text:
“As long as my fiancée doesn’t find out.”

Jenny wasn’t a busybody. Really, she wasn’t. Maybe she could have put the other phone down sooner, but when she heard her soon-to-be brother in law on the other line, she couldn’t help herself. The line had died immediately after, and she didn’t hear anything else; but what she had heard was enough. Jason was definitely cheating on her sister.

Now, Jason had never done anything to her, personally. Nor had he actually hurt anybody in the family. But Jenny knew he was bad news from the time Emma first introduced him. He had long, black hair that was always greasy, with beads and feathers in random places. He was tall and lanky, and always wore black clothing no matter what the weather. And he perpetually wore a collar. A collar, with spikes, around his neck. The multiple tattoos lining his arms and torso didn’t help matters either. No, he was without a doubt a scoundrel.

Even her most basic, open-minded questions brought forth unsavory answers: What do you do for a living? Drummer for a band. Of course. What kind of band? Punk-rock genre, with slight grunge influence. Emma had stepped in then, turning the conversation to less damning topics, but Jenny had heard all she needed to. This, boy, was nothing more than a wannabe band member her sister would end up having to babysit and take care of six months into the marriage. And that was assuming he would stay faithful for any amount of time, which she strongly doubted.

The man never even smiled. It didn’t matter if he was taking a picture, eating, sleeping, or touching his fiancé. His bored scowl never seemed to slip. The only time she had seen him close was when her sister had announced her pregnancy and the ensuing engagement. He had smirked.

But of course she was pregnant. Her beautiful, innocent little sister was now carrying this excuse of a man’s child. Which was why she was in her sister’s house in the first place; they were planning a baby shower. And even if Jenny didn’t approve of her sister’s choice in men, there was nothing that would keep her from giving her niece or nephew the best shower she possibly could.

Their father had been happy to hear the news, but with his health Rob wasn’t able to get around very easily. He had insisted they have the baby shower at Emma’s home, and take plenty of pictures for him to enjoy later. Jenny’s heart went out to her father; raising two daughters as a single working dad had taken a huge toll on him, especially since he never remarried. He had done whatever he could to make sure their every need, and many times want, was met. As the older sister, she had acted as the mother role in Emma’s life; tutoring her, mentoring her, and advising her. She loved her sister deeply, and would do anything to protect her. So when she picked up the phone and heard his voice, she didn’t put it down.

Jenny stood with the phone against her ear, line dead, in shock from what she had just heard. She had fully expected for Jason to cheat; he just looked like the kind of sleaze-ball that would take advantage of Emma. But she had never guessed that he would do it two days before his child’s baby shower. That was simply unforgivable in her mind.

The question, of course, was what to do with the information. Her first reaction was to go straight to Emma, but she quickly decided against it. Her sister knew she didn’t like Jason, and would think that she was making the story up. She needed proof, which was exactly what she was going to get.

The next day, she downloaded an app that let her record conversations on her phone. Hiding in her sister’s bathroom, she waited until Emma had gone out on an errand run and Jason was alone working on the living room. Their phone was a bit older, and had no caller ID, so she didn’t have to worry about him seeing her number. After working deciding how she would disguise her voice, she called.

The phone rang a few times before she heard Jason’s gruff voice.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Jason, it’s me,” she said, whining her voice just a bit.

“Me? Who is this, Karen?” he asked slowly.

“Yes, of course. I told you I would call” Jenny said, biting her lip in anticipation.

“Yeah, I know. Look, I’d love to help you out, but I can’t right now.”

“What? Why not?” she whined again, her heart pounding as she waited for his response.

“I’m still preparing for the baby shower. Emma’s really excited, and I want to make it special for her.”

“So what about after?” she asked playfully.

“Yeah, I could come over after. Which subject?”

She blinked. “Subject?”

“Yeah; which subject does Jared need tutoring with?”

“Uh… it’s math. He needs help in math,” she said quickly, her face flushing. So much for evidence…

“Really? He was doing well in it. Huh; teacher must have bumped him up in difficulty. Well tell him I’ll be available to come over on Thursday.” He said, and hung up.

Jenny gritted her teeth together as she hung up; that had not gone as planned. He tutored? What mother in her right mind would want their child to spend time with that man? Frustrated, she left the restroom and went back to work.

It wasn’t until the morning of the baby shower that Jenny decided confrontation was the best possible route. After all, Jason was in the wrong. There was nothing for her to be worried about. She found him finishing up the decorations in the kitchen, waiting until her sister had run another errand.

“Jason, we need to talk.”

Jason looked up at her, his face as unreadable as ever. Squaring her shoulders, Jenny walked up to him, stopping
when she was inches away from his chest.

“Okay,” he muttered, raising an eyebrow.

Jenny had to resist the urge to slap him then and there. How dare he act as if he wasn’t the scumbag here?

“I overheard your phone conversation the other day. I know.”

Jason’s eyes grew as his body tensed; so he did have more than one expression after all. She couldn’t help but smirk slightly; victory was hers.

“And don’t think I won’t tell Emma about this,” she continued. “In fact, I was planning on talking to her as soon as she got back…”

“No!” Jason said, his voice a bit higher than normal. “No, don’t tell her; I know you don’t like me that much, but please, don’t say anything to her yet.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” Jenny asked, a bit indignant.

“Look, just let this play out, alright? If you do, you’ll get to see her reaction when I tell her myself. I’ll even push the credit to you if you want. Just please, don’t say anything to her yet.” Jason’s voice sounded so sincere that
Jenny had a hard time maintaining her smirk. He really didn’t want to get caught.

Even though it was probably too good for a guy like him, she nodded. Jason’s face relaxed, returning to his normal bored expression as he turned and continued decorating. Jenny waited a beat before returning to her designated decorating area. Emma was going to be saved from this man; she had done her job.

The hours to the baby shower passed quickly as preparations continued, and it wasn’t long until the guests started arriving. Emma was radiant, smiling and greeting all the guests in stride while her sister made sure everything was going according to plan in the background. There were games, snacks, pictures, and gifts given as each of the guests congratulated Emma on her upcoming baby. Jason stayed behind his fiancé, nodding at everybody respectfully, shaking the hands of men who regarded him with the same expression Jenny wore. After a while, he disappeared into the kitchen with the excuse of checking on his own gift.

The party was beginning to wind down by the time Jason returned to the living room; many of the guests had already left, leaving only a core group of friends behind. Catching Jenny’s eye, he smirked.

“You ready?” she heard him whisper. Before she could ask what he was talking about, the doorbell rang.

“Hey, anybody home?” a strong voice rang out as soon as Jason opened the door. Jenny stood with her sister, completely lost in what was happening. A tall, handsome blond man strode through, sporting a thousand-watt smile, tight leather jeans and gauges. Glancing around, he threw his arm around Jason’s shoulders and looked at Emma.

“You must be Em’. Jason’s always talking about you; though you’re even better looking than he describes.” He drawled in a slight Australian accent.

“And that’s saying something,” another voice agreed from outside. Three more men came in, all wearing similar clothing. Two looked as though they could be twins and had shorter spiked hair, opposite the blond man and Jason, while the third had his styled in a mohawk. Each was carrying two boxes covered in wrapping paper.

“Trust me; the guy never shuts up about you. Though now I’m beginning to understand why,” the mohawked man continued with a smile of his own.

“Emma, and everyone else, these guys are the rest of my band.” Jason motioned to each of the members respectively/ “The twins are Aaron and Alex; don’t worry about trying to tell them apart. I’ve been playing with them for a couple years now, and I still can’t half the time. They play keyboard and backup guitar. The man with the ridiculous hair is Jonathan, who plays base. And this is Chase, our lead singer and guitarist,” he finished, turning back to the group. “Guys, this is my lovely fiancée, Emma, and her sister Jenny.” It was the first time Jenny had ever seen him smile.

Chase raised an eyebrow as he looked at Jenny. “Na, mate, this can’t be Jenny. She is much to pretty to be the bridge-dwelling troll you always complain abo-” His thought was cut off as Jason’s elbow found his stomach, though that didn’t stop Chase from laughing. Jenny considered being offended, but decided against it as she watched the rest of the band instantly mock Jason.

“Anyways, Jason here said you were having a baby shower for the little one,” Chase continued, turning back to Emma.

“And since the idiot decided not to tell us if it’s gonna’ be a boy or a girl, we kinda’ ended up planning for both,” Aaron (or Alex?) joined in, hefting the large box he was carrying a bit higher under his arm.

“Thank you so much!” Emma gasped, motioning them to where the boxes could be placed before giving each of them a hug. Jenny stood silent, still unable to wrap her mind around what was happening. This is what the phone call was about…

“What’s the matter, love? Cat got your tongue?” Chase asked, winking at her as the group walked back from the gifting area. To her credit, she didn’t faint, but Jenny was sure the blush she had could light a dark room.

“Thank you all so much!” Emma repeated, tears threatening her eyes. “I can’t believe you went to all this trouble for me.”

“Don’t thank me; it was your sister’s idea,” Jason said, motioning towards Jenny. Jenny’s hear leapt into her throat as Emma turned to her and engulfed her in a hug.

“I can’t believe it Jen! You did this for me? This was so thoughtful of you!” she squealed.

“Of course,” Jenny said, awkwardly returning the embrace. As she caught Jason’s eye, she saw him wink, smirking at her, before turning back to his band.

“Well, do you guys want some refreshments? We’ve got plenty left over; though we’d better get our share before letting Jonathan near the table.” The group laughed good-naturedly as the stouter man crossed his arms in mock offense. “Besides, we need to reschedule our next practice. Jared’s mom called; he needs help with math again, and I offered to tutor him Thursday.”

Oops.

“We’d love to, mate,” Chase said, and the group made their way towards the kitchen. Emma turned back to her sister, smiling brightly.

“Thank you so much, Jen. You really are the best sister a girl could ask for,” she said, hugging her once more.

“It… it was Jason’s band. They’re really the ones who went to the trouble,” Jenny said, glaring at Jason’s attempt to hide his smirk.

