text:
'Death Squad': Full horror emerges of how rogue U.S. brigade murdered and mutilated innocent Afghan civilians - and kept their body parts as trophies

-   Rolling Stone reveals how U.S. troops murdered Afghan civilians
-   Soldiers cut off 15-year-old boy's finger and kept it as trophy
-   Video captures U.S. troops cheering as airstrike kills two Afghan civilians
-   New pictures show dead Afghan man's head on a stick
-   Soldier stabbed the body of a dead Afghan civilian
-   Military tried to pull pictures out of circulation to avoid another Abu Ghraib
-   Army says photos are 'in striking contrast' to its standards and values

The Pentagon tonight apologised after shocking new details emerged of how American soldiers formed a 'death squad' to randomly murder Afghan civilians and mutilate their corpses.

An investigation by Rolling Stone magazine details how senior officers failed to stop troops killing Afghans and keeping their body parts as trophies.

In one horrific episode, the magazine claims troops threw a grenade at an innocent Afghan boy before chopping off his finger and later using it as 'gambling chip' in a game of cards.

The disturbing detail included in the dossier accuses American troops of a new level of depravity and is likely to be a public relations disaster for the military.

The U.S. Army says the photos of American soldiers posing with dead Afghans are 'in striking contrast' to its standards and values - apologising for any distress caused by the images.

[Dead: Afghans are tied to a post in one of the many images published by Rolling Stone from the 'Kill Team']

Dead: Afghans are tied to a post in one of the many images published by Rolling Stone from the 'Kill Team'

[Photo: Jeremy Morlock, right, poses with David Bram with weapons that they have taken from dead Afghans]

Photo: Jeremy Morlock, right, poses with David Bram with weapons that they have taken from dead Afghans

The investigation by Rolling Stone also revealed how:

-   Troops shot dead civilians and tried to cover their tracks;
-   U.S. soldiers hacked off part of a dead man's skull;
-   Soldiers cheered as they filmed a U.S. airstrike blowing up two Afghan civilians;
-   A video showed two Afghans on a motorcycle being gunned down.

The magazine claims the men hacked off bits of skull from their victims and kept them as trophies of their kills.

The soldiers are also accused of opening fire on civilians for no reason and covering up their attacks by planting guns and magazine on their victims.

The magazine claims that amongst the accused 'killing innocent Afghan civilians became less a reason for concern than a cause for celebration’.

Last week Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, admitted his part in the twisted scheme and was jailed for 24 years.

The remaining four soldiers who are due to be court-martialled are Sergeant Calvin Gibbs - who is accused of being the ringleader - Specialist Adam C. Winfield, Specialist Michael S. Wagnon II and Private first class Andrew H. Holmes.

They were all part of the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade, of the 2nd Infantry Division, who carried out at least four executions in Kandahar province between January and May last year.

[Horror: A released video shows an incident in which two Afghans on a motorcycle are gunned down]

Horror: A released video shows an incident in which two Afghans on a motorcycle are gunned down

[Heart of darkness: Video shows American troops seeking out Afghan civilians who were killed 'for sport']

Heart of darkness: Video shows American troops seeking out Afghan civilians who were killed 'for sport'

The young farmer killed for fun before his finger was used in a card game

The Rolling Stone article describes in lurid detail how American troops allegedly killed an Afghan boy before mutilating his corpse.

Soldiers Jeremy Morlock and Andrew Holmes had spotted a young farmer working by himself on January 15 2010 in the Afghan village of La Mohammed Kalay.

Gul Mudin, 15 - only four years younger than Holmes - was the only Afghan in sight, had no weapons on him and had a ‘welcoming’ face. Nobody else was around.

Gul walked towards them when called and stopped when asked. Morlock tossed a grenade at him, using the wall as cover, then both soldiers opened fire.

[Jeremy Morlock]

Gul fell face down into the ground and there was soon a pool of blood coming out from his head.

Morlock, right, screamed over the radio that he had come under attack, but Adam

Winfield told his fellow soldier Ashton Moore that it was more likely a staged killing.

Morlock and Holmes told a sergeant that Gul had been about to attack them with a grenade and they therefore had to shoot him, reported the magazine.

The story of a lone Taliban fighter, with one grenade attempting to ambush a platoon in broad daylight, seemed unlikely to top officer Captain Patrick Mitchell.

But he told Staff Sergeant Kris Sprague to ‘make sure’ Gul was dead. Sprague fired his rifle twice at the boy.

A local elder working nearby in the poppy fields came over and accused Morlock and Holmes, below, of murder, but he was ignored by the soldiers.

[Andrew Holmes]

This elder was asked to identify the boy, but it tragically turned out that he was his dad. ‘The father was very upset,’ an official Army report noted.

The soldiers followed Army protocol of cutting off the dead boy’s clothes and stripping him naked to check for tattoos, before scanning his iris and fingerprints.

But then they began taking photographs of them celebrating the kill, with Holmes posing for the camera by grabbing Gul’s head by the hair as if he was a deer.

Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs then started ‘messing around with the kid’, moving his arms and mouth like a puppet, before slicing off the dead boy's finger and giving it to Holmes.

Holmes took the finger around with him in a zip-lock bag. 'He wanted to keep the finger forever and wanted to dry it out,' one of his friends said. 'He was proud of his finger.'

A few hours after the killing, Holmes and Morlock were playing cards and said they would bet a finger in a game of spades, before tossing Gul’s onto the pile.

Medic Alyssa Reilly told investigators: ‘It was gross’.

According to Rolling Stone the men joked for weeks about killing ‘savages’ before finally murdering a boy of around 15 in a farming village, their first kill.

To cover their tracks they threw a grenade in his direction to make it look like they had come under attack.

But with his body on the floor events took an even more sinister turn as Gibbs allegedly started ‘messing around with the kid', moving his arms and mouth and ‘acting like the kid was talking'.

He then supposedly took a pair of medic’s scissors and snipped off the boy’s pinky finger and handed it to Holmes as a trophy for his first kill in Afghanistan.

Rolling Stone claims Holmes carried it around in a zip-lock bag.

‘He wanted to keep the finger forever and wanted to dry it out,’ a friend said later. ‘He was proud of his finger.’

Later that night Morlock and Holmes were playing a game of cards and, when it came time for their wager, they supposedly said they would bet the finger.

A female medic who was watching walked away in disgust.

In a separate incident in November 2009, Gibbs began playing with a pair of scissors near the hands of a dead insurgent killed by a helicopter, after the body was stabbed with a knife by another solider.

'I wonder if these (scissors) can cut off a finger?' Gibbs asked.

In another incident on a night in January 2010 the platoon was driving near their forward operating base and spotted a human heat signature on the roadside through their thermal imaging equipment.

Soldiers stopped nearby and went up to the man, who held his arms in front of his chest – which meant to them that he was either cold or hiding a suicide bomb vest.

He paced back and forth, ignoring their calls, and was ‘acting strange’ as the soliders fired warning shots around him. He then started walking towards them.

Someone yelled ‘fire’ and the soldiers shot around 40 rounds in a few seconds. The man turned out to be unarmed and either deaf or mentally disabled, according to official statements.

Soldier Michael Wagnon collected a piece of the skull and kept it as a trophy, but commanding officer Captain Matthew Quiggle ‘strongly believed’ they had illegitimately killed a local national.

The platoon then tried to cover up the shooting by pretending to find a weapon – which was actually a black AK-47 magazine that had been stowed in a metal box by Sergeant Calvin Gibbs.

‘Basically, what we did was a desperate search to justify killing this guy,’ a private named Justin Stoner Stoner told investigators. ‘But in reality he was just some old, deaf, retarded guy. We basically executed this man.’

However the U.S. military still considers the man responsible for his own death because he ignored the platoon’s warnings and moved in their direction.

[Gun: Corporal Jeremy Morlock with the pistol found at the scene of a helicopter strike]

Gun: Corporal Jeremy Morlock with the pistol found at the scene of a helicopter strike

[Gruesome: The photos which sparked the trial were published in Der Spiegel magazine's March 21 issue]

Gruesome: The photos which sparked the trial were published in Der Spiegel magazine's March 21 issue

Rolling Stone continues Army exposés

[Special report: The article on the 'Kill Team' appears in this issue of Rolling Stone Magazine]

Special report: The article on the 'Kill Team' appears in this issue of Rolling Stone Magazine

The article by Rolling Stone is the latest in a series of damaging exposés by the magazine of the conduct of U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Barack Obama fired his top Afghanistan war commander Stanley McChrystal and replaced him with his boss and mentor, David Petraeus, in June 2010, following a Rolling Stone interview.

General McChrystal criticised administration officials, the U.S. President and his advisers in the article.

President Obama claimed General McChrystal's comments were not the reason for his firing - but said his team needed to unite in pressing the war effort.

Mark Boal, the author of the latest Rolling Stone piece, is a well-known journalist, screenwriter and producer.

He won Oscars for his work on The Hurt Locker in 2008, labelled as the 'most insightful Iraq film yet'.

The Rolling Stone article talks in detail about how the soldiers felt invincible and emboldened by the lack of policing by their superiors.

It also details a serious of disturbing videos and pictures of the victims taken by the men - one shows a hand with a missing finger, another depicts a severed head on a stick and others show blown up legs.

In two cases soldiers pose over the bodies of their victims as if they are hunting trophies.

The men also made videos including one which was filmed on Sept 12, 2009.

It shows infra-red camera footage of two Afghans putting what could have been an improvised explosive device in the ground ahead of the soldiers.

Regardless of whether or not it is an IED, filming at such a time is a clear breach of Army rules.

They also edited it down, added a soundtrack and gave it a chilling name - ‘Death Zone’.

In a further breach of regulations the soldiers videoed themselves in combat in Afghanistan and passed around the footage to each other on USB sticks.

Rolling Stone has for the first time published the videos which were supposedly passed around by the men of 5th Stryker Combat Brigade as they carried out their executions in Kandahar province.

