TBoneTX

No BLM members were around at the time, apparently.

Ooo -- that's some article. I hadn't heard of it in San Antonio, but it's unsurprising. They'll have some success but will also be dealt with more aggressively, I bet.

Matthew, welcome to VJ! Your inquiry has been merged into the long-standing Panama thread. Read through at least the most recent posts for possible information. You can also read the "Office Reviews & Info" under the dropdown tab atop any VJ page. Good luck in your process!

Indeed. Fulfill the requirement in timely fashion, then plan the big shindig at your leisure.

Thread is moved from the K-1 Process forum to the Social Security Numbers subforum -- topic involves that phase.

Again, time together and familiarity (the unknown becoming known) should prove the ticket in most cases. Time heals all wounds. In addition, time wounds all heels.

It is Wednesday -- time for our approval-evoking* Semiofficial Semiweekly VAWA-Thread Joke: *if correlation = causation =========================================================== MARITAL STATUS I went to the store and bought a banana, cereal, and milk. The female cashier said, "You must be single!" I said, "Yes, but how do you know that?" "Because you're ugly!"

Terrified Tim Walz Stands On Chair All Day Waiting For Wife To Get Home And Kill Spider SAINT PAUL, MN — Minnesota Governor Tim Walz canceled his campaign events today after spotting a spider on the wall of the living room and immediately jumping up on a chair to safety, where he spent the rest of the day waiting for his wife to get home. "Ahhh! Kill it! Kill it!" Walz reportedly cried aloud to an empty house before remembering his wife had gone out to run some errands. "Gwen, where are you? GWEN!?" [...] https://babylonbee.com/news/terrified-tim-walz-stands-on-chair-all-day-waiting-for-wife-to-get-home-and-kill-spider

Important. ~~~~~~~~~~ Islamic Scholar Lets Slip the Truth: 'If Preserving Life Had Priority, There Would Be No Jihad' After 9/11, we were inundated with the claims that by this time have become near-universal assumptions: Islam is peace. Jihadis are just a tiny minority of extremists. Jihad means a spiritual struggle and is willfully or ignorantly misinterpreted among jihadis. Yet an Islamic scholar has just offered a succinct and telling enunciation of Islamic values that differs sharply from these claims. Is he an ignorant, racist, bigoted "Islamophobe" whose views can be easily dismissed? Hardly. He is an internationally respected Muslim Brotherhood leader whose words should be carefully pondered in Washington, but they won't be. The Kuwaiti Islamic scholar Tareq al-Suwaidan, who has been named among the 500 Most Influential Muslims for the last three years, recently enunciated a vision of Islamic values that differs markedly from what we have been told again and again in the West: "Preserving life is not the only objective of the shari'a – these include the preserving of religion, life, lineage, intellect, and property. These are the main objectives of the shari'a." That all sounds reasonable enough, but then al-Suwaidan added, "Which one of these objectives has higher priority? It is preserving religion, not preserving life. This is why there is a thing called 'Jihad.' If preserving life had the priority, there would be no Jihad – we would abolish it. Preserving religion takes priority over preserving life." Thus peace, which would preserve life, is not the ultimate goal; Islamization is. [...] https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2024/10/15/islamic-scholar-lets-slip-the-truth-if-preserving-life-had-priority-there-would-be-no-jihad-n4933363

Is this accurate, or what? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kamala Harris Is an Idiot [...] I will offer another candid take: Kamala Harris is an idiot. Like the little boy staring at the naked emperor in the famous fairy tale of yore, I can scarcely believe what I am seeing before my eyes. Since she replaced Joe Biden on the ticket, reporters have struggled mightily to find kind ways of describing Harris's ineluctable inability to convey anything comprehensible, complex, or concrete. [...] https://www.nationalreview.com/2024/10/kamala-harris-is-an-idiot/

Asia owes us an update and more regular participation, oj tak. Owe-updating participate-not-enoughing Asia! Owe-updating, OWE-UPDATING participate-not-enoughing PARTICIPATE-NOT-ENOUGHING Asia!