“But you always know exactly what to do to make me happy. I know I can always count on you,” Emma said, squeezing one more time before she let go. “I’d better check on them; I’d hate to run out of food if they’re still hungry.”

As she walked into the kitchen, Jason raised an eyebrow at Jenny. “Happy now?” he asked, still grinning. Before she could answer, he turned towards the kitchen.

“Uh, Jason?”

“Yes?” he asked, glancing back at her.

Jenny bit her lip nervously. “I actually have a bit of a confession.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, about Thursday’s tutoring session…”

title: Don't Let My Fiancee Find Out

question: Summarize what Jenny dislikes about Jason.

answer: Jenny never liked Jason as she believed he was bad news. She had never liked him from the day Emma introduced him as her boyfriend. First, he had this long, black hair that was always greasy with feathers and beads embedded in it. Jason always wears black clothing no matter the occasion and the multiple tattoos on his arms and torso make him look like a thug. He has no decent job but touts himself as a drummer for a band. Jenny is afraid Jason would never be able to care for her sister but will soon leave her for another woman.

question: Why does Jason never smile?


split: test

text:
The city of Baltimore, Maryland includes a large and growing Caribbean-American population. The Caribbean-American community is centered in West Baltimore. The largest non-Hispanic Caribbean populations in Baltimore are Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Tobagonians, and Haitians. Baltimore also has significant Hispanic populations from the Spanish West Indies, particularly Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans. Northwest Baltimore is the center of the West Indian population of Baltimore, while Caribbean Hispanics in the city tend to live among other Latinos in neighborhoods such as Greektown, Upper Fell's Point, and Highlandtown. Jamaicans and Trinidadians are the first and second largest West Indian groups in the city, respectively.[1] The neighborhoods of Park Heights and Pimlico in northwest Baltimore are home to large West Indian populations, particularly Jamaican-Americans.

Demographics

In the 1960 United States Census, Baltimore was home to 429 Puerto Ricans.[2]

There were 17,141 West Indian Americans in the Baltimore metropolitan area in 2000. This count excludes Caribbean people from Hispanic countries, such as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, however, if included the Caribbean population would be about 23,000.[3] In the same year Baltimore's West Indian population was 6,597, 1% of the city's population.[4]

In 2000, Jamaicans were the largest West Indian group in Baltimore making up 1% of the city's population.[5]

In 2010, Puerto Ricans were 0.6% of Baltimore's population with 3,137 people. 0.2% were Dominican at 1,111 people, while 0.1% were Cuban at 824 people.

In 1994, there were 30,000 West Indians in the Greater Baltimore area.[6]

In September 2014, immigrants from the West Indies, other than Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Tobagonians, and Haitians, were the sixty-eighth largest foreign-born population in Baltimore. Jamaican immigrants were the second largest foreign-born population in Baltimore, after Mexicans. Trinidadian and Tobagonian immigrants were the third largest, Guyanese immigrants were the twenty-first largest and Haitian immigrants were the thirty-seventh largest.[7]

History

Caribbean immigrants have lived in Baltimore since colonial times. During the time of the French Revolution, there was a slave revolt on the French colony of Saint-Domingue, in what is now Haiti. Many French-speaking Black Catholic and white French Catholic refugees from San Domingo left for Baltimore. In total, 1,500 Franco-Haitians fled the island.[8] The Haitian refugee population was multiracial and included white French-Haitians and their Afro-Haitian slaves, as well as many free people of color, some of whom were also slaveowners.[9] Along with the Sulpician Fathers, these refugees founded St. Francis Xavier Church. The church is the oldest historically Black Catholic church in the United States.[10] During the Haitian Revolution, Baltimore passed an ordinance declaring that all slaves imported from the West Indies, including Haiti, were “dangerous to the peace and welfare of the city” and ordered slave-owners to banish them.[11]

The first Caribbean Hispanics began to arrive in Baltimore during the 1960s. Beginning in the 1960s, middle-class anti-Castro professionals began immigrating to Baltimore from Cuba. They were soon followed by middle-class immigrants from Puerto Rico.[12] 1980 saw a second wave of Cuban immigration. Most were outcasts from Cuba, mainly poor and uneducated and many being former prisoners.[13]

Many Jamaicans have settled in the Park Heights neighborhood. The northern portion of the neighborhood is predominantly white and Jewish and the lower portion is predominantly African-American. The Jamaicans, the majority of whom are Black, have mostly settled in the lower portion of the neighborhood with other people of African descent.[14]

Caribbean Hispanics in Baltimore, particularly Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, some of whom come from other states like New York and New Jersey, are mostly concentrated in outer Southeast neighborhoods east of Haven Street towards southeastern Baltimore County, including Greektown and Joseph Lee.

Culture

An annual Baltimore Caribbean Carnival Festival is held in Druid Hill Park. The festival attracts around 20–25,000 people and includes food, music, and a parade.[15][16] The event has been held since 1981 when it was formed by the West Indian Association of Maryland, an organization for people of West Indian or Guyanese descent.[17]

By proclamation of Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, September 10–12 have been designated as “West Indian/Caribbean Days”.[18]

Trinidadian-Americans have established the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Baltimore and multiple Trinidadian businesses, including barbershops, groceries, and specialty stores. A newspaper called Caribbean Focus exists which caters to the community. Every year a festival is held to celebrate the culture of Trinidad and Tobago.[19]

The Baltimore-based _Komite Ayiti_ (Haitian Creole for “Haiti Committee”) is a Haitian-American organization with around 200 members in Maryland. _Komite Ayiti_ hostly monthly get-togethers where members can learn to speak Haitian Creole and can express their Haitian culture, including Haitian dance and cuisine. The committee was opposed to and joined in demonstrations against the Trump administration's decision to cancel temporary protected status for nearly 60,000 Haitians living in the United States.[20] The committee also celebrates an annual Haitian Independence Day event where traditional dishes such as soup joumou are served.[21]

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title: History of Caribbean Americans in Baltimore

question: What happened to immigration into Baltimore during the Haitian revolution?

answer: Many Haitian slaves fled Saint-Domingue during the first slave revolt during the French Revolution. These refugees founded St. Francis Xavier Church, the oldest historically black Catholic church in the United States. Immigration from such freedman and importation of Haitian slaves was banned during an ordinance during the Haitian slave revolt.

question: Summarize the Caribbean ethnicities found in Baltimore.

answer: Baltimore has non Hispanic populations such as Jamaicans, Trinidadians and Tobagonians. The Hispanic population is primarily Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Cubans. There are also immigrants from Guyana, and Haitians.

question: Describe the Haitian culture today in Baltimore.

answer: There is a society called Komite Ayiti, which has 200 members in Maryland. The group organizes Haitian cultural events such as the Haitian Independence Day, and has historically opposed attempts to marginalize Haitians in the United States, such as during the Trump administration.


text:
[Gunmen attacked the Mar Mina Church in Cairo on Friday. Experts believe the assault to be the work of the Islamic State.]

Credit...Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

-   Dec. 29, 2017

CAIRO — At least nine people were killed when gunmen opened fire on a Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo on Friday, a church spokesman said, in the latest in a series of attacks on Egypt’s Christian minority.

The assault targeted the Mar Mina Church in the southern Cairo neighborhood of Helwan. At least one gunman was killed by the police, the spokesman, Boules Haliem, said by telephone.

“He did not manage to get in,” Mr. Haliem said of the gunman. Worshipers were attacked as they were leaving the church, he said, and at least eight were killed, along with one police officer. Eight more worshipers and a police officer were wounded.

“The church was full,” Mr. Haliem said. “They were attending Mass.” Photographs showed several bullet holes in the facade of the church.

Two of the wounded were in critical condition, he said.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 96 million. This was not the first deadly assault on Christian worshipers in Cairo, but the capital is not accustomed to this sort of attack on civilians.

The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement that was circulated on the messaging app Telegram. The statement said that 10 people had been killed, and it described the victims as “crusaders” and “apostates.” The statement also said that one of the attackers had been killed.

The assault came just over a month after Egypt’s deadliest terror attack, in which more than 300 Sufi Muslims were killed at a mosque in the Sinai Peninsula, as the militant group steps up its campaign of violence against Egypt’s minorities.

The Islamic State declared its intention to attack Egyptian Christians last year as it seeks a stronger foothold in Egypt after defeats in Syria and Iraq. It has since killed more than 100 Egyptian Copts by bombing churches and attacking buses carrying pilgrims.

Image[Egyptian police officers inspecting the site of the attack on Friday.]

Credit...Samer Abdallah/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The group already had a strong presence in the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula, where it has been targeting police and military installations.

Militant attacks increased in Egypt after the military overthrew the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, in 2013, and cracked down on his supporters and dissidents of all stripes.

The shooting on Friday is likely to rattle the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. To many, the assault is a disturbing reminder of the militants’ expanding activity in mainland Egypt.

Egyptian state media also reported the death of a gunman, and added that another assailant — a gunman who also had a homemade bomb with him — was arrested later in the day.

The second man, who was riding a motorcycle, was armed with an automatic rifle, and the police were said to have restrained him just before he tried to throw the bomb into the church.

It remains unclear exactly how many assailants were involved. Officials gave conflicting accounts, with some saying that three men were involved and others calling it a lone wolf assault.

Separately on Friday, a gunman killed two people at an appliance shop in Helwan owned by a Coptic Christian, Mr. Haliem said.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police, said in a statement that one man had been responsible for the slaughter on Friday. The man was in custody, the ministry said, describing him as “one of the most prominent active terrorist elements” in the country.

A spokesman for the Egyptian police could not be immediately reached for clarification.

This month, Islamic State militants attacked an airport in Sinai during a visit by the country’s defense and interior ministers. The ministers were unharmed, but one military officer was killed.

