can't believe it” and I told him I would be right back.
I exited the installation and entered chaos. There were flying creatures all around. They were massive, some looked like the size of SUV's. More of the military had shown up and were firing at both the aerial creatures and the ones attacking them from the ground. I could see them out in the distance and had no idea what they were. They were in different shapes and sizes, the biggest the size of two men it seemed. I had no idea what they were and didn't care to find out. My path to the jet looked clear and so I made my way there. I thought about the kids and how they were doing. I could only imagine.
I managed to make it to the jet without any trouble and I found the belt. It wasn't sure what I thought it would be but what it was was some sort of device. On the belt there were seven shells, a bit taller than a regular soda can and each one in bold red leaders read “Primed”. I didn't know what they would do but I had a good idea. I looked around and up at the sky. I figured I wouldn't another chance to see it.
I headed back to where I left the pilot and found a man tending his wounds. He told me he had been poisoned, something I already knew, and that he would be unable to stand on his for awhile. I asked him if he could help carry him out and we began to lift him. Just then something struck the man and he fell, yelling in agony. I turned and saw this creature that had what appeared to have giant curved blades for arms hissing at us. I hesitated for a moment but I shot and killed it. The man was bleeding out and didn't say anything. He just looked at me if wanting to say sorry.
I tried not to think about what I had just seen and asked the pilot if he could manage to make it out with me. He nodded and as I lifted him up he told me I would need to set the timer on one of the shells. As we stood we heard noises coming from the last hallway and turned to see creatures emerging it. We were quickly surrounded with them gnarling and growling at us.
I set the pilot down and he told me to take one of the shells off and throw it on the ground. I assumed we would be dead after so I asked the pilot his name. “Landers, Christoff Landers”. I told him mine. Lance Taylor. As the creatures approached us I lifted one of the shells off the belt and rose it high, the rushed as I threw it down.

title: Untitled works (Repost)

question: What is the twist of the story?

answer: The twist occurs after the military demonstration. The narrator hears gunshots and sees people fleeing from the mountain. The story turns from a regular day for the security guard narrator to an all out warzone with humans pitted against unknown creatures.

question: Summarize what happens on the mountainside facility.

answer: The narrator and the pilot fight their way into the facility. When they finally make it into the facility, they find bodies strewn everywhere. They discover something clawing and at a door. An injured soldier tells the two to escape before dying. The narrator discovers flying creatures that are killing the soldiers.


text:
Transportation systems in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland include road, air, rail, and sea. It is still a relatively car dependent city[1] however it is also served by a comprehensive rail and bus network. Belfast also ran electric trams prior to 1954.[2] The city has two major airports and the Port of Belfast is the busiest ferry port on the island of Ireland.[3]

History

In the Victorian city of Belfast, transport consisted of horse-drawn carts on cobbled streets.[4] Some of these streets in the Cathedral Quarter are still cobbled. As the city expanded rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, the need grew for public transport to carry workers in and out of the city. The Belfast Street Tramways Company replaced carts with horse-drawn trams and the Cavehill and Whitewell Tramway company ran a steam tramway from the outlying villages of Whitewell and Glengormley into Belfast.[5] Belfast Zoo was created in 1934 from Bellevue Gardens, a playground and pleasure gardens at the end of the Cavehill line.[6] In 1905, the Belfast Corporation took over and electrified the city's tram network.[7] The trams were partially replaced by trolleybuses from 1938, and finally replaced by buses in 1954.[8]

Recent developments have been proposed in the _Belfast Metropolitan Transport Plan_, launched by the Minister for Regional Development in November 2004. It aimed to set a new direction for transport in the city following decades of under-investment.[9]

City layout

Belfast remains a divided city. There are 14 neighborhoods in the inner-city of Belfast some of which are divided by peace lines.[10] These walls were erected by the British Army, after August 1969, at the beginning of the Troubles. They were built in an effort to deal with the nightly rioting in the city at the time, and to stop intimidation and population flight. There was very little community consultation throughout this process.[11]