Thanks to all for minimizing political talk in this thread. --- To the OP: There will always be a small segment of people (related to us or not) who will consider anyone from Panama, Ecuador, or wherever to be a "stupid Mexican" or an "illegal" or whatever. Simply ignore it, from all quarters. If a stranger or slight acquaintance says something, blow it off. Why should we value the opinion of someone whose advice we would never ask for? If it's an "important" relative, give him/her time, and let your beneficiary win him/her over by means of friendly, smiling, gracious behavior. Try to have that relative outnumbered in the company of supportive relatives, especially at first. If it's a supposed friend, try the same as just above; if this isn't successful, re-evaluate whether this person is a genuine friend, and act accordingly. If anyone openly says anything prejudiced or rude, get in their face and let them have it, verbally -- even if (and especially!) in public. That should shut them up and make it clear exactly how wrong they are. Hopefully, this won't be necessary, but bullies will always back down when we stand up to them. I don't think that the relative and friend are necessarily part of a political environment. Rather, I think that people react as individuals in negative or dismissive ways when they fear the unknown, whether it's an unknown situation or a person whom they haven't met. Legal immigration, as we here know, is a process unfamiliar to probably 99.44% of non-VJ people. When you let your reluctant people see that your newcomer isn't a threat and you educate them to the process bit by bit, I think that they'll come around. Mentally formulate a couple of avenues and approaches in advance, tip off your beneficiary as to people's possible ranges of reaction, and you'll be prepared. I have a feeling that all will turn out fine for you.

Scintillating Tuesday repartee, yawn man. (Bad lurking silent Asia! Bad, BAD lurking LURKING silent SILENT Asia!) ------- Thrilling Tuesday report, see man: Went to Costco and returned with the precise Many (2+2+2+1) items that we'd gone for, restrained we man. Lunch was the footlong Costco hot dog + (Diet) Pepsi, ingest we man. We met and chatted with the dude replacing our back fence, good dude man. He is from our favorite medium-sized town, we more positive than he about it man. A nice siesta was taken, zzz we man. Din-din was Modified Tuna Glop, ingest we man. An intense internal battle occurred regarding whether to Modify it or eat it pure, si man. Must take Mama T-B. on Wednesday for her flu and Covid-Many shots, we take senior she man to be shot man. No other formal plans for Wednesday, no man. And that was/is our thrilling Tuesday, report we man.

Thread is moved to the Russia/Ukraine/Belarus regional forum.

Kamala Harris Announces All-New Original Book: 'The Art Of The Deal' U.S. — Hoping to round out her presidential campaign on a strong note, Vice President Kamala Harris announced the upcoming release of her all-new, completely original book titled The Art of the Deal just in time for election day. The publication of the book, which the Harris-Walz campaign said would revolutionize the business landscape and provide entrepreneurs with new insight into the process of negotiation and dealmaking, features firsthand knowledge from the vice president's experience in the high-stakes world of New York real estate. "I am happy to publish my new book of entirely new and original material," Harris said in a press release that accompanied the announcement of the book. [...] https://babylonbee.com/news/kamala-harris-announces-new-original-book-the-art-of-the-deal

Kamala Courts Indigenous Voters By Telling Crowd She Grew Up In A Middle-Class Teepee [...] The Democratic candidate for president took the stage in front of a crowd of Pennsylvanians, proudly wearing a traditional Native American headdress while recounting her childhood spent living in a modest, middle-class wigwam among other decent, hardworking indigenous black-Jamaican-Indian Americans. "It is always important to remember how important the importance is," Harris told the crowd. "First of all, I grew up in a middle-class teepee. I understand the struggles of my fellow indigenous peoples. As time passes, we must take the time to look back in time at the atrocities perpetrated in former times and [...] https://babylonbee.com/news/kamala-courts-indigenous-voters-by-telling-crowd-she-grew-up-in-a-middle-class-teepee

Watch the 21-second clip and see how many more I.Q. points you lose as a consequence. She very honestly must be on something. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seriously, WHAT Is Wrong With Her? Watch Kamala Harris Give WEIRD Astrology Lesson During Interview Kamala Harris is notorious for her weird, rambling, word salad interview answers. But this one may take the cake (and that's saying something). Watch as she gives an...astrology lesson during an interview with Roland S. Martin. [...] https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2024/10/14/kamala-harris-astrology-lesson-collin-rugg-n2402149

In an Effort To Run Cover for Kamala, Her Book Publisher Commits a Major E-mail Snafu Earlier today, we told you about Kamala Harris' alleged plagiarism debacle. In unsurprising news, her publisher seems as ham-handed as she is. [...] https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2024/10/14/kamala-book-publisher-email-oops-n2402179

After a Gang Beats an Apartment Worker to a Pulp, Twitter Wonders What Martha Raddatz Has to Say Now Although, the Democrats insist the Venezuela gangs taking over apartment complexes in Colorado is a right wing fever dream, there seems to be more evidence it is true, after all. [...] https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2024/10/14/aurora-gang-apartment-worker-beaten-n2402181