President Trump called Mr. Sisi on Friday to offer his condolences, the Egyptian president’s office said in a statement. During the call, Mr. Trump “stressed the need to coordinate international efforts in order to combat terrorism,” Mr. Sisi’s office said.

question: Why is the Islamic State stepping up operations in Egypt?

answer: The Islamic State is attacking Christians in Egypt, due to its defeat in Syria and Iraq. Especially in Cairo, terrorist attacks against Christians are rare. Once can attribute such attacks to the need for the terrorist group to enforce itself in a new arena in the face of waning influence.

question: What groups is the Islamic State targeting?

answer: While the article is about an attack on Copts, the Islamic State has declared an intention to attack all Egyptian Christians. However, Egypt's deadliest terror attack in the Sinai was at a mosque, where 300 Sufis were killed. The Islamic State is attacking any group that is a minority and does not adhere to their version of Islam, whether those groups are Muslim or Christian.

question: Where did the Islamic State choose to attack the Copts?

answer: The Islamic State sent a gunman who opened fire on a Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo. The gunman chose to fire as worshippers were leaving the church. The worshippers had been attending mass beforehand, although according to a spokesman, the attacker was not able to get into the Church.

question: How many people were effected by the terrorist attack?

answer: It depends on who you ask. According to the statement released by the terrorists on Telegram, 10 people were killed. According to eyewitness observers, eight worshippers were killed, and one police officer. In addition, eight more people and another police officer were said to be wounded. At least one of the gunmen was also killed by police. However there is a possibility that more deaths or injuries came to light after the writing of the article, so the author states "at least nine people were killed" at the beginning of the page.


text:
_UFC 246: MCGREGOR VS. COWBOY_ was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 18, 2020 at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States.[1]

Background

A welterweight bout between former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor and former lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone served as the event headliner.[2]

A women's bantamweight rematch between former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and former title challenger Raquel Pennington was initially scheduled to take place at UFC 243.[3] The pairing previously met in February 2015 at UFC 184, with Holm winning the encounter via split decision.[4] However, it was revealed on September 27, 2019 that Holm withdrew from the bout due to a hamstring injury and the bout was cancelled.[5] The bout was rescheduled and took place at this event.[6]

Grant Dawson was expected to face Chas Skelly in a featherweight bout at the event.[7] However, the bout was scrapped on January 14 after Dawson announced that he was forced to withdraw.[8]

Former UFC Women's Strawweight Championship challenger Cláudia Gadelha was expected to face Alexa Grasso at the event.[9] However, on the day of the weigh-ins, Grasso weighed in at 121.5 pounds, 5.5 pounds over the strawweight non-title fight limit of 116 pounds. The Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) decided to remove the fight because competitors are not allowed to compete if the weight between them is over 3 pounds.[10]

Results

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Bonus awards

The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[12]

-   FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: No bonus awarded.
-   PERFORMANCE OF THE NIGHT: CONOR MCGREGOR, ALEKSEI OLEINIK, BRIAN KELLEHER, CARLOS DIEGO FERREIRA and DREW DOBER

Reported payout

The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC). It does not include sponsor money and also does not include the UFC's traditional “fight night” bonuses. The total disclosed payout for the event was $4,434,000.[13]

-   CONOR MCGREGOR: $3,000,000 (no win bonus) def. Donald Cerrone: $200,000
-   HOLLY HOLM: $200,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus) def. Raquel Pennington: $63,000
-   ALEKSEI OLEINIK: $150,000 (includes $75,000 win bonus) def. Maurice Greene: $30,000
-   BRIAN KELLEHER: $46,000 (includes $23,000 win bonus) def. Ode Osborne: $10,000
-   CARLOS DIEGO FERREIRA: $100,000 (includes $50,000 win bonus) def. Anthony Pettis: $155,000
-   ROXANNE MODAFFERI: $62,000 (includes $31,000 win bonus) def. Maycee Barber: $29,000
-   SODIQ YUSUFF: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus) def. Andre Fili: $55,000
-   ASKAR ASKAROV: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Tim Elliott: $31,000
-   DREW DOBER: $110,000 (includes $55,000 win bonus) def. Nasrat Haqparast: $25,000
-   ALEKSA CAMUR: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus) def. Justin Ledet: $20,000
-   SABINA MAZO: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus) def. JJ Aldrich: $30,000

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title: UFC 246

question: Name the two fighters who headlined UFC 246.

answer: Former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor and former lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone.

question: At what weight class did McGregor and Cerrone fight in at the time of the article?

answer: Welterweight

question: What bout served as the co-main event of UFC 246?

answer: A women's bantamweight rematch between former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and former title challenger Raquel Pennington.

question: How much did Conor McGregor make for beating Donald Cerrone?

answer: $3,000,000

question: Write a ~7 sentence summary.

answer: UFC 246: McGregor VS. Cowboy was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on January 18, 2020, at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, USA. The event was headlined by a welterweight showdown between former double-champ, Conor McGregor, and former lightweight challenger, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. A women's bantamweight fight between former UFC Bantamweight Champion, Holly Holm, and former challenger Raquel Pennington served as the co-main event. McGregor defeated Cerrone, while Holm beat Pennington. Two bouts for the night were scrapped, while several fighters won "Performance of the Night" honors (winning an additional $50k), including McGregor, Oleinik, Kelleher, Ferreira, and Dober. McGregor took home the biggest purse of the night at $3,000,000.


text:
The place was a government run commie get up. I didn’t much like the look of it but it was the only place for miles, it was dark, and I was out of petrol. Riding at night on these roads is deadlier than crab fishing. As I said, it was government run, commie, and I was very much a white capitalist westerner; a devil.

I walked up to the desk.

The lady, having already sneaked a peep as I walked in, braced herself for the little cold war. I had been standing there about ten seconds before she slowly looked up at me with the knives in her eyes and asked what I wanted. “A room.” of course. She went back to the computer. A few seconds later she yelled a harsh command out to one of her underlings. I couldn’t understand it, Vietnamese was all Greek to me, even though I’m Greek. After spending many hours with long time expatriates I was certain that the only way you could learn the native tongue was to breach the womb here, all other attempts were futile. Eventually a young man came and showed me to my room.

We didn’t say anything on the walk. It wouldn’t have been much of a conversation anyhow, but judging from his air, he didn’t seem like he wanted me up against the wall bathed in spotlight like the desk lady did. We went around a few strange gardens, up some stairs, and eventually down a row of what looked like cabins, all heavily padlocked. He opened one and let me in.
It was a small room made of thin wooden walls. Upon entry there was a power switch that required the room key to activate, not at all uncommon. There was a fan, but no air-conditioning, a tv sans english channels, and a small bathroom. I didn’t mind the lack of aircon even though it was muggy enough to make even me sweat (I’m not much of a sweater). I had gotten used to the weather and quite enjoyed it. I put my things down and had a shower. 6 hours on a motorbike riding down dusty pothole ridden roads, diving in and out of mining trucks and through the hoards of insects that appear at dusk, had made me filthy. The diesel fumes alone from the trucks had ringed my eyes. I looked like I was about to take off my shirt and throw on a dress for a cheeky night out.

The shower was good and cold. I barely towelled off. When I came out I noticed there was a fridge. It had beer in it. I cracked a Heineken and lay back on the bed. Vietnam is a funny place, at times more capitalist than all the western world combined, at others a big brother like institution of officials and party lines. My beer was testament. I finished it and decided to check Facebook. I had separated from my riding buddies a day before and we were planning to meet up down the line. For some reason we hadn’t yet gotten Vietnamese phones, so Facebook was our form of communication. I walked outside and found a hub of computers. All but one were being used by the employees. Sitting down I noticed a sign hanging off the old thing. “No Facebook”.

I signed in.

There was a message from my buddies, we were to meet the next day in Dien Bien Phu, a small city on the Laotian border, and cross from there. Seems easy enough. I wrote a reply confirming a time and place, knowing very well that our chances of meeting there and then were extremely low. Shoot for the stars! Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“No Facebook.”

It was the desk lady. The knives were there. I looked around. A small group of people had gathered around me. Mostly adolescents that weren’t old enough to work for the international mining giants that had shadily set up in the region in an attempt to steal as much coal as possible before people started asking questions. I was pretty sure that by the time the questions came, it would all be gone.

“Sorry?” I pretended not to understand. Play the dumb westerner. When in doubt, play the dumb westerner.

She looked at me like I was a dumb westerner.

She’d already won, she thought. There was a hint of pity in her eyes.

“NO FACEBOOK.” She screwed her eyebrows down to the ridge of her nose and and pointed viciously at the computer. A few from the crowd inched closer in.

With a false look of surprise I said, “Ohhh! Faaaaacebook.”

I had overdone it. I tried to hide it but she could see the glint in my greedy eyes.

“OFF!” She barked, stamping her foot. The pity had left.

“Ok, sorry, just a second!” I sent the reply and logged out.

“NO Facebook!” She pointed to the sign.

“Yeah sorry, I didn’t see it.” Smiling too widely for the occasion.

She turned and marched away. The crowd slowly dispersed, back to their own doings. Maybe they really hadn’t seen Facebook before? No, that’s impossible. They wanted blood. It was us verses them, and I was the first them they had seen in a long time.

I used the computer for about another five minutes, mostly ignored, but every now and then I could feel eyes peering over my shoulder, hoping to catch me out, ready for another show. It never came. I went back to my room and cracked another beer.

It had been about half an hour and I was three beers down, half way through my fourth, when I heard a loud conversation from the room next to me. After a few seconds I realised it wasn’t a loud conversation, as far as conversations go, it was just loud. I went to the wall and pressed my fingers against it feeling the give. It was very thin. I slid my fingers along. The smooth polish gave way to a harsh edge. A hole. About the size of a bullet, but it wasn’t a bullet hole, just the product of a cheap government funded operation. I peaked through.

There was a man and a woman, the woman was wearing a bra and panties and the man was in a tight fitting pair of briefs. The shorts variety. They were lying on the bed, facing in my direction, spooning, the woman was in front. The man started talking in a soft, pleading voice. His arm resting on the woman’s shoulder, slowly moving back and forth. She shook it off. He said something else in the same tone and tried to reposition his hand but she brushed it off again and let out a short sharp word before staring high up at the wall in a bored, annoyed manner. She wasn’t having any of it. I walked back to my bed and picked up my beer feeling dirty and lay down. “A fine place they’ve got here,” I thought. The conversation persisted but I could tell the poor bastard was out of luck. I cracked another beer.