In the first clip the men can clearly be heard joking: ‘They’re going to f****** die’ and ‘You don’t f*** with us’.

As the airstrike starts so does the song ‘En Vie’ by Apocalyptica, a cello rock band from Helsinki.

One of the men is killed instantly but the second runs off and is caught by another volley of explosions - as the men whoop and cheer ‘F*** yeah!’

[Footage to loud rock music shows the moment two Afghans were blown up by an air strike]

Footage to loud rock music shows the moment two Afghans were blown up by an air strike

[The videos were filmed by by U.S. soldiers, who videoed themselves in combat in Afghanistan and passed around the footage to each other]

The videos were filmed by by U.S. soldiers, who videoed themselves in combat in Afghanistan and passed around the footage to each other

[The footage was published by Rolling Stone magazine in its coverage of the five American soldiers accused of being part of a 'Kill Squad' which murdered innocent Afghan civilians for sport]

The footage was published by Rolling Stone magazine in its coverage of the five American soldiers accused of being part of a 'Kill Squad' which murdered innocent Afghan civilians for sport

A title card called ‘Aftermath’ comes on screen followed by close-up colour images of the men’s bloodied bodies with horrific close-ups on their injuries.

The credits then roll explaining how ‘Shadow PLT’ was behind the picture and that a Sergeant Michael Schweitzer did the editing.

According to Rolling Stone the men would pass the gruesome videos around on USB sticks and hard drives.

They would file them on their personal computers alongside clips of TV shows, Ultimate Fighting fights and films such as Iron Man 2.

[Horror: Video emerged of the 'kill team' taking pictures of dead civilians]

Horror: Video emerged of the 'kill team' taking pictures of dead civilians

 A second video released by the magazine shows a separate incident in which two Afghans on a motorcycle are gunned down.

Although not apparently as disturbing as the first, it nonetheless shows a total disregard for combat rules.

‘Even if the killings were part of a legitimate combat engagement it is a clear violation of Army standards to share such footage,’ Rolling Stone says.

‘The video was taken on patrol with a helmet-mounted camera; at one point, the soldier shooting the images can be heard boasting: "I got it all on camera".'

The U.S. Army has been keen to paint the men involved as if they were working alone but the article claims that internal records show the ‘Kill team’ was ‘operating out in the open, in ‘plain view of the rest of the company’.

‘Far from being clandestine, as the Pentagon has implied, the murders of civilians were common knowledge among the unit and understood to be illegal by "pretty much the whole platoon",' it says.

[Jeremy Morlock]

[Andrew Holmes]

[Plea bargain: Adam Winfield will plea guilty to involuntary manslaughter on Friday]

[Michael Wagnon]

Specialist Jeremy Morlock, top left, was jailed for 24 years - with Andrew Holmes, top right, Adam Winfield, bottom left, and Michael Wagnon, bottom right, among four others to be court-martialed at a later date

The revelations have been a PR disaster for the U.S. Army and is the most serious prosecution of alleged U.S. military atrocities during 10 years of war in Afghanistan.

The existence of the photos and videos, among dozens seized as evidence by investigators and ordered sealed from public view by the Army, has drawn comparisons with pictures of Iraqi prisoners taken by U.S. military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2004.

The Pentagon desperately tried to suppress the photos, with General Stanley McChrystal and President Hamid Karzai briefed on the photos as early as last May.

The military attempted to pull the pictures out of circulation to avoid a scandal similar to Abu Ghraib, so investigators in Afghanistan confiscated computers and told soldiers to delete provocative images.

The Army Criminal Investigation Command meanwhile toured the U.S. to the homes of soldiers and their relatives to gather as many copies of the files as possible.

The remaining four soldiers who are due to be court-martialed are Sergeant Calvin Gibbs - who is accused of being the ringleader - Specialist Adam C. Winfield, Specialist Michael S. Wagnon II and Private first class Andrew H. Holmes.

 Seven other members of the combat unit were charged with lesser crimes during the investigation, which grew out of a probe into hashish abuse by American GIs.

Four of those men already have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.

A Department of Defense spokesman said: 'The photos published by Rolling Stone are disturbing and in striking contrast to the standards and values of the United States Army.'

He added: 'We will continue to do whatever we need to as an institution to understand how it happened, why it happened and what we need to do to prevent it from happening again.'

question: What are the moral and social implications of the topic in the article?

answer: When military personnel inflict violent physical harm and even death to non-combatants in a foreign land, they should be held accountable for their actions. This becomes a concern since it not only violates standards, but it also makes it harder for the army's public relations to do its job. The evidence points towards the soldiers being aware that their actions are illegal and so they go out of their way to make it appear legal, in one example, they plant weapons on the bodies of the unarmed civilians they have killed.


split: test

text:
MORGAN LENORE CARROLL (born November 24, 1971) is an American politician from Colorado and is currently the Chairwoman of the Colorado Democratic Party. A Democrat, Carroll represented Colorado House District 36 in the city of Aurora from 2004 to 2008, and she represented the state's 29th Senate district from 2009 to 2017.[1] Carroll served as President of the Colorado State Senate from 2013 to 2014 and as minority leader in 2015.[2] Carroll stepped down as minority leader in July 2015 to unsuccessfully run against incumbent Republican Mike Coffman for Colorado's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.[3][4] In addition to her legislative work, Carroll works for the law firm of Bachus & Schanker.

Early life and education

Morgan Carroll was born November 24, 1971 in Denver, Colorado to John Carroll and Rebecca Bradley. Her father was a lawyer who served as a Colorado State Representative for Adams County between 1964 and 1974.[5] Her mother was an attorney and Carroll's partner at the mother/daughter disability and family-law firm Carroll & Bradley in Aurora from 2000 to 2010.[6]

When Carroll was young, she helped care for her father after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's, and later, Alzheimer's. Her family experienced financial difficulties during that time.[7]

Carroll graduated from Boulder High School in 1990. She worked various jobs, including at a gas station and fast-food restaurant, to pay for her education.[8][9] She graduated from the University of Colorado Denver in 1996 and from the University of Colorado Law School in 2000.[10]

Colorado State Legislature

Colorado House of Representatives

Carroll first ran for the Colorado House of Representatives District 36 in 2004, defeating Republican Jim Parker 55%-45%.[11] She won reelection in 2006 with 62% of the vote against Republican Brian R. Boney.[12]

Colorado State Senate

Carroll first ran for the Colorado State Senate District 29 in 2008, defeating Republican Suzanne Andrews 69%-31%.[13] She won re-election in 2012 with 59% of the vote, defeating Republican Bill Ross and Libertarian Michele Poague.[14]

Tenure

Carroll sponsored lobbying disclosure laws in 2006 and 2014.[15] During her first year in office, she refused to discuss legislative issues with lobbyists during debate, a practice that led them to complain about her to the Democratic leadership.[16] Her first bill, a workers compensation measure that would allow injured workers to choose their own doctors, was opposed by 240 lobbyists and ultimately failed, as did the other two bills Carroll submitted that year.[17]

She is considered an environmentalist,[18] and has been criticized by lobbyists for oil and gas companies.[19]

In 2013, Carroll and fellow Democratic Representative Rhonda Fields sponsored Colorado House Bill 1229, which mandates universal background checks for gun purchases in the state.[20]

Colorado State Senate Committee assignments

-   Senate Judiciary Committee (Chair)[21][22][23]
-   Executive Committee of the Legislative Council (Vice-Chair)[24]
-   Legislative Council (Vice-Chair)[25]
-   Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee[26]
-   Senate Health and Human Services Committee[27][28]
-   Police Officers and Firefighters Pension Reform Committee[29]
-   Redistricting Committee[30]

2016 U.S. Congress campaign

Carroll was the 2016 Democratic nominee in Colorado's 6th congressional district. She was defeated by incumbent Republican Representative Mike Coffman in the general election, in which she won 42% of the vote.[31][32] Carroll was endorsed by Democratic Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper,[33] Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, EMILY's List, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the League of Conservation Voters.[34][35] A super PAC called Immigrant Voters Wins supported her, spending $10,000 as of September 2016.[36] Carroll raised the majority of her contributions from individual donors.[37]

Americans For Prosperity, the conservative advocacy organization backed by the Koch family, alleged that Carroll had conflicts of interest while serving in the state senate. _The Denver Post_ rated the claim somewhat true and wrote that AFP's claim of a conflict of interest was not true in that Carroll had not benefited from the bill, but that the Colorado Ethics Board of the General Assembly had ruled that lawmakers should proactively disclose “potential” conflicts of interest.[38]

Colorado Democratic Party

After an unsuccessful campaign to become the next congressional representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district, Carroll shortly after announced her candidacy for the chairmanship of the Colorado Democratic Party. On March 11, 2017, Carroll was elected as the next Chairperson of the party.

