#Washington Paycheck Calculator

[eformscreators]

Step-by-Step: How to Use a Washington Paycheck Calculator and Paystub Creator for Accurate Payroll

ensuring accurate payroll is critical for both employers and employees. It’s not just about getting the numbers right; it’s about transparency, trust, and compliance with state regulations. For businesses in Washington state, there are unique tax requirements and deductions that must be taken into account. Thankfully, tools like the Washington Paycheck Calculator and Paystub Creator can make this process much easier.

This blog will take you through the step-by-step process of using a Washington paycheck calculator and a paystub creator to ensure accurate payroll, while also highlighting some key features and benefits of free paystub generators.

Why Accuracy Matters in Payroll

Before diving into the technical steps, it's important to understand why payroll accuracy is so vital:

Employee Trust: Employees rely on their paycheck to reflect the correct hours worked, wages, and deductions.

Legal Compliance: Incorrect payroll can lead to penalties, fines, and even lawsuits if not handled properly. Washington, like many states, has its own set of labor laws and tax requirements that need to be adhered to.

Record-Keeping: Accurate payroll records are critical for tax filing, audits, and ensuring compliance with both state and federal laws.

Understanding Washington Payroll Taxes

Washington state has no income tax, but it does have other deductions that must be considered when calculating payroll:

Federal Income Tax: Based on the employee’s W-4 form, the federal income tax must be deducted from each paycheck.

Social Security and Medicare: Employers must withhold 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare from an employee’s wages.

State-Specific Deductions: Washington has unique deductions like the Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program and workers' compensation insurance, which employers need to account for.

L&I Contributions: Washington businesses also contribute to the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) for worker safety programs and insurance.

Given the complexity, a Washington paycheck calculator can help you get these numbers right.

Step 1: Gather Essential Payroll Information

Before using any calculator or paystub generator, gather all relevant payroll information:

Employee’s wage: Whether hourly or salaried, you need to know the employee’s rate of pay.

Hours worked: For hourly employees, accurate tracking of hours worked is key.

Overtime (if applicable): Washington follows federal guidelines for overtime pay, which is 1.5 times the regular rate for any hours worked beyond 40 in a week.

Deductions: Know the specific deductions that apply to your employees, such as federal taxes, Medicare, Social Security, PFML, and L&I contributions.

Step 2: Using the Washington Paycheck Calculator

Now that you have the necessary information, it’s time to use a Washington paycheck calculator.

Find a Reliable Calculator: A simple online search will bring up several Washington paycheck calculators. Make sure to choose one that’s up-to-date with state tax regulations. A free paycheck calculator will work just as well as any paid version.

Input Basic Information:

Enter the employee’s gross income (either hourly rate multiplied by hours worked or monthly salary).

Input the pay frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).

Choose the correct tax filing status based on the employee’s W-4.

Add Deductions:

Input the correct amounts for federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare.

Make sure to also input Washington-specific deductions like PFML and any L&I insurance contributions.

Calculate: Once all fields are filled, click "calculate" to get the net pay. The calculator will provide a breakdown of all taxes and deductions, ensuring an accurate paycheck amount for the employee.

Step 3: Generating Accurate Paystubs with a Paystub Creator

Once you’ve used the Washington paycheck calculator to determine net pay, it’s time to generate paystubs. Paystubs are not just a record of earnings but are also crucial for employees to track their income, taxes paid, and deductions. If you run a small business or work as a freelancer, using a paystub creator can simplify this process.

Here’s how to use a paystub creator effectively:

Choose a Free Paystub Generator: There are many online paystub generators that offer free services. A paystub generator free of charge can still provide all the essential details you need for an accurate and professional-looking paystub.

Enter Employee Information: Fill in basic employee details such as name, address, and Social Security number (or Taxpayer ID).

Input Employer Information: Enter your business details, including the company name, address, and employer identification number (EIN).

Add Earnings and Deductions:

Input the employee’s gross wages as calculated from the paycheck calculator.

Add the taxes and deductions (Social Security, Medicare, PFML, etc.) to ensure that the net pay matches what was calculated earlier.

Review and Generate: Review the paystub to ensure all information is correct, then click “Generate” to create the paystub. Most free paystub generators allow you to download or email the stub directly.

Benefits of Using a Paystub Creator

Using a paystub creator, especially one that’s free, has several benefits for business owners and freelancers:

Time-Saving: A paystub creator automates the process, so you don’t need to manually input all the data or create your own paystubs from scratch.

Professionalism: Automatically generated paystubs look professional and include all the necessary details, such as employer and employee info, earnings, and deductions.

Compliance: Paystub creators ensure that you’re including all legally required deductions and information, helping you stay compliant with state and federal laws.

Record-Keeping: Digital paystubs can be saved for future reference, providing a simple and efficient way to maintain accurate payroll records.

Step 4: Double-Check for Accuracy

Once you’ve created the paystubs using the generator, it’s always a good idea to double-check for any mistakes. Payroll errors can be costly and time-consuming to correct, so ensuring accuracy upfront can save you a lot of hassle.

Here’s a quick checklist to review:

Ensure all employee information is correct (spelling of names, addresses, SSNs, etc.).

Double-check earnings, deductions, and net pay amounts match what was calculated in the paycheck calculator.

Make sure the dates and pay periods are correct.

Step 5: Distribute Paystubs to Employees

Once everything has been reviewed and finalized, you can distribute the paystubs to your employees. Most paystub creators offer options to download the stubs as PDFs, email them directly, or even print them for distribution.

Why Use a Free Paystub Generator?

For small businesses or freelancers, investing in expensive payroll software might not be feasible. That’s where free paystub generators come into play. A paystub generator free of charge offers a cost-effective solution without compromising on quality or compliance.

Some benefits of using a free paystub generator include:

Cost Savings: You don’t have to spend money on software or subscription fees, which is ideal for small businesses and freelancers working with tight budgets.

Easy to Use: These tools are designed for simplicity, allowing you to generate paystubs in just a few steps.

Compliant: Even free generators ensure that your paystubs meet legal requirements, especially with deductions and tax breakdowns.

Conclusion

Accurate payroll is essential for any business, and using tools like the Washington Paycheck Calculator and Paystub Creator can streamline this process. Whether you’re a small business owner, freelancer, or part of a larger organization, these tools help ensure that you’re compliant with Washington state’s tax laws and provide your employees with clear, accurate paystubs. By using a paystub generator free of charge, you can manage payroll efficiently without breaking the bank.

[girlboss-enthusiast]

How do you know if youre middle class? I think i am gaining class consciousness but Im not sure if I am middle class like what are some signs?

Hi anon! I would define middle class as follows, using either yourself or your parents for reference, depending on if you rely on them for financial assistance.

You're financially comfortable - you don't live paycheck-to-paycheck, you have enough disposable income for yearly vacations or similar, you have enough savings that one emergency won't wipe out your bank account.

However, you can't spend money whenever you want like a wealthy person could. You still have to budget (if you're good at handling your finances lol), you still take out loans for expensive items like a new car, education, or a house.

You and your peers really value college degrees. Not going to college was likely not an option you considered at first.

You or your parents have steady jobs and work in white collar professions or are skilled tradespeople.

You believe in upward mobility and value security.

I think exact income is less relevant than lifestyle, but I'm sure some disagree. You can calculate it depending on your household income and your area at this link.

I liked this Washington Post article about the definition of middle class (they align with mine, more or less).

[newstfionline]

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Canadians have tired of Justin Trudeau (Washington Post) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose to power in 2015—and rescued the Liberal Party from irrelevance—on promises to bring “real change” and infuse Canadian politics with “sunny ways.” Nearly nine years later, the forecast for the progressive icon is cloudy. His party, which has been slumping in the polls for more than a year, now trails the Conservatives by as many as 20 points and is vulnerable not only in key battlegrounds but also in traditional strongholds. In a much lower-key version of Democratic pressure on President Biden to drop out of the U.S. presidential race, several high-profile Liberals, including his former environment minister Catherine McKenna and Christy Clark, a Liberal former premier of British Columbia, have called on him to step aside to give the party a better chance of staying in government. Trudeau’s woes echo those of many incumbent leaders, who are struggling amid high inflation and concerns about affordability, particularly in housing. Most housing markets in Canada are at or near worst-ever affordability levels, the Royal Bank of Canada reported in December.

Number of Americans who say US ready for female president dipping: Survey (The Hill) Since 2015, the number of Americans who say they are ready for a female president has dropped by nine points, according to a new Times/SAY24 poll from YouGov poll. The survey, conducted after President Biden dropped out of the race, was designed to assess the electorate’s beliefs surrounding “gender bias,” and Vice President Harris’s chances come November. While the respondents said that both Trump and Harris are equally qualified for the job, with 49 percent saying they are, voters are hesitant about the idea of a female president—54 percent of the country says they are ready for a woman president and 30 percent said they aren’t. That number is down from 2015, when an Economist/YouGov poll found 63 percent of voters were ready for a woman president.

California’s largest fire of the year grows to 164,000 acres. (1440) The northern California blaze, known as the Park Fire, has grown to a size larger than the city of Chicago (about 148,000 acres) due to warm, dry weather and high winds. Roughly 4,000 residents in the area have been forced to evacuate, while 130 structures have been destroyed, according to officials. A 42-year-old man was arrested earlier in the week on suspicion of starting the fire via a flaming car. The fire was 0% contained as of this writing.

Venezuelans stretch meager wages they hope will grow after election (AP) A municipal market in eastern Venezuela is teeming with weekend customers hoping to score a deal among the stalls of produce, meat, cheese and shelf-stable products. Some carry plantains, cassava crackers, corn flour or half a carton of eggs as they walk home. Middle school teacher Cruz Brito is standing across the street amid the smell of fish that clings to the hot humid air of Maturin. She has about $27 in her bank account and a single can of sardines at home. She is five days away from her next paycheck and her oldest daughter needs college supplies for the following day. So, she walks away empty handed. Maybe her neighborhood convenience store will sell her a couple of things on credit. Eleven years into her country’s complex crisis, the days of food shortages are virtually gone, but with many earning under $200 a month, getting the essentials is a constant struggle for families in rural and urban areas alike. People work second and third jobs, start little businesses, exchange services and gamble to scrape together the money, but still every decision seems to involve a calculator and a calendar. That angst-provoking math is among the reasons why the ruling party’s hold on power looks vulnerable in Sunday’s presidential election.

Paris Olympics Security: Unprecedented AI Surveillance (La Marea/Spain) A middle-aged man walks around the stadium where the Olympic track and field events are going to take place. Outside, everything is quiet. One can only hear the echoes of applause when a high jumper manages to clear the bar, or sprinters finish their race or one of the stars who will compete that afternoon appears on the jumbo screens. Then suddenly, three police cars arrive at full speed, cut off the man's path and arrest him in just a few seconds. A camera had recorded him and an algorithm had raised the alarm: he must have made some unexpected movement, or perhaps there was an abandoned object nearby, or an “unforeseen” gathering of people. Or perhaps he looks a lot like someone who participated a few months ago in a protest against the war in Gaza… From the command center, someone had registered the anomaly, assessed its credibility and sent the order to the nearest patrols. No, this is not a scene from some futuristic show, but something that could happen during the Olympic Games held in Paris and other French towns. This will be the first worldwide-level event utilizing an algorithmic video surveillance system (VSS) to help ensure security measures. More than 400 cameras will be added to the 4,000 already operating in Paris and placed at the entrances to stadiums, streets and nearby transport, to ensure that there are as few blind spots as possible security-wise during the most followed sporting competition on the planet, with around one and a half million visitors expected to attend. And the system will remain after the games end.