Then some more sounds started, from the other room adjacent to me. “Oh no.” I thought. I glanced at the wall. There were more holes. I knew I shouldn’t but I was curious. I got up and found a small one and peeped through. There were two young girls, they had just taken the room and were unpacking their things. They seemed to be happy, chatting in the sing song manner Vietnamese can sometimes sound like when things are good and night is young. Suddenly I felt exposed. I could be being watched and I’d have no idea. I put my shorts back on and sat down. It was pretty hot and I had taken them off when I came in. They were uncomfortable. I sat there trying to look unsuspicious and had a few more slugs on my beer. I felt dirty about looking through the holes. I drank some more mulling it over. Then it came to me. I took my shorts back off. I was naked. I threw my bag off the end of my bed making a loud bang, and coughed obnoxiously. There, I thought, they know I’m in here now, and soon enough they’d find the holes as I did, their curiosity getting the better of them. They’d brush their fingers back and forth until they found one big enough to see through but small enough not to be seen, and when they’d look through, they’d see me stark naked, lying in bed with my little pot belly and my beer on my chest, a gentle benevolent westerner caught up in the wrong part of town. And then, we’d be even.

I smiled to myself, thinking about it.

An hour or so later, once the little fridge was empty, I turned off the lights and fell asleep. Hopefully that was enough time for my plan to play out.

I woke early the next day, around seven or so. I would usually stay up and rise late, but with the lack of people to talk to and things to do the drinking started earlier, and in the end there was nothing left but sleep. I gathered my things and made my way towards the front desk. There were some menus. I took one and sat down. Normally I would have pho for breakfast, one of the greatest meals ever conceived, fit for any time of day or night, but I could tell from my surroundings I would get a cheap westernised version, so I ordered fried eggs with bread and a vietnamese coffee. A common offering. It was always the same, two fried, flipped eggs and a small baguette. The only thing that changed was the way they spelled it.

About half way through my meal I heard the sound of chairs being drawn. I looked up. It was the two girls from the night before. I stared off over their shoulders, pretending not to notice them, but I was waiting to see. A few seconds passed and out of the corner of my eye I saw one of them sneak a glance at me. Some hushed words were shared, and then the other did the same. I went back to my meal, smiling. Had they looked through the holes? Had they caught me in the raw? Probably not, I thought, that kind of act doesn’t lend itself to company. Unless of course they were closer than most. A rare confidence is required for a thing like that, the like of which I’d never experienced. Maybe they had caught wind of my stand earlier that night by the computer. I mused on it, feeling like a modern day John Dillinger.

I got up and paid for my room and meal. The lady was back at her post. She hammered on a few previously unmentioned taxes, took my money, and walked away without saying another word. I liked that, she was unwavering, devoted to the cause, not an inch given; not since the pity had gone. The pity was my only chance.

I was a stranger in these lands. Not unlike my place of home, except that here they could tell straight away, it didn’t take a few weeks of brief encounters and mindless small talk, the odd longer conversation, to figure it out. Especially in the forgotten, northern towns, where the party rules supreme. I liked that too. Straight to the point.

I mounted my dirty little postie bike. It had served me well so far, but there was a ways to go yet. Hopefully it would make it. I’m not sure who had the odds, me or it. Probably me. It was barely holding together. “Well, either we both make it, or neither of us do,” I thought.

I kicked the engine over and it roared to life; well as best a 100cc engine can. I revved the throttle gently. It spluttered for a short time before calming to a gentle, constant purr. The girls were looking at me now. I looked up and smiled, then winked in a friendly manner as if to say, “You dirty voyeurs, I know what you did.” They blushed and looked back to their meals. The blush could have been a sign that I had got them, but it was probably only due to the fact that I was the first westerner they’d seen in months. I highly doubt they had any idea how crazy I was.

I swung my bag onto my back, dropped the bike into first and took off down the dusty pot hole ridden road towards Dien Bien Phu.

title: [RF] Commie Hotel

question: What does the story say about the other guests in the hotel?

answer: When the narrator is using Facebook, a group of people--mostly adolescents--gather around him. Back in his hotel room, he spies a couple spooning through a hole in the wall. Through another hole, he sees two young girls unpacking their things. He winks at the girls the next day when he's leaving the hotel, and they blush.

question: What does the story say about the narrator?

answer: The narrator is Greek. He rides a motorbike. He uses Facebook despite noticing a sign forbidding it. He drinks a lot of beer. He also has a pot belly.

question: What does the story say about the narrator's occupation?


text:
I saw her again last night. Her visits have gotten more and more infrequent as time passes. Before this past night it had been 6 days, 13 hours, and 42 minutes since our last encounter.

I was drunk. I spend most of my time in an alcohol-induced stupor these days. A fist smashed my door several times, yanking me from my whiskey nirvana. After a brief but brutal fight with gravity and the floor, I managed to navigate my way to the knocking sound. But I was cautious. It could have been another one of my "friends" claiming they were there to help me. I'm too smart for them. All they want to do is strip away my life-preserving elixir, the one thing getting me through every morning and every night. My mud brown orbs peep through the eye-hole and meet a pair of Caribbean blue eyes. Her eyes.

It's hard for me to recollect what happened next but I remember flinging open the door with such force it's a mystery the hinges didn't come undone. Then she's in my arms, bringing me warmth greater than Hell but everything in this moment is so perfect that I know we must be in a place even higher than Heaven.

Strawberries. That's what her hair smells like. I had almost forgotten. Immediately I curse my memory and fight back tears of frustration. But before I have the chance to cry, she leans in and whispers, "I miss you, darling" and I melt into a sweet, steaming pile of yearning. Our eyes meld into a navy black mess. I hate my own eyes for dirtying the beauty of this union.

That old, tangled knot in my chest returns. It slowly expands and I know it's going to explode soon so I go for the only cure I know. My lips seek the warmth of her lips. Instead they meet a finger, stiff and icy. She shakes her head, wearing the same kind of smile a mother does when her three year old son asks for the meaning behind "you'll be a big brother soon".

The rest of the night was a blur of love. Hours dripped into hours. At some point the alcohol and strawberries took their toll. She didn't visit my dreams that night and when I awoke to the light of the morning she was gone. The knot in my chest unwound and sunk back into its bottomless void. I poured myself a glass of whiskey and stared out at the blindingly bright sun. Though it stung, it helped bring back a bit of glowing comfort.

I finished my drink and grabbed my car keys. For once I actually had a destination in mind. The drive was uneventful. The sun hid behind a shield of clouds and did not return for the rest of the day. On the way there I stopped at a farmer's market and picked up a bouquet of forget-me-nots. They had been her favorite flowers.

I placed the forget-me-nots on the cold stone and stared at nothing for three hours in somber silence. Then I drove home, opened a new bottle of Jack Daniels, and drank myself into another coma. As I drifted into death I promised to spend tomorrow the same way. And the day after that. And the day after that. And that was how my life would be spent from now. I don't need anything or anyone other than my alcohol and the occasional visit from her. Maybe if I take one more shot than I did the night before I can see her again. And maybe next time she won't leave once the sun rises. And maybe we'll be together forever, like those two stupidly innocent children promised each other underneath the thousand year old oak tree in that field of gold forever ago. Maybe.

title: Good Night, World.

question: Why does the narrator miss the woman?

answer: At the end of the story we learn that the woman has died. The narrator drinks constantly in order to bring himself closer to the image of the woman who visits him in his dreams. It is never enough and he always wants to be with her more.


text:
Death.

It was all around me. Down the corridors in the rooms. The smell lingered like a black, hazy cloud above my head. The corridors were sickly white from the lights watching above, hurting my eyes as if somehow malicious and malevolent. Cautiously, I walked down the corridor; the sound of my heels clicking against the floor, echoing in my mind like the beats of people’s hearts around me.

I leap. At least a foot or two in my mind, though it may have just been two inches. My heart skips, delaying my breath, and when it does come, it is in gasps and pants.

A bloodcurdling scream had just emanated from one of the many cold, clinical walls, echoing down the corridor. I sigh, “Just another day at the offices I suppose”.

I’m a nurse at the local hospital in the intensive care unit. Just an average person, there’s nothing different about me. At least, this is what I lead people to believe. I have a secret to hide, that nobody knows.

The hospital is the safest place for me to hide.

Nobody ever thinks it’s me. I mean, I’m a doctor - why would you suspect someone like me? You see, if I told you my secret right now, you would go cold. Your blood would freeze. You’d try your best to escape the crazy person that just told you this horrible, crazy thing. That’s what happened to last person I told.

My own mother, terrified, started screaming and shouting at me, telling me I’m a monster and that she never wants to see me again. Reluctantly I left, feeling rejected and downtrodden. I’m no stranger to rejection; I’ve always been cast out of groups, always been ignored.

That is, until I met him.

As I continued my journey down the corridor, I heard another scream; the same freezing sensation goes running down my spine exactly like before, reaching into my heart, replacing my blood with ice, pulling my air out of my body. I sigh, and after pausing for a precious moment, press onwards with my duty.

I walked into the rooms around me, checking on the patients - but I have a specific patient on my mind. Calmly, I stroll out of the penultimate room, down to the last room at the end of the corridor. Drawn to it I quicken my pace, desperation setting in like the jaws of a vice, holding me in its grip. Something about it tempts me, there is something just so unusually tantalizing about it.

I am the moth, and this is my flame.

Carefully, I placed my hand upon the doorknob and paused for a moment, reflecting briefly on the events that had led to this moment. I smile to myself. “Time to go,” I whisper, and turn the doorknob, slowly and deliberately, quiet as a cat would tread down this hall. I push slightly on the door. It obeys, and opens without a sound, revealing its secrets.

There he lay, helpless, the pain creeping up on his face, contorting his usual handsome features into something completely different. He now was a catalyst of pain and anguish. His cheery demeanor had been replaced with a forlorn, defeated expression that I could feel myself mimicking from just looking at him.