Personal life

Carroll was briefly married and is now divorced.[39] Her longtime partner and former campaign manager, Mike Weissman, is a member of the Colorado House of Representatives.[40][41] Carroll is the author of _Take Back Your Government: A Citizen's Guide to Grassroots Change_ (2011).[42][43]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

[43]

title: Morgan Carroll

question: What kinds of bills did Morgan Carroll sponsor?

answer: Carroll sponsored bills for workers compensation, and also one for universal background checks for gun control. She is considered an environmentalist.


text:
WILLIAMSBURG COUNTY is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2010 census its population was 34,423.[1] The county seat is Kingstree.[2] After a previous incarnation of Williamsburg County, the current county was created in 1804.[3]

History

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (0.3%) are covered by water.[4]

Adjacent counties

-   Florence County - north
-   Marion County - northeast
-   Georgetown County - east
-   Berkeley County - south
-   Clarendon County - west

Demographics

2000 census

As of the census[5] of 2000, there were 37,217 people, 13,714 households, and 10,052 families living in the county. The population density was 40 people per square mile (15/km²). There were 15,552 housing units at an average density of 17 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 66.26% Black or African American, 32.74% White, 0.16% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.16% from other races, and 0.48% from two or more races. 0.73% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 13,714 households, out of which 34.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.30% were married couples living together, 22.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.70% were non-families. 24.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.22.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.60% under the age of 18, 9.00% from 18 to 24, 25.70% from 25 to 44, 23.60% from 45 to 64, and 13.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 87.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.50 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $24,214, and the median income for a family was $30,379. Males had a median income of $26,680 versus $18,202 for females. The per capita income for the county was $12,794. About 23.70% of families and 27.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.10% of those under age 18 and 25.90% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 34,423 people, 13,007 households, and 8,854 families living in the county.[6] The population density was . There were 15,359 housing units at an average density of .[7] The racial makeup of the county was 65.8% black or African American, 31.8% white, 0.4% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 1.0% from other races, and 0.8% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 2.0% of the population.[8] In terms of ancestry, and 4.6% were American.[9]

Of the 13,007 households, 33.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.0% were married couples living together, 23.0% had a female householder with no husband present, 31.9% were non-families, and 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.13. The median age was 40.2 years.[10]

The median income for a household in the county was $24,191 and the median income for a family was $33,705. Males had a median income of $37,678 versus $22,303 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,513. About 26.5% of families and 32.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 45.6% of those under age 18 and 27.5% of those age 65 or over.[11]

Communities

City

-   Kingstree (county seat)

Towns

-   Andrews (mostly in Georgetown County)
-   Greeleyville
-   Hemingway
-   Lane
-   Stuckey

Unincorporated communities

-   Cades
-   Gourdin
-   Hebron
-   Indiantown
-   Nesmith
-   Outland
-   Rhems
-   Salters
-   Trio
-   Piney Forest

Politics

Prior to 1948, Williamsburg County was a Democratic Party stronghold similar to the rest of the Solid South, with Democratic presidential candidates receiving near-unanimous margins of victory in most years. The twenty years from 1948 to 1968 were a highly transitional time for the politics of South Carolina & Williamsburg County, largely in part due to the Democratic Party's increasing support for African-American civil rights & enfranchisement. Dixiecrats managed to carry the county twice, while Republicans managed to carry the county three times in this timespan, while increased black registration led to Democrat Hubert Humphrey winning the county in 1968. Since 1968, the majority African-American county has only backed a Republican once in 1972, when Richard Nixon won the county as he swept every county statewide in the midst of a 49-state national landslide.

  Year                               Republican                                  Democratic                                   Third parties
  ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
  style=“text-align:center;” |2016   style=“text-align:center;” |32.3% _4,864_   style=“text-align:center;” |66.1% _9,953_    1.6% _237_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2012   style=“text-align:center;” |29.6% _4,824_   style=“text-align:center;” |69.5% _11,335_   0.9% _145_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2008   style=“text-align:center;” |30.4% _5,004_   style=“text-align:center;” |68.6% _11,279_   1.0% _160_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2004   style=“text-align:center;” |34.5% _4,795_   style=“text-align:center;” |65.0% _9,044_    0.6% _79_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2000   style=“text-align:center;” |39.9% _4,524_   style=“text-align:center;” |59.3% _6,723_    0.8% _84_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1996   style=“text-align:center;” |34.8% _3,957_   style=“text-align:center;” |61.5% _6,987_    3.6% _413_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1992   style=“text-align:center;” |37.1% _5,289_   style=“text-align:center;” |56.6% _8,077_    6.4% _911_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1988   style=“text-align:center;” |44.4% _5,914_   style=“text-align:center;” |55.1% _7,343_    0.5% _67_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1984   style=“text-align:center;” |46.0% _6,492_   style=“text-align:center;” |53.7% _7,586_    0.4% _50_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1980   style=“text-align:center;” |38.3% _5,110_   style=“text-align:center;” |61.0% _8,135_    0.7% _99_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1976   style=“text-align:center;” |37.5% _5,275_   style=“text-align:center;” |62.2% _8,745_    0.3% _35_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1972   style=“text-align:center;” |52.0% _5,729_   style=“text-align:center;” |47.3% _5,213_    0.7% _73_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1968   style=“text-align:center;” |28.1% _3,029_   style=“text-align:center;” |47.3% _5,106_    24.6% _2,652_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1964   style=“text-align:center;” |68.2% _4,810_   style=“text-align:center;” |31.9% _2,248_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1960   style=“text-align:center;” |60.6% _2,324_   style=“text-align:center;” |39.4% _1,513_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1956   style=“text-align:center;” |8.8% _330_      style=“text-align:center;” |18.2% _683_      73.0% _2,739_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1952   style=“text-align:center;” |66.1% _2,576_   style=“text-align:center;” |33.9% _1,320_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1948   style=“text-align:center;” |1.2% _23_       style=“text-align:center;” |6.3% _126_       92.5% _1,840_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1944   style=“text-align:center;” |2.1% _27_       style=“text-align:center;” |86.6% _1,118_    11.3% _146_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1940   style=“text-align:center;” |3.0% _34_       style=“text-align:center;” |97.0% _1,089_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1936   style=“text-align:center;” |0.5% _6_        style=“text-align:center;” |99.5% _1,284_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1932   style=“text-align:center;” |0.7% _9_        style=“text-align:center;” |99.3% _1,244_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1928   style=“text-align:center;” |2.6% _22_       style=“text-align:center;” |97.4% _825_      style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1924   style=“text-align:center;” |0.6% _4_        style=“text-align:center;” |99.4% _672_      style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1920   style=“text-align:center;” |1.3% _12_       style=“text-align:center;” |98.7% _895_      style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1916   style=“text-align:center;” |4.5% _57_       style=“text-align:center;” |95.5% _1,213_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1912   style=“text-align:center;” |0.8% _6_        style=“text-align:center;” |96.8% _729_      2.4% _18_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1904   style=“text-align:center;” |11.2% _187_     style=“text-align:center;” |88.8% _1,476_    style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1900   style=“text-align:center;” |20.5% _323_     style=“text-align:center;” |79.5% _1,256_    style="text-align:center;|

  : PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RESULTS[12]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

title: Williamsburg County, South Carolina

question: What does the text say about the differences in Williamsburg County between the 2000 and 2010 censuses?

answer: In the 2000 census, there were 37,217 people in Williamsburg County. As of the 2010 census, there were 34, 423 people. That is a decrease of 2,794 people over ten years.

question: How many of the county's unmarried females were Hispanic or Latino?


text:
His stomach hurt again.

He walked down the shattered concrete quickly as he pretended to convince himself that he didn't have to look, but as always he stole a glance. There, on the wall of the small community theater was the cheaply printed poster advertising this month's performance.

There, on the wall of the small community theater was a vision of her.

The poster was deep in the shadows cast by the decaying parking structure across the street, in this part of town the faux antiques that passed as buildings were too close together, resulting in there never being enough sun to chase away the gloom of yet another day in the city. The street was crumbling, the gutters filled with fading cigarette packs, and the monotony of the fading brick broken only by the occasional dab of paint advertising the passing through of some would-be gang member. A shadow-chilled gust of wind passed by to mask the distant rumble of traffic utilizing a route more useful some blocks away. But it was all ignored.

His vision was here.

There, in the midst of the gloom dazzled all of his hopes, his dreams, his future. He saw her long, golden locks form a tapestry that framed her face, dimmed not by hidden sun but rather by the sparkle in her eyes that pierced even the unwashed display case into which her photo was relegated by a director who couldn't be bothered to create the shrine she deserved.

He stopped.

He stared.

His stomach hurt.

The day he arrived on campus at the nearby state college extension campus, his very being was given to her without a beat of pause. Her laugh, the toss of her ponytail below the fading green band, a smile that could chase away the deepest shadows from the quad and the soul. She said his unfamiliarity with the local customs was charming and was enchanted by the tone displayed as he sang her the tunes from home. Things went well.

But, for reasons he didn't understand, after just a few months she drifted away, one thin smile after another. And now, as he walked back to campus he saw the image of her there on the wall.

He was still in love with her, and this twice daily glimpse placed him as if on a runaway elevator, dropping him straight into the depths of despair. Three weeks without a full meal, but he just couldn't bring himself to replace his lost hope with the bland, tasteless food that comprised the standard diet of the cash-strapped student.

Lost in thought, distracted by the haze of hunger, numbed by his broken heart he never saw the truck.

The coroner reached into the cavity to examine the organs of the unfortunate soul brought in that evening and found nothing but a mystery. One. Two. Three lungs? Several conglomerations of cells he did not recognize. And there, where the stomach should be, was the alien yet unmistakable structure that could only be what served as a heart.

It appeared to have been torn in two.

title: [MF] just something I knocked together

question: What was there on the wall?

answer: There was a small community theater version of her (a poster) on the wall.

question: Who was she?

answer: The woman in the poster was the love of the narrator.

question: What happened to them?

answer: After a few months of being together, she drifted away from him.

question: What happened to the narrator?

answer: The narrator was dazed in his memories of his love and didn't notice a truck while on the road and met with an accident. He died and the coroner saw his heart that appeared to have been split into two.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer:
The narrator is passing by the small community theater when he goes inside and sees the poster of his ex-lover. She was his college lover and eventually drifted away.

He leaves the small community theater with a broken heart and meets with an accident when he doesn't see a truck and dies. The coroner examines his body and his heart appears to be split into two.


text:
This vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf makes a great thanksgiving main. Nut-free, can be gluten-free. Can be made ahead and is freezer friendly. Vegetarian thanksgiving Loaf. Vegan Recipe.

[Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf with Spicy Glaze | VeganRicha.com #vegan #holiday #lentilloaf]

This is an amazing Lentil loaf with veggies, quinoa and spices. Use whichever spices and flavor additions you have. Mash some of the mixture really well for a sturdy loaf. The loaf can be made ahead and is freezer friendly. Freeze the slices and reheat on a skillet like a burger patty and serve. I made this loaf as part of the Thanksgiving spread, all on the same day. You can read about the menu, this loaf and how everything came together, other recipes from the spread with STEP PICTURES HERE.