Greece’s Santorini bursts with tourists as locals call for a cap (Reuters) Armed with selfie sticks and phones, the tourists flood into Santorini from everywhere—on dinghies from giant ocean liners, on coaches that zigzag up the steep hillsides, atop donkeys that clip-clop along the narrow cobbled streets. Some brave the afternoon heat to find a good spot among the white-washed houses and blue-domed churches where they then wait hours to watch the Greek island’s famed sunset. As the sun dips, many more join them, squeezing along the cliffside or onto balconies, cameras at the ready. For many of Santorini’s 20,000 permanent residents, the once idyllic island of quaint villages and pristine beaches has been ruined by mass tourism. As protests against excessive tourism erupt in other popular holiday destinations, including Venice and Barcelona, Santorini represents one of the starkest examples of how hordes of visitors can impact a place. The growing number of foreign tourists—some 3.4 million visited the island last year, according to mayor Nikos Zorzos—are putting pressure on its outdated infrastructure and are pricing islanders out of the housing market.

Russia, adapting tactics, advances in Donetsk and takes more Ukrainian land (Washington Post) Russian forces have mounted an arc of attack in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, pushing through intense summer heat in a bid to extend Moscow’s steady territorial gains and capture the city of Pokrovsk, a key transit junction. The offensive is underway as Ukraine continues to suffer from a shortage of soldiers and as election turmoil in the United States has set off new speculation that Kyiv may soon be forced to negotiate a surrender of lands. After an influx of American weapons and money helped Ukraine blunt a renewed invasion of the northeast Kharkiv region in May, preventing a major breakthrough and dashing Moscow’s hopes of surrounding Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian commanders have refocused their attention on the Donetsk region, which may have been Russia’s objective all along. The reinvasion of the Kharkiv region, while yielding limited gains, nonetheless diverted Ukrainian resources.

India: Violence against Christians (Religion News Service) In June, Bindu Sodhi, a 32-year-old tribal woman from a small village in the densely forested state of Chhattisgarh, in central India, was killed by her neighbors while tilling her ancestral land. The villagers stoutly warned her family not to set foot in the village unless they gave up their Christian faith. Local police shrugged off Sodhi’s killing as a land dispute, despite the fact that, over the last four years, Hindu extremists and even some of Sodhi’s close relatives had been pressuring her to renounce her Christian beliefs. Attacks on Christians, who constitute only 2.3% of India’s 1.4 billion people, have risen sharply over the last few years. The main perpetrators of these crimes are extremists who believe Hinduism, India’s most prevalent faith, is synonymous with Indian identity and citizenship. Last year, the United Christian Forum, a human rights group based in New Delhi, recorded 733 incidents of violence against Christians, with an average of 61 incidents every month. “There is a surge in violence against Christians,” said AC Michael, the group’s national convener. “The government is doing little to curb police and mob brutality against Christians accused under anti-conversion laws and the undue violation of our rights.” Targeting of Christians has been going on in India since the 1990s. The gruesome murder of Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines, along with his two minor sons, by Hindu extremists in 1999 brought the world’s attention to the violence being meted out against the community. But with the rise of Modi, head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, the scale and magnitude of these threats have increased significantly.

Netanyahu says Hezbollah will pay 'heavy price' after deadly Golan Heights strike that group denies (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Hezbollah “will pay a heavy price for this attack, one that it has not paid so far,” his office said after a rocket strike Saturday at a soccer field in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed at least 11 children and teens. It was the deadliest strike on an Israeli target along the country’s northern border since the fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began. It raised fears of a broader regional war. Israel is blaming Hezbollah for the strike, but Hezbollah has rushed to deny any role.

An Israeli airstrike hits a school sheltering people in Gaza, killing at least 30 including children (AP) Israeli airstrikes hit a school used by displaced Palestinians in central Gaza on Saturday, killing at least 30 people including several children. Seven children and seven women were among the dead taken from the girls’ school in Deir al-Balah to Al Aqsa Hospital. Israel’s military said it targeted a Hamas command center used to direct attacks against Israeli troops and store “large quantities of weapons.” Hamas called the military’s claim false. Civil defense workers in Gaza said thousands had been sheltering in the school, which also contained a medical site. Associated Press journalists saw a dead toddler in an ambulance and bodies covered with blankets. Shattered walls gaped and classrooms were in ruins. People searched the rubble strewn with pillows and other signs of habitation.

‘I just feel like living every day’: oldest American, 115, offers tips for longevity (Guardian) The oldest person in the US offers two bits of advice when asked for the keys to her longevity: “If the good Lord gave it to you, use it” and “Speak your mind, don’t bite your tongue!�� Elizabeth Francis’s pearls of wisdom were recirculated widely as she celebrated her 115th birthday on Thursday. Francis was born in 1909 in St Mary parish, Louisiana, about 90 miles (145km) south-west of New Orleans. She was two when the Titanic sank and had turned 11 before women gained the right to vote in the US. She has seen the end of both world wars, lived through 20 different US presidencies and survived two of the deadliest pandemics: the 1918 flu outbreak and Covid-19. Francis has previously attributed at least some of her longevity to her religious faith. Fellow worshippers from the Good Hope Missionary Baptist church join the family and friends who visit her daily at the home she shares with her daughter, Dorothy Williams.

[xtruss]

Bernie Sanders: We Must Raise The Minimum Wage To A Living Wage

In the richest country on earth, if you work 40 hours a week you shouldn’t have to live in poverty

— Opinion | Minimum Wage | Monday 17 April 2022

Demonstrators rally at New York’s City Hall Park to demand a higher minimum wage in November 2022. Photograph: Derek French/Rex/Shutterstock

Congress Can No Longer Ignore the needs of the working class of this country. At a time of massive and growing income and wealth inequality and record-breaking corporate profits, we must stand up for working families – many of whom are struggling every day to provide a minimal standard of living for their families.

One important way to do that is to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage. In the year 2023, nobody in the US should be forced to work for starvation wages. It should be a basic truism that in the US, the richest country on earth, if you work 40 hours a week you do not live in poverty. Raising the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do morally. It is also good economics. Putting money into the hands of people who will spend it on basic needs is a strong economic stimulant.

“The federal minimum wage has lost over 27% of its purchasing power since it was last raised 14 years ago”

When over 60% of American workers are now living paycheck to paycheck, when the life expectancy of low-income Americans is in decline, when we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country, we can no longer tolerate a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, a wage that has not been raised since 2009. Incredibly, the federal minimum wage has lost over 27% of its purchasing power since it was last raised 14 years ago. That is unacceptable. Millions of Americans cannot be allowed to fall further and further behind economically, unable to afford the housing, food, healthcare, childcare and education they desperately need in order to live in health and dignity.

Whether they are greeting us at Walmart, serving us hamburgers at McDonald’s, providing childcare for our kids or waiting on our table at a diner in rural America, there are too many Americans trying to survive and raise families on $9, $10 or $12 an hour. It cannot be done. This injustice must end. Low-income workers need a pay raise and the American people want them to get that raise.

Bernie (Bernard) Sanders

“Cities and states all across the country are taking the low-wage crisis into their own hands and raising their minimum wage”

That was then. Now is now. And things are changing. As a result of years of congressional inaction, cities and states all across the country are taking the low-wage crisis into their own hands and raising their minimum wage. Some are doing it through legislative action. Others are doing it through ballot initiatives.

Since 2013, the people of 12 states – New Jersey, South Dakota, Arkansas (twice), Alaska, Washington, Maine, Colorado, Arizona, Missouri, Florida, Nevada and Nebraska (twice) – have voted on ballot initiatives to raise their state’s minimum wage. Every single one of these initiatives passed, none with less than 55% of the vote. And these are not just strong “blue states” voting for economic justice. In the recent November 2022 midterm election, two states that voted in Republican governors, Nebraska and Nevada, voted to raise the minimum wage. In 2020, the citizens of Florida, with a Republican governor and two Republican senators, also voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The MIT living wage calculator estimates a living wage as a salary that is adequate enough to support a family without luxuries. For two working adults and one child, a living hourly wage for each adult would be $18.69 in West Virginia, $17.55 in South Carolina, $21.57 in Maryland, $20.01 in Utah and $19.33 in Wisconsin. Even in my own state of Vermont, the living wage is $19.58, more than $6 above the current state minimum wage.

But there are many families that do not have two working adults and rely on single moms who are raising their children on their own. In that case, the required living wage is much higher. As an example, a single mother in West Virginia would need to make $33.39 an hour to support herself and one child.

So it is not radical to suggest that raising the minimum wage to $17 an hour over a period of several years is the right thing to do. In fact, had my 2015 bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour that was indexed to median wages became law, the federal minimum wage this January would be at least $17.40 an hour. And while we deal with the minimum wage, we must also address the scandal of the tipped wage, which has been stuck at an abysmally low $2.13 an hour for more than 30 years thanks, in large part, to the powerful restaurant lobby which has spent millions in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses since 1991 to keep workers in poverty.

Together, these two proposals would provide an increase in pay for tens of millions of desperate Americans – disproportionately women and people of color. It would also be a huge boost to single moms. Let us not forget that these are the essential workers who kept the economy going during the worst of the Covid pandemic. At that time we called them heroes and heroines. Well, rhetorical praise is nice. A livable paycheck is better. Let’s do it.

— Bernie Sanders is a US Senator From Vermont and the Chair of the Senate zcommittee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

[inkandguns]

What site did you use to calculate your monthly take home?

I take home a whole lot more than that - I was just imagining what it would be like again being 19 and on my own. No skills or experience, competing in a tough market.

[prvtbugsbuggins]

25 - Hide and Seek

For @whumptober2021

Chapter link -> Here

Trigger warning for: Mentions of murdering, discussion of the philosophical nature between man and monster.

Prompt: Hide and Seek

Summary: Locus and Caboose play a game, and then feelings occur.

—

The forests of Chorus echoed with the sound of birdsong and insect chirps. Summer was in full swing, spreading green across the formally war torn planet. Craters caused by artillery strikes and mine fields have begun to fill up with water, bringing back little amphibians and water birds. The green spread, bringing life back to was once a place of ugliness and death. Soon, it would be like there was never a civil war that nearly tore the planet in half, but echoes would be left behind for those who knew where to look.

Something Locus felt immense guilt for.

Once upon a time, he was a proper solider. He had honor. But then he saw and did things he never thought he would, and his wounded mind was ripe for exploitation. Felix, once a rival, and then a partner, used him to keep himself alive. The betrayal, plus the stinging truth from Washington, made him rethink what he had become. He was less of a man, and more of a monster. There was no honor in murder, and he could no longer deny that is what he was doing. He could see the faces of every innocent he killed every time he closed his eyes. Their ghosts haunted his thoughts and each day, he wondered how much further he would go just for that next paycheck.

