yuna628

Also just pointing out, that your future spouse will need to come to terms with any marijuana use if she does eventually enter the US. It does not matter if marijuana is legalized in the state where you might reside or if you travel to one where it might be legal. It is still federally illegal, and thus any use could put her status in the US in jeopardy. Stress is a big part of life unfortunately, so finding assistance to deal with it different is important for her future health and status.

Agree with the above, but just to add do you have any student loans? If you do welcome to the sweet fresh hell only the SLC can provide to your life. You'll need to follow the procedure of notifying them, and then notifying them again when you are employed, sending them pay stubs every year for a reassessment, and then paying every month. If would also be advisable to keep a UK bank account if you do have a loan.

The limp was observed on the house camera of him walking toward the college... which is odd to me because supposedly he drove his fancy car there. You can see on the college cam that something might possibly be jammed all the way down his right pant leg. It looks like based on the mom's pages all of her boys were well trained in using all sorts of weapons from a very early age. Kind of a common trend with these types of shooters. Also it kind of now sounds like his father wasn't entirely going to turn the son in. It was the pastor that did the right thing. There was also a friend that was supposedly asked by the shooter to get his gun for him. I guess that friend also wasn't interested in contacting the police...

My mother did not participate in this study. 😉 But we all don't fall into little neat checkboxes.

From what I can piece together - looks like his mother is making attempts at scrubbing pages. Straight laced conservative family, she's very much all into being a "boy mom". He seemed educationally bright probably a lot of expectations on him. Can't say what he was involved in (I can imagine we're going to find out some activities online), but all the boys seemed to be experienced with guns and shooting. Everyone thinks Kirk's been killed by a person that hated him, and that may well be. But it could actually be for a completely different reason. We often forget how many have been murdered for a whole host of strange reasons. A good deal online still don't even believe this is the guy in favor of other suspects. No doubt in my mind Kirk died pretty instantly. Which made comments from people like Glen Beck at the time (who was trying to convince people he was just fine and stable), kinda gross and unsound.

It's a Mauser is what was floated around this morning. Just a question for those that are familiar with firearms. How skilled would you have to be with this rifle to pull this off at that distance? There is a TMZ video showing the individual walking around a neighborhood nearby. He's walking very odd, a limp perhaps, or maybe he has the gun strapped under a pants leg. The gun obviously wasn't able to be taken apart, so how did the guy conceal it while walking around campus? Surely he would have had to scope out and plan for multiple scenarios... We also unfortunately seem to be having something happening at the Naval Academy right now.

Unfortunately there is a very graphic up close video being shared online. Based on that video, I do not believe he is alive.. The shot was fired a remarkable distance away and in such a way to ensure maximum effect. Not sure why they grabbed the wrong guy, but I think they need to look for a suspect that's an expert marksman.

They are banned here AND you have to ask someone (if you can find them) for paper bags which you have to pay for. Of course when you have a cart full of groceries trying to estimate how many small paper bags you're going to need is.. interesting..

I rarely go to Home Depot these days, most everything was locked up - even the candy/drinks. We usually go to Lowes, but they also use the same camera technology. Most places do these days. Since we are masked I don't think there's a ton to worry about. There has been a lot of pushback lately about the license plate readers being put up in town though.

Not as of yet, though I've heard musings something may be coming soon. One theory is that this is leaking now in an attempt to stop the administration from repeating this rather dumb idea again. Strange enough though is that this article mentions it was not the first attempt - there was another failed mission during the Bush admin. There were absolutely no details on the nature of that for this story, but I'd sure like to know more.

I'm a bit confused... So when my husband came here we got him his SSN before we married, there was nothing that needed to be verified. I added him to my bank account. He got his own phone plan and added me to it. I added him to my health insurance. I had no credit accounts to speak of, so by the time he was working he was the one getting his first secured credit card and adding *me*. No one, not the bank and certainly not the credit card company ever requested us to verify anything. You have an SSN it's yours and is a valid number. If a credit card company or a bank doesn't want to accept your business, go elsewhere. When we had issues with Chase giving us the runaround and demanding to physically see his SSN we told them to take a hike and got our visa elsewhere.

I thought that, but the NYT is specific that it is not coming from Bolton.