This recipe is also in my second book Vegan Richa’s Everyday Kitchen, available worldwide

Video:

This Lentil Quinoa Loaf with a Spicy Ketchup glaze is nut-free, vegan and can be made gluten-free. Perfect addition to a holiday meal. Makes 1 loaf, serves 3 to 4

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time1 hr 10 mins

Total Time1 hr 30 mins

Course: Main

Cuisine: American

Servings: 4

Calories: 374kcal

Loaf:

-   1/2 cup (96 g) brown lentils
-   1/3 cup (56.67 g) uncooked quinoa or use millet or other similar cooking grain
-   1 bay leaf
-   2 1/4 cups (562.5 ml) of water
-   2 tsp oil
-   3/4 cup (120 g) chopped onion
-   3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
-   1 jalapeno chopped (optional)
-   1/2 cup (50.5 g) celery finely chopped
-   1/2 cup (64 g) carrots thinly sliced or grated
-   1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) dried thyme
-   1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) dried oregano
-   1/4 cup (36.25 g) raisins add less for less sweet
-   2 tbsp flaxmeal or chia seed meal
-   1 Tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce or use a 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste, a tsp of molasses, vinegar and a 1/2 tsp ground mustard to make soy-free
-   2 to 3 Tbsp ketchup
-   1 to 2 Tbsp tamari or use coconut aminos to make soyfree
-   2 Tbsp tahini
-   1 to 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
-   1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) coarsely ground fennel seeds
-   1/2 cup (54 g) breadcrumbs or use coarsely ground oats or gf breadcrumbs to make gf

Glaze

-   1/4 cup (60 g) ketchup
-   1 tsp or more hot sauce to taste
-   2 tsp maple
-   1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

-

    Combine lentils, bay leaf and water in a pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Wash the quinoa, add to the pan, partially cover and continue to cook until both are very tender and easily mashed (You want to slightly over cook the lentils). Stir after 10 minutes so they don't stick to the pan. Total 10 to 15 mins . *Drain any excess water, remove bay leaf and transfer to a bowl.

-

    Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and jalapeno and cook for 5 minutes. or until translucent

-

    Add celery, carrots, thyme, oregano, and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes or until the veggies are tender. Add in the raisins, and mix . Cook for 2 minutes. Take off heat.

-

    Add the cooked veggies and flaxmeal to the bowl and mix in. Mash the mixture using potato masher or hands, so that atleast half the lentils and quinoa get well mashed. (you still want some whole lentils)

-

    Add in the sauces, tahini, nutritional yeast, fennel seeds and mix well. Taste and adjust salt and flavor. Add more sauces, herbs and salt if needed.

-

    Add breadcrumbs or coarsely ground oats and mix in. (To check if the mixture is the right consistency, make a burger patty. If the mixture is too sticky or pasty, add more breadcrumbs. If it is too crumbly and doesn't stick easily, add some wet ingredients or a flax egg)

-

    Prepare the loaf pan with parchment lined with parchment edges over the pan. Medium bread loaf pan(8.5 by 4.75 inch)

-

    Press the mixture into the pan. Pack well and even it out.

-

    Make the glaze and spread over the top of the loaf.

-

    Cover the loaf with foil and bake at 375 degrees / 190ºc for 25 to 30 minutes. Bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes. Then let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

To make the loaf less crumbly, cook the lentils really well. then mash them really well. Larger veggies or lentils in the mixture will make the loaf crumbly. Use finely chopped veggies. Add only enough breadcrumbs to make the mixture like a soft somewhat wet dough and not dry.

TO MAKE AHEAD: Cook the lentils and quinoa and add all the seasoning. Mix in and refrigerate. On the day you want to bake. Add in the breadcrumbs, taste and adjust salt and seasoning, pack into a loaf, glaze and bake as in the Instructions.

If for some reason the mixture is not the right consistency or you don't have a loaf pan, shape the mixture into large patties by hand or by packing into a 3.5 inch cookie cutter. Brush the glaze on the patties. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes.
Or Bake the loaf for 25 minutes and refrigerate. Bake for 15 minutes before serving.

TO USE PRECOOKED LENTILS/QUINOA : Use 1 1/4 cup cooked lentils and 1 cup cooked quinoa and proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Nutritional values based on one serving

Nutrition Facts

Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf

Amount Per Serving (1 g)

CALORIES 374 Calories from Fat 90

% DAILY VALUE*

FAT 10g15%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

SODIUM 688mg30%

POTASSIUM 746mg21%

CARBOHYDRATES 57g19%

Fiber 12g50%

Sugar 10g11%

PROTEIN 14g28%

VITAMIN A 2890IU58%

VITAMIN C 10.5mg13%

CALCIUM 98mg10%

IRON 4.8mg27%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

See STEP STEP PICTURES ON THIS THANKSGIVING MENU POST.

VEGAN LENTIL QUINOA LOAF:
Allergen Information: Free of Dairy, egg, corn, nut. Can be made soy-free, gluten-free. Inspired by Dreena’s Nofu Loaf. Makes 1 loaf, serves 3 to 4
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup brown lentils
1/3 cup uncooked quinoa (or use millet or other similar cooking grain)
1 bay leaf
2 1/4 cups of water
2 tsp oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup celery finely chopped
1/2 cup carrots, thinly sliced or grated
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup raisins (add less for less sweet)
2 tbsp flaxmeal or chia seed meal
1 Tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce  (or use a 1/2 tsp of tamarind paste, a tsp of molasses, vinegar and a 1/2 tsp ground mustard to make soy-free)
2 to 3 Tbsp ketchup
1 to 2 Tbsp tamari or use coconut aminos to make soyfree
2 Tbsp tahini
1 to 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp coarsely ground fennel seeds
1/2 to 3/4 cup breadcrumbs or use coarsely ground oats or gf breadcrumbs to make gf

Glaze:
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp or more hot sauce to taste
2 tsp maple
1 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce

METHOD:
Combine lentils, bay leaf and water in a pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes. Wash the quinoa, add to the pan, partially cover and continue to cook until both are very tender and easily mashed (You want to slightly over cook the lentils). Stir after 10 minutes so they don’t stick to the pan. Total 10 to 15 mins . *Drain any excess water, remove bay leaf and transfer to a bowl.
Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions, garlic and jalapeno and cook for 5 minutes. or until translucent
Add celery, carrots, thyme, oregano, and mix well. Cook for 5 minutes or until the veggies are tender. Add in the raisins, and mix . Cook for 2 minutes. Take off heat.
Add the cooked veggies and flaxmeal to the bowl and mix in. Mash the mixture using potato masher or hands, so that atleast half the lentils and quinoa get well mashed. (you still want some whole lentils)
Add in the sauces, tahini, nutritional yeast, fennel seeds and mix well. Taste and adjust salt and flavor. Add more sauces, herbs and salt if needed.
Add breadcrumbs or coarsely ground oats and mix in. (To check if the mixture is the right consistency, make a burger patty. If the mixture is too sticky or pasty, add more breadcrumbs. If it is too crumbly and doesn’t stick easily, add some wet ingredients or a flax egg)
Prepare the loaf pan with parchment lined with parchment edges over the pan. Medium bread loaf pan(8.5 by 4.75 inch)
Press the mixture into the pan. Pack well and even it out.
Make the glaze and spread over the top of the loaf.
Cover the loaf with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes. Then let it rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

Note: To make the loaf less crumbly, cook the lentils really well. then mash them really well. Larger veggies or lentils in the mixture will make the loaf crumbly. Use finely chopped veggies. Add only enough breadcrumbs to make the mixture like a soft somewhat wet dough and not dry.

To Make Ahead: Cook the lentils and quinoa and add all the seasoning. Mix in and refrigerate. On the day you want to bake. Add in the breadcrumbs, taste and adjust salt and seasoning, pack into a loaf, glaze and bake as in the Instructions.

If for some reason the mixture is not the right consistency or you don’t have a loaf pan, shape the mixture into large patties by hand or by packing into a 3.5 inch cookie cutter. Brush the glaze on the patties. Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes.

See Step step pictures on this post. Pictured here with pumpkin cornbread stuffing, spicy cranberry sauce and mashed sweet potatoes.

[Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf for Thanksgiving 2014 | Vegan Richa]

question: Summarize how to prepare lentil loaf as described in the passage.

answer:
Add some lentils, bay leaf, and water to a pan and boil in medium heat for about 20 minutes. Add quinoa and continue to cook until tender and easily mashed. Stir after 10 minutes, drain excess water, remove bay leaf, and transfer the rest to a bowl.

Heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, jalapeno and cook for five minutes. Add celery, carrots, and other seasonings. Mix and cook for five minutes. Add raisins, cooked veggies.

Mash the mixture and then add sauces and mix well. Add salt for flavor. Add breadcrumbs or coarsely ground oats and mix. Spread the mixture in a pan, cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees, Bake for 10 minutes and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving.


text:
She smiled. That beautifully radiant smile. A smile that could beat back the darkness of night and the bleakness of despair. It was a smile that many a man would readily die for. And it was for me.

Her fingers entwined themselves in mine, holding them firmly enough to let me know she was there. I resisted the urge to squeeze them any harder, for fear of breaking the spell. I was utterly bewitched and she knew it. I was powerless to resist.

*It’s not the fall that hurts. It’s the sudden stop that kills you.*

The strains of music drifted through the air. At least, I think it was music. At this point it didn’t really matter what it was. It was everything and nothing at the same time. It was the perfect soundtrack to a movie of our own making. We were the stars of a show, written and directed by suns beyond our sight.

She turned away, and dragged me through… a crowd? I don’t know. It mattered as much to me as a man’s debt does to an ant. I didn’t care. All that I yearned for was to be with her. In the here and now. Even if I knew that I didn’t deserve it. That I’d somehow used up all of my life’s luck in just one night.