It killed me to see him that way - something I’d never felt for anyone before it had all happened. The pale skin on his chest gently rose with his every breath. His bed ridden hair spread messily over his pillow like waves of some brown ocean, once luxurious now resembled rotten straw. Those mesmerizing ocean blue eyes that always kept me hypnotised in my place now repelled me, even though they weren’t open. Under his paper white skin, I could see his blood pumping faintly through his veins. I breathe in, taking in his scent. The smell intoxicates my mind, making my head spin around and around, my world suddenly becoming very cloudy. My every thought spiraling out of control, but all centering on him. His scent. His blood.

Snapping out of my trance, I then realised how close I was to his neck. I pull back, ashamedly and race out of the room, making sure to leave no trace of my foul presence.

This turn of events had been recurring without relent for weeks now, ever since he was first admitted into this place. Ever since the start, something about him had hypnotised my every sense. Try as I may to avoid his room - even the very corridor it was situated in - it still seemed to end in the same horrible fashion. My face only inches from his neck.

This story isn’t unique though - this same tragic turn of events has happened to me once before, a long time ago. I used to work night shifts at another hospital before this one; and just like this very moment I was checking on patients to see if everything was ok.

There was one patient who stood out to me in a big way. His name was Gustav Wood. He was vastly different to all the others, and just like the current object of my desires, some unidentifiable thing about him stood out. Maybe it was his velvety smooth skin, how magically pale it was or the way his voice sounded, like a glass full of warm, creamy chocolate. I didn’t know what it was, but something about him intrigued me, and I had to find out what it was even if it killed me.

Gustav and I bonded quickly and graciously over the months of his stay at the hospital. We talked enthusiastically whenever I was treating him and checking in on him, and I found out a lot of things about him. He was a solider and got injured badly in the war. I nursed him from almost certain death - when he first came in I honestly thought he wasn’t going to make it and he was all I could think about throughout all my waking (and sleeping) hours.

One miserable night, when the rain was pouring angrily down, with the fog hanging thickly in the night sky, I went to check on Gustav. I walked into his room, quietly, so as not to wake him if he indeed was asleep. He turned around as briskly as I had entered and looked at me, but something about him seemed to be different. Something seemed wrong. I ignored that thought in the back of my head, continuing to get closer to him.

Gingerly, I stood beside his bed. Gustav gazed up at me with that strange look in his eyes, the same one I have been seeing for a few nights now. This look made me feel uneasy. This look was wrong. But before I could speak to him, or even open my mouth to try to speak, I noticed his eyes had taken an unusual form, and a devilish grin was forming on his lips.

It all just happened so fast. He grabbed me at the back of my head fiercely, and threw it back with enormous strength - strength I would never have expected from a recovering war casualty. My eyes opened wide, my mouth wider, and as I was just about to scream, he sank his teeth deep into my neck. My festering scream then released itself from my lungs, as he drained the life from my body. And as suddenly as he had started, he stopped, dropping my limp body on the bed and vanishing through the window into the darkness of the night.

I laid there, withering in pain on the blood splattered sheets, the pain unreal like my body was being incinerated by the forces of Hell itself. Finally, the pain subsided and I woke up. A week had passed, and I was laid in the same place I was viciously attacked by Gustav. And I couldn’t place it, but something was very different about me. Something had changed in me; whether Gustav had provoked this change or it had happened itself I didn’t know. But I know now.

Tonight wasn’t any different to the other nights earlier in the week. I was doing the night shift again, checking in on each patient meticulously like every other night at the hospital. Once again, I had arrived at the end of the corridor. I had arrived near him. Cautiously, I opened the door, careful not to make a sound, then swiftly, gracefully entered - shutting it behind me. Then silently, coolly, walked towards him.

He was sound asleep. “Not for long,” I think, “Tonight’s the nights when my plan comes into action.” Cunningly, I put my face near his neck, his blood tantalisingly pulsating under his skin. Out of nowhere there was a noise outside the room. I stopped dead in my tracks and listen.

Silence.

Slowly, I opened my mouth, moved carefully over to his neck and sank my teeth in deep. He woke up immediately of course - much to my dismay - and screamed out in pain. I quickly clamp my hand over his mouth to muffle his irritating screams. The taste of blood in the back of my mouth was amazing, like nothing I had ever tasted before.

I don’t know how long I was there, but eventually I stopped, dropping his limp body to the bed. I gazed down to my blood splattered shirt, to his lifeless, limp body and smile to myself.

“Wow,” I sigh to myself, reveling in delight when all of a sudden a loud bang sounds outside; I get up from the bed immediately and jump through the window into the darkness, taking with me my conflicting feelings of ecstasy, guilt, but most of all – satiety.

title: My Shameful Affliction

question: Describe the narrator's character.

answer: The narrator is a vampire disguised as nurse at a hospital, working in the intensive care unit. They live with a secret that nobody knows about. The blood of some patients intoxicates their mind and thoughts. It all started when a recovering war casualty bit into the narrator's neck, draining the life out of their body. The narrator becomes infected and on an evening shift, while checking on the patients, they go for their strike. They find their victim and suck the life out of them. The narrator is delighted and amazed by the taste but as people approach the room, narrator jumps out the window into the darkness.


text:
from the _hello,-ambassador-streisand!_ dept

Hey, everyone, today is World Press Freedom Day, which is a day created by the UN to "celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom," to "assess the state of press freedom throughout the world" and to "defend the media from attacks on their independence." Sounds good, right? So how is the UN itself celebrating World Press Freedom Day? Why, by refusing to allow a presentation to be heard that calls out Turkey for its suppression of press freedom.

For real.

The News Literacy Project -- which, as the name suggests, seeks to increase new literacy among students -- was all set to do a presentation at the UN's Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) for World Press Freedom Day. However, just before the event, the UNAOC told NLP that it was "indefinitely postponing" their presentation unless references to the suppression of press freedoms in Turkey were removed. Really.

  __

  The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) indefinitely postponed an event at the U.N. tomorrow to observe World Press Freedom Day after the News Literacy Project (NLP) refused UNAOC’s request to remove references in our presentation to several countries where press freedom is limited.

  The references are in videos from a new lesson on international press freedoms in our Checkology virtual classroom, which I was planning to introduce at the event. The videos include remarks, written for the lesson by NLP and presented by lesson host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson of NPR, about severe restrictions on press freedom in Turkey, Mexico and Egypt and comments by Russian and Pakistani journalists describing the challenges they face.

  NLP submitted the presentation to UNAOC on Monday so it would be ready to be shared with the audience. A UNAOC official then asked us to delete the reference to Turkey — which, along with Spain, had proposed the creation of UNAOC in 2005 — and the official later insisted that NLP not share any of the video clips.

Of course, all this is really doing is driving a hell of a lot more attention to (1) the suppression of press freedom in Turkey and (2) the out and out hypocrisy of the UN. We've certainly written a bunch about how Turkey has suppressed the media by throwing hundreds of journalists in jail and then calling them terrorists, and it has tried to export its journalist suppression elsewhere, including here in the US.

There are so many stories of Turkey throwing journalists in prison that it's tough to keep track of them all. And, frankly, most people would have never known about NLP's presentation, which only appears to mention Turkey's journalism suppression in passing, had the UN not tried to silence them.

So, it would certainly appear that inadvertently, in trying to stifle any mention of press censorship and intimidation by the Turkish government, the UN has successfully gotten a lot more attention to Turkey's attacks of press freedom. I guess that makes it a successful World Press Freedom Day... even if it also involved exposing the UN's own weak backbone on the very topic it claims to be celebrating.

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Filed Under: censorship, free speech, journalism, turkey, world press freedom day
Companies: national literacy project, un, united nations

question: When is World Press Freedom Day celebrated?

answer: This information can't be found.

question: Why did the UN indefinitely postpone the presentation?

answer: The United Nations postponed the presentation because it mentioned the suppression of press freedom in Turkey. They said they would postpone it indefinitely unless this reference was removed.

question: Which all countries were mentioned in the presentation for having restrictions on press freedom?

answer: The mentioned countries were: Turkey, Mexico, and Egypt.

question: How is the media suppressed in Turkey?

answer: Turkey suppressed their press by throwing hundreds of journalists in jail and calling them terrorists.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer:
World Press Freedom Day, a day created by the UN to celebrate press freedom. The News Literacy Project was putting forth a presentation at the UN's Alliance of Civilisations to celebrate the same. But, just before the event, the UN said they would postpone the presentation indefinitely if NLP did not remove a part of the presentation related to press suppression in Turkey.

This shows the hypocrisy of the UN. And not only that but by doing so, instead of suppressing the topic it got a lot more attention.


text:
Tunnel of love}}

_THE TUNNEL OF LOVE_ is a 1958 romantic comedy film based on the Broadway hit by Peter De Vries and Joseph Fields. The film follows a married suburban couple who, for reasons unknown, are unable to conceive a child and soon endure endless red tape on a path of adopting one. The film is the first directorial effort from Gene Kelly in which he did not also star. Doris Day received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Plot

In Westport, Connecticut, Augie and Isolde Poole celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary by turning in an application to the Rock-a-Bye adoption agency. Encouraged by their friends and next-door neighbors, Dick and Alice Pepper, who have three children and another due, Isolde, who has been unsuccessful in her attempts to become pregnant, is determined that she and Augie will eventually be parents. While awaiting news of the application to the agency, Isolde decides that she and Augie should continue to try to have a baby on their own, and she enthusiastically follows all the latest advice by pregnancy experts.

Although exhausted by Isolde's resolve, Augie worries about having a child while they are living off Isolde's family money as he struggles to make a success as a serious cartoonist. Dick, editor of _The Townsman_ magazine, assures Augie that his publication would gladly hire Augie to write gags, but Isolde insists that Augie hold out for a more important offer. Dick criticizes Augie for being too serious, compared to his own lighthearted manner, which, to Augie's dismay, includes perpetual infidelity.