Sharing the CNN article here as the NYT's is paywalled. But the gist of it is that in 2019 we sent Seal Team to North Korea to plant a listening device. It describes the very dangerous mission and how it went completely wrong. It is easy to see how it went wrong and it is strange why no one in charge thought there might be significant risks which could culminate in nuclear war. The men arose out of the water to encounter a fishing boat, and promptly murdered innocent civilians who probably had just witnessed something strange but could have blown our cover. It's unclear how they thought they could accomplish planting the said device, if they had successfully landed, without detection. The NYT's article is gruesome in it's detail and specifics, but is also cautious about what it's revealing - as the information is classified. I wonder whom is spilling this tale? https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/05/politics/north-korea-navy-seal-mission-nyt

Asking people to write essays is a nonsense idea. Becoming an American isn't like writing a thesis to get into college of why you think you should be one. It's not an exclusive club reserved for who writes the best sentences. If you can answer the test questions effectively and pass the other requirements that's all is needed. Do I think that individuals should know a good basis of English? Sure, but I know everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses when it comes to learning languages. It's not like we're requiring potential citizens to take some kind of mandatory language classes. If essay writing becomes a thing I guarantee you will have letters written by other people or worse.. AI. Most Americans cannot answer the 100 questions.... but I made darn sure I drilled them into my husband.

There is a pinned thread about health insurance at the top of this forum section that you may find useful. The simple answer is someone is going to have to pay out of pocket for it. And that is going to be very very expensive. In some states now you cannot 'get' Obamacare until actually having the green card due to ongoing litigation and changes via the current administration.

So here's the thing, Cracker Barrel, while being a favorite of my in-laws many years ago, is no longer known for well... anything good, if it ever was. It was usually cheap food to grab after long car journeys, and you could find a million other mom n' pop places in the US that would eviscerate anything they ever served on a plate with love and good home cooking. As an example, dumplings and baos are all the rage here now and you can find a ton of corporate chains dominating the landscape - they pale in comparison to a small market stall in the UK run by a little Asian grandma that you could watch her make them, cook, and serve to you. She made her food with love and experience that a chain restaurant could never. Her food was the stuff of legends. The last time I went to Cracker Barrel, it was slow, dirty, and I ended up with food poisoning. It's become like many of our other chains that are pressing their luck. I remember Olive Garden back in the day vs now. What it boils down to is corporate America venture capitalists stripping restaurants for parts - and this is why so many restaurants and department stores we once loved have all fallen. Many have had 'cheap' and 'modern' redesigns in which they look like brutalist slabs, devoid of life. I can't think of anything about Cracker Barrel that made it really popular. It cannot be the food, because there are a million 'southern food' joints that are the epitome of excellence. If it was trying to be a 'greasy spoon' diner, others could do it better. The merchandise? Doubt it. It merely has always been corporate America's idea of what they thought country dinner is and now they want to market it to kids that have their faces plastered to their phones. The inside was ghastly to clean, much like another chain Bugaboo Creek, or Ruby Tuesday's which was also stripped for parts and canned here eventually. I won't be surprised if Cheesecake Factory, which used to be a favorite of mine back in the day is also gone sometime and I don't know how our local Friendly's hangs on. Why do you think ghost kitchens and Food Hubs (a weird sort of cafeteria with about 10 different "kitchens" in it that if you want Thai food on your plate but your friend wants Italian you can) are appearing now. Chili's is the only corporate chain restaurant in town that does a crazy amount of business, but it seems like people go there to use the bar - because the rest of the bars in town are filled with gangs. So honestly, yes it is ridiculous that people are faux outraging about corporate America and an out-of-touch CEO's changes to yet another dying franchise because they somehow have an attachment to it. It is very snowflake-ish. Are businesses not allowed to make changes to what they own? If you don't like it, don't go. Are her changes out of touch and ugly? Yep. But it's been all done before by so many others it's not surprising anymore. Because honestly there's millions of other small restaurants that need your patronage to stay alive. On the plus side I've heard that Red Lobster managed to somewhat turn things around by making changes. Back in the day you'd go there for some 'fancy' occasion, which was weird because living in the state we do there's a ton of places that simply do it better. Also cynical me has observed that Cracker Barrel has made attempts to reach 'influencers' to market their new image and 'food'. You ever think that sometimes the best marketing is what gets you talking about it? Never let a 'crisis' go to waste.

VJ hasn't connected all day for me. When I finally just got in, and it's very slow to load.. nothing else would really work except for this thread. Viewing more further down the page just kind of timed out. It's also very slow to make posts.