Since the 1970s, the inner city numbers have dropped and the Greater Belfast suburb population has grown. As with many cities, Belfast's inner city is currently characterised by the elderly, students and single young people, while families tend to live on the periphery. Socio-economic areas radiate out from the Central Business District, with a pronounced wedge of affluence extending out the Malone Road to the south.[12] An area of greater deprivation extends to the west of the city. In fact the areas around the Falls and Shankill Roads are the most deprived wards in Northern Ireland.[13]

Routes

Some important arterial routes into Belfast include:

-   York Street/York Road/Shore Road
-   Antrim Road
-   Oldpark Road
-   Crumlin Road
-   Shankill Road/Woodvale Road/Ballygomartin Road
-   Divis Street/Falls Road/Glen Road
-   Grosvenor Road/Springfield Road
-   Andersonstown Road/Stewartstown Road
-   Donegall Road
-   Lisburn Road
-   University Road/Malone Road
-   Ormeau Road
-   Ravenhill Road
-   Woodstock Link/Woodstock Road/Cregagh Road
-   Castlereagh Street/Castlereagh Road
-   Albertbridge Road
-   Newtownards Road/Upper Newtownards Road
-   Holywood Road

Westlink

The most significant road scheme in Belfast for some years began early in 2006, with the upgrading of two junctions along the Westlink dual carriageway to grade separated standard. The Westlink, a dual carriageway skirting the western edge of the City Centre, connects all three Belfast motorways and has suffered from chronic congestion for some years. The work will cost £103.9 million and is scheduled for completion in 2009.[14] Some commentators have argued that this may simply create a new bottleneck at the at-grade York Street intersection until that too is converted to a fully free-flowing grade separated junction, which in 2007 was expected to take place between 2011 and 2016.[15]

Cycling

The Lagan and Lough Cycle Way, part of the National Cycle Network, runs through the city centre along the Laganside promenade and linking north to Jordanstown through the docks and along the lough shore and south-west to Lisburn along the Lagan towpath.

Cars and buses

[“Country” bus, Belfast] In the 19th Century due to suburbanization omnibuses became in to use and in 1869 were recorded running hourly on the Malone Road, Lisburn Road, Antrim Road, County Down Road to Sydenham hourly.[16] Belfast is a now a relatively car-dependent city, by European standards, with an extensive road network including the ten lane M2 motorway. A recent survey of how people travel in Northern Ireland showed that people in Belfast made 77% of all journeys by car, 11% by public transport and 6% on foot.[17] It also showed that Belfast has 0.70 cars per household compared to figures of 1.18 in the East and 1.14 in the West of Northern Ireland.[18] [Glider bus rapid transit services opened in 2018.[19]]

Most public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by the subsidiaries of Translink. Bus services in the city proper and the nearer suburbs are operated by Translink Metro, with services focusing on linking residential districts with the City Centre on twelve quality bus corridors running along main radial roads, resulting in poor connections between different suburban areas. More distant suburbs are served by Ulsterbus. A small number of private operators are also present, including Aircoach who operate a non-stop route from Belfast to Dublin City, via Dublin Airport which competes with services offered by Translink.

Black taxis are common in the city, operating on a share basis in some areas. Separate associations serving nationalist and unionist areas operate throughout Belfast. During the Troubles, nationalist taxi drivers in West Belfast and Ardoyne became targets for loyalist assassination campaigns.[20] Today black taxis take tourists on tours of the city's sectarian murals. They are now outnumbered by private hire minicabs.

Airports

The city has two airports: The Belfast International Airport offers domestic, European and transatlantic flights and is located north of the city, near Lough Neagh while the George Best Belfast City Airport is closer to the city centre, adjacent to Belfast Lough. In 2005, Belfast International Airport was the 11th busiest commercial airport in the UK, accounting for just over 2% of all UK terminal passengers while the George Best Belfast City Airport was the 16th busiest and had 1% of UK terminal passengers.[21]