One afternoon some weeks after their application, Estelle Novick, a striking young representative from Rock-a-Bye, visits the Pooles' neighborhood. Having learned of Estelle's presence from other neighbors, Alice takes Isolde home to dress her properly for the interview. When Estelle comes to the Pooles' house, Augie is unaware of her identity and, believing she works for a local charity, drinks two cocktails and behaves casually.

[Doris Day, Richard Widmark and Gig Young] When Dick comes over and makes a pass at Estelle, however, she is outraged and reveals her identity. Reminding the men that Dick is the Pooles' reference, Estelle waves aside their abject apologies and insists that she must report her findings to the agency. When Estelle departs as soon as Isolde returns, Isolde is hurt and angry at Augie and goes home with Alice. Dick tries to comfort Augie by suggesting that Augie might relax if he had an affair, but when Augie scoffs, Dick offers him tranquilizers and leaves. Moments later, Estelle returns to the Pooles', apologizes for her severe behavior and accepts the cocktail Augie offered her earlier. Considering Dick's advice and dispirited by Isolde's anger, Augie is emboldened to ask Estelle to dinner. While driving into town, however, Augie panics and takes one of Dick's tranquilizers.

Later, when Augie becomes drowsy, Estelle drives him to a motel and checks him into a room to let him sleep off the pill's effect. The next morning, Augie is mortified to find himself in the motel and, finding a note from Estelle thanking him for his kindness, believes he has been unfaithful to Isolde. Three months later, Isolde is disheartened to have heard nothing from Rock-a-Bye or any of the other adoption agencies. Augie visits Dick and confesses the incident with Estelle, from whom he has just received a call informing him that she is pregnant and leaving the area for her confinement. Fearful that she will demand money, Augie pleads with Dick to hire him at the magazine, then give him a thousand dollar advance.

Later that day, Estelle drops by to visit the Pooles to advise them that she believes in a few months they may at last get their baby. Isolde is delighted by the news and Augie weakly announces his new job with Dick's magazine. Alone with Estelle later, Augie presses the money on her, then demands an explanation. Estelle promises to repay the loan, then explains that she owes the Pooles for all of Augie's assistance to her.

A few months later, Dick and Alice throw Augie and Isolde a party in anticipation of the arrival of the new baby. While dancing with Dick, Isolde confides that she has found a mysterious thousand dollar imbalance in the Pooles' finances. Realizing this must be the money Augie has given Estelle, Dick invents a story of losing an investment on the stock market and Augie giving him a loan. Surprised but pleased, Isolde asks for the money to be repaid for preparations for the baby.

That night, Isolde tells Augie about the bank imbalance and, panicked, Augie hastily admits that he borrowed money from Dick several times and paid it back in full once he was employed. Certain that Augie is covering for Dick, the next day Isolde tells Alice, who promises to repay the money. Some weeks later, Miss MacCracken from Rock-a-Bye telephones to schedule a visit. Unnerved, Augie wonders if he should confess everything to Isolde. Miss MacCracken arrives and informs Isolde and Augie that a baby has just been born and they have been moved to the top of the agency's list.

Thrilled, Augie and Isolde welcome the infant baby boy to their home days later, and soon everyone notices the baby's similarity to Augie. Weeks afterward, as the physical similarity grows, Isolde becomes suspicious. When Isolde has Augie's baby picture blown up and Alice mistakes it for the baby, Isolde furiously accuses Augie of infidelity and declares she is leaving him.

As Isolde is packing, Miss MacCracken returns to make an inspection of the couples' first month with the baby. Realizing that the couple is breaking up, she declares she must make a report to the agency, but Augie pleads for a week and Miss MacCracken agrees. Desperate to stop Isolde from leaving, Augie then confesses the incident with Estelle. Just then, however, Estelle arrives to congratulate the Pooles, repay Augie the loan and share a photo of the baby she had which is a girl. This confirms Augie and Estelle did not sleep together. The baby is Estelle's by her husband whom she is joining in Australia.

Cast

-   Doris Day as Isolde Poole
-   Richard Widmark as August 'Augie' Poole
-   Gig Young as Dick Pepper
-   Gia Scala as Estelle Novick
-   Elisabeth Fraser as Alice Pepper
-   Elizabeth Wilson as Miss MacCracken
-   Vikki Dougan as Gladys Dunne

The Broadway production of the play starred Tom Ewell, Nancy Olson and Darren McGavin. Glenn Ford was originally slated to appear opposite Day but later dropped out of the production because of commitments to two other projects.

Problematic circumstances

Kelly's pinnacle years at MGM came to a close with this film, which was the final one in his contract. He had been looking for more opportunities to direct and new MGM chief (and Kelly fan) Benny Thau needed someone to tackle the film, so it was a beneficial collaboration for both of them. But there were conditions. Thau stipulated that Kelly had to make the movie in black and white, using only one primary set, shoot it in just three weeks and for a cost of less than $500,000.

Kelly succeeded, completing the film on time and within the budget. Yet, it did not perform well at the box office, for reasons which Kelly later revealed in _The Films of Gene Kelly: Song and Dance Man_: “This is no criticism of Richard Widmark, who is one of the finest film actors we have and who actually started his stage career playing light comedic parts. It's simply that the public fixes an impression of an actor, they accept him in a certain guise and they don't like him to stray too far from it. Widmark had established himself in serious material and they weren't prepared to accept him in this light, sexy part. The public creates type-casting, not the actors - unfortunately.” Kelly would go on to direct several other films, most notably the romantic comedy musical film _Hello, Dolly!_ (1969) starring Barbra Streisand, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Production

The only major change made by Fields in his screenplay adaptation was an explanation that “Augie Poole” is not the father of “Estelle's” child. In the play, Estelle seduces Augie intentionally in order to get pregnant so that she might experience firsthand the plight of unwed mothers, the topic of her PhD thesis, which, as in the film, she reveals she is working on part-time.

Release

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $1,750,000 in the US and Canada and $940,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $701,000.[1]

Critical response

In a 1958 _New York Times_ review, Bosley Crowther wrote "OH, what they say, those shameless people, in M-G-M's “The Tunnel of Love,” a comedy that bores through the shifty sands of wedlock in modern suburbia! Such blunt words as “Kinsey” and “pregnant” and even “aphrodisiac” drop from the lips of the characters in unembarrassed loquacity. And what they are candidly discussing in this new film at the Roxy—well! We blush to have to tell you, but it's philoprogenitiveness." He also wrote that "all the fuss and bother are spent over one minor gag that wears awfully thin before the finish. It's a “Little Accident,” updated just a bit." [2]

Home media

On April 7, 2009, Turner Entertainment released the film on DVD as part of the Doris Day Spotlight Collection. The five-disc set contains digitally remastered versions of _It's a Great Feeling_ (1949), _Tea for Two_ (1950), _Starlift_ (1951) and _April in Paris_ (1952).[3]

[1]

[2] 1. _The New York Times_.

[3]

title: The Tunnel of Love

question: What does the plot say about Isolde and Augie's aspiration?

answer: Augie and Isolde Poole have been married for five years without a child. Their neighbor and friends, Dick and Alice Pepper, with three children and expecting a fourth, have been their pillar of support through their trying times. They are determined that their friends, Augie and Isolde, will eventually become parents. Although the Poole's have already applied to Rock-a-Bye adoption agency, Isolde insists that while they await feedback from them, she and Augie should keep trying to have babies on their own by following all advice from pregnancy experts. So, it's clear that Isolde and Augie's aspiration is to have a child someday.

question: What does the story say about Dick and Augie's friendship?

answer: Augie Poole and Dick Pepper are neighbors and friends. Dick is the editor of The Townsman magazine and offers Augie a job at the company to write gigs. However, Augie's wife, Isolde, advises against it and encourages him to seek a job elsewhere. Dick and Augie are of contrasting characters; Augie is uptight, while Dick is lighthearted and a perpetual infidel. Dick even encourages Augie to flirt with Estelle, a young agent from Rock-a-Bye adoption agency, and covers for him when Augie suspects he might be responsible for Estelle's pregnancy after believing they had an affair.


text:
In my high school creative writing class we were assigned to write a short story on the "forgotten hero". I chose to write my short story on a Vietnam Veteran stuck in a nursing home who is suffering with PTSD and Alcoholism. I would really appreciate it if you could read this over and help me out with any area of my writing, which includes (but is not limited to): voice, tone, flow (fluidity?), style, vocab, etc.

Thanks in advance.

**M1911**

Daniel wakes up, his knuckles are white from clutching the bed sheets. He’s sweating. He turns on his side and checks the bedside clock. 2:17 AM. He reaches and pulls out the drawer that sits underneath the clock and blindly feels around in the dark, moving magazines and rags off of something concealed. His hand adjusts to the familiar touch of wood and cold metal. His pistol. It’s the same Colt M1911 that he survived with during three tours in the jungles of Vietnam. Content and relieved, he turns on his back and shuts his eyes, hoping that another flashback doesn’t prevent him from losing any more sleep.

A nurse enters room 34, the same room that holds Daniel captive. She’s carrying a tray of pills and a cup of water. Two pills of Prazosin and one pill of Acamprosate comprise the menu for Daniel each morning at 7:45. He drinks the water first, takes the pills second. Swallowing pills was a task previously practiced in the Marines.

As Daniel stands up, the nurse brings him his cane. He places it in his right hand and begins the prolonged and pondering walk to the cafeteria. He walks steadily, although his right leg has been giving him trouble after they removed a few pieces of shrapnel that had grown infectious. As he arrives in the cafeteria, he is greeted by the same dismal faces that put together The Arizona State Veteran Home. There are men with missing appendages with IV’s attached and following them like children, and there are others who appear to have nothing wrong with them. Or so it seems.

Daniel makes his way through the cafeteria and finds the same seat he claimed when he was 71, almost 6 years ago. Without asking, food is put down before Daniel and he is expected to eat it. He doesn’t though. He can never eat after a dream like he had last night.

Daniel checks his wrist watch. It’s 8:37. “Good,” he thinks, “only 8 more minutes in here with these people.” Daniel spends the remaining 8 minutes like he did the first 22, listening to the same small talk among the veterans concerning which board game they want to play or how beautiful the daisies are when they’re in season.