*But what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger… Right?*

Why was I even here? Doubt creased my face with line upon line of impotent sadness. Words whizzed about, shouts and screams filled what anyone would readily perceive to be the air. But none of it reached me. I was an oasis of self-deprecation, unable to move beyond the pitiful cycle of self-immolation.

The music changed. I think. I tried to clamber back up from what was a dark pit of ridiculous, nonsensical anxiety. What good would it to do to me to take myself apart like this, piece by piece?

*I should just enjoy this. Even if it doesn’t last.*

She must’ve noticed something was wrong. She pulled me close, and held me tight. I was conflicted, a maelstrom of opposing emotions competing to plant themselves at the forefront of my consciousness. I closed my eyes, and drank in the moment. The stupidity of the doubts crystallised in my head, and began to melt away.

She pulled back, and looked straight through me. Her eyes sparked with the fires of life and passion. She was gorgeous beyond belief, her face contoured and sculpted by the gifted hand of the Maker himself. The exquisite lines of her being flowed from one feature to the next, never ceasing to amaze me as I watched her glide through my vision - a study in indescribable, breathtaking magnificence.

*Things aren’t beautiful because they last forever. They’re beautiful because they can’t.*

I finally returned the smile, a pale imitation of the loveliness that was before me. She let me go, satisfied that I had picked myself up. I finally heard the music and let it bounce around in my head. It moved me, us, bringing us up and down as wave upon wave of joy washed up on the shores of my soul.

I was happy. She was happy. And that was enough. I tried hard not to think of what would happen once the night bade farewell. Maybe it would all be over once the music ground to a halt, and any number of fat ladies stopped singing. Maybe this was all it was ever going to be. Just another moment in time, lost amongst the infinite nothingness of irrelevance.

*Hold on to that smile. You might never see it ever again.*

title: [MF] Finite

question: Who are the major characters in the story?

answer: The narrator and the unnamed woman

question: Describe the relationship between the two characters.

answer: They seem to be having a brief romantic encounter. It doesn't seem like they've known each other for very long.

question: What is the significance of the story's title?

answer: Finite is possibly describing the romantic encounter between these two characters--it is something brief that the narrator speculates will end once the night is over.

question: How did the two characters in the story meet?

answer: That information can't be found.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator enjoys a romantic encounter with a woman that they've met. There's music drifting through the air, and they are among a crowd. The woman pulls him close and holds him tight. The narrator tries not to think about the fact that their encounter might end when the night is over and they might never see each other again after that.


text:
[Box Butte County] BOX BUTTE COUNTY is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 11,308.[1] Its county seat is Alliance.[2] The county was formed in 1886; it took its name from a large box-shaped butte north of Alliance.

In the Nebraska license plate system, Box Butte County is represented by the prefix 65 (it had the sixty-fifth largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

History

Box Butte County was formed as part of a series of partitionings of the Nebraska Panhandle. In 1883, the Nebraska legislature divided the Panhandle into two counties, Sioux and Cheyenne. In 1885 the original Sioux County was divided into three counties: Sioux, Dawes, and Sheridan. Because of the distance to the county seat of Chadron, residents of southern Dawes County asked that it be split off; in 1886, the legislature created Box Butte County. The new county was named after a butte in the northern part of the county; prior to the county's formation, its name had been used in advertisements by railroad companies seeking to entice settlers to the area.[3][4]

In the Nebraska license plate system, Box Butte County is represented by the prefix 65 (it had the 65th-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

Geography

According to the US Census Bureau, the county has an area of , of which is land and (11%) is water.[5]

Major highways

-   -   [] Nebraska Highway 2
-   [] Nebraska Highway 71
-   [] Nebraska Highway 87

Adjacent counties

-   Dawes County - north
-   Sheridan County - east
-   Morrill County - south
-   Scotts Bluff County - southwest
-   Sioux County - west

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census,[6] there were 12,158 people, 4,780 households, and 3,298 families in the county. The population density was 11 people per square mile (4/km²). There were 5,488 housing units at an average density of 5 per square ;mile (2/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 90.84% White, 0.37% Black or African American, 2.74% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 3.55% from other races, and 1.96% from two or more races. 7.65% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 36.4% were of German, 8.4% English, 8.1% Irish and 5.3% American ancestry.

There were 4,780 households, out of which 35.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.70% were married couples living together, 8.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.00% were non-families. 27.50% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.05.

The county population contained 28.10% under the age of 18, 7.40% from 18 to 24, 26.80% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 99.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $39,366, and the median income for a family was $46,670. Males had a median income of $36,966 versus $21,762 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,407. About 9.70% of families and 10.70% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.70% of those under age 18 and 11.00% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

-   Alliance (county seat)

Village

-   Hemingford

Census-designated place

-   Berea

Other unincorporated places

-   Letan
-   Nonpareil

Politics

Box Butte County voters have been reliably Republican for decades; since 1940, the county has selected the Republican Party presidential candidate in every national election (as of 2016).

  Year                               Republican                                  Democratic                                  Third Parties
  ---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------
  style=“text-align:center;” |2016   style=“text-align:center;” |73.5% _3,617_   style=“text-align:center;” |19.6% _965_     7.0% _342_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2012   style=“text-align:center;” |61.0% _2,869_   style=“text-align:center;” |36.0% _1,692_   3.1% _144_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2008   style=“text-align:center;” |58.9% _2,932_   style=“text-align:center;” |37.9% _1,886_   3.2% _161_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2004   style=“text-align:center;” |65.9% _3,396_   style=“text-align:center;” |32.2% _1,657_   1.9% _99_
  style=“text-align:center;” |2000   style=“text-align:center;” |63.0% _3,208_   style=“text-align:center;” |31.7% _1,614_   5.3% _267_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1996   style=“text-align:center;” |49.4% _2,458_   style=“text-align:center;” |35.8% _1,782_   14.8% _735_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1992   style=“text-align:center;” |38.7% _2,203_   style=“text-align:center;” |34.2% _1,942_   27.1% _1,542_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1988   style=“text-align:center;” |56.4% _3,253_   style=“text-align:center;” |42.8% _2,468_   0.8% _45_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1984   style=“text-align:center;” |72.6% _4,011_   style=“text-align:center;” |26.6% _1,471_   0.8% _43_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1980   style=“text-align:center;” |70.7% _3,912_   style=“text-align:center;” |21.8% _1,208_   7.5% _412_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1976   style=“text-align:center;” |64.6% _2,956_   style=“text-align:center;” |33.1% _1,516_   2.3% _107_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1972   style=“text-align:center;” |78.1% _3,431_   style=“text-align:center;” |21.9% _960_     style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1968   style=“text-align:center;” |67.5% _2,728_   style=“text-align:center;” |26.0% _1,052_   6.5% _263_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1964   style=“text-align:center;” |58.1% _2,725_   style=“text-align:center;” |41.9% _1,968_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1960   style=“text-align:center;” |62.6% _3,157_   style=“text-align:center;” |37.4% _1,886_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1956   style=“text-align:center;” |68.7% _2,991_   style=“text-align:center;” |31.3% _1,362_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1952   style=“text-align:center;” |78.1% _4,426_   style=“text-align:center;” |21.9% _1,239_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1948   style=“text-align:center;” |53.8% _2,351_   style=“text-align:center;” |46.3% _2,023_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1944   style=“text-align:center;” |63.3% _2,994_   style=“text-align:center;” |36.7% _1,736_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1940   style=“text-align:center;” |57.3% _2,942_   style=“text-align:center;” |42.7% _2,195_   style="text-align:center;|
  style=“text-align:center;” |1936   style=“text-align:center;” |36.7% _1,711_   style=“text-align:center;” |62.2% _2,900_   1.1% _52_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1932   style=“text-align:center;” |39.2% _1,772_   style=“text-align:center;” |59.4% _2,688_   1.4% _65_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1928   style=“text-align:center;” |70.7% _3,028_   style=“text-align:center;” |28.9% _1,238_   0.4% _16_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1924   style=“text-align:center;” |42.5% _1,506_   style=“text-align:center;” |23.0% _814_     34.6% _1,225_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1920   style=“text-align:center;” |65.1% _1,630_   style=“text-align:center;” |30.2% _756_     4.7% _117_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1916   style=“text-align:center;” |37.6% _591_     style=“text-align:center;” |58.2% _914_     4.1% _65_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1912   style=“text-align:center;” |17.7% _227_     style=“text-align:center;” |40.3% _518_     42.0% _539_[8]
  style=“text-align:center;” |1908   style=“text-align:center;” |45.1% _600_     style=“text-align:center;” |51.4% _684_     3.6% _48_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1904   style=“text-align:center;” |66.7% _668_     style=“text-align:center;” |21.7% _217_     11.6% _116_
  style=“text-align:center;” |1900   style=“text-align:center;” |57.4% _707_     style=“text-align:center;” |40.1% _494_     2.4% _30_

  : PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS RESULTS[7]

[1]

[2]

[3] Kooiman and Butterfield (1996), p. 24.

[4] Fitzpatrick, Lilian Linder (1925). _Nebraska Place-Names_, p. 20. Retrieved December 11, 2017.

