They gathered early in North Las Vegas, waiting under the hot sun in a snaking line in the middle of a workday for their chance to see Senator Bernie Sanders.
Millions of Americans who rely on Social Security benefits will face delays in accessing their earned payments as the Social Security Administration (SSA) eliminates phone-based identity verification. The rule change, set to take effect on March 31, removes a widely used method for verifying beneficiaries’ identities, forcing them to either navigate an online system or visit an SSA office in person.
The move has sparked immediate backlash from advocacy groups and lawmakers, who warn that it will disproportionately harm seniors, disabled individuals, and rural residents who rely on the now-eliminated phone verification process. Internal SSA memos show that the agency expects millions of people to face new barriers to accessing their benefits and that field offices—already facing massive layoffs—will be overwhelmed with new demands. https://www.nationofchange.
There is a lot of talk in Beijing this week over when President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China will meet face to face. Some Chinese experts say the two leaders need to wait a few months until Trump decides exactly what tariffs he is going to impose on China — and sees what China will do in response.
Can I just butt in and say: “Excuse me, Mr. Presidents, but you two need to get together, like, tomorrow. But it’s not to discuss the golden oldies — tariffs, trade and Taiwan.
In 1941 Dorothy Thompson, an American journalist who reported from Germany in the lead-up to the second world war, wrote an essay for Harper’s about the personality types most likely to be attracted to Nazism, headlined “Who Goes Nazi?” “Those who haven’t anything in them to tell them what they like and what they don’t – whether it is breeding, or happiness, or wisdom, or a code, however old-fashioned or however modern, go Nazi,” Thompson wrote.
Talia Lavin, a US writer, recently gave Thompson’s idea an update on Substack with an essay of her own: “Who Goes Maga?”
The essay has since been taken down (I’m not sure why), but in it Lavin reimagined Thompson’s original dinner party setting, with various archetypes in attendance, offering in one or two paragraphs a brief but empathetic explanation for why each person has or has not “gone Maga”.
Eventually arriving at Mr I, an academic and a frequent traveller to France with family money, Lavin wrote: “Nonetheless, he will never go Maga and would spend his days in exile even if he got cut off from the family purse … because … he is a true devotee of beauty.” He finds in Maga “a hatred of things that are beautiful and strange, as all the things he loves are. Power holds no attraction for him, only beauty.” https://www.theguardian.com/
There was no explanation, no warning. One minute, I was in an immigration office talking to an officer about my work visa, which had been approved months before and allowed me, a Canadian, to work in the US. The next, I was told to put my hands against the wall, and patted down like a criminal before being sent to an Ice detention center without the chance to talk to a lawyer.
I grew up in Whitehorse, Yukon, a small town in the northernmost part of Canada. I always knew I wanted to do something bigger with my life. I left home early and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where I built a career spanning multiple industries – acting in film and television, owning bars and restaurants, flipping condos and managing Airbnbs.
In my 30s, I found my true passion working in the health and wellness industry. I was given the opportunity to help launch an American brand of health tonics called Holy! Water – a job that would involve moving to the US.
I was granted my trade Nafta work visa, which allows Canadian and Mexican citizens to work in the US in specific professional occupations, on my second attempt. It goes without saying, then, that I have no criminal record. I also love the US and consider myself to be a kind, hard-working person. https://www.theguardian.com/
I’ve been writing about manufacturing in the US since the 1980s, and it’s been heart-wrenching to report on dozens of factory closings and the devastation they have done to workers and communities. As the nation grasped for ways to slow these plant closings, I also wrote about Washington’s use of carefully employed trade measures, like targeted tariffs, and how they helped save some plants and jobs, especially in the steel industry.
Today's one-liners.....
doing is gathering dust.
Every time someone comes up with a foolproof solution, along comes a more-talented fool.
I'll bet you $4,567 you can't guess how much I owe my bookie.
Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.
If you keep your feet firmly on the ground, you'll have trouble
putting on your pants.
A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Ever stop to think and forget to start again?
When I married Miss Right, I had no idea her first name was Always.