It was then he made a decision once he saw good for what it was...and how far he had slipped towards the other side. He left Felix to his fate, turning over a new leaf. He wanted to be a man again, someone who protected the innocent. Be the man he was all those years ago when he first enlisted, soul full of dreams of changing the world for the better...making a difference. No more lives would be ended by his hand, not anymore.

His sins against Chorus were numerous and he was fine to spend the rest of his life helping it to heal, protecting it from danger and letting it thrive. He would never be able to live among them, he was no hero, but he was fine to stick to the shadows, watching others enjoy the life he may have had if he had made better choices.

When Temple and his men stole a colony’s power source, killing everyone, he knew he had to do something. When he and Grif rescued the Reds and Blues (And two freelancers), he was not surprised to be met with distrust and fear. He had deserved the reputation, after all, it wasn’t like he was going to be able to earn trust from the people he tormented right away.

Then to his surprise, Caboose hugged him, and Locus realized that it’s been a long time since someone was actually happy to see him.

It was a sobering, but humbling realization.

He brought his thoughts back from his first actual friend to his movements, careful and quiet as he traversed the undergrowth. Each step was calculated before he even moved, thinking ahead five steps as he made his way through the forest. His active camouflage made him invisible, but he knew it wasn’t going to be enough for this mission. He needed to stay focused and alert, for now he was prey, and what stalked him through the woods was something even he could fear. He did his best to keep his breathing stable as a sense of thrill and a smidgen of leftover instincts rose up in his heart. Any false step could give him away.

His boots left no trace, not a leaf out of place or a dip in the fresh earth. He passed through like a ghost, silent and alert.

So he didn’t expect it when a blue suit of power armor dropped out of the tree above him and flattened him to the earth with a yell. The force of the impact sent leaves and bits of dirt flying, sending small animals crashing back into the bushes. A sound of sizzling alerted him to the fact that his camouflage had failed, leaving him fully exposed. He was thankful his armor was reinforced, because 900+ pounds of hyper was now sitting atop him, wiggling with happiness. Locus gasped for breath, the impact knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to remain still to catch it again.

“Found you!” Caboose declared with a laugh, loud and joyful. He quickly rolled off the now visible armor and sat down on his knees, looming over and watching Locus with interest. “That was fun! Do you want to play again? You can be ‘it’ this time if you like.”

“Perhaps we should take a break.” Locus rolled on his back and sat up, wincing at the pops the bones in his spine made. He was surely going to bruise, especially since this was the fifth time this day that he go flattened by the resident Spartan. He wasn’t getting any younger, he should perhaps reinforce the back portion more strongly next time his armor gets serviced.

“I guess you are right, we have been playing for a while.” Caboose fiddled with one of this side pockets. Instead of keeping a sidearm in there like a regular person, he instead pulled out two juice boxes, keeping one for himself and handing the other to Locus.

Locus took it and glanced at the packaging. It seemed it was grape day today, and somehow it was still cold despite the summer heat. “Thank you, Captain.”

Caboose popped the seals on his helmet and took it off, putting it to the side and shaking his hair out of his eyes. “You’re welcome! Juice is good for you.” He took the little straw off the side of the package and stuck it in, and happily began sipping.

Locus didn’t take off his own helmet, stashing the juice to drink later. To take off one’s helmet in front of another was a huge sign of trust, something that Locus himself didn’t feel ready for yet. He appreciated the fact that the Captain trusted him enough to remove his, and decided to voice a question that had always lingered in the back of his mind since they took on the Blues and Reds.

“Captain Caboose?”

Caboose turned, juice box already a crumbled mess in his attempt to get every last bit of juice out of the box. “Yes Grasshopper? Are you done with your break?”

“No, I just wanted to ask you something, if you don’t mind.” Talking about feelings was something Locus never expected himself to do, but then again he never expected to play recess games in the woods with a Spartan. It was funny where life ended up leading someone.

“I don’t mind!” Caboose turned around, planting his hands on his knees and looking as serious as he was able to. “What do you need? Did you want to play something else?”

Again, Locus shook his head no. “No, I just want to know why you trust me so much.”

“Weelllll,” Caboose leaned back a little, face scrunched up as he obviously struggled to put thoughts into words. Locus however, was a patient man, so he stayed quiet, focused and listening. “Do you remember when everyone called you a monster?”

A brief but well deserved sting crossed him for a moment, before Locus nodded in reply. “Yes, I am well aware of what I am called. I was an actual monster, Captain. They did not sugar coat their assessment of me.”

“Yeah but, you’re not anymore. You are a good guy!” Caboose reached down and poked the former mercenary on the chest. “You are now our friend! Even if you hide a lot.”

“That is true, but it does not answer the question of why you trust me in particular.” Locus gestured to himself, knowing the Captain understands hand movements better than words most of the time.

“Oh!” He seemed to get it now, and pointed to himself. “It’s cause we’re both monsters.”

“...come again?” Locus peered at Caboose, scrutinizing him heavily behind his visor. It was true that he knew what he was, but he couldn’t imagine someone like him would be anything close to a monster. Every trait he himself had he could not find in Caboose. Such a thought seemed utterly impossible.

“We’re monsters.” The Captain repeated. “You did bad things, I was made to do bad things. My sisters try to tell me a lot that we aren’t bad, but sometimes people say special words, and then I get mad…and then…” Caboose sighed, looking down at his hands as he clenched them. “I hurt people. I don’t remember when I do but I know I did. I just know. They won’t tell me about it, but what they don’t say says as much as if they said something. It makes me sad."

“Your sisters are right, because you are not a monster.” Locus said, voice somewhat softer than what he usually spoke with. “You did not wish to hurt people. I made a conscious choice to kill. I wanted to do it. I did not get enjoyment out of it, but I still did it. To causally disregard the life of another is what makes someone a monster.”

Caboose frowned, still staring at his hands. “Do you remember what it was like before you became one?”

“I do. I had a life. I joined the military. I fought with honor.” Locus could still remember basic training, forming bonds with his brothers in arms, watching them all die one after the other. Explosives and artillery and fires rained down constantly, burning all the good things in the universe and leaving everything behind as little more than raw suffering and pain. But before that, he was no monster. “Then I made the choice to become what I am now.”

“I don’t remember not being what I am.” Caboose explained. “I was always this. Some people had moms and dads and brothers and lived in houses and weren’t in school all the time. I didn’t have a mom or dad. I just had my sisters. And we had teachers that were mean sometimes. We lived in barracks at school and got shot at a lot. I remember being really little and learning how to take a gun apart and putting it back together as fast as I could. They always said we were learning to be big tough soldiers to fight bad aliens, so that’s all I knew. I don’t remember all of it because my head got hurt a lot, but they were not nice things we learned.”

“I am sorry you had to live like that.” Locus bowed his head slightly, the explanation weighed heavily on him. He understood now just what Caboose was trying to tell him. “But you are still not a monster. The ones who made you do those things are the real monsters. You were only a child.”

“You really think so?” Caboose tilted his head to the side, blue eyes wide with a spark of hope in them. He probably would need constant reassurances before the idea of it would actually begin to stick, and Locus decided to be the first one to do that.

“I do. You are no monster, Captain.” Locus spoke slowly and gently. “You could never be a monster, it is not within your nature. So, us bonding over being monsters is not completely accurate.”

Caboose opened his mouth in an ‘ohhhh’ and looked up at the canopy for a moment, thinking over what was said to him. “Okay! Then, I trust you because I just like you.”

“Just like that?”

“Yuppers!”

“Well, I am honored you think that way.” Locus bowed his head in gratitude. He thought such things were a little naïve and somewhat foolish, but something told him that Caboose knew more about people than he let on. “If you feel like a monster again, you should talk to your friends. They will be able to help you with that.”

“I will, I promise.” Caboose held out his hand, pinkie finger up. “But only if you promise to do the same! It’s only fair!”

Locus said nothing, taking the hand and completing the pinkie shake. He didn’t quite know who to talk to about some of the thoughts he had about himself. He didn’t quite know if there was a therapist out there qualified to deal with such a person as him. If anything. Emily Grey would know, and he figured she’d be less likely to shoot him on sight if he asked about it.

“Well, I’m ready again.” Caboose grabbed his helmet, putting it back on his head and turning it until the air locks sealed. “Did you want to hide again, or seek?”

“I will hide.” Locus didn’t know if Caboose knew how much valuable training he was giving him just by a simple game of hide and seek, but he did know both of them were having fun. He was more than happy to entertain his friend in exchange for not having the Captain’s friends try to kill him. A win-win, for sure. Perhaps someday, he’ll manage to not get caught by the Spartan. Then perhaps it would be his turn to be 'It'.

“Okay! I will count to 100!” Caboose turned around and faced a tree, covering the sides of his helmet so he can properly count. To his credit he didn't peek. “Ready? Set! Go!”

Locus took off up into the trees, armor blending in to the greenery as he did his best to get as much distance between him and the Spartan as he could. Something told him, however, that that wasn’t going to matter much in the end.

“One Two Skip a Few, Ninety Nine, a Hundred! Ready or not here I come!”

Locus put more force behind his jumps, hoping that this time he’ll manage to last a full minute before getting squashed again.

—

What's this? Locus and feelings in my fanfic? It's more likely than you think!

Caboose is very much like the Iron Giant. You just want to yell YOU ARE NOT A GUN at him and hope he'll internalize it.

But yeah, he knows what's going on. He can't remember details, but he's smart enough to notice patterns. He knows what he was made to do and it often scares him. Locus is a person who willingly became a monster, so he at least had some good advice to give, and if a monster says you aren't one, then who is he to not trust an expert?

I wanted to expand on Locus and Caboose playing hide and seek both for fun and valuable training. :3

[dorevenge]

where ignorance is bliss - chapter 3: a young fellow

SUMMARY: Obadiah is back from Washington and surprises Maria with a belated birthday trip abroad. [AO3 LINK]

CHAPTERS: 1 2 [3] 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ☆

November 16, 1959 – Bronx, New York, Obadiah’s Apartment

“Surprise, darling! Happy belated birthday.”

The door swings open, the jangle of keys alarming me, and I run to put his engagement ring back on, tossing the dirty apron back in the hamper. I greet him at the door, with a perfect smile, the image of everything he would want from me. I put the thick folder in the back of my mind, trying not to think about the bookshelf I shoved it behind.

Obie takes me into his arms. My face barely comes up to his collarbones. It was normally a sensation I craved after a long, stressful day, but when the person holding me is the source of my stress, the effect is not the same.

He takes a step back and takes my face into his weathered hands, his cold, tired eyes peering into mine. I try to keep eye contact and return the peaceful gaze. The pressure gets to me, so I reach up and pull his head towards mine.

We haven’t kissed in three months, and it’s almost like we’ve forgotten how. At least, I had forgotten how to enjoy it. His lips feel foreign between mine, like a stranger’s. Like someone I couldn’t trust.

When we break apart, his smile is as wide as his head. “I’ll take that as you missed me,” he says. “I got something for you.” He reaches down to the paper bags he had set at his feet when he arrived. He pulls out an envelope and two small, wrapped packages.