[5]

[6]

[7] _Election Results_

[8] The leading “other” candidate, Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, received 423 votes, while Socialist candidate Eugene Debs received 97 votes and Write-in candidate Eugene Chafin received 19 votes.

title: Box Butte County, Nebraska

question: What does the text say about box-making in the region?

question: What does the text say about Box Butte County Nebraska?

answer: Box Butte County is a county in the U.S. State of Nebraska with a population of 11,308 as of the 2010 United States Census. Box Butte was formed in 1883 when the Nebraska legislature divided the Panhandle into two counties, Sioux and Cheyenne. In 1885 the original Sioux County was divided into three counties: Sioux, Dawes, and Sheridan. Due to their distance to Chadron, the county seat, residents of southern Dawes County asked to be split off, and Box Butte County was created in 1886. Major highways that pass through the county are Nebraska Highway 2, 71, and 87. Box Butte County voters have been reliably Republican for decades.

question: Summarize some interesting facts about Box Butte County.

answer: The county was formed in 1886 and it took its name from a large box-shaped butte north of Alliance, the county seat. Prior to the county's formation, its name had been used in advertisements by railroad companies looking to entice settlers to the area. Box Butte County is represented by the prefix 65, which means it had the sixty-fifth largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the Nebraska license plate system was established in 1922. Eleven percent of the total landmass of the county is water. At 90.84%, Box Butte County is predominantly White, 36.4% of whom have German Ancestry. The rest are 8.4% English, 8.1% Irish, and 5.3% American. The Democratic Party's Presidential candidate has never won in the county since 1940.

question: What does the text say about Box Butte County's demographics?

answer: There were 12,158 people, 4,780 households, and 3,298 families in the county as of the 2000 U.S. Census. The population density was 11 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 90.84% White, 0.37% Black or African American, 2.74% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 3.55% from other races, and 1.96% from two or more races. 7.65% of the population were Hispanic or Latino. The county population contained 28.10% under the age of 18, 7.40% from 18 to 24, 26.80% from 25 to 44, 23.10% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. The median income for a household in the county was $39,366, and the median income for a family was $46,670. The per capita income for the county was $18,407. About 9.70% of families and 10.70% of the population were below the poverty line.


text:
MUZAFFAR TURSUNKHUJAEV is a visually impaired Uzbekistani Paralympic swimmer.[1] He represented Uzbekistan at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and he won two bronze medals: in the men's 50 metre freestyle S13 and men's 100 metre butterfly S13 events.[2]

At the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships held in London, United Kingdom he won the bronze medal in the men's 50 metres freestyle S13 event.[3]

[1]

[2]

[3]  Day 7|date=14 September 2019|work=Olympic Channel|access-date=6 January 2020|url-status=live}}

title: Muzaffar Tursunkhujaev

question: What country does Tursunkhujaev represent?

answer: He represents Uzbekistan.

question: What awards has Tursunkhujaev won?

answer: At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he won two bronze medas in the men's 50 meter freestyle S13 and men's 100 meter butterfly S13.

question: When was Tursunkhujaev born?

answer: Not answered.

question: What is Tursunkhujaev's salary?

answer: Not answered.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: Muzaffar Tursunkhujaev is a visually impaired Uzbekistani Paralympic swimmer.


text:
"The only thing more foolish than starting a war is being unwilling to finish it."

\- General Tacitus 'Foresight' Faciern,

High Commander of the Confederacy of Strenis

&#x200B;

Frost looked through the scope of his lever-action rifle for the thirteenth time. He'd been lying in the same patch of sand in his home country of Moravia for the past three and a half days. Despite the sunscreen he was issued, the back of his neck was badly sunburned to the point it was almost as red as the Scout beret stashed in his backpack. After all those hours upon hours of sweat and heat, he finally found his target. A Strenisian reconnaissance squad marched their way over a rocky dune less than a kilometer away from him, completely unaware they were being watched. Frost slowed his breathing and looked deeper into the scope, his eye mercifully spared from the glare of the sun overhead. He waited, breath held, for the three-man team to move down the dune until they were halfway to the bottom. Frost slowly, patiently squeezed the trigger.

**BANG-!!!**

An overpressure .44 magnum bullet screamed through the air for an entire second before piercing the enemy trooper's helmet. The targeted trooper did not see the sniper, hear the gunshot, nor feel the impact. Moravian snipers were notorious for using highly customized rounds, and the results spoke for themselves. The other two scouts dropped to their stomachs immediately, scanning the surrounding desert as Frost worked the action of his rifle and loaded another round into the chamber. He immediately fired again and hit his mark in the skull, another instant kill. The last remaining Strensian began firing wildly into the surrounding desert, a single round pinged off of the steel armor on Frost's left shoulder. Frost inhaled one more time, let his breath out slowly, and fired again. Before the shot even landed, Frost began to stand up and walk away from his posting. After tightening the sling, he mounted his rifle onto his shoulder and pulled a small notebook out from the breast pocket of his khaki uniform, and catalogued his results as he moved to his next sniping position.

"Report #13, Day 4: Three confirmed kills at point Charlie. No injuries. Minor damage to left pauldron."

He takes one last look back before continuing down the dune. He silently sighs to himself before shaking his head and placing a red beret stamped with a stylized yellow "7" on the front onto his head.  His first week of combat had taken it's toll on his body already. But as he looked back at the corpses of his foes- his enemy- he felt a sense of foreboding, that heat exhaustion wouldn't be the worst thing he'd have to deal with in the coming months. After all, scouts would only be the start of the Confederacy's invasion. This coupled with the fact that Moravia's troops were already few in number, and that the country was disunited as is... Well, even a grunt like him could see that things were unlikely to turn out well if they didn't get outside aid soon. He pulled his radio out of it's pocket on his belt and pressed the 'talk' button.

"Firebug, you ready to move on soon? Over."

His spotter's voice came through the speaker shortly afterwards.

"No... Alexan, I don't think I'm moving anytime soon. Over."

"Why not? And you know we're supposed to stick with codenames. Command will chew you out later for this. Over."

"Alexan… I'm hit. Bad. Bullet pinged off of my shoulder pad and hit me at the base of the neck. I don't think..."

The radio goes silent.

"Firebug...? Jaimes? Jaimes are you there??"

Silence. All that leaves the radio is static.

title: [MF] Desert Frost

question: What does the text say about the terrain?

answer: There are sandy areas. There are dunes, some of which are rocky. It is described as a desert.

question: Summarize the shooting in the text.

answer: The first time a shot is fired, it is Frost shooting his first target. He shoots an overpressure .44 magnum bullet that was in the air for a whole second before hitting his target. Frost reloads and fires again, killing his second target. The last remaining target begins shooting wildly and a shot pings off of Frost's armor. Frost then shoots his last target. An enemy shot hit Frost's spotter in the neck.


text:
Published: Aug. 6, 2018 at 7:47 a.m. ET

Tesla stock rallied 16% after earnings, hurting all those who were betting the stock was poised for a selloff

[]

Elon Musk has reason to smile this week.

 Getty

Investors who are betting that Tesla Inc. shares are poised for a fall were sitting on a paper loss of nearly $2 billion Thursday, after the stock rallied more than 16% following its latest quarterly earnings.

Tesla short sellers were down $1.7 billion in mark-to-market losses on the 35.1 million Tesla shares that they have shorted, according to S3 Partners LLC, a company that has access to and tracks real-time short interest data.

Short sellers take a view on a stock that it will fall in price. They then borrow the shares so they can sell them, hoping they can later scoop them up at a lower price, return them to the original lender and pocket the difference.

The Silicon Valley car maker reported mixed second-quarter results late Wednesday and Wall Street appeared to seize on the company’s renewed promises of profitability going forward.

Tesla TSLA, -2.96%  said it lost $718 million, or $4.22, in the quarter, compared with $336 million, or $2.04 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Tesla lost $520 million, or $3.06 a share, compared with $220 million, or $1.33 a share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $4 billion from $2.77 billion a year ago.

READ MORE:Live Blog: Tesla earnings send stock higher

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected an adjusted loss of $2.88 a share on sales of $3.99 billion.

Beyond the numbers, Chief Executive Elon Musk struck a more conciliatory tone with analysts on the earnings call and even apologized for his bad manners on the previous quarter’s earnings call.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brad Erickson said Musk delivered “maybe the most valuable apology of all time.” That call, and a series of Twitter spats between Musk and his perceived detractors, had many questioning whether the executive was suited to the role of head of a public company.

READ:Tesla stock rallies after ‘most valuable apology of all time,’ but profitability questions remain

SEE ALSO:Elon Musk seems to have learned a few lessons, but the big one remains

Tesla is the most shorted stock in the U.S. market, according to S3. Before today’s stock move, the short sellers were up $276 million in 2018. They are now facing $1.4 billion in year-to-date mark-to-market losses.

“We are not seeing a large amount of buy to covers yet, with such a large price move on the open most short sellers that are looking to cover are waiting for a retracement before placing buy-to-cover orders,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director, predictive analytics at S3. “They’ve already been bloodied on the open without the ability to get out of their positions at anywhere near yesterday’s market close so they are waiting to see if they can make back a few bucks before realizing their losses.”

Long-term short sellers will likely dismiss today’s move, as they have in the past suffered worse paper losses and responded by adding to their positions.

“But I would imagine shorter term momentum short sellers would be quick on the trigger to exit their positions after suffering a 10% loss in just one day,” said Dusaniwsky.

Tesla shares have gained about 12% in 2018, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.35%  has gained 5.8% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.03%  has gained 2.5%.

Highlights From Elon Musk's Combative Tesla Earnings Call

Elon Musk: Robot software will make Tesla worth as much as Apple

question: Summarize the reactions to the August 2018 rise in Tesla Inc. stock price.

answer: Investors betting on Tesla Inc. shares falling were shocked when the stock rose more than 16% after its latest quarterly earnings. Tesla shot seller incurred a loss of $1.7 billion though it has been observed that there isn't a lot of buying being done to cover the losses. Also, long-term sellers are not fazed by the rise in stock prices as recent loss is not the worst they have suffered.

question: Where is Tesla Inc. stock predicted to go after the recent quester's gains?


text:
Nimblud was a hub for traders and travelers who wished to cross the seas to the west.  The people there built mostly white buildings made of sharp straight angles to long thin points up into the sky.  The rest of the land was fairly flat which made it look like a pin cushion from a distance.  But when it was night the multicolored lights would make the city glow a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors.  This also was a pleasant help to sailors as they came into the city.
A beast who used to be a man walked into the city.  He was larger than any man and barrel chested.  His skin was orange and he had an under-bite and two wide-but short horns growing from the front of his forehead.  His beard was long but missing the hair on top of his head.