-   The Belfast International Airport Aldergrove offers domestic, European and transatlantic flights and is located 21 kilometres northwest of the city, near Lough Neagh. It was opened in 1917 as a training establishment for the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.[22] A new Executive Aviation Terminal was opened in 1987 and annual passenger numbers reached 4.5 million in 2004.[23] In 2005, it was the 11th busiest commercial airport in the UK, accounting for just over 2% of all UK terminal passengers.[24]
-   The George Best Belfast City Airport, named after the city's most famous footballing son, is closer to the city centre, beside Belfast Lough. Previously named the _Harbour Airport_, it was opened on 16 March 1938 by Anne Chamberlain, the wife of the British Prime Minister at the time.[25] It opened to passenger flights in 1983 and opened a new passenger terminal in 2001. The airport was officially renamed after George Best on 22 May 2006, the day he would have celebrated his 60th birthday.[26] In 2005, it was the 16th busiest airport in the UK and had 1% of all UK terminal passengers.[27]

Railways

Bus and rail public transport in Northern Ireland is operated by subsidiaries of Translink. Bus services in the city proper and the nearer suburbs are operated by Translink Metro, with services focusing on linking residential districts with the City Centre on twelve quality bus corridors running along main radial roads, resulting in poor connections between different suburban areas. More distant suburbs are served by Ulsterbus.

Northern Ireland Railways provides suburban services along three lines running through Belfast's northern suburbs to Carrickfergus and Larne, eastwards towards Bangor and south-westwards towards Lisburn and Portadown. This service is known as the Belfast Suburban Rail system.

Northern Ireland Railways is the sole public railway operator in Northern Ireland. The network serving Greater Belfast is known as Belfast Suburban Rail and is owned by Translink. These provide rail services along four major routes:

-   Belfast-Larne railway line runs through Belfast's northern suburbs to Carrickfergus and Larne
-   Belfast-Bangor railway line runs eastwards towards Bangor
-   Belfast-Newry railway line and south-westwards through Lisburn and Portadown to Newry
-   Belfast-Derry railway line and north eastern through Antrim and Coleraine to Derry

Some important rail stations in Belfast include Belfast Central, Great Victoria Street, Botanic, City Hospital, Yorkgate. The Enterprise is a cross-border inter-city train service between Dublin Connolly in the Republic of Ireland and Belfast Central in Northern Ireland. It is jointly operated by Iarnród Éireann (IE) and Northern Ireland Railways (NIR).

Ferry and Rail

From the Port of Belfast ferries connect with Cairnryan with a bus link to Stranraer station on the Glasgow South Western Line to Ayr station and onto Glasgow Central with trains provided by Abellio ScotRail.

Proposed transport

In 2007, a feasibility study was carried out to construct a light rail system in the city, initially along two routes, eventually along four. It had been compared to Luas, the tram system in Dublin.[28][29]

These proposals included:

-   EWAY – East of city and Dundonald
-   WWAY – West of city
-   CITI – Titanic Quarter and George Best Belfast City Airport
-   SupeRoute – South of City

In 2008, the Department for Regional Development issued a report suggesting that a “high class bus-based network could cut commuting times while costing significantly less”.[30]

By 2017, this transpired into The Belfast Rapid Transport System. The new service will be run by Translink and is expected to be operational by September 2018. It is expected that the service will transform the public transport system in Belfast. The route will be served by several new 18-metre Glider vehicles, specifically designed for Belfast, which will feature real time passenger information, destination announcements, CCTV, free Wi-Fi, USB charging facilities and air conditioning. These Glider vehicles are expected to operate every 7–8 minutes throughout the working day. The proposed route will link East Belfast, West Belfast and the Titanic Quarter, via the city centre. The service is expected to help meet the future transport needs of Belfast.[31]

Seaport

The Port of Belfast is the busiest ferry port on the island of Ireland with over 1.2 million passengers annually.[32] Belfast also has a large port, used for exporting and importing goods and for passenger ferry services. Stena Line run regular services to Stranraer in Scotland using their Superfast VII & VIII vessels, with a crossing time of around 2 hours 15 minutes. They also run a passenger/cargo ferry to and from Liverpool using the Stena Lagan or Stena Mersey, with a crossing time of eight hours. There are seasonal sailings to Douglas, Isle of Man that are operated by the Isle of Man Steam Packet company (formally SeaCat).