The author of this piece is in finest form -- well worth reading! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Media Rushes to Downplay Explosive Evidence of Kamala Harris' Plagiarism [...] JD Vance knows it's a big deal. "I saw today, actually," Vance said Monday, "a story that Kamala Harris apparently copied some significant chunks of her book from Wikipedia. So if you want a president with their own ideas, vote for Donald Trump. If you want a president who copies her own ideas from Wikipedia, vote for Kamala Harris." The New York Times knows it's a big deal as well, which is why it published an 1100-word piece on Monday trying to explain away Harris' plagiarism and portray the whole matter as an unfortunate example of just how low the foes of the sainted Harris will go. In the Times' version, "conservative [a four-alarm word for the Times and its hapless readers] activist Christopher Rufo" is making a mountain out of a molehill. He "had taken relatively minor citation mistakes in a large amount of text and tried to 'make a big deal of it.'" That was the assessment of one Jonathan Bailey, whom the Times identifies as "a plagiarism consultant," without explaining what exactly a "plagiarism consultant" is or how one attains such a lofty position. Bailey, the Times informs us magisterially, "said on Monday that his initial reaction to Mr. Rufo's claims was that the errors were not serious, given the size of the document." [...] https://pjmedia.com/robert-spencer/2024/10/14/media-rushes-to-downplay-explosive-evidence-of-kamala-harris-plagiarism-n4933333

Are you a U.S. citizen, or a permanent resident?

Thrilling Monday report, see man: We slept in a little and eliminated the backlog of unread newspapers, zzz and eliminate we man. Lunch was a turkey-&-cheese sandwich, ingest we man. After noon, we decided to go to formerly favorite large thrift store, decide and go we man. For half-price day, it was busy enough but surprisingly un-mobbed, maybe we missed the rush man. We did not find what we were hoping to, drat man. However, we got Many (2+1) long pants + sleep pants for Mini-B. and underwear for us, find we man. We saved $Many ($2x2x2x2 -1), financially savvy we man. The cramped self-checkouts didn't bug us as much as they did last time, nice clerk assisting man. From there, we visited Giant $, long time since there we man. We investigated every aisle, much walking man. We remember when everything was a penny less than $1, remember that we man. We remember when everything went up a dime, remember that we man. Now, nothing is less than $1 + Many (2x2x2x2x2 + 2+2+2+1) pennies, man. More stuff is a penny less than $2, man. Quite a bit of stuff is far more than that, some "dollar" store man. We got 2 items and paid over $Many ($2+2+1), what's the point man. We were a few doors down from favorite local Chinese buffet, sorely tempted we man. We self-debated a visit as we exited Giant $, self-debate we man. We self-debated as we unlocked the T-B.-mobile, self-debate we man. We re-locked the T-B.-mobile, temporary decision man. We re-self-debated, re-unlocked the T-B.-mobile, got in, and drove off, temptation resisted man. We still don't know if we decided properly, still self-debating we man. Din-din (at the casa) was Tuna Glop, ingest we man. A lengthy and wonderful siesta was then taken, zzz-indulgent we man. We finally completed the stupid Defensive Driving online course, insurance purposes man. On the final test, we could miss Many (2+2+2) questions and still pass, fairly lenient man. We missed Many (2+2+1), pass we man. Won't have this torment again for Many (2+1) years unless we encounter a bored constable, si and no man. No formal plans other than financial administrative poop for Tuesday, no plan we man man. Party with the rubias imminent, cavort we man. And that was/is our thrilling Monday, report we man.

Good reactive bad absent Asia! Good, GOOD reactive REACTIVE bad BAD absent ABSENT Asia!

And another one. I had not heard of the outfit that's buying them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ True Value declares bankruptcy, lines up sale to rival hardware chain True Value, a national hardware retailer whose roots go back more than 70 years, said Monday that it has declared bankruptcy and will sell itself to a competitor. The Chicago-based company filed for Chapter 11 protection from its debts in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. As part of the filing, most of the privately held retailer's assets will be acquired by home improvement rival Do it Best. True Value, which was founded in 1948, said it will continue providing independently owned retailers with products. "We believe that entering the process with an agreed offer from Do it Best, who has a similar decades-long history in the home improvement space and also operates with a focus on supporting members and helping them grow, is the most beneficial next step for True Value and our associates, customers and vendor partners," True Value CEO Chris Kempa said in a statement. Individual True Value stores, which are independently owned, are not part of the bankruptcy expect for one company-owned outlet in Palatine, Illinois. [...] https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/true-value-declares-bankruptcy-lines-194300462.html

Amazing images. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Sahara Desert flooded for the first time in decades. Here's what it looks like (CNN) — Striking images from the Sahara Desert show large lakes etched into rolling sand dunes after one of the most arid, barren places in the world was hit with its first floods in decades. The Sahara does experience rain, but usually just a few inches a year and rarely in late summer. Over two days in September, however, intense rain fell in parts of the desert in southeast Morocco, after a low pressure system pushed across northwestern Sahara. Preliminary NASA satellite data showed nearly 8 inches of rain in some parts of the region. [...] https://www.yahoo.com/news/striking-images-show-rare-floods-135232812.html