The brute wandered into the city and the townsfolk of humans, spirits, and gnomes all strayed away from him.  He walked straight to the local tavern and sat an empty seat at the dice game currently in progress.  “You buying in big fella?” Asked an older man in a robe currently shaking some dice in his hand.  The brute said nothing and just sat staring at him.

“Okay……” the old man dropped the dice into a bowl and everyone watched the dice spin waiting to see if the man had won or lost.  The old man could feel the brute staring at him still but kept his eyes on the dice.

Suddenly the brute smashed the dice table with one of his hands and grabbed the old man up by the front of his robe and slammed him against the opposite wall.  “Remember me?” the brute growled.  Pulling his face closer to the old man and displaying his sharp teeth.

The other players at the table were enraged and went to draw their swords onto the brute but he simply backhanded them and knocked them through the tables behind them.  Then he punched the wall next to the old man’s head creating a fist sized hole in the wall.

“I swear I think you have the wrong person!”  The old man said.

“You made me like this!”  The brute said and threw him back into the other men right as they were getting up.  He stomped towards them all when a man from the corner stabbed him in side.  The brute just stared at him and squashed his head with one of his hands.  Then the pulled the sword out and bite into the blade shattering it.  His wound began to emit a black smoke but then his wound slowly sealed up.

Soon the town guards came in and rushed to attack him.  He caught their glaives in his hands and shattered those blades too.  Stunned the guards stood in shock until the brute ran up and dove into them feet first sending them hurtling outside to smash into a wall and shattering a few of their bones.  When he got up he turned to see the old man running out the back door.

The brute charged after him.  In his pursuit he killed one of the gamblers when his huge foot crushed him in his path.  He leapt through the wall and landed close enough to the old man to grab him by the leg and hold him upside down in front of his face.

“Okay I’m sorry okay!  I did not know it would be permanent!  I didn’t mean to do it!”  The old man pleaded.

He had convinced the brute to try some magical pixie powder he had bought from a traveling mage.  The old man did not want to try it on himself so he convinced a local teenager in the village he was at from across the western villages.  It had transformed that boy into an ogre like creature and wiped his mind of his memories.  At the time he slinked away hoping the brute would never remember what he had did and moved to this village to start a new life.

“Cure me!!!” the brute roared!  “Give me my life back!!”  His thunderous voice echoed into the alleyways.  The rest of the towns guards had surrounded him and the old man during the shouting.  The old man hung there covering his face and trembling.

“I can’t!  I can’t!  I’m not a mage!  I was told it would give me power but I didn’t know how to use it!  I’m sorry!!  I’m sorry!!”

The brute’s anger disappeared from his face and he closed his eyes and looked down at the ground.

Then he swung the old man hard into the ground smashing his face like a watermelon onto the street.  They turned in disgust giving the brute enough time to swing the old man one more time into the guards and clearing a path for him to escape.  He leapt past them and jumped onto a large brick platform that had been resting outside of the town.   It began to rise into the air and once it had gotten off the ground it began to fly away off into the starry night between the desert pyramids.

A figure in the corner sat cross legged with its back towards the brute.  “I told you it was a waste of time.  Once I found out your past I could tell he was just a fool.”

“I know…. But I lost everything and once you gave me back my memories it broke my heart in ways you could never imagine.  I’m no longer Dash the man or Gorrak the damned.  Now I am someone else entirely and I wanted just one more chance to be the person I was originally supposed to be.  Now I have nothing.”

“Then we will call you something different.  Perhaps Korrash is fitting?  Regardless I gave you back your memories and helped you find the man who did this to you.  Are you ready to pledge yourself to me?”  The creature slowly got up and turned around.  Its head and face was wrinkled beyond human capacity.  Like a naked mole rate.  When it flipped up its hood all you could see were two small white pupiless eyes and a tiny mouth with big fish like lips.

“I do.  I pledge my servitude to you Mordid”.  Korrash said as he slumped down to sit down on the floor.  He had lost his past and his future.  All he had now was the present and his promise to Mordid.

They rode in silence atop the levitating brick platform in silence.  The cool wind was refreshing as they passed under the starts in the black night sky.  Mordid thought back pleasantly to day he had sold that transformative powder to that poor old man.

title: [FN] The lost life

question: How did the man turn into a brute?

answer: An old man tried to experiment on him with pixie dust.

question: Is the brute going to hurt anyone?

answer: Yes, he kills the old man who made him a beast.

question: Does the brute ever find the mage who created the powder that made him a beast?

answer: Yes, he pledges his service to him in the end, but he does not know that this is the mage.

question: Will the brute ever become a man again?

answer: It is unclear.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: An ogre furiously storms a town, searching for the man who turned him from a man into a beast. He finds this person, but the old man who did it only used powder that he got from someone else and cannot kill him back. He kills this old man, and then turns to the mage who restores his memories for advice. This mage says there is nothing he can do, and the ogre pledges his service to him - without knowing that the mage is the one who made the powder in the first place.


text:
   My soul has been cold for some time now.  My parents, fiancee,and I were in a fatal two car accident 15 years ago.  I was the only survivor; six other people died.  I lost it after that.  Nothing else mattered at all.  I spent a few years trying to drink and drug myself to death.  It didn't work.  I had a cold empty chill in my body that would not leave.  I began stealing, grafting, and hustling people just for something evil to do.  I had no conscience left.  No matter what I did, there was no feeling of remorse.  While hanging out in an Irish pub on the south side of Boston one afternoon, I was approached by a fellow drinking about doing a hit.  At first, I thought he was kidding or the booze was talking.  However, he told me he had heard about my con rackets around the neighborhood and that the Irish mobsters weren't too happy about it.  I needed to do this hit to make peace.  I thought, "What the fuck."  That's how I became a hit-man.

   I'll fast forward ten years.  I had become the primary hit-man for the Irish mob in the greater Boston area.  My severe lack of any soul or conscience made me a perfectly built killing machine.  In fact, I even got off on it in a way.  It seemed to help fill the empty hole in my life.  I know that may seem contradictory, but the loss of my loved ones changed me deeply.  It made me a monster.  Before I started killing for a living, I would stay awake for days dwelling on the reason why I survived the crash.  I could not come to terms with it.  Being a hit-man allowed me to sleep.  It removed me from my depression.  I had no remorse for the people I killed and I could care less if I got caught.  My life, nor anyone else's, had any meaning to me.  I was perfect.

   Yesterday, I met "One Thumb" McShane at Paddy's Pub.  He gave me the address and the last name of a guy I was to take care of.  The guy ran a deli in a mob controlled neighborhood.  He had stopped paying protection money and was rallying other shop owners to follow suit.  This could not continue.  "One Thumb" gave me $1500 up front and told me take care of it right away.  I nodded and ordered a double Bushmills.  I waited for darkness to set in and set out for the mark's house.

  The mark lived near the neighborhood I grew up in.  I rolled up in front of the old brownstone and I saw him through the dining room window.  He was a single guy.  I didn't have to worry about family members.  I cased the spot for an hour.  The scene looked ripe.  I grabbed my gun, stuck in my shoulder holster, and walked across the street.  He opened the door for me and had a look of surprise.  I asked, "Are you Mr. Brennan?"  He swallowed hard and said, "Yeah, what do you want."  I stared coldly at him for a moment.  I finally said, "Some folks are telling me you're not paying them some owed money.  They aren't too happy.  They want something done."  He wobbled a bit and braced himself against the kitchen table.  His nervousness gave me a rush.  He knew why I was there.  I asked, "What are we going to do about this Mr. Brennan?"  He cried, "Look man, my parents opened this deli 40 years ago.  If I pay the protection money, I can't afford to stay open.  FUCK!  I don't want to lose my family deli."  A memory came over me.  I softly said, "Brennan's Deli?  You're the Charlie Brennan from Perkin's Elementary?"  You grew up in this neighborhood?"  He looked up, stared at me for a minute, and asked, "Holy shit! Roman?"  I nodded and a wave of something I hadn't felt in a long time rushed over me.  I had some feelings come back.  They were raw and piercing.  I had buried them for so long.  Charlie had been a friend.

   When were in 5th grade, Charlie and I were walking home one evening.  Charlie was walking backwards so he could face me.  A car came screeching down the road and Charlie saw it swerving at us.  He yelled for me to get out of the way.  I slipped in some gravel and fell.  The car was speeding closer.  Charlie grabbed the hood of my jacket and pulled me between two parked cars; just as the car nicked my shoe.  I would have been killed that night if it weren't for Charlie.  I hadn't thought about that for a long time.  That was the first time I realized my own mortality.  When I was in the accident with my parents and fiancee, my mortality left me.  Seeing Charlie made me get a little of that back.  Had Charlie saved my life again?  I couldn't do what I had intended; not to Charlie.  I told him some of what had happened to me.  I told what he had given me back.  We talked for awhile.  The memories filled my head and dizzied me.

   After another hour of talking, I got up to leave.  Charlie was walking in front of me to get the door.  I took out my garrote and wrapped it tightly around Charlie's neck.  I drew him close to me.  I whispered in his ear, "You should have let me die that night Charlie.  I would never have had to live with the obscene emotional pain of that car accident.  I was supposed to die that night you bastard."  The life escaped his body and his legs fell limp.  The emptiness returned to my body.

title: [TH] The Accident

question: Why did the narrator continue to kill for the Irish mob after he had completed the first hit?

answer: According to the passage, the narrator seems to have found some meaning in his job as an assassin. He believes he ought to have died, that his life and that of others has no meaning. He discovers he suffers no remorse for killing people.

question: Did the narrator ever think about sparing Charlie?


text:
[Allies in the Peloponnesian War.] The MYTILENIAN DEBATE (also spelled “Mytilenean Debate” or “Mytilenaean Debate”) in the Athenian Assembly concerned reprisals against the city-state of Mytilene, which had attempted unsuccessfully to shake off Athenian hegemony, during the Peloponnesian War. The Debate occurred in 427 B.C.;[1][2] Thucydides reports it in book three of his _History of the Peloponnesian War_, and uses the events and the speeches as a major opportunity to reflect and to offer his views on the political and ideological impact of the war on the parties involved.