[Harland and Wolff shipyard in 1907]

The natural inlet of Belfast Lough gives Belfast its own port. As the city developed, this became the major avenue for trade with Britain and later Europe and North America.[33] In the mid-seventeenth century, Belfast exported beef, butter, hides, tallow and corn and it imported coal, cloth, wine, brandy, paper, timber and tobacco.[34] At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Belfast's significant trade made it the richest commercial town in the north of Ireland.[35] Around this time, the linen trade in Northern Ireland blossomed and by the middle of the eighteenth century, one fifth of all the linen exported from Ireland was shipped from Belfast Harbour.[36]

As the Industrial Revolution arrived, the port provided the outlet for the thriving linen and shipbuilding trades. Belfast harbour was dredged in 1845 to provide deeper berths for larger ships. Donegall Quay was built out into the river as the harbour was developed further and trade flourished.[37] The Harland and Wolff shipbuilding firm was created in 1861 and by the time the Titanic was built in Belfast in 1912, they boasted the largest shipyard in the world.[38]

It is also the biggest gateway for both the import and export of goods in Northern Ireland, receiving 6,000 vessels, and half a million freight units per year.[39] The _Harbour Estate_ is also Northern Ireland's leading logistics & distribution hub.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16] Connolly, S.J. (ed) _Belfast 400 People, Place and History._Liverpool University Press.

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31] http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/pictured-new-belfast-rapid-transit-glider-vehicle-unveiled-36242748.html

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

title: Transport in Belfast

question: What does the article say about air travel in Belfast

answer: The city has two international airports. 4.5 million travelers passed through the Belfast International Airport in 2004. In 2005 2% of UK terminal passengers went through this airport. The George Best Belfast City Airport is responsible for 1% of all UK air traffic.

question: What does the article say about car use in Belfast?

answer: Belfast is a relatively car-dependent city, by European standards, with an extensive road network. A recent survey showed that people in Belfast made 77% of all journeys by car, 11% by public transport and 6% on foot. t also showed that Belfast has 0.70 cars per household compared to figures of 1.18 in the East and 1.14 in the West of Northern Ireland.


text:
It's a little slow in the very very beginning.  Just...you'll see.

The Experiment

"Billy, eat your breakfast or you're going to fail out of Elementary school.  There been studies, you know," I told my son as he sat at the dinner table, a plate of steaming, fluffy yellow eggs sitting in front of him, waiting to be eaten.  Our kitchen was considerably small, so the fragrance of his breakfast was causing me to salivate, for I myself had not eaten yet.

"Come on dad, I don't want to eat. I never eat breakfast and I'm doing good in school," he replied to me in a high pitched squeak, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he stared idly at the eggs, contempt prevalent in his beady brown eyes.  His hair obscured them significantly, for he wore it long, much to my wife's displeasure.

"Fine son, I'll eat them for you.  But this is the last time, and don't tell your mother or I'll get in trouble!" I said as I made my way to the table, nudging Billy so that I could sit down and give into the temptation to devour the meal I made for him.

"You eat my breakfast everyday dad.  Like it's going to be the last time," Billy laughed, happily hopping off of the chair that was much too big for his slender body.  I scooped spoonful after spoonful of eggs into my mouth, guzzling them down greedily.  When I finished, I picked up the plate and placed it carefully into the dishwasher as I did every other day of my life since my son was old enough to attend elementary school.  After this was completed, I unfastened the powder white apron that read "Best Mom Ever" inside a frilly pink heart, surrounded by polka-dots.  Under this I wore a deep purple suit accompanied by a black tie and dress pants; my regular working attire.

"Billy, want to come give your dad a hug before he goes to work?" I asked in a playful voice, speaking in the third person like I did for the most part when I talked to him.

"Bye dad!" came his cheerful squeak as he bounded towards me and buried his face in my necktie.  I bend toward him slightly to put my arms around him.  He smiled at me, and it was the most beautiful thing I saw all morning.  His face glowed with an essence of childhood and a carefree attitude; he was quite amazing.  In that moment I felt a connection that only a father could feel, something that I know is special to fathers alone.

"I'll see you after work, six o'clock sharp!"

"I'll be here!"