Obie leads me to the couch in the living room and sits me down, pushing the envelope in my hands first. He sits beside me, eager for me to open my gifts.

“Already? I didn’t even get to ask you how your flight was yet.” The envelope felt heavy with unknowing in my hands.

“My flight was uneventful. Please…” He gestures impatiently towards the gift in my lap.

I open the envelope gently. Inside, is a simple card, lilac with the words “Happy Birthday” written in a cursive script on the wrong. From within the card, two tickets fall into my lap.

“We’re going to Monaco?”

“Surprise again! I thought it would be a nice break from New York, get away before the holidays. And I feel terrible for leaving you alone for so long right after our engagement. From here on out, I will be an attentive partner to you.” His joy is so thickly spread across his face, it’s all I can do to smile in return and stare down at the tickets in my hands.

“Thank you, Obie, I-”

“You hate it.”

“No, love, I love it, and I love you,” I’m fumbling for my words, and I hope he doesn’t notice. “I’m just tired. It’s hard sleeping alone, and I’m still surprised that you’re here, let alone going taking a trip with you… Tomorrow?” I read the date on the tickets.

“Why wait? Then we can be back in time for Thanksgiving with your parents.” He kisses me on the forehead, content with my reaction, and stands. “I’m going to unpack my clothes from DC, then start repacking.”

-

November 20, 1959 – Monaco, France, The Hellfire Club

Obadiah was not a betting man, but he seemed at home at the Hellfire Club & Casino like a Protestant in church. He “enjoyed the company of the machines that controlled men’s fates,” but I imagine he enjoyed thinking he had more willpower than the men who squandered their paychecks and had to return home to their wives with their head between their tails, lying about the state of their finances.

It turns out he had business in Monaco, and surprising me with a late birthday trip seemed easier than leaving me for work again. I was left to my own devices again, but this time it was in a foreign country. I had studied abroad in France my junior year of college, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t talk to anyone here, but rather I have no desire to even leave the room.

Obie would meet me back at the hotel room at night, and we would often play a game of chess before bed. Playing chess with him was one of the best ways to pass the time. It keeps him quiet from rambling on about things I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about, details about materials and manufacturing and marketing. I did the accounting for Stane International, as that’s what I had studied in school, and as long as the numbers added up, I was content. And for every chess game I won, Obie paid me what we had bet, fueling my addiction to the finer things in life. I purchased more purses and linens and dresses and shoes than I would care to admit, but as long as the numbers added up – and as long as I hid the packages at Peggy’s – he didn’t complain.

The Hellfire Club is unusually classy for Obie’s taste; I’ve already started to resent his cheapness and penny-pinching, and we hadn’t even set a wedding date yet. I should have noticed that sooner. Here, gold decorates every pillar and billiard ball, marble fountains and silver pens, a gratuitous buffet and generous décor around every corner. Whoever the owner is has taste and luxury in excess. I am a girl with champagne taste engaged to a cheapskate.

Obadiah had spent the last four days in meetings from sunrise to sunset, and I am bored out of my mind. I have no interest in day-drinking, I’ve already read every book the front desk has to offer, and the pictures playing down the block don’t spark my curiosity. I feel like a tiger pacing its cage in a zoo, and I am ready to pounce.

Touching up my red lip and pinned curls, I leave the room and exit the elevator. I feel the turn of men’s heads like a gravitational pull, the clack of my heels leading the charge, and I’m embarrassed to admit how much I miss that attention. I know how this dress fits, I know how the color complements me; just because I’m an educated woman doesn’t mean I’m not a human one.

I have hours to kill before Obie will direct his attention to me again, so I stride right into the room full of betting games and tables. I pause in the doorway, taking in the sight – and cigar smoke – of men shuffling cards and chips like it means something, until I recognize one of the tables.

I had learned baccarat in my time in France, and despite never fully grasping the French language, I played their game very well. Like all of the casino’s games, the house has the edge, but my host family had taught me their tricks, and I could keep track of the location of every card once I saw it. This casino plays the punto banco style, which is where I excelled.

The first three hours, I did very well. I did so well that the waitstaff came to watch over my shoulder to assure I wasn’t cheating. I had almost doubled Obie’s entire investment portfolio, at least the one I had access to, using his information to start the hand but relying on my winnings to keep me afloat. But after three hours, I got – as I often do these days – bored. Keeping track of the calculations of the face value no longer keeps me entertained. So I start losing. Maximum bets net maximum losses.

I don’t know why I find so much joy in draining Obie’s savings, linked to the banking information from his hotel reservation. I don’t hate the man, but I don’t think I could ever love him. He has done nothing cruel to me, nothing unjust, or even unkind – but I don’t think he loves me either. I am comfortable and convenient; I straighten his ties and predict his chess moves and shake the hands of men he so desperately wants to impress. When you come from money, you learn to smell desperation a mile away, and Obadiah reeks of it. Every privileged man he meets can smell it, too, and until he can mask it, Stane International won’t become that international.

He’s just so boring. He fixates on the most minute details of his plans, his inventions take priority, and I think if I hurt him here, he would finally pay more attention to me than his baubles.

The chip pile, once mountainous, dwindles, replenishing when I transfer more funds, then drain once again. The staff look at me puzzled, wondering what happened to my blaze of glory, and I ask myself the same question as I feel myself go robotic and glassy-eyed. Twisting the probability on its head, I play the moves in the house’s favor, leaving nothing behind but a tray full of cigarette ash and empty champagne classes.

It dawns on me that this game of baccarat reflected Obie’s and my relationship. I feed his ego, his business deals, and checkbooks, and what did I have to show for it? A cheap steel ring, a prolonged engagement with no date in sight, and still living in my childhood bedroom with my parents in Southampton.

As I drain my last glass, several tall men in nice suits approach me, stern looks on their faces. I straighten in my seat.

“Ms. Carbonell?” one of them asks to confirm my identity in an American accent.

“Is there a problem?”

“You’ve attracted our attention with your gameplay. What are your intentions here at the Hellfire Club?”

I blink at the empty glass in my hand, just a hint of the red wine remaining on the bottom swirling at its base. “To win.”

“Looks like you’re not doing much of that now.”

“Winning got boring,” I shrug.

“Please come with us, Ms. Carbonell.”

“I’d rather stay here and keep losing.”

One of the men places a hand on my shoulder. “You’ll come with us now. The owner of the Roxxon Corporation would like to speak to you.” I’m suddenly on my feet.

[doc-pickles]

i won’t hesitate (for you) ch. 9

Jo is happy, at least she feels like she is. When someone from her past shows up, will her and her daughter’s world ever go back to normal? Or will things change for good?

Me? Updating? It's more likely than you think apparently. I struggled, s t r u g g l e d. through this chapter but I think the rest will come a bit easier. S/O to Ren for proofing the first half of this and to Nat for demanding the second half hahaha. Also I know that the plot for this whole child support thing is totally out of left field, but I'm going with the Grey's motto of "enough logic to be believable but probably not real world" so there's that. Anyways enjoy! PS: In the interest of me not sending myself to an early grave, there's no flashback in the beginning of this chapter!

+

“Can’t believe we have to go to court, this is a waste of my time and my good suit,” Alex grumbled as he tightened this tie. “I had to pull it out of the boxes and then get it dry cleaned, I should freaking bill her for this.”

“This’ll be over with in a few days and we can go back to our normal lives, well as normal as living in a loft overrun with cardboard boxes is,” Jo exited the bathroom and navigated around a stack of boxes before finally making it over to Alex, moving his hands and helping with his tie. “You look so handsome, if we didn’t have somewhere to be I would drag you back to bed.”

“Well our bed isn’t even here for you to drag me to,” Alex moved his lips to kiss along Jo’s neck, a soft giggle coming from her as he did so. “Movers are coming in 45 minutes and we have to be out the door in 15.”

“That’s enough time for a quickie in the bathroom,” Jo’s proposition caused Alex to pull back and look her up and down with an amused expression. “What? I’m seriously horny all the time and you look good in a suit. I can’t help all the hormones running through my body. In fact! It’s your fault for getting me pregnant!”

Alex rolled his eyes, pressing one last kiss to Jo’s lips before pulling back from her.

“If I remember correctly, there were two of us in that elevator,” grabbing his keys and coat, Alex held his hand out for Jo to grab. “And I wasn’t the one gasping and moaning and practically begging the whole time.”

“If you keep using verbs like that you’re gonna make us late,” Jo swatted at Alex’s ass before grabbing his outstretched hand, following him out of the loft.

As they locked the doors and headed downstairs, Alex let his hands fall to Jo’s growing bump, showcased by her form fitting black dress. At almost 18 weeks pregnant now, Jo couldn’t attempt to hide her bump anymore. She’d been nervous that her pregnancy would impact the court case one way or another, but Alex had reassured her that he just wanted her there with him, consequence be damned. Things had moved quickly though, and in the end, Jo had been called to testify as a character witness so her protests didn’t matter.

The speed of the case making it to court probably had something to do with the fact that Izzie hadn’t bothered to fly back home to file a claim, instead calling the first paternity lawyer she could find on google and starting up the legal process in Washington. While it was a minor relief that Alex wouldn’t have to split time between Seattle and Kansas, both he and Jo were worried about how seriously Izzie had taken things.

Getting into the car and pulling on her seatbelt, Jo begins to ramble nervously. “How’s this going to work? I mean… they’re not yours, right? How is Izzie even allowed to do this?”

A loud groan left Alex as he settled into the driver's seat of his car. He’d wondered the same thing, but he knew that him signing all those papers when he moved to Kansas three years ago had definitely helped Izzie’s case. Even back then, he’d thought in the back of his mind that he should have asked more questions, demanded a paternity test, but he hadn’t. All he could focus on were these two perfect children standing in front of him, children that he now knew weren’t even his. Alex’s blood began to boil with anger at the thought of Izzie lying to him for so long, but he let out a deep breath and began to drive towards the courthouse instead.

“I don’t know, but I saw those blood test results myself and there’s no damn way those kids are mine,” Jo’s fingers rubbed against Alex’s arm, calming him slightly. He looked to her briefly before speaking again. “I’m sorry you had to get dragged into this, I wish I could protect you from it all.”

He could feel Jo’s gaze on him as his eyes stayed on the road. Alex could almost hear her thinking of how much she wanted to make Izzie pay for what she’d done to him. He was almost certain that pregnant or not, she’d fight Izzie if she came at her again. As if reading his mind Jo let out a chuckle and squeezed his arm reassuringly.

“I’m a big girl, I can stand up to bullies on the playground,” Jo squeezed Alex’s arm once more before bringing her hand to rest on her growing bump. “Let’s just get through today, this isn’t going to go longer than a day once they figure out you’re not those kids dad.”

But it did end up lasting longer… Once they got to the courthouse, Alex realized with a sense of horror that Izzie wasn’t messing around. She had two lawyers and was wearing a dress that looked like it cost more than his paycheck. And she wasn’t holding back anything, her lawyers showed that loud and clear.

“My client went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, there’s no possible way that she could conceive without the help of artificial insemination and the sample that Doctor Karev provided,” Izzie’s lawyer was a short, pudgy man whose voice echoed through the courtroom unforgivingly. “We’re asking for Doctor Karev to back pay child support for the three years he knew about and took parental responsibility for both children as well as therapy for the children in the wake of his sudden departure.”

“Your Honor, these claims are absurd! Doctors Karev and Stevens performed a blood test that showed that one of the children has a genetic disorder that neither of them have, meaning that if Doctor Stevens did indeed give birth to both children, that Doctor Karev could not be their biological father,” Alex’s lawyer fought back, eyeing Izzie and her lawyers as she spoke. “All we’re asking for is Doctor Karev to be released of all parental responsibility for both children and for Doctor Stevens to repay him the legal fees for these proceedings, as well as cover any other expenses he’s incurred while being involved in this trial.”

A quick and calculated silence followed the statement, Alex’s eyes flitting nervously from Izzie to her lawyer to Jo, who sat behind him with her hands nervously running over her bump. He’d seen Izzie watching her with a venomous expression earlier, Alex’s grip around her waist tightening as they’d shuffled into the courtroom.

“Your Honor, we’d like to call Doctor Josephine Brooke Karev to the stand before we proceed,” Izzie’s other lawyer, a tall woman named Eleanor Krause, stood and gestured towards the witness stand. She wore an almost permanent scowl on her thin face, her dark eyes staring menacingly around the courtroom. “I have a few questions for the other Doctor Karev.”

Jo rose and quietly made her way towards the stand, eyes meeting Alex’s briefly before swearing in and turning to face Miss Krause.

“Doctor Karev, are you and Doctor Alexander Michael Karev still married?”

“No we are currently divorced,” Jo’s voice was clear and stoic as she answered, staring directly at the lawyer questioning her. “We’ve been divorced for almost three years now.”

“And the dissolution of your marriage occurred when separated he moved to Kansas to be with Doctor Stevens?”

“Correct…,” then quickly adding, “after learning of their existence, Alex determined he needed to sever all ties with Seattle to be there completely for his children. At least who he thought were his children.”

Krause’s eyes lit up suddenly, a wicked smile appearing on her face as she stared down Jo. Alex could feel his stomach drop, knowing that whatever the woman was going to say next would not be friendly or civil.

“And you also have a child fathered by Doctor Alexander Michael Karev, is that right?”

“Yes, my daughter Harper Josephine Karev, who is two, and the child I’m carrying now are both Alex’s,” Jo’s brow furrowed, hand settling onto her abdomen as she watched the woman take a step closer to her. “I don’t see what that has to do with the case at hand though.”

“I just want to know if the other Doctor Karev paid you child support during your first pregnancy and the two years of your daughter’s life that he wasn’t present,” Krause’s voice was practically dripping with malice as she stared Jo down. “I mean, we are here to make sure that he’s doing his duty as a father, whether he’s in the same state as his children or not, right? So, has he been paying child support to you, Doctor Karev?”

Jo’s eyes flitted to Alex nervously, his own telling her that it was okay to tell the truth. To be honest, he was scared what Jo’s answer would affect in the case, but he knew that at the end of the day he wouldn’t have to pay a dime to Izzie because her kids were not his.

“No he hasn’t, but he didn’t know he had a daughter until four months ago,” Jo argued, turning momentarily to the judge. “He’s been a present and wonderful father since he’s known about Harper.”

“Doctor Karev, are you sure beyond a reasonable doubt that both of your children are indeed Alex’s children? Did you not have your daughter shortly after your now ex husband left you?”

“What’s the relevance here,” Alex’s lawyer finally stood and challenged the woman accosting Jo. “Doctor Josephine Karev’s children shouldn’t have any effect on her ex husband's child support case! It’s cruel and malicious to be questioning her like this on the stand.”

Alex turned to glare at Izzie, angered that she wore the same expression as her shifty lawyer. She knew about what Krause was plotting, he would put money on the fact that she’d planted the seed of whatever cruel idea it was in her head.

“I’m just questioning Doctor Alexander Karev’s intentions when it comes to his children, however many that may be,” Krause shrugged, eyes narrowing in Jo’s direction. “You’ve filed papers to move forward with adding Alexander to your daughter’s legal paperwork, is that correct?”

That all too familiar feeling of horror flooded Alex’s senses again, overtaking everything as he watched Jo answer affirmatively, her eyes moving to him again. There were tears welling up in them now, the fear he felt in the room spreading to her as well. His breathing hitched as he listened to Izzie’s lawyer prattle on once more, her biting voice breaking through his mental fog.

“I’d like to request a hold on any formal paternity proclamations concerning Doctor Alexander Michael Karev’s alleged children until their paternity can be confirmed via DNA testing,” Krause moved her line of sight to Jo once more, a sharp note ringing through the courtroom as she delivered her final, jarring blow. “I’d like to request that all four of Doctor Karev’s alleged children are tested, I believe that Josephine here is still well within the window to have an amniocentesis performed.”

“No, hell no!” Alex stood from his chair, eyes blazing as he stared down Krause. “I am not letting you poke and prod my wife just for a damn child support case, especially one she’s not directly involved in.”

Both Alex and his lawyer turned pleadingly towards the judge, who was eyeing both Izzie and Alex warily. He was never one to feel anxious, but he couldn’t help the worry mounting in his chest. Finally, the judge spoke, his words directed towards Izzie’s lawyers.

“How long would this process take?”

“If we proceeded with the amniocentesis, we’d have results in as soon as three weeks,” Krause’s eyes moved to Alex, a sick look of delight glowing in them. “If you’re uncomfortable with that though, we can draw this case out until the baby is born.”

“I’ll do it,” Jo’s voice rang out before anyone else could answer, making all eyes in the courtroom turn to her. Alex felt his heart constrict as he watched her speak. “I’ll do the amnio, I don’t mind.”

“With Doctor Josephine Karev’s confirmation, I’m adjourning this case until the DNA results for Alexis Isobel Stevens, Eli George Stevens, Harper Josephine Karev, and Doctor Josephine Karev’s unborn child come back. Court adjourned, you may leave now,” the judge rose and left the courtroom quickly, not bothering to witness the pure mayhem that descended upon the room.

“You did this on purpose,” Alex was up and out of his seat before anyone could stop him, feet heading towards Izzie who wore a smug expression as she looked him over. “You disgust me, you’ve weaponized your own children against me and now you’re trying to jeopardize the health of my unborn child and wife?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Alex,” Izzie batted her eyelashes in Alex’s direction, her self satisfied smirk growing as she watched him become more angry. “Looking forward to seeing you again!”

Before he could respond to Izzie, a gentle hand pressed into Alex’s back and ushered him towards the exit. Jo’s presence, even if he hadn’t looked into her eyes yet, was an instant calming effect over him.

As soon as they stepped into the hallway, Jo and Alex were in each other’s embrace, steadying breaths matching the others as they tried to come to terms with what had just happened. Her face pressed against his chest, Alex could feel the slow shuddering breaths that left Jo as he held her. He knew the questions Izzie's lawyer had posed were ones that were a sore spot for Jo, ones she’d begged him not to believe as she’d cried into his arms just a few weeks earlier.

“Just one punch,” Jo mumbled the words against Alex’s chest, looking up to make sure he heard her. “Please? I just wanna punch her one time.”

Alex chuckled, looking down at Jo with a glint in his eye, “You know I can’t let you do that, even though it would make me happier than I care to admit.”

“You kept calling me your wife in there,” Jo pressed her hands against the lapels of Alex’s suit, avoiding his stare as she fixed her gaze on her hands. “I don’t hate hearing you say that again.”

The words made Alex’s heart stutter under Jo’s gentle touch, his mind racing as he took in fully what she was saying. Did she really want to be his wife again? After years of him being away, of her raising their daughter on her own? After he had all but abandoned her and told her via letter?

Watching Jo for another moment, Alex brought his fingers under her chin and met her eyes, “You wanna marry me again? After all the shit we’ve been through?”

“For some reason I do, you make me better,” Jo finally lifted her gaze back to Alex’s face, eyes welling with tears as she spoke. “You’ve given me the best things in my life, you’ve made me a better person. And if we can get through some of the things that have been thrown at us, then I truly think we can get through everything. I love you Alex, more than I can ever say to you. I know you think you’ve fucked up, but through the past few months you’ve shown me how much you’ve grown.”

Not knowing what to say, Alex leaned down and captured Jo’s lips with his own. If there was one thing that was almost always blaringly clear for him, it was that he didn’t deserve the woman in his arms. He couldn’t begin to fathom how much it had taken to forgive him, to even trust him again after what he’d done. But just as she’d always done, Jo saw him for who he really was underneath all of his layers of bullshit.

“We can go right now, we are in the courthouse,” Alex joked, prompting Jo to roll her eyes and gently slap his chest before walking towards the exit. “What? Not a funny joke? We had fun last time and the SUV has a bigger backseat than the Audi did.” “Mmm yeah, you know we made a baby that night, right?,” Jo raised her eyebrows, a mischievous grin lighting up her face as she took in Alex’s shocked expression. “You have really good luck, you know? You made one baby in the backseat of a car and another on the floor of an elevator.”

A peel of laughter escaped Jo as she tried to unsuccessfully move away from Alex’s grip on her hips, instead falling back into his arms as his lips grazed her neck.

“You’re gonna be the death of me, woman,” Alex whispered the words as he turned Jo around in his arms. “Weren’t you just trying to jump me in the bathroom a few hours ago? Is the car not up to your standards?”

“No, I’m just thinking that Link is keeping Harper overnight and our bed probably got to the new house already,” Jo smirked in satisfaction at the dark look that fell over Alex’s eyes at her suggestion. “Now's as good a time as any to start christening the place. Unless you can’t keep up with a younger woman?”

“Josephine Karev, you know I can keep up with you any day of the week,” Alex’s lips ghosted Jo’s ear as he lowered his voice, pressing her closer to him and making his aroused state perfectly clear for her. “Let’s go, before we have no choice but to finish things up in the car.”

+

Twenty four hours after leaving the courthouse, Alex and Jo find themselves in an exam room on the OB floor. With the amniocentesis being court ordered and both of them wanting to get things over as quickly as possible, they’d booked the first appointment that was available.

“How are you not nervous,” Alex sat beside Jo, her hand in his as Carina ran an ultrasound wand over Jo’s stomach. “I mean I’m not trying to make you nervous, but you know what happens here!”

“Can’t be any worse than a 15 hour unmedicated labor that ended with a 9 pound baby making its way out of your vagina,” Jo shrugged, Carina chuckling quietly next to her. “I came up with some very interesting curse words that day.”

Alex and Jo both watched the ultrasound screen intently, their baby reaching one leg up to kick at the probe. Carina furrowed her brow, watching the baby move languidly on the screen, “You’re going to have to get them to calm down, I cannot go in while they’re kicking all around like that.”

“Talk to them, they always calm down when you talk to them,” Jo turned to Alex and raised her eyebrows. “Go on! I don’t have all day to lay here Alex.” Alex looked between Jo and Carina before leaning down and speaking in the same mellow tone that Jo had become so used to hearing while they laid in bed at night, “Hey kiddo, you gotta slow down in there. Your mom and I are tangled up in this stupid ass thing-”

“Alex!”

“And we’d really appreciate it if you cooperated so we could get this done,” Alex glanced to the ultrasound screen, noticing that the erratic movements had lessened and the baby had calmed. “See, that’s more like it. You know your sister is very excited to meet you, she keeps running around talking about how she’s gonna be a ‘big shitser’ which is super adorable if not the most inappropriate thing to come out of a two year olds mouth.

“She wants to name you Elsa or Hei Hei, those are the options I was presented with a few nights ago anyways. I don’t think she really gets it, but she’s gonna be great,” Jo’s eyes closed quickly as Carina pulled out the needle, her hand squeezing Alex’s. “Okay you gotta be super still now, mom’s got a big needle in her-”

“You are not helping me, Alex.” “And she’s all done! Look at that, easy peasy,” Alex pressed a kiss to Jo’s forehead, following the once again active baby on the screen. “Hey look at that, baby’s flashing us!”

Jo sat up quickly, eyes scanning the screen as well with a laugh, “Well that’s one way to do a gender reveal.”

Alex leaned up to kiss Jo, laughter bubbling from both of them as they let the realization sink in. They had a house, they had two healthy kids, they had the promise of a great big future ahead of them. Court case be damned, they were happy and things were going right between them for once.

[bountyofbeads]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/08/03/politics/poverty-trump-baltimore-appalachia/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Trump doesn't give a damn about people who live in poverty, he's simply attracting Baltimore because Elijah Cummings is investigating him for his corruption. Elijah Cummings ha provided money for his district but it's up to it's leaders on how to spend the money. And remember Jared Kushner owns one of the largest slums in Baltimore and has done nothing to fix it.

Trump's attacks on Democratic cities ignore poverty in GOP states

Analysis by Zachary B. Wolf | Updated 9:21 AM EDT, Sat August 03, 2019 | CNN | Posted August 3, 2019 9:43AM ET |

Washington(CNN)There are plenty of problems in places President Donald Trump visits for his campaign rallies, but he's more likely to talk about how beautiful they are.

That included Cincinnati, which Trump described during a stop this week as "on the banks of the beautiful Ohio River, with the hardworking patriots of the American heartland."

Compare that description with his attacks on Baltimore spotlighting poverty and urban decay. The majority-black city, the President said this week, is a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess" and "no human being would want to live there."

The difference? Baltimore is home to Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the House Oversight Committee. In Trump's worldview, people who are opposed to his policies are bad. And people who like him are good. It's a simple, binary equation for him.

APPALACHIA HAS ALSO SUFFERED

The problem with that is the US is a massive, complicated place and Trump is supposed to be leading all of it.

He's not going after his political ally Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, even though Kentucky has some of the poorest areas in the country. Instead, Trump is promising to do things like bring back coal mining jobs, even as the energy industry moves toward gas and solar power. That will not comfort former Kentucky employees of the bankrupt Blackjewel coal company, which declined to pay some workers' final paychecks.

In Cincinnati, Trump had a mostly white audience cheering at the decay of mostly black inner cities. He segued quickly from his praise for Ohioans into an argument that Democratic politicians who run major cities have failed, saying that "no one has paid a higher price for the far-left destructive agendas than Americans living in our inner cities."

It's true that most major cities are run by Democrats. But Trump's message about Baltimore and other inner cities, delivered, as it was, to a MAGA-hat-wearing audience in Cincinnati, came off as a political potshot rather than a constructive effort.

While there was outrage at Trump's attack on Baltimore and its racial subtext, there were also a number of thoughtful examinations of why the situation in inner-city Baltimore has not improved. One disturbing fact is that urban areas, for the first time in years, see more fatal drug overdoses than rural areas, according to a new analysis of statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

EFFORTS TO HELP URBAN AREAS

The issue of inequality in urban areas has fueled much of the political conversation among Democrats in 2020. And the social programs many of the progressive Democrats are proposing -- help with health care, child care and college -- would help the black community, which has a lower median income than other racial subgroups in the US and far less generational wealth to fall back on.

Trump's efforts meant to help urban areas have at times helped his political allies. ProPublica reported on a tax break meant to spur investment in places like inner-city Baltimore that was exploited by Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Goldman Sachs to help develop an area of the city that is not particularly poor.

CNN's Lydia DePillis has written about howthat Opportunity Zone tax break has been used in cities around the country to save real estate investors money for high-end projects rather than for affordable housing.

Of the 10 states with the highest poverty rates, according to census data, all but one -- New Mexico -- voted for Trump. They are Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The area of the country with the lowest poverty rate is the Northeast, which was united, except for one electoral vote in Maine, against Trump.

The area of the country with the highest poverty rate is the South, which is Trump's most reliable bed of support.

The poverty rate can be misleading, however. It's a single threshold set by the federal government's Census Bureau for the entire country. In 2018, the poverty threshold was set at an annual income of $13,064 for a single person and $25,465 for a family of four with two children.

But it's a misleading number in a lot of ways, since it costs a lot less to live in Mississippi or West Virginia than it does in Baltimore.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator, it costs about $48,000 for a family of four with one working adult to live in West Virginia, compared with almost $60,000 in Baltimore. But the poverty level, according to the government, is the same. This is also why Democratic efforts to raise the minimum wage to $15 would have a different effect in the South than in large cities, where it still might not be enough.

The number of Americans living in poverty has been falling since 2014, according to the Census Bureau, when it released data for 2017. Data for 2018 will be released in September.

For another example of how poverty data doesn't tell the whole story, consider this: The state with the second-lowest poverty rate in the US is Maryland, which includes Baltimore.

[instantcashadvancesonline-blog]

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[hiterri]

Ubreak iphix

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In order to qualify for the PPP loan amount received, Ubreak Iphix LLC's 2019 payroll expenses are estimated to be at least $31,622. Please Note: Information on estimated payroll and compensation based on PPP rules is provided for informational purposes only.īased on the standard PPP eligibility formula, it may be possible to estimate the payroll expenses represented by a company on their PPP application (see details above). Latitude Longitude for uBreak iPhix LLC - Electronic Repair in Salinas, CA Lat: 36.658208 Lng: -121.659455, Driving directions for uBreak iPhix LLC.

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Additionally, because this standard calculation is based on the maximum loan eligibility, it will under-estimate payroll costs if the business did not apply for the full amount of loan to which it was entitled based on its 2019 payroll expenses and other variables described above.Because salaries for PPP eligibility purposes are capped at $100k, businesses with highly-compensated employees will yield an under-estimation of actual payroll costs.This estimation assumes that the PPP recipient applied for the full amount for which they were eligible, and no other variables affected the loan amount received. uBreakiFix in Athens is a popular phone repair shop with millions of. Situations may exist in which it may not be accurate to estimate a PPP recipient's payroll expenses based on the amount of PPP loan received. Best Mobile Phone Repair in Athens, TX 75751 - Speedy Tech Repair, iPhix - Cell. SES - Senior Executive Service Pay Calculatorįor Ubreak Iphix LLC, the calculation used to estimate payroll costs is shown below:.FWS - Federal Wage System Pay Calculator.Find other electronics repair shop in Salinas with. JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Associationġ040 Riker st. Get website, phone, hours, directions for uBreak iPhix, East Alisal Street 526 Salinas, +1 8312042233.

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[newstfionline]

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Americans Are Drinking More During The Pandemic (NPR) When the pandemic began spreading across the U.S. in March, stores, restaurants and schools closed down. But liquor stores in many parts of the U.S. were deemed essential and stayed open. Alcohol sales have ticked up during the pandemic, so maybe it’s a good time to ask yourself: Are you drinking more than you’d like to be? R. Lorraine Collins, a psychologist at the University of Buffalo, recommends asking yourself, “Are you keeping alcohol as ... a special beverage for limited situations, or are you engaging in alcohol use across the board?” A break from alcohol can lead to a range of outcomes. As we’ve reported, a 2016 British study of people who participated in a monthlong “Dry January” break, found that 82% said they felt a sense of achievement. “Better sleep” was cited by 62%, and 49% said they lost some weight. Maybe you hike farther, have better conversations or get better sleep. Notice if your life feels richer to you. If we’re stuck at home for now, why not give it a try? What do you have to lose?

‘Do as I say’: Anger as some politicians ignore virus rules (AP) Denver’s mayor flies to Mississippi to spend Thanksgiving with his family—after urging others to stay home. He later says he was thinking with “my heart and not my head.” A Pennsylvania mayor bans indoor dining, then eats at a restaurant in Maryland. The governor of Rhode Island is photographed at an indoor wine event as her state faces the nation’s second-highest virus rate. While people weigh whether it’s safe to go to work or the grocery store, the mayor of Austin, Texas, heads to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on a private jet after hosting a wedding for 20. California’s governor dines at a swanky French restaurant with lobbyists, none wearing masks, a day after San Francisco’s mayor was there for a birthday party. Both had recently imposed tough rules on restaurants, shops and activities to slow the spread of the virus. To the public’s chagrin, some of America’s political leaders have been caught preaching one thing on the coronavirus and practicing another. Sure, politicians have long been called out for hypocrisy. But during a pandemic that’s forced millions into seclusion and left many without paychecks, such actions can feel like a personal insult—reinforcing the idea “that some people just don’t have to follow the rules while the rest of us do,” says Rita Kirk, a professor of communications at Southern Methodist University. Pandemic-era hypocrisy has only deepened the polarization in a time already marked by division, emboldening those who doubt the seriousness of the virus and dividing people’s responses based on political affiliations.

Hacked networks will need to be burned ‘down to the ground’ (AP) It’s going to take months to kick elite hackers widely believed to be Russian out of the U.S. government networks they have been quietly rifling through since as far back as March in Washington’s worst cyberespionage failure on record. Experts say there simply are not enough skilled threat-hunting teams to duly identify all the government and private-sector systems that may have been hacked. FireEye, the cybersecurity company that discovered the intrusion into U.S. agencies and was among the victims, has already tallied dozens of casualties. It’s racing to identify more. “We have a serious problem. We don’t know what networks they are in, how deep they are, what access they have, what tools they left,” said Bruce Schneier, a prominent security expert and Harvard fellow. Many federal workers—and others in the private sector—must presume that unclassified networks are teeming with spies. Agencies will be more inclined to conduct sensitive government business on Signal, WhatsApp and other encrypted smartphone apps. The only way to be sure a network is clean is “to burn it down to the ground and rebuild it,” Schneier said.

College students recruited as teachers to keep schools open (AP) As the coronavirus sidelines huge numbers of educators, school districts around the country are aggressively recruiting substitute teachers, offering bonuses and waiving certification requirements in order to keep classrooms open. Coming to the rescue in many cases are college students who are themselves learning online or home for extended winter breaks. In Indiana, the 4,400-student Greenfield-Central school district about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Indianapolis made a plea for help as its substitute pool shrank. “I said, ‘If you’ve got a student who’s in college, maybe they’d like to work even a two-month thing for us—which would be a stopgap, no doubt—but it will help us a whole, whole bunch,” said Scott Kern, the Greenfield-Central Community School Corporation director of human resources. Over a dozen college students answered the call including his own daughter, 19-year-old Grace Kern, who is studying medical imaging technology at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. She has been working in elementary school classrooms, helping students as teachers offer instruction remotely via a screen inside the room.

An Ex-Governor Is Gunned Down, Punctuating a Deadly Year for Mexico (NYT) The former governor of the state of Jalisco was gunned down early Friday while vacationing in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, the authorities said, a brazen killing that further illustrated the government’s struggles to rein in the deadly violence that has surged across Mexico over the past five years. The killing of the ex-governor, Aristóteles Sandoval, who was shot in the back inside a restaurant restroom, is one of the highest-profile political killings in Mexico in recent memory, security experts said. Mr. Sandoval was killed just hours before President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his cabinet delivered a grim update on the nation’s security situation during a news conference. More than 31,000 murders were recorded in Mexico this year as of November, the latest month for which government statistics are available, a figure roughly on pace with 2019. But homicides have nearly doubled over the past five years.

Bosnian city of Mostar gets a vote (AP) Irma Baralija is looking forward to Sunday, when she intends to vote and hopes to win her race as the southern Bosnian city of Mostar holds its first local election in 12 years. To make that vote possible in her hometown, the 36-year-old Baralija had to sue Bosnia in the European Court of Human Rights for letting a stalemate between two major nationalist political parties prevent her, along about 100,000 other Mostar residents, from voting or running in a municipal election for over a decade. By winning in court in October 2019, Baralija believes she has “busted the myth (that nationalist parties) have been feeding to us, that an individual cannot move things forward, that we matter only as members of our ethnic groups.” Left without fully functioning institutions, Mostar—one of the impoverished Balkan country’s main tourist destinations—has seen its infrastructure crumble, trash repeatedly pile up on its streets and hazardous waste and wastewater treatment sludge dumped in its only landfill, which was supposed to be for non-hazardous waste.

India’s virus cases cross 10 million as new infections dip (AP) India’s confirmed coronavirus cases have crossed 10 million with new infections dipping to their lowest levels in three months, as the country prepares for a massive COVID-19 vaccination in the new year. Dr. Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, said India is keeping its fingers crossed as the cases tend to increase in winter months. India is home to some of the world’s biggest vaccine-makers and there are five vaccine candidates under different phases of trial in the country.

Israel’s top-secret Mossad looks to recruit via Netflix, Hulu and Apple TV (Washington Post) After decades in the shadows, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, has been getting a lot of airtime, both on the news and in popular TV thrillers. In real life, details of operations attributed to Israel are in the open like never before, including the theft two years ago of a trove of nuclear secrets from inside Iran, last summer’s drive-by killing of al-Qaeda’s No. 2 in Tehran and the assassination last month of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. And on the screen, streaming hits like Apple TV Plus’s “Tehran,” Netflix’s “The Spy” and Hulu’s “False Flag” have starred the Mossad as a cold, ruthless and efficient machine. Far from squirming, the once-supersecret agency has welcomed the exposure, former spies say. The Mossad needs recruits. Military veterans who might have once made their career in national service now leave to work for lucrative start-ups, or found their own. Israeli companies Waze, Wix, Viber and others were started by intelligence veterans. In response, Yossi Cohen, the Mossad’s director since 2016 and a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has embarked on a hiring spree, increased the agency’s number of sabotage operations and enlarged its budget by billions of shekels. The Mossad’s recruitment drive includes a heightened social media presence and a calculated trickle of unconfirmed information about its exploits. And former spies say the agency is quietly embracing a slew of TV shows and movies that could do for the agency what “Top Gun” famously did for naval recruitment: make a life in the organization seem cool again.

Chaos and jubilation as freed Nigerian schoolboys reunite with family (Reuters) Parents sobbed, mobbed their children in hugs and even kissed the ground in gratitude on Friday as they reunited with scores of schoolboys who had been kidnapped a week earlier in northwest Nigeria. Hundreds of adults jostled to find their offspring among the 344 dusty and dazed looking children who had arrived by bus in Katsina state on Friday morning. Those who succeeded cheered and grabbed their children, but scores more were still waiting by early evening. “I feel like God has granted me paradise because I am so happy,” said an ebullient Hamza Kankara after she found her son, Lawal, in the crowd. Another man knelt and kissed the ground, thanking God for the return of his young son, before clutching the boy and sobbing.

[osource-global1]

7 Tips for Successfully Managing Your PayrollAre you worried about

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Align your Pay Schedules :

According to the owner/founder of Washington Accounting Services, "Minimizing pay cycles can help prevent duplication of multiple processes so that the payroll department can operate more efficiently."

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Automate your Payroll Process:

Manual processing of payroll is time and resource-consuming. It is easily susceptible to human error that can result in severe financial impact, and often gets unnoticed. With limited Human Resources, payroll processing can become a challenge, and the dependence on the team will be more.

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Turn to Paperless Payroll Processing:

Paperless payroll is the result of improved data storage and analytics technology. It serves to expedite payroll operations. 'Going green' is not only a step towards environmental preservation but also a leap towards cutting costs of erroneous manual processes and breach of data confidentiality. Also, a user-friendly human resource system has become the requirement to survive in the industry. The working force expects technology advantage for handling their obligations and is opposed to manual operations.

An online portal system should replace cards or timesheets, physical paychecks, and paper pay stubs. This eliminates paper-use as most employees prefer to receive their check stubs and pay information electronically.

Upload Documents and Make Revisions:

Documentation of payroll methods is an important management responsibility. Proper recorded documentation of payroll schedules helps analyze and audit payroll systems. It splits down each stage and makes it easier to identify weak points.

Once the desired payroll process is developed, it becomes necessary to document these procedures and share them with the payroll team.

Maintaining the confidentiality of the payroll records is also equally important. The Onex payroll process guarantees precise and encrypted handling of all the payroll information, allowing access to information on a need-to-know basis.

Documentations of the steps, filing payroll registers, and tax reports, along with the names of the individuals, can be fed to the software, after which multiple configuration settings align payroll management as per the convenience of the business.

Audit Your Payroll Process:

A periodic audit of the payroll process of every organization is a must to ensure that the system meets the requirements of the audit. Today, most auditing tools & techniques can simulate failures and quickly engage in the correction process. As such, a fail-safe gate generates when actual discrepancies occur, which are still minimal when the data is stored under a protected environment in the cloud.

The time saved in managing the payroll process over the cloud makes it cost-effective as there is no need for investment of hardware and software, and the focus could be more on core business operations. Besides, an efficient technology-based payroll system with inbuilt features for safety, confidentiality which uses data management under a cloud system, is more reliable than relying on a specific team of individuals on their manual operations.

Verifying, accounting, and reconciling payroll and cash documentation is also equally important, which has become more accessible in the software-driven process than the manual process.

Audit Your Payroll Process:

Outsource Your Payroll Process:

Many organizations have already understood the need for outsourcing payroll management to use technology to process payouts accurately and generate required reports for compliance.

Most business owners do not have the time or resources to build a new payroll system or update the existing one. In such cases, outsourcing to a licensed, full-service payroll management company can be a strategic and cost-effective option.

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[patriotsnet]

What Have Republicans Done For The Middle Class

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-have-republicans-done-for-the-middle-class/

What Have Republicans Done For The Middle Class

Tax Cuts For The Wealthy

Republican Tax Plan Worse Than We Thought For Middle Class Americans? | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

The massive tax cuts that wealthy people get do not eliminate the naturally occurring expenses of our nation. The money has to be made up from somewhere, and whenever the elite class gets a tax cut, it ends up being the middle class that is forced to shoulder the burden.

If you look at the tax code from back in the decades when the United States was fiscally solvent, there were always massive taxes on extreme wealth. These taxes existed to provide incentive to major corporations to invest in their people and maintain a high standard of living for the middle class. This allowed those businesses to show a higher payroll expense and provided them with an obvious means of staying out of the high tax brackets.

Now that there are no longer any high tax brackets, those corporations just keep that money for themselves. Thats why the minimum wage has stagnated for decades and its no longer possible for families to support themselves on a single income.

Views On Cost Of Living Across Social Classes

Overall, 49% of the public says their familys income is falling behind the cost of living, while 42% say it is staying about even and just 7% say it is going up faster.

Across class lines, fully 66% of those who identify as lower class say they are falling behind the cost of living, compared with 29% who say they are staying about even and 4% who say their income is going up faster than the cost of living. Views are mixed among the middle class: 48% say their income is staying about even with the cost of living, but almost as many say it is falling behind; 6% say it is going up faster. Even among the upper class, about as many say their income is falling behind the cost of living as going up faster ; a 58% majority of upper-class adults say their income in staying about even with the cost of living.

Over the past two years, the overall share of the public saying they are falling behind the cost of living has declined as the share saying they are staying about even has increased.

Across the social classes, there has been a comparable uptick in the share saying they are keeping up with the cost of living among those who say they are upper class , middle class and lower class .

Life Satisfaction And Views Of Personal Finances Across Social Classes

Assessments of life satisfaction differ across self-identified social classes, with some of the widest differences seen between the views of the lower class and those of the upper and middle classes.

Majorities across groups say they are very satisfied with their family life. However, somewhat greater shares of those in the upper class and middle class say this than of those in the lower class .

About three-quarters of upper-class adults say they are very satisfied with their present housing situation; 68% of those in the middle class also say this. Among lower-class adults, far fewer say they are very satisfied with their current housing.

Similarly, most upper- and middle-class adults say they are very satisfied with their education, compared with 43% of lower-class adults.

Among those currently employed, 62% of upper-class adults say they are very satisfied with their current job, while about half of those in the middle class say they are very satisfied with their job. Among employed adults who describe themselves as lower class, 40% say they are very satisfied with their current job.

As the country has recovered from the Great Recession, assessments of personal finances have improved across most groups, particularly among those who describe themselves as middle class.

Among those who say they are middle class, positive personal financial ratings are up 12 points, from 43% who described their finances as excellent or good in 2011 to 55% in the current survey.

Recommended Reading: Have Democrats Tried To Impeach Every Republican President

The Middle Class Rises

The middle class, which Pew defines as two-thirds to two times the national median income for a given household size, began to grow after World War II due to a surge in economic growth and because President Franklin Delano Roosevelts New Deal gave workers more power. Before that, most Americans were poor or nearly so.

For example, legislation such as the Wagner Act established rights for workers, most critically for collective bargaining. The government also began new programs, such as Social Security and unemployment insurance, that helped older Americans avoid dying in poverty and supported families with children through tough times. The Home Owners Loan Corporation, set up in 1933, helped middle-class homeowners pay their mortgages and remain in their homes.

Together, these new policies helped fuel a strong postwar economic boom and ensured the gains were shared by a broad cross-section of society. This greatly expanded the U.S. middle class, which reached a peak of nearly 60 percent of the population in the late 70s. Americans increased optimism about their economic future prompted businesses to invest more, creating a virtuous cycle of growth.

Government spending programs were paid for largely with individual income tax rates of 70 percent on wealthy individuals and high taxes on corporate profits. Companies paid more than one-quarter of all federal government tax revenues in the 1950s . Today they contribute just 5 percent of government tax revenues.

Fouling Our Air And Drinking Water

Vote

EPA Greenhouse Gas Regulation : House Vote 249. Adopted 255172: Republicans 2360; Democrats 19172 on April 7, 2011

Purpose

This bill would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, from regulating greenhouse gases in any effort to address climate change. It would amend the Clean Air Act to strike specific elements from the definition of an air pollutant unless regulation of those chemicals is not used in an attempt to address climate change. It also would clarify that the bill does not limit the authority of a state to regulate the emission of a greenhouse gas unless the regulation attempts to address climate change. This bill would harm all Americans. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide are emitted from power plants, industrial facilities, and other sources, and released into the atmosphere. As these gases linger in the atmosphere, they trap heat radiating back from Earth, and the surface temperature of our planet rises. The rise in temperature causes rising sea levels, increased rainfall, floods, drought, wildfires, and severe storms, which not only harm our environment but also hurt our economy.

Vote

Commercial Boiler Emissions : House Vote 791. Adopted 275142: Republicans 2340; Democrats 41142 on October 13, 2011

Purpose

Vote

Water Pollution Regulatory AuthorityPassage : House Vote 573. Adopted 239184: Republicans 22313; Democrats 16171 on July 13, 2011

Purpose

Read Also: Kaine’s Lapel Pin

Republicans Are Protecting The Middle Class

H.R. 622, The State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act, which makes the state and local sales tax deduction permanent, will bring much-needed tax fairness and certainty for hardworking taxpayers in states without a state income tax.

It will put more of the hard-earned money back into the pockets of people in states like Texas, Washington, Florida and Nevada that currently dont have the option.

It will allow families to keep more of their paycheck each year instead of feeding the corrupt IRS.

Middle class economics should be about helping families keep more of what they earn in sales tax states, and supporting family-owned farms and businesses rather than lining D.C.s pockets.

and the American Dream

For the first time in ten years the House will vote to repeal the estate tax through, H.R. 1105, The Death Tax Repeal Act, in an effort to bury the Estate Tax once and for all.

The Death Tax is an immoral tax and a calculated attack on the American Dream. It hurts our economy, punishes success and prevents family-owned businesses and farms from being passed down to the next generation. Over time it will steal the nest egg of minority and women-owned businesses, the fastest growing group of new start-ups in America who are building wealth for the very first time.

President Obama has been advised that if these bills hit his desk he should veto both of them. Why is the President turning his back on hardworking taxpayers? Why are we punishing success

How Democrats Became The Party Of The Upper Middle Class

Democrats may find it impossible to reclaim their historical identity.

When House Democrats introduced;what they call;the Heroes Act;this month, they described it as a bold and comprehensive coronavirus response bill that will meet the challenge this pandemic poses to our nation. Among;its provisions: restoring the full deductibility of state and local taxes, which the Republican tax legislation of 2017 had limited.

The issue doesnt have much to do with the coronavirus.;Theres only a loose relationship between the states hardest hit by it and the states whose residents have faced the most tax increases because of the deductibility limit. Liberal think tanks have criticized the idea of raising the cap,;noting;that 56% of its benefits would flow to the top 1% of households, and 80% would go to the top 5%.

Repealing the cap is nonetheless a party priority. After House Democrats impeached President Donald Trump on Dec.;18, it was the first order of business they took up. They passed full deductibility on Dec. 19.

As Democrats have kept raising the issue, Republicans have taken pleasure in pointing out that the politicians who usually decry budget-busting tax cuts for the rich were in this case demanding some.

Most nonwhite Americans vote for Democrats regardless of diploma . What underlies the new educational divide is a marked change in the preferences of white voters.

Also Check: Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Names

Scrapping Consumer Product Safety

Vote

Fiscal 2011 Continuing Appropriations, Consumer Product Safety Database : House Vote 137. Adopted in Committee of the Whole: 234187, Republicans 22710; Democrats 7177 on February 19, 2011

Purpose

This amendment would have barred the use of funds made available to implement the consumer product safety information database established under the Consumer Product Safety Act. In March 2011 the Consumer Product Safety Commission estab- lished the SaferProducts.gov database to provide all Americans with safety information on products they have bought or will consider buying. Rachel Weintraub, director of product safety for the Consumer Federation of America, argued Republicans were trying to pull the plug on a vital consumer resource.

Views On Government Help For Middle Class Wealthy And Poor

Where Are The Middle Class Tax Cuts President Donald Trump Promised? | Velshi & Ruhle | MSNBC

A clear majority of Americans say the federal government does not do enough to help the middle class, but the middle class is hardly alone on this list. Majorities also say the government doesnt do enough for older people, poor people or children.

Overall, 62% say the government doesnt do enough to help the middle class, while 29% say it does about the right amount and 6% say it does too much. Roughly the same share says the government does not do enough for poor people or for children , and 66% say the government doesnt do enough to help older people.

Wealthy people are the one group included in the survey for which the public thinks the government does too much: 61% say this, while 24% say the government does about the right amount and 9% say it does not do enough.

Republicans and Democrats differ significantly in views of how much help the government gives the wealthy and poor. But there is greater consensus across party lines when it comes to the middle class, with most in both parties saying the government does not do enough for this group.

Fully 77% of Democrats say the government does too much for wealthy people, while 12% say it does about the right amount and 9% say it doesnt do enough. Among Republicans, views are more mixed: 44% say the government does too much to help the wealthy, 39% say it does about the right amount and 9% say it does not do enough.

Read Also: Why Do Republicans Say Democrat Party

Perceptions Of The Parties

Judgments about Romney and Obama mirror the views of middle-class Americans toward the Republican and Democratic parties.

According to the survey, only about a quarter to a third of the middle class says that the Republicans or Democrats primarily favor middle-class interests over those of the rich or poor. Republicans are perceived as the party of the rich, while the middle class is divided over whether the Democratic Party is more concerned about their needs or those of the poor.

To examine the intersection of social class and politics, the Pew Research survey asked respondents if each of the two major political parties favors the rich, favors the middle class or favors the poor.

Overall, the middle class was somewhat more likely to say that the Democratic Party rather than the GOP favored its interests . 13 But about as many say the Democrats favor the poor , and 16% believe the party favors the rich.

At the same time about six-in-ten middle-class adults say the GOP favors the rich

roughly double the 26% who say the Republican Party primarily favors middle-class Americans.

The survey also found that the middle class is politically diverse: Roughly equal shares of middle-class adults identify with the Democratic Party or say they are independents , while somewhat fewer align with the Republican Party . As a group, middle-class adults are more likely to identify themselves as political conservatives than liberals . About a third say they are moderates.

The Philosophy Behind Republican Economic Policy

Republicans advocate supply-side economics that primarily benefits businesses and investors. This theory states that tax cuts on businesses allow them to hire more workers, in turn increasing demand and growth. In theory, the increased revenue from a stronger economy offsets the initial revenue loss over time.

Republicans advocate the right to pursue prosperity without government interference. They argue this is achieved by self-discipline, enterprise, saving, and investing.

Republicans business-friendly approach leads most people to believe that they are better for the economy. A closer look reveals that Democrats are, in many respects, actually better.

Don’t Miss: Why Are Republicans Siding With Trump

President Obama And Mitt Romney Both Say They Are Focused On Improving The Lives Of Middle

Just more than half — 52% — of middle-class adults said the president’s policies would benefit them should he win a second term. A lower number — 42% — of respondents said that Romney’s policies would help the middle class.

The new findings were published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center. The poll was conducted before Rep. Paul Ryan was added to the Republican ticket.

Part of a larger report on the middle class, the survey also indicates that Americans have some strong opinions about which groups would benefit from the candidates’ proposed policies.

A full 71% of respondents said that Romney’s policies would benefit the rich, while only 38% said the same of Obama’s plans.

The numbers flip when middle-class adults were asked about the poor. More than three-in-five — or 62% — said Obama’s policies would help the poor, while only one-in-three said Romney’s plans would help the group.

When asked to rate the parties rather than the candidates, respondents were even less likely to say politicians were looking out for their interests. Just 26% said that Republicans favor middle-class interests over those of the rich and poor. Only slightly more — 37% — said the same of Democrats.

Do Leaders In Congress Agree With The Rich Or The Middle Class

Three other papers similarly found that Democrats and Republicans differ strongly in how they represent different economic classes. But they complicate the story by showing that each partys behavior is influenced by interest groups, by what constituents of their own party say, and whether economic or social issues are at stake.

Matt Grossmann and William Isaac at Michigan State have put together a paper reaching similar conclusions. The authors looked specifically at the views of Democratic and Republican presidents and leaders in Congress and in the presidency, based on a data set covering 1,863 policy proposals the federal government considered from 1981 to 2002 and polling data on how the rich and middle class viewed these ideas.

That lets them see how much each party’s leaders agree with the middle class versus the rich as well as whose views are represented by interest groups like the ACLU, Sierra Club, American Conservative Union, or Americans for Tax Reform.

These interest groups, they find, tend to lean left overall even as some individual ones are conservative. They tend to support economic and social policies backed by the middle class, and oppose foreign policies backed by the wealthy. And Grossmann and Isaac found those groups representing certain subsets of the population were more influential than individual voters.

Read Also: Did Any Republicans Vote To Impeach

Repealing The Affordable Care Act

Vote

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act : House Vote 14. Adopted 245189: Republicans 2420; Democrats 3189 on January 19, 2011

Purpose

This bill called for repealing the Affordable Care Act, which ensures that 32 million people will gain insurance coverage, addresses rising health care costs, and includes important consumer protections against discriminatory insurance practices such as denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions or charging higher rates based on a patients sex, race, or age. The proposed House bill would restore the provisions of the law amended or repealed by the Affordable Care Act and repeals certain provisions of the health care reconciliation law without offering an alternative to help the middle class cope with ever-rising health care costs. The Democratic Senate has vowed to protect the Affordable Care Act.

Vote

Repeal of Essential Health Care Benefits Section of the Affordable Care Act : House Vote 141. Adopted 239183: Republicans 2352; Democrats 4181 on February 19, 2011

Purpose

The categories are: ambulatory patient services; emergency services; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services, and chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

[cassh24sg]

Congress tackles payday lenders after SCOTUS lets them off the hook – People’s World

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Democrat veteran, is leading the indictment in Congress to correct the damage wrought by a Supreme Court ruling that allows payday lenders to defraud customers. | AP photos

WASHINGTON: Well, that didn’t take long.

A week after the US Supreme Court unanimously awarded a major legal victory to one of the seediest sectors of the business class, payday lenders, lawmakers took up the verdict’s proposal, Judge Stephen Breyer, to reverse the victory .

So consumer advocates got together to call on the House of Representatives Consumer Protection Subcommittee on April 27 to do so.

They witnessed how payday lenders treat consumers with triple-digit interest rates and interest accrued on interest. And they called on lawmakers to restore the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to impose heavy fines on such crooks and rip-offs.

And witnesses backed HR2668, panel chairman Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., And Rep. Tony Cardenas, D-California, to give the FTC express authority to financially beat up the crooks.

Payday lenders are notorious for lending poor people and workers, often colored people who live from paycheck to paycheck, money by lending them