Causes for the Revolt

Mytilene was one of the last non-tributary members of the Delian League which chose to man their own warships and send subjects to fight alongside the Athenian fleet.[3] Mytilene feared tributary democracy and did not want to be reduced to the status of other Athenian allies. In addition, Mytilene was different from most allies because it was ruled by an oligarchy. Mytilene had contemplated ending its alliance with Athens, but Sparta had rejected her appeal for an alliance to enable this. However, this rejection had been prior to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, which created an opportunity for the Mytilenians, who sent an envoy to Olympia in 428 B.C. to seek assistance from the Peloponnesians.[4] The Mytilenians asked for direct help in Mytilene, but also for an invasion of Attica, pointing out that since Athens had recently been devastated by a plague it would have financial difficulties fighting on two fronts.[5]

Thucydides represents the Mytilenian ambassadors at Olympia as arguing that Athens had taken advantage of the Delian League and used it as a mechanism for “enslaving” and exploiting other Greeks;[6] that it was only a matter of time before they set their sights on Mytilene’s prosperous and autonomous island of Lesbos and forced it into their system of oppression; and that the Mytilenians could not wait for this and should pre-emptively break away before Athens forced her will upon them. The Peloponnesian League agreed to aid Mytilene.[7]

It has been pointed out that these arguments are silent on a major motivation of the oligarchs towards rebellion.[8] The Mytilenian government sought the unification of the five city-states of Lesbos under their leadership.;[9] Athenian policy aimed to break up larger units within the confederacy and would not support any enhancements in Mytilenian power.[10]

The Mytilenian Revolt

The Mytilenians began preparing for the revolt by filling in their harbours, erecting fortifications, building additional warships, and importing extra grain.[11] The preparations began to attract attention, and informants started reporting details to Athens. Information came from several sources. Three of the other states on the island, Antissa, Eresus, and Pyrrha, had oligarchic governments. Methymna, however, had a democracy,[12] and did not support the revolt or the unification of Lesbos. Some Mytilenians, known as proxenoi, also reported information to Athens. Proxenoi were a small faction of political opponents, whose temperaments were compatible with Athenian democracy. Athens selected these officials to strengthen her position internally and prepare for the eventual removal of the oligarchies.[13]

The Athenians responded to the news by attempting to intercept Peloponnesian aid and sending a fleet, led by Paches, to Lesbos. Upon arrival, Athens delivered an ultimatum, which ordered the Mytilenians to surrender and tear down their fortifications, but they refused and the rebellion ensued.[14] However, the Mytilenians were forced into revolt before they were militarily prepared to confront Athens, because the Proxenoi alerted them of Mytilene's plans. As a result, the Mytilenians quickly lost and had to implement negotiating tactics to stall for time. In order to buy more time for Sparta, they called for a truce and sent representatives to Athens for negotiations.[15] The Mytilenian representatives called for the removal of the Athenian fleet, which the Athenians promptly denied, and fighting continued. All of Lesbos, other than Methymna, took arms against Athens, but Lesbos lost ground upon the arrival of more Athenian troops. Mytilene became surrounded by Athenian fortifications and were isolated by land and sea.[16]

Finally, the Spartan Salaethus arrived and raised morale by reassuring the Mytilenians that the Peloponnesians were going to invade Attica and promised to supply them with a fleet in the spring.[17] As promised, Attica was invaded, but it did little to help the trapped islanders because the fleet never arrived and the food supplies had depleted. The final effort was made when Salaethus supplied the demos with hoplite arms. However, after the lower class was given arms they refused to follow orders and demanded that the oligarchs hand over the remainder of the food or else they would surrender.[18] The oligarchs could not meet the demos’ demand because there was no more food. After realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the oligarchs and the demos jointly initiated negotiations with Athens.[19]

For all intents and purposes, Athens’ terms of negotiation were not much better than unconditional surrender, and the fate of the Mytilenian people rested on the decision of the Athenian people. The Mytilenians were only granted the right to send a delegation to Athens to plead for compassion, which was supported by Paches’ guarantee that no punitive actions would be taken until the Athenians agreed upon a conclusion. [20]

The Mytilenian Debate

Once the Mytilenians arrived in Athens, Salaethus was immediately executed and the assembly gathered to assess the situation and voted on the punitive actions that would be taken. The Athenian assembly, scared of further revolt, hastily sentenced all of the male citizens of Mytilene to death, while the women and children would be sold into slavery. According to Thucydides, after the decision was made a trireme was dispatched to Mytilene to carry out the orders and the Athenians, enraged by premeditated revolt, slaughtered all of the prisoners, who numbered around a thousand.[21]

The next day, the Athenians realized the unprecedented brutality of their actions and some became hesitant about the hurried decision to kill and enslave the citizens of Mytilene. A second debate, which Thucydides called _the Mytilenian Debate_, took place in order to reassess the course of action that should be taken. The debate consisted of varying opinions, the first of which was presented by Cleon of Athens. Cleon, a prominent member of Athenian society, spoke to defend the previous decision against doubts and to assert that the guilty party got the punishment they deserved. Cleon's reputation was violent and ruthless. Indeed, Thucydides describes him as “the most violent man in Athens.”[22]

Cleon began by questioning the worth of a democracy: “Personally I have had occasion often enough already to observe that a democracy is incapable of governing others, and I am all the more convinced of this when I see how you are now changing your minds about the Mytilenians.”[23] He also implied the Athenians have become jaded by sophist oratory and questioned the worth of free speech. He described the Athenians as “victims of their own pleasure in listening, and are more like an audience sitting at the feet of a professional lecturer than a parliament discussing matters of state.”[24] He finishes his speech by urging the populace to not “be traitors to your own selves.”

After Cleon's speech, Diodotus spoke in defense of his previous opposition to the death sentence. He stated that “haste and anger are... the two greatest obstacles to wise counsel....”[25] Diodotus argued the issue was not a question of Mytilene's guilt, and whether Athens should seek vengeance; rather it was a question of what is in Athens' best interest. Citing one of Cleon's main arguments for his position, Diodotus questioned whether the death penalty is really a means of deterrence from revolt or just the opposite. He finished by asking Athenians to fundamentally question what is right and just and look to moderation rather than aggressive punishment. Instead, he urged the Athenians to spare the Mytilenians in an effort to create an alliance.

Following Diodotus’ speech, the assembly recast their votes. Diodotus’ rational argument prevailed and managed to persuade the assembly not to massacre the Mytilenians. The Athenians, who initially ardently supported the total annihilation of the Mytilenians, now found themselves hesitant. As a result, the votes, which were originally unanimous, were narrowly passed in favor of Diodotus.

Results of the Debate

Ultimately, the Athenians were swayed by Diodotus’ argument and chose to spare the lives of the Mytilenians and to execute only the leaders of the revolt: another trireme, double-manned to row overnight, was promptly dispatched, and in a dramatic scene arrived at Lesbos just in time to prevent the previous orders from being carried out. Mytilene's oligarchy was removed and democracy installed;[26] the Athenians razed the city walls and divided most of the Lesbian land, which was distributed to Athenians.

Thucydides' treatment of the events highlights some of the relative merits of oligarchy and democracy, as perceived at the time. It poses questions for Athens' treatment of its subject allies in the Delian League. James Boyd White suggests power was already corrupting the Athenians, though they still had a capacity for pity and compassion. This may be contrasted with the later Melian Dialogue—where Athens killed all the men and sold the women and children into slavery. Alternatively, the turn to Diodotus' rational interest over Cleon's appeal for just vengeance may mark the beginnings of the decline of appeals to justice and decline of the culture of argument in Athens.[27]

[1] Ronald P. Legon, “Megara and Mytilene,” Phoenix 22, no. 3 (Autumn 1968): 201.

[2]

[3] Legon,201.

[4] Thucydides, _History of the Peloponnesian War_. Trans. Rex Warner (New York: Penguin Group, 1972), 212-222.

[5] D.M. Lewis, ed., The Cambridge Ancient History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 402-406.

[6] Legon, 201.

[7] Lewis, 402.

[8] Legon, 202.

[9] Thucyd., 194.

[10] Legon, 203

[11] Legon, 203.

[12] T.J. Quinn, Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte 20, No. 4 (3rd Qtr., 1971), pp. 405-417.

[13] Legon, 204.

[14] Thucyd. 195.

[15] Legon, 205.

[16]

[17] Thucyd.,207.

[18] Thucyd., 208.

[19]

[20] Legon, 207.

[21] Thucyd., 212-222.

[22] Thucydides, 3.36.

[23] Thucyd., 214.

[24]

[25] Thucydides, 3.42.1

[26] Legon, 222.

[27] James Boyd White, _When Words Lose Their Meaning_

title: Mytilenian Debate

question: What were, in brief, the reasons for the Mytilene revolt?

answer: Mytilene did not want to be reduced to being a tributary ally of Athens, and being an oligarchy, rejected tributary democracy. Mytilene also appeared to see Athens' use of the Delian League as exploitative , and feared that Athens would imposed on the Mytilene island of Lesbos. The Athenians did not support the Mytilenian government plans to unify the five city-states of Lesbos under their power.

question: Why did the Mytilenian Revolt fail?

answer: The revolt was prompted by Athens delivering an ultimatum to Mytilena to surrender, at a point when the Mytilenians were not sufficiently militarily prepared. In Mytilena there were groups who opposed the revolt and who had informed the Athenians. Consequently, the Mytilenians were no match for Athenian troops. The promised support from Sparta was initially botched and when the Spartans supplied the lower class Mytilenians with arms, they demanded the oligarchs surrender.