I had drunk too much, I confess, though we all had. Somehow, Tasha and I began to argue the worth of Solevgrad jazz, as inconsequential a topic as I can imagine. She had studied it in school, so she thought herself as an expert. I once had a neighbor who played it constantly, loudly, and badly, so I thought I knew it better. Malaquez tried to mediate, but I saw him as siding with Tasha. So, I think, did she. The subject shifted from music to Tasha's obsession with fame, undoubtedly by a leap that I made. She had no choice but to follow. (I do not remember any of this well, just now, nor do I care to. Those who are truly curious may look at the last act of "Captured Moments.") I remember suggesting, with characteristic tact, that she add Emil to her small list of major accomplishments. Malaquez glanced away, embarrassed. Tasha looked at me as if to say, "I will." She said, "I feel sorry for you, Nardo. I'll see Emil home." "Yes," I said, "Do that," and did not care what she did, or why. Emil asked, "You're all right?" I muttered something he must have interpreted as assent. They both walked up to Emil's home while I watched the scarlet moonlight ripple on distant waves. Disgusted with Tasha but more disgusted with myself, I finally realized she would not return that night and went into The Sleeping Flamingo to drink myself to sleep. She had not come home when I woke in mid-morning.
What question would one ask from this paragraph?

QUESTION: What did Nardo's neighbour play constantly, loudly, and badly?

In March 2001, Rice asked the CIA to prepare a new series of authorities for covert action in Afghanistan. Rice's recollection was that the idea had come from Clarke and the NSC senior director for intelligence, Mary McCarthy, and had been linked to the proposal for aid to the Northern Alliance and the Uzbeks. Rice described the draft document as providing for "consolidation plus," superseding the various Clinton administration documents. In fact, the CIA drafted two documents. One was a finding that did concern aid to opponents of the Taliban regime; the other was a draft Memorandum of Notification, which included more open-ended language authorizing possible lethal action in a variety of situations. Tenet delivered both to Hadley on March 28. The CIA's notes for Tenet advised him that "in response to the NSC request for drafts that will help the policymakers review their options, each of the documents has been crafted to provide the Agency with the broadest possible discretion permissible under the law." At the meeting, Tenet argued for deciding on a policy before deciding on the legal authorities to implement it. Hadley accepted this argument, and the draft MON was put on hold. As the policy review moved forward, the planned covert action program for Afghanistan was included in the draft presidential directive, as part of an "Annex A" on intelligence activities to "eliminate the al Qaeda threat." The main debate during the summer of 2001 concentrated on the one new mechanism for a lethal attack on Bin Laden-an armed version of the Predator drone. In the first months of the new administration, questions concerning the Predator became more and more a central focus of dispute. Clarke favored resuming Predator flights over Afghanistan as soon as weather permitted, hoping that they still might provide the elusive "actionable intelligence" to target Bin Laden with cruise missiles. Learning that the Air Force was thinking of equipping Predators with warheads, Clarke became even more enthusiastic about redeployment. The CTC chief, Cofer Black, argued against deploying the Predator for reconnaissance purposes. He recalled that theTaliban had spotted a Predator in the fall of 2000 and scrambled their MiG fighters. Black wanted to wait until the armed version was ready. "I do not believe the possible recon value outweighs the risk of possible program termination when the stakes are raised by the Taliban parading a charred Predator in front of CNN," he wrote.
What question would one ask from this paragraph?

QUESTION: In the debate over the use of armed Predator drones what position did Clarke favor?

In remarks during a ribbon-cutting ceremony here on Wednesday, Gov. George E. Pataki said he expected the facility to generate thousands more jobs in the Hudson Valley area for contractors and suppliers catering to the factory. He praised IBM for being "a critical partner in our economic development efforts" in New York state. In a brief speech, Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM's chief executive, emphasized that it was important to make long-term investments despite the current slump in the technology business. "To play to win in technology, you innovate and you lead," he said. But manufacturing technology products is a costly and cyclical business. In June, IBM announced that it was taking a charge of more than $2 billion against earnings. The largest single reasons for the charge were the cost of getting out of the business of manufacturing hard disks for storage, which it sold to Hitachi, and closing down some of its older semiconductor operations. But Kelly said the demand for advanced chips, like those produced at IBM's facility in Burlington, Vt., is strong. "I need more capacity in that end of the market," he said, "and this is factory is critical to meeting that growing demand." If IBM has miscalculated the demand, it will suffer badly as both the high operating costs and depreciation on the huge capital investment for the East Fishkill factory drag down earnings. But industry analysts said the plant should be insulated from a falloff in one or a few segments of the semiconductor market.
What question would one ask from this paragraph?

QUESTION:
What comments did IBM CEO make at Wednesday's ribbon cutting ceremony?