I got into my car and smoothed out my tie with my fingers nervously, the same routine as ever.  I could never depart from home happily, because I was essentially taking my protectiveness and leaving.  How can I know what will happen to my son while I am at work?  Anything is possible.  There could be a fire at his school, a break in, some lunatic with a gun.  His bus could get into a crash, or swerve off the road into a lake, cracking the windows and slowly filling with water--

Needless to say, I was paranoid.  However, as I did everyday, I resisted the urge to get out of my vehicle and run back inside, telling him that I would be there for him forever.  It simply wasn't possible, so I pulled out of the driveway and took off.

There wasn't a moving car on the road for me to pass, something that did not strike me as odd in the least, for it was the norm.  The last time I had been on the road and seen another car drive past me... I can't even remember.  It must have been a while.  I passed a few cars parked on the side of the road every now and then, but that was it.

Screech.  My car whistled in pain as I stamped my foot onto the brake pedal to yield to a group of stupid kids as they ran across the street without looking first.  My car thudded to a halt as the last girl ran across, a blonde one with pigtails, looking no more than 6 or 7 in age.  I wondered why they weren't going to school.

"Crazy people," I whispered to myself under my breath.  Once the path was clear, I began my journey once more, turning my head to see the children running through somebody's backyard, and when I blinked they had gone, just like that, disappearing from my vision.  They must be fast runners.

When I got to the light, it was yellow, so I decided to wait for the next green cycle; I wasn't in the mood to risk getting pulled over, although I had not seen a police car in ages.  As always, the intersection was completely devoid of cars.  It was only my lone Chevrolet, brake lights illuminating the ground behind me, idling at the roadway.  I looked around me to the stores.  The grocery store, to my right, was coruscating into the dim morning air, it's bright halo of light adding an angelic touch to it's friendly atmosphere.  I was friends with most of the cashiers, for I stopped there every day after work.  To my right, the liquor store was still dark, dormant always until 10 AM.

The light switched to green, and I sped along the deserted roadways, humming to myself as I went.  When I arrived at my office, I was greeted by my assistant, a short young man with red hair and an even redder face.

"Hello sir!  Can I get you anything?  Coffee, water, iced tea?  I already wiped down your desk, and emptied your trash, and vacuumed your office floor.  Do you want me to take your coat?  I can dry clean it if you want.  Can I get you anything to eat?  I can get take-out.  Do you want to pass along any messages to anyone else?  Do you need anything copied, filed, organized?  I can--"

"Thank you Henry, but I'm alright!  Except, I suppose you could take my coat," I replied to his rant, all spoken in, at best guess, under five seconds.  I took off my jacket and dropped it into his opened arms.  It slumped straight to the floor.

"Whoa, that's expensive Henry, be careful," I said to him, picking it up off of the floor as he stammered a nervous response.  "I'll take it up myself, Henry.  It's okay.  I'll take some water though, thank you."  He stumbled off down the hallway in the direction of the water cooler to obtain the water I knew would never come.  Every morning I asked him for waterm, and every morning he walked down that hallway, and every morning he never returned after that.  The water never arrived, and the next time I saw Henry would be the next day.  Thinking nothing of it, I proceeded towards my office room.

"Morning, Elizabeth!" I called to our secretary, and she waved.  "Hi, Rob!" I called to our sales manager, and he nodded dismally.  It was common knowledge at our office that Rob hated his job, but we tried to maintain a healthy attitude around him so that maybe we could change his opinion.  "Weather's looking nice today, eh Rob?"  He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes twitching ever so slightly, and then looked back down at his papers.

"Alright then!" I attempted to keep the cheeriness in my voice as I unlocked my office door and stepped inside.  It smelled faintly of lemons, for Henry's cleaning supplies were all lemon scented.  I was impressed with his work; nothing looked disturbed, everything was untouched.  The same mahogany desk sat in the middle, a window behind it and a vase with a fern in it on either side, swaying slightly in the breeze from the heater vent.  It was a cozy little space, blanketed with a gray carpet and a ceiling light that was just a little too bright.  I put my bag down and slowly descended into my 2013 AX 500 desk chair model 98-B with swivel control, calibrated to comfort me and at the same time support my spine.  A quick glance at my in-box showed that I had a light workday, at least to start out with.

"Sir, the water cooler was out!" The voice of my assistant pierced through the air, reverberating in my eardrums, it's eager yet professional tone sickening me.

