Gator

It’s not just the police, it’s also protesters attacking the media. Albeit most of them have been shown or thought to be extremists.....from both sides. And many of the riots, looting a and vandalism have been instigated by them as well. https://www.cjr.org/opinion/reporters-press-freedom-police-protests.php

I guess it depends on how you look at it. One would expect a surcharge to go away after a reasonable amount of time. If they simply raise raise prices then imho it’s unlikely they will decrease them once they've recouped their losses. Ppl will simply get used to paying higher prices, then where does it stop? ........inflation anyone?

Yes, I know several ppl who have. But the methods of payment have been erratic. I don’t get SS, but am in the IRS system as I pay quarterly estimated taxes, got a refund last year and paid extra this year, but still got a paper check in the mail (US address). My cousin, aged 62 is on SSDI, gets a monthly direct deposit so is also in the system, but she was also sent a paper check. Another cousin and his live in companion, aged 68 and 66 respectively, also get monthly direct deposits of their Social Security. He got his direct deposited and she got a paper check. Seems like there’s no rhyme or reason to how their sending out payments. IMHO I think its the person doing the data input, maybe in batches(?) and how they enter the data or what ever key they press to authorize payments. OTH, could be a conspiracy. Maybe the owners of the paper mills and ink manufacturers are paying kickbacks to high ranking gov officials. So no paper checks means no perks for them, lol.

But then they’d never move out of mommy’s basement.......Just like Ed!

Nah, if they reduce to 50% capacity then it’ll just add more to the Pilipino time. Instead of always being 30 minutes late, it’ll now be 90 minutes (that’s Pinay math).

Fares are cheap right now, but expected to rise soon. If booked by May 31st, American Airlines is allowing to change the travel dates (Flex Fare) with no extra fees so I also booked my flight, but for October. Hope things settle down by then. I’ll hold off on making plans for a car service to go direct to my apartment in Angeles until I know for sure that I won’t have to self quarantine in Manila first.

Don’t know about other visa types, but if you’re staying on a tourist visa you don’t have a choice. I think it’s at second 60 day renewal you have to get one. They come in handy as form of ID that locals know - like if using credit card need to show ID at many stores. Hotels and airlines will also accept them (domestic travel). Can leave your passport in a safe place.

Place a sign over it: I Don’t Swim in Your Toilet, So Don’t Pee in My Pool! I’d also have it translated into Tagalog and / or whatever other native languages are spoken in your extended family.

And here’s a link explaining the ECQ and GCQ rules: http://www.covid19.gov.ph/ecq-gcq-guidelines/

Friend there just sent me that. Gives a better idea of areas affected by the extension. Sucks for them.

Thanks for the update. Adding the tomato sounds like a good idea, brightens it up a bit and adds some acidity to balance the pork fat.

Sounds good and simple to make, will have to try it. Question - in steps 3 and 4 you say add water. For step 3 I presume just enough water to deglaze the pan? And about how much would you say for step 4?

I’d say invest now in companies who make diapers and, in general, any type of baby supplies as am sure the birth rate will soar in about 9 months, lol.