At 8:45 Daniel makes the trek back to his room. Of all the below average days Daniel has had, today seems incomparable to the rest. There’s just something about it. Unable to identify the disconcerting reason, Daniel somberly strolls back to his room in hopes of completing a 1000 piece puzzle that he’s been struggling with ever since Andrew stopped coming.

Andrew was a student at a local high school. He came to see Daniel on the weekdays usually around 3. Andrew would help Daniel with puzzles, bring him food or water, but most of the time they just sat and talked. Daniel enjoyed the company of someone so young and vibrant, juxtaposed to the men who lived with Daniel in this prison. Andrew was at the Veteran Home for a school project.

The project included serving 50 hours of community service and coming up with a final video as the culmination of his service project. Unbeknownst to Daniel, Andrew’s 50 hours were dwindling and soon Andrew was left with merely 2 hours and 4 weeks left of school to complete them. Being so diligent early on gave Andrew time to get away from the nursing home towards the end of the semester, however he had to return to finish his last 2 hours and film for his video project.

Daniel was sitting at the table which held the borders of his puzzle in place. He patiently picked up pieces, tried to fit them into certain positions, almost against their will. When he deduced that the piece would not fit, he simply put it down and moved on to the next one. Just as he found a piece which fit into two others, completing the rotor of the helicopter, a baby started crying. Daniel’s eyes became unfocused and he was immediately taken back to another place.

This place was a lot different than his room. There were trees, thick vegetation, and men in camouflaged green gear waving their rifles. The crying continued. He looked to his left and saw women and children running naked down the dirt path. The same men who were dressed in the jungle green gear whose task it was to help the citizens of My Lai, were pointing their guns and firing at the unarmed victims. Daniel was unable to shoot his gun, and only stood in shock. “How could people murder others so mercilessly?” he wondered, too afraid to speak out against this act of injustice.

Then the white walls started coming back in to focus. His hands were cramping. He looked down at them and the knuckles were the same bleach white they had been this morning as they clutched the end of the table. He looked at the puzzle, only to find the work completed in the last few days was ruined as a result of his death grip on the table. Daniel’s patience vanished, and he threw the puzzle box as best he could at his door. A nurse passing by witnessed this outbreak and decided it best to get Daniel some fresh air.

Daniel was positioned outside on a wooden bench. The nurse who witnessed his flashback brought him a glass of water and two more Prozasin pills. He used the same routine as he did earlier. As Daniel sat in the shade, he scornfully watched the other veterans whose family came to visit them. He watched as food and cake was brought to a gentleman named Emmett. It was Emmett’s 73rd birthday. The happiness portrayed in Emmett’s face while he interacted with family made Daniel sick with jealousy. To the right of Emmett, on another bench much like the one Daniel sits on, a daughter sits with her father Al who appears to be too skinny for his own his clothes. Her body language shows patience and caring, and she flashes a smile at Daniel as she catches him staring.

Daniel also has a daughter. Her name is Madison. Madison lives in New Mexico with her husband, Rick, on Canon Air Force Base. Madison and Rick have only visited Daniel once recently, and that was after his previous surgery, almost two years ago, just to check up on him. Madison has never once visited the nursing home where Daniel stays, and he believes if she saw this jail cell he has been living in for the past six years that she’d take him out of the institution immediately and let him live on his own. Remembering his daughter’s blatant lack of concern for him, Daniel retreats to the cafeteria, where lunch will be held shortly.

In the cafeteria sits down at the out of tune Grand piano. One of Emmett’s grandchildren sits down at the piano and begins to play “Happy Birthday.” Soon enough, the whole cafeteria, except for Daniel, is partaking in a raspy rendition of a song celebrating this man who is one year closer to his death. As the residents finish their lunch, pieces of chocolate cake are passed around. “My favorite!” says Daniel, as he is handed a piece by one of the grandchildren of Emmett, hoping to conjure up a smile from her delicate face. Daniel has always had a soft spot for children. They seem so innocent and naïve, hidden from the evil acts committed on March 16, 1968 by the troops in Daniel’s Battalion towards the citizens of My Lai.

Daniel waits for Emmett’s family to leave the nursing home before he goes back to Room 34. As he arrived in his room, Daniel’s heart was racing. He headed to the bathroom to pour himself a glass of mouthwash in hopes of calming his nerves. Daniel had been 8 years sober up until this point. Daniel finished the glass of mouthwash and headed towards his closet. There, he picked out the nicest pants and shirt he had and removed the Tommy Bahamas shirt, jeans, and baseball cap he normally wears. Daniel dressed himself and made his way towards his bed. He sat down on the bed and faced the bedside table. He jotted down a note and tucked it under his pillow. He got up, closed the door, and returned to the bed. He opened the bedside tables drawer, removed the same magazines and rags just as he had done earlier, and revealed his most prized possession. The M1911. He sat down on the bed and held it in his hands, feeling the grooves on the cold metal and the smoothness of the warm wood. He ejected the clip and checked to see if it was loaded, standard protocol for the Marines. The weapon had three bullets left. That was two more than he needed. He took two of them and placed them under the pillow next to the note. He inserted the clip back into the sidearm and cocked it, making sure to see the bullet enter the chamber. He turned the safety off and raised the gun to his head.

Daniel’s senses heightened. Everything in his room was silent, except for the constant ticking on the second hand of his wrist watch. He listened to it as it slowed down. Daniel’s eyes began to go out of focus again. He was taken back to a place of trees and thick vegetation. However, in this flashback there were no men dressed in camouflaged green gear. In fact, a familiar face was present with Daniel. It was his brother Tom. And they were running on their family’s farm in Indiana. Then Daniel’s eyes went out of focus again. This time, he didn’t return to the white walls of his room. He was walking across a stage, with a purple and gold gown on. He had a diploma in his hand and a smile on his face as the May sun beat down on his high school graduation ceremony. As he looked out in the crowd he found his family, and as he made eye contact with Tom, his eyesight began to fade again. When he was able to see, Daniel was aiming down the sight of an m16. He was at the shooting range at the base camp in Singapore. Daniel had won the marksman award for Private First Class and he had a keen eye. Just as he pulled the trigger of the m16, his eyes snapped Room 34 back into focus. Suddenly, darkness.

Daniel fell forward as a pool of blood formed around his head. Nurses rushed in and an ambulance was called. Daniel was deceased before he hit the floor. The M1911 that had once kept him safe in the jungle eventually ended his life.

After further examining the room, the note and two bullets were found. The note was addressed to Andrew. It read:

Dear Andrew,

Please do not blame yourself for this.

Thank you for spending time with me and impacting my life in a positive manner. Unfortunately, I have seen too much evil in this world and I should have done this a long time ago. I hope you aren’t disappointed in me.

Love,
Daniel Hawkins

title: High school student seeking criticism! Any advice would be great!

question: Summarize the different kinds of emotions Daniel went through, as described in the passage, before he took his own life.

answer:
Daniels had a nightmare. He woke up afraid with his knuckles gripping the bedsheets. After holding his Colt M1911 sidearm, he felt content and relieved. Daniel refused to eat that morning as he lacks the appetite because of the dream he had. He also misses Andrew, a student from a local high school that had been visiting him for the past few weeks. The boy seems to have stopped coming. Daniel misses his company.

Daniel experience a flashback to the time when he was at the war front. He became afraid and threw the puzzle he has had been working on at the door. A nurse who witnessed the incident took Daniel outside for some fresh air.

Daniel witnessed a fellow patient at the hospital receive some visitors. The visitors brought cake and sang for the patient. Daniel was jealous. He wished his daughter would visit. Daniel returned to his room feeling nervous. He then drank a bit of mouthwash to steady his nerves before shooting himself in the head.


text:
Patrick Harrington}}

PATRICK JOHN HARRINGTON, QC is a Welsh criminal law barrister and Queen's Counsel.[1] He has acted in more than 250 homicide trials,[2] and has been noted for work on some of “the largest and most complex fraud cases in the UK”.[3] He has been referred to as one of Wales' “most prominent” lawyers.[4]

Early life

Harrington was born in Ebbw Vale, attending Ebbw Vale Grammar School.[5]

Upon leaving school, Harrington went to read Law at the Birmingham College of Commerce (now Birmingham City University), obtaining a Bachelor of Laws degree.[6]

Career

Following his education, he was called to the Bar (Gray's Inn) in 1973,[7] and Harrington practiced from chambers in Cardiff for twenty years.

He was appointed as an Assistant Recorder in 1985 and made a Recorder in 1990.[8] In 1993 he took silk, moving to chambers in London. After a “successful” first year in silk, he was invited to join the Chambers of Lord Williams of Mostyn QC at Farrar's Building.[9]

Harrington was head of the Wales and Chester Circuit from 2003 until 2005.[10]

He is Head of Chambers at Farrar's Building in London, which is known in the legal world as “the Welsh castle in the Temple”.[11]

Specialisms

He has appeared in over 250 homicide cases, is ranked in the top tier of both Chambers and Partners, and is a Legal 500 Leading Individual, for his crime and financial crime practice.[12]

Harrington is a Recorder of the Crown Court, former leader of the Wales & Chester circuit, the former Vice President of the National Anti-Doping Panel, and a member of the following associations:[13]

-   Criminal Bar Association
-   Sports Law Association
-   London Commercial & Common Law Bar Association
-   Wales & Chester Circuit Criminal Law Association

Personal life

Harrington was born in Ebbw Vale and now lives in Raglan, Monmouthshire. He is a member of the Monmouthshire Incorporated Law Society.

He is a keen sportsman, serving as a member of Ebbw Vale RFC and Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He also plays tennis, skis, and his hobbies include playing music and classic motors.[14]

Harrington is a keen follower of horse racing, previously owning a stables and competing in races with riders Richard Johnson, Jim Culloty, and Guy Lewis.