My wife got 8 out 10 on her driver's test--the other two guys managed to jump out of her way.
There may be no excuse for laziness, but I'm still looking.
Women spend more time wondering what men are thinking than men spend thinking.
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
He who laughs last thinks slowest.
Is it wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly?
Women sometimes make fools of men, but most guys are the do-it-yourself type.
I was going to give him a nasty look, but he already had one.
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
The grass may be greener on the other side but at least you don't have mow it.
I like long walks, especially when they're taken by people who annoy me.
I was going to wear my camouflage shirt today, but I couldn't find it.
If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
Sometimes I wake up grumpy; other times I let her sleep.
If tomatoes are technically a fruit, is ketchup a smoothie?
Money is the root of all wealth.
No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
A man is driving down the road and his car breaks down near a monastery.
He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down.
Do you think I could stay the night?"The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car.
As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound. A sound unlike
anything he's ever heard before. The Sirens that nearly seduced Odysseus
into crashing his ship comes to his mind. He didn't sleep that night.He tosses and turns trying to figure out what could possibly be making such
a seductive sound. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was,
but they say, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."
Distraught, the man is forced to leave.Years later, after never being able to forget that sound, the man goes back
to the monastery and pleads for the answer again.The monks reply, "We can't tell you. You're not a monk."The man says, "If the only way I can find out what is making that beautiful
sound is to become a monk, then please, make me a monk."The monks reply, "You must travel the earth and tell us how many blades of
grass there are and the exact number of grains of sand. When you find these
answers, you will have become a monk."The man sets about his task.After years of searching he returns as a gray-haired old man and knocks on
the door of the monastery. A monk answers. He is taken before a gathering of
all the monks."In my quest to find what makes that beautiful sound, I travelled the earth
and have found what you asked for: By design, the world is in a state of
perpetual change. Only God knows what you ask. All a man can know is
himself, and only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip
away self deception."The monks reply, "Congratulations. You have become a monk. We shall now show
you the way to the mystery of the sacred sound."The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, "The
sound is beyond that door."The monks give him the key, and he opens the door. Behind the wooden door is
another door made of stone. The man is given the key to the stone door and
he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby. And so it went that he needed
keys to doors of emerald, pearl and diamond.Finally, they come to a door made of solid gold. The sound has become very
clear and definite. The monks say, "This is the last key to the last door."The man is apprehensive to no end. His life's wish is behind that door!With trembling hands, he unlocks the door, turns the knob, and slowly pushes
the door open. Falling to his knees, he is utterly amazed to discover the
source of that haunting and seductive sound...But, of course, I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.
They meet a Martian couple and are talking about all sorts of things.
Charlie asks if Mars has a stock market, if they have laptop computers, how
they make money, etc.
Finally, Maureen brings up the subject of sex.
'Just how do you guys do it?' asks Maureen.
The Martian responds, 'Pretty much the way you do.'
A discussion ensues and finally the couples decide to swap partners for the
night and experience one another...
Maureen and the male Martian go off to a bedroom where the Martian strips..
He's got only a teeny, weenie member about half an inch long and just a
quarter-inch thick.
'I don't think this is going to work,' says Maureen.
'Why?' he asks. 'What's the matter?'
'Well,' she replies, 'it's just not long enough to reach me!'
'No problem,' he says, and proceeds to slap his forehead with his palm. With
each slap of his forehead, his member grows until it's quite impressively
long.
'Well,' she says, 'that's quite impressive, but it is still narrow.'
'No problem,' he says, and starts pulling his ears. With each pull, his
member grows wider and wider until the entire measurement is extremely
exciting to the woman.
'Wow!' she exclaims, as they fell into bed and made mad passionate love.
The next day the couples rejoin their other partners and go their separate
ways. As they walked along, Charlie asks, 'Well, was it any good?'
'I hate to say it,' says Maureen, 'but it was wonderful.
How about you?'
'It was horrible,' he replies. 'All I got was a headache...
She kept slapping my forehead and pulling my ears..'
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