This article from the Washington Post explains why the error message appears and gives a clearer picture about the stimulus checks.....or lack of.....for the US. https://apple.news/Ashaub5sCSICDGPpv6IdlWQ “Many Americans woke up Wednesday expecting to find a payment of $1,200 or more from the U.S. government in their bank account, but instead they realized nothing had arrived yet — or the wrong amount was deposited. Parents of young children complained they did not receive the promised $500 check for their dependent children. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has instructed the Internal Revenue Service to get payments out as fast as possible to help offset the pain of losing jobs and shutting down businesses, but numerous glitches — affecting filers who used tax preparers, parents of dependent children and people with 2019 tax returns still to be processed — are delaying payments and causing confusion. Several million people who filed their taxes via H&R Block, TurboTax and other services were unable to get their payments because the IRS did not have their direct deposit information on file, according to the Treasury, companies and experts. The IRS launched a “Get My Payment” tool Wednesday for people to track the status of their payment and enter direct deposit information, but many who used it said they received a message saying “Payment Status Not Available,” a frustration that left them without answers. Some parents told The Washington Post that they received a $1,200 payment for a single head of household or a $2,400 check for a married couple but that the IRS left out the $500-per-child-under-17 payments. IRS and Treasury officials said they are aware of these issues and are working to fix them. A Treasury spokeswoman noted the IRS processed nearly 80 million payments in less than three weeks. That’s just over half the 150 million payments expected to go out under the Economic Impact Payment program. Social Security recipients will automatically receive the payments later this month. Paper checks will have President President’s name on them and are expected to start going out next week. Low-income Americans who do not normally file a tax return, including the homeless, are also eligible to receive the $1,200 check but only if they enter their information in a new non-filers tool at IRS.gov. Below is a rundown of the most common issues preventing people from getting the payments and what steps the IRS recommends to rectify them. Millions of people who use tax preparation services didn’t get their payments Customers who use tax preparation services such as H&R Block, TurboTax and Jackson Hewitt complained on Twitter and to The Post that they didn’t get their stimulus payments Wednesday. Up to 21 million tax filers could be affected, said consumer law expert Vijay Raghavan, because the IRS does not have these people’s direct deposit information on file if they received an advance on their tax refund from these companies or had the fee for tax preparation taken out of their tax refund. The reason is that tax preparation companies received these people’s tax refunds first, deducted their fees and then distributed the remaining refunds to the customers. Because of that, the IRS had a “temporary bank account” on file that the tax preparer created for the 2019 tax season, Raghavan said. The IRS is aware of the problem and urges people to input their bank information on the Get My Payment portal, a spokesman said. Chi Chi Wu of the National Consumer Law Center said the IRS told her that it found a way to work around this problem and a “significant percentage” of these people will ultimately get a direct deposit. So far, many are still waiting. Matt Sielen of Chino, Calif., who recently lost his job, was shocked to discover that he would not be receiving the payment on his H&R Block Emerald Card, the debit card on which he received his tax refund. Sielen and his wife, a nurse who cares for homebound people, have two young children and were counting on the $3,400 payment to pay rent and other bills. The couple had H&R Block take their tax preparation fee out of their refund earlier this year, which means the IRS didn’t have their bank details. “I’m not happy with H&R Block. I probably won’t be doing business with them ever again,” Sielen said. After he was unable to get through to anyone on H&R Block’s phone line, Sielen went on the IRS website and was told to enter the couple’s bank information. He did that but wishes H&R Block had been clearer about what to do. The company’s website says, “We are still waiting for answers from the IRS regarding the majority of Emerald Card holders.” The Post spoke with six other people in a similar situation who have not received the IRS payment. One was told by her tax preparer that she will have to wait for a check in the mail. ‘Payment Status Not Available’ Frustrated taxpayers also took to Twitter to vent about their inability to track when and how they would be getting their money. Some posted an image of the message they received after entering their information: “Payment Status Not Available.” There are a number of reasons the tool can’t check the status of a stimulus payment, the IRS said. You aren’t eligible for a payment. Your payment is based on your status as a Social Security, disability, Veterans Affairs or Railroad Retirement beneficiary. In this case, the IRS will use your SSA or RRB Form 1099 payment information. Your payment information isn’t available on the “Get My Payment” tool. You have not filed a 2018 or 2019 federal tax return. You filed your 2019 return, but it hasn’t been fully processed. You used the non-filers tool, but the information