"Why are you here."  I tried to ask it in the calmest voice possible, but I found it difficult to repress my newfound anger.  I didn't even know why I was angry that my assistant was here, I just was.  Never had he come back from the water cooler, never.

He was silent.  For once in his life, at the least convenient time, he did not open his mouth or speak a word.  He simply stood there, staring, teetering back and forth on his heels.

"I'm going to ask you again.  What in God's name are you in my office right now, Henry?" This time, my voice was raised quite a bit higher, my anger was building up, bubbling inside of me like searing hot water.  Again, he was silent.

"Henry, if you don't say why you're here, I am going to KILL YOU!"  I said the last two words with force and at only a few decibels below a scream, so that everyone in the office could hear me.  I glanced out the window, and nobody so much as looked up from their work.  Rob scratched his head.

"Okay, I need a day off," I said to myself, mimicking Rob and rubbing my own scalp and getting up, grabbing my still unopened bag.

"But sir, don't you want your water?" Henry asked.  As I walked across the floor towards the door, I could hear him following me.

"No, Henry, I don't want any water, now please stop talking to me," I said to him.  He grew silent and the footsteps behind me stopped.

"Elizabeth, I'm going home, I'll be in tomorrow," I told her quickly as I rushed out the door.  Why had Henry returned?  Never in 2 years had he returned once he went off to the water cooler, and that was how I liked it.  It gave me a sense of order, this daily routine.  Eating my son's breakfast, Henry's greeting, working for 8 hours, stopping at the grocery store, then going home to my wife and Billy.  It had been disrupted and I was not in my normal mental state, so it was with no surprise that I sped right past the grocery store on my way home.

"God," I breathed, making an illegal U-turn and pulling into the grocery store parking lot, into the same front spot that I always occupied.

"Morning John, I didn't expect to see you here this early!" called the cashier Linda, waving at me as she stood at her empty register.

"Hi there, I took the day off from work," I said back as I walked through the front doors, proceeding in the direction of the cracker aisle.  The only thing that I needed today was a box of saltines to complete our evening meal.

"This all today John?" she asked as I placed it on the register for her to ring up.

"Yep, that'll be it!" I said, pulling out my wallet.  I handed her the money, but it fell onto the register.  "Oops, sorry Linda!" I picked up the money and pushed it closer to her, noticing a large pile of money already present.  I thought nothing of it, however.

"I'll just let you take care of that for me."  I grabbed my saltines and left the store, still humming the song that was playing over the intercom, an old piano piece from some long forgotten decade.

When I got home, the house was deserted.  My son had already left for school and my wife was at work.  It was eerily quiet, but the silence was oddly comforting to me.  It was like an old friend wrapping it's arms around me, embracing me with love.

Curiously, the document that always hung on the refrigerator had already changed.  Every day when I got home from work, a new piece of paper was to be found stuck to the fridge door among other magnets and a paper bearing "Great Job!" from Billy's class.  It was typed in black ink, and looked very professional.  My wife always told me not to read it, so I never did, all I knew about it was that it was never the same two days in a row, I could tell by the line breaks.  Feeling mischievous, however, and with nobody home to stop me, I tentatively approached the paper and scanned it over.

Jonathan Henry Cinder: Subject 1: Isolation
Week 309,  Isolation Experiment
***Subject is still observed talking to himself on multiple occasions; appears to believe he is not alone.  Sanity in question.  Emotional outbursts have begun as expected.  Mental stability may be degrading: has broken daily schedule.  No further reports***

I read it several times, then, when after the fifth time I still could not understand what the paper meant, I turned away and headed towards my bedroom, still humming the song from the grocery store.

title: The Isolation Experiment [format edited]

question: How many years has Henry been in isolation?

answer: 309 weeks, which is almost 6 years (exactly 5.92 years).

question: Identify the foreshadowing elements that lead to the main plot twist.

answer:
During breakfast, Billy states that Henry always eats all the breakfast and Henry is the one cooking and wearing the apron.

While driving, there are absolutely no other cars.

When Henry passes his coat or pays money, the objects pass through the people he talks to.

The narrator gets upset when his assistant, Henry returns, but nobody in the office gives attention to his shouting.