In 2013 he became the president of Ebbw Vale Male Voice Choir.[15]

He is the author of a book about session drummer Bobby Graham, entitled _The Session Man_.[16] Graham performed as part of The Kinks, as well as alongside Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield.[17]

In January 2020, Harrington was left seriously ill after crashing his BMW between junctions 24 (Coldra) and 25 (Caerleon) of the M4 motorway near Newport on the 3rd of January.[18] He was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff. No other vehicles were involved, however Gwent Police are appealing for witnesses.[19]

Following the incident, Ebbw Vale Rugby Club President Mark Powell QC issued a statement of condolence. He praised Harrington for his “considerable role alongside the Russell family during the glory years of professional rugby”.[20]

Farrar's Building Chambers released a statement on behalf of Susan Harrington in March 2020 reporting that Patrick was mobile and was able to speak, which the Chambers described as “positive progress”.[21]

Noted cases

-   R v Hughes [1996] - secured the conviction of Hughes at Chester Crown Court for the 1995 murder of seven-year-old Sophie Hook.[22] Hughes was given three life sentences, which was re-evaluated by Home Secretary David Blunkett in November 2002 and set at a minimum of 50 years.

-   R v Morris [2002] - prosecuted and achieved the conviction of Morris for the murders of 38-year-old Mandy Power, eighty-year-old Doris Dawson, ten-year-old Katie Power, and eight-year-old Emily Power.[23] Known as the Clydach Killer, Morris was served by the judge with four life sentences. His case was quashed on appeal, but in 2006 Harrington was again instructed,[24] and Morris was found guilty for a second time.[25] Morris was one of only a few in the UK to be given a whole-life sentence, however, this was reduced to 32 years in prison in July 2007.[26]

-   R v Hampson [2002] - prosecuted Hampson for the murder of 26-year-old Geraldine Palk, whose body was found in a stream in Fairwater, Cardiff in December 1990.[27]

-   R v Ramshaw [2007] - Harrington successfully defended eighteen-year-old Ramshaw (also from Ebbw Vale) against the charge of causing death by dangerous driving (Section 1 of the Road Traffic Act 1988).[28] Ramshaw had killed two sixteen-year-old girls, two fifteen-year-old girls, and injured one male, all of whom who were passengers in his car when it flipped at an approximate speed of to per hour.[29]
-   R v Griffiths [2010] - defended care home psychiatric nurse Griffiths against the charge of wilfully ill-treating or neglecting a person who lacked mental capacity, under Section 20 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Griffiths had ill-treated two elderly patients: pushing and shoving an 85-year-old man with senile dementia, and pulling an 81-year-old woman with senile dementia by her ankles. Griffiths was sentenced to 50 hours' unpaid work for each offence after the judge found Griffiths meant no harm.[30]
-   R v Richards and Hope [2012] - acting in the trial and retrial over a contract killing where the wrong target was murdered. Seventeen-year-old Siddiqi was killed, and his parents Parveen and Sheikh Iqbal were attacked, when 38-year-old Richards and 39-year-old Hope entered their home thinking they were being paid £1,000 to kill a man, who resided on a different street. Both were high on heroin at the time of the offence and were sentenced to minimum terms of 40 years in prison, which was increased from the guidelines by the judge due to the severity of the crimes. Siddiqi had been killed while he had been waiting for the “arrival of his Koran teacher”.[31]
-   R v Evans (Eric) and others [2014] 1 WLR 2817 - achieved a successful defence dismissal application[32] following a prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office of three solicitors.[33] The verdict was described as “yet another humiliating episode for the SFO”.[34] Under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 (section 19), the SFO was forced to pay total costs claimed of over £7 million.[35]
-   R v Peter Morgan [2016] - acted for 54-year-old property developer Peter Morgan on the charge of murder. Morgan, whose net worth was valued at £20m, killed 25-year-old escort Symonds after years of “providing a lavish lifestyle”. Harrington asserted that Morgan “suffered from an abnormality of mental functioning”, however, both partial defences were rejected by the jury. Morgan was found to have a mild form of Asperger’s syndrome, which “lowered (Morgan's) degree of culpability to a modest extent”, but Garnham J asserted that any mitigating factors were balanced evenly against the aggravating factors, and as a result chose to sentence Morgan to a life sentence of 25 years.[36] Morgan sought to appeal his sentence in 2017[37] but this was rejected by Lady Justice Hallett, who said the sentence was “not manifestly excessive.”[38]
-   Operation Bulkhead (2016) - prosecuted a £100 million film fraud case, involving four defendants and over 50,000 pages of served evidence. The judge at the trial described the case as “one of the most difficult and complicated cases presented at the Bar.” Harrington secured a combined sentence for conspiracy to cheat the public revenue, with the four serving a minimum of 29 years.[39]

Publications

  Title             Publisher                        Year
  ----------------- -------------------------------- ------
  The Session Man   Broom House Publishing Limited   2004

  : Books

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]  EVRFC|website=www.evrfc.co.uk|access-date=2020-01-08}}

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]  London Barristers Chambers|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-01-08}}

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

title: Patrick Harrington (barrister)

question: Summarize Harrington's career.

answer: Harrington was called to the Bar in 1973 and practiced from chambers in Cardiff for the next twenty years. He was then appointed as the Assistant Recorder in 1985 and a Recorder in 1990. He then moved to London and took the silk in 1993. He served as the head of Wales and Chester Circuit from 2003 to 2005. He's the Head of Chambers at the Farrar's Building in London.

question: Summarize Harrington's specialisms.

answer: Harrington has appeared in 250+ homicide cases and is ranked among the best in both Chambers and Partners and is a Legal 500 Leading Individual. He is a Recorder of the Crown Court and was the leader of the Wales and Chester circuit. He was also the former Vice President of the National Anti-Doping Panel.

question: Summarize the personal life of Harrington.

answer: Harrington lives in Ragland and was born in Ebbw Vale. He's a keen sportsman and serves as a member of Ebbw Vale RFC and Glamorgan County Cricket Club. He's also a keen follower of horse racing and owned stables previously. He became the president of the Ebbw Vale Male Voice Choir in 2013. Additionally, he's authored a book — The Session Man — about Bobby Graham. He was left seriously ill after a car accident in January 2020. Finally, by March 2020, he was able to speak and be mobile.

question: Summarize the contents of Harrington's book.


text:
The BATTLE OF NEUSTADT on 25 March 1760 saw Heinrich von Manteuffel's Prussian Army defeat the Austrian army under Ernst von Laudon during the Third Silesian War (part of the Seven Years' War).

The battle

The attempt of General Laudon, to surprise the Prussian troops at Neustadt (now Prudnik, Poland), though attended with greater loss, did not satisfy the enemy's wishes.

On 25 March 1760, Lieutenant general Baron Goltze, having received intelligence of General Laudon's assembling his troops, and of the enemy's cavalry and infantry having moved behind the Opava towards Hotzenplotz and Johannisthal, recalled all his detachments, and began his march towards Neisse on the 15th instant, with his whole force. In the meantime General Laudon, who had few out from his quarters on the 14th, with Palsy's regiment of cuirassiers, Löwenstein's dragoons, 500 hussars of Nadaski, 500 of Kalnocki, 2000 Croats, and 14 companies of grenadiers, marched all night, with a view to surprise the Prussian troops at Neustadt. The latter were scarce out of the gates, when they were surrounded by those of the enemy. General Jacquemin was posted with the regiment of Löwenstein near Buchelsdorf on the road to Steinau, General Laudon followed, with the regiment of Palfy, and 2000 Croats, supported by fourteen companies of grenadiers, 1000 of their hussars were upon the right flank of the Prussians, the advanced guard of which consisted of 100 men, under Captain Blumenthal. Captain Zittzwitz commanded the rear guard, consisting of the same number; and the rest of the aforesaid regiment, with a squadron of dragoons of Bareith, under Captain Chambaud, followed with the baggage.

General Laudon summoned the Prussians twice, by the sound of the trumpet, to lay down their arms; which they not complying with, he ordered all his cavalry to advance. General Jacquemin fell upon the advanced guard, while General Laudon himself attacked the rear, and the hussars, in platoons, flanked the baggage. The Captains Blumenthal and Zittzwitz formed their small force in a kind of square, from whence they kept a continual fire. The Austrian cavalry nevertheless advanced six times on a gallop, to within ten paces of the Prussians; but perceiving many fall on their side, among whom were several officers, they retreated in great disorder. Afterwards the Croats having taken possession of a wood, between Siebenhausen and Steinau, through which the roads were very bad, and by the rains rendered almost impassable for carriages, they there attacked the Prussians on all sides. Unfortunately a wagon broke down in a defile, and as the Prussians did not think proper to stay to repair it, they were obligated to abandon all that was behind it. By which five covered wagons, laden with baggage, and eighteen carts with meal and oats, fell into the hands of the enemy, who harassed the Prussians as far as Steinau, and were constantly engaged with the rear guard.

Loss on both sides

The loss of the Austrians greatly exceeded the Prussians; they buried above 300 men in different places, and sent 500 wounded to Neustadt. Besides which, the Prussians took 25 prisoners, among whom were several officers. They had 35 men killed, and 4 officers, and 69 private men wounded, in Mantueffel's regiment; as also one lieutenant, with three dragoons, in Bareith's. The enemy made a subaltern officer, two drummers, and 35 private man prisoners; so that the loss of the Prussians, in the whole, including the missing, amounts to about 170 men; which was not much, considering the great superiority of the enemy.

And though General Laudon so far succeeded by this accident, as to make himself master of Neustadt, he found himself in no condition to maintain his ground; but on the 17th, at break of day, he abandoned his acquisition, and retreated to Jägerndorf, with 14 companies of grenadiers, having ordered the Austrian cavalry to march to Freiwaldau.

title: Battle of Neustadt (1760)

question: What does the article say about the outcome of the battle

answer: The Austrians lost 300 men. Five hundred were injured. The Prussians took 25 prisoners, several of them officers. The Prussians lost 35 men, 73 were wounded. Thirty-eight were taken prisoner. There must have been 24 missing men to add up to the 170 men lost, imprisoned, and injured on the Prussian side.