you entered is still being processed. There’s a problem verifying your identity when answering the security questions. Others say they are getting that message even though they do not fall into any of these categories. Information on the site is updated only once a day, so checking more than once in a 24-hour period won’t yield a different result. The IRS says people who qualify for a payment will receive it by mail if they do not get it from direct deposit. Receiving the wrong payment amount or no money for dependent children A number of people indicated they received an incorrect payment amount. Five people contacted The Post saying they didn’t receive any money for their children or they received only one child payment when they have three kids. Others said the amount for them personally was wrong. People whose adjusted gross income qualifies them to receive a stimulus check are supposed to receive an additional $500 for every dependent child under 17. But one reader from Kentucky with three children under age 15 said she received only $1,200 on Wednesday. She double-checked her 2019 tax return and verified that all three children were listed as dependents. Individuals who receive Social Security retirement, survivors or disability (Social Security Disability Insurance) benefits or Railroad Retirement benefits will automatically receive the $1,200 stimulus payment if they are eligible. The IRS announced it has added to this group Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients. The automatic payments for SSI recipients will go out no later than early May, according to the agency statement. However, the IRS says if you fall into one of those categories and have children under 17, you have to use the non-filers tool at IRS.gov to claim the $500 payment per child. You’ll need a valid Social Security number or Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number for each of your dependents. Jamie Jones, a Virginia widow and mother of three receiving Social Security survivor benefits, said she received her $1,200 payment but her deposit did not include the extra $1,500 for her children. Because she filed a tax return for 2019, she couldn’t use the non-filers tool, she said. She listed her children, ages 8, 10 and 12, on her tax return, so the IRS should have made the additional payment. “I’ve never been one to look for handouts, and work hard to try to keep my family afloat,” Jones said. “My oldest daughter currently has outgrown her tennis shoes, and even though the stores were shut down, I had planned to allocate some of this money to an online purchase to get her a new pair of shoes.” A spokesman for the IRS wasn’t sure why Jones’s payment didn’t include the money for the children. People who receive what they believe is an incorrect amount will have an opportunity to let the IRS know. The agency is required to mail a letter to your last known address 15 days after sending your payment. The letter is supposed to explain how the payment was made and provide instructions on how to report any issues. The IRS website locks you out if you try too many times To thwart fraudsters, the IRS tool locks out people who try multiple times a day. This has become a problem for people trying to give the IRS direct deposit information. Andrea Tasan and her husband were eventually locked out of the Get My Payment site after trying to check the status of their payment. The Maryland couple filed tax returns in 2018 and 2019, each time requesting their refunds be applied to pay the following year’s taxes. Because of this, the IRS has no direct deposit information for them. The Get My Payment tool confirmed they were eligible for a stimulus payment based on their 2019 return, but they couldn’t get any more information. “The system returned with the response that our information did not match their records,” Tasan said. They tried again using their adjusted gross income and refund amounts for their 2018 return. Again they were told the information doesn’t match IRS records. The system then locked them out because they made “too many attempts” to access the tool. They now have to wait a day to try again. The IRS is also preventing people from changing the bank account information already on file as a measure to prevent fraud. People who owed $0 in taxes can’t check their payment status Others complained about a glitch in the tool that won’t allow them to move forward because they neither owed any money to the IRS nor received a refund for 2018 or 2019. Typing in zero didn’t work. “I could not give an affirmative answer to any of these questions since I owed no tax and did not receive a refund,” one reader wrote. “Submitting the form returned an error so I tried again and answered ‘yes’ to owing tax and ‘zero’ to the amount. Error again.” “We are aware of the problem and are checking into it,” IRS spokesman Eric Smith said.” Heather Long is an economics correspondent. Before joining The Washington Post, she was a senior economics reporter at CNN and a columnist and deputy editor at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. She also worked at an investment firm in London. Michelle Singletary writes the nationally syndicated personal finance column The Color of Money. Her award-winning column is syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group and is carried in dozens of newspapers nationwide. Democracy Dies in Darkness © 1996-2020 The Washington Post

Yes, and once you enter the info you get the “Payment Status Not Available” page that Earthdome and others have posted pics of. Typical IRS - they don’t give you a link to find out what, if any, other info they need. I’m in the wait and see mode.