As far as I can tell we have exported coal for decades and it is a big business for states where the coal comes from. We are the top exporter to Africa, which is where I think this shipment was going. PoB handles many coal shipments. We became relied upon as the top exporter to other countries, especially in Europe because of the ban on Russian coal. With no other supplier, countries turned to us. The coal being supplied is for steel purposes and power. We also do import from other countries and we certainly use it for power. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/coal/use-of-coal.php

Now I've read multiple different versions of this story and to me it sounds like the CBP discovered the containers were contaminated in July, after the product was already on shelves and we are just *now* saying something (press release is also full of conflicting info). Not sure how that happens but... anyway then it sounds like other testing of the product has been inconclusive some maybe testing positive and others not or at least degraded. Anyway, ummm wouldn't like everything the shrimp was sitting next to in the store and in homes be contaminated? Why are we just saying throw it away in the regular trash?!

Yeah my sister called me last night about this. Said it shook the apartment!

I can imagine what she's going through is a terrible experience. However, it is one that she got herself into. Sure, I could perhaps in a reasonable scenario after investigating the facts of the case find that she deserves grace. But that is not what the law does. It is doubtful that it will be given to her, and in this instance how can we get people to take their literal lives and status in this country seriously? No one thinks that they will be getting into an accident when they don't put on a seatbelt or drink alcohol.... and yet, it happens over and over again. And no, the government has never made things easy for people to understand or realize they are going to make a mistake beforehand. It's intentional I imagine. I don't think I could call it paperwork error... more like subject did not understand how these things work and in their ignorance failed to consider what would happen. Should we in some future world decide to give people some kind leniency for genuine mistakes? For instance some sort of penalty that would be less life altering? Good lord! Really? She's nearly going to beat the other guy's fund. Well I'm sure the lawyer will get paid.

People do indeed make mistakes. It's a pity that the government will never admit that they've made a mistake as they do many times. Despite this, the law is the law, and immigration law gives little wiggle room or forgiveness to a person's ignorance of their situation. In a fair world after reviewing this case I think many of us would say.. is this person somehow causing harm? Do they deserve grace? And are we justified in our behavior of this situation? Should we be wasting resources on this? Should we change the system to find and eliminate edge cases and odd scenarios caused by well-intentioned stupidity? Well.. that's not how things are now. It irked me to no end about the case of Kaspar Eriksen who was rightfully detained not merely out of his and his wife's immigration mistakes, but out of their pure disregard and negligence. They have used every trick for sympathy including their race, political affiliations, and religion. All desperately ignoring the root cause - their mistake. Like the individual this thread is about and numerous others.. go fund me's are started and there will be conflicting articles that do nothing to actually shed light on the disfunction in our system, the government's nonsensical responses, the difficult journeys many make to get here and stay, nor the way our actual system works. This lady and those that guided her to this position, like Eriksen, operate in a world of naivety, where they think the rules do not apply to them, that exceptions will be made because of their qualities, and that they are not like other immigrants on tv they are ignoring that could ever get into trouble.

This is problematic but I don't expect they won't care about that. The bond thing is a stupid idea, but this is where we're at at this point in time. Let's see if they ever suggest such a thing for VWPers. 😉

You listed four different options: CR1 - with you being married, as soon as you obtain your visa you have a head start in being able to work when you arrive in the US for good. K1 - looks like a faster option, but the biggest problem is you cannot work without adjusting status and that whole process is going to take quite some time. We chose K1 as the option for us, because it did work, but the inability to work followed by a long hiring process really put a severe strain on our life savings and the situation got pretty terrible as in nearly lost our health insurance. B2 - well you can try, but it's low chances and risky. You've got immigrant intent. VWP - nope. absolutely not. you cannot enter the US with the intent to stay and adjust status. You are certainly free to marry in the US and return home. Ultimately you're going to need to pick a path which enables you to keep your visiting privileges and never overstay your welcome. I know it's going to be hard with a baby coming. You could marry, go home, visit your new spouse off and on (but remember not too close together or overstay), apply for the CR1, continue saving funds for your new life together and once everything is done you are good to go - with a green card that prospective employers will accept.

Personally I think doing due diligence is important in immigration matters. Why should we as citizens count on our government officials to understand their own rules or even do the right thing? Getting extra documentation is like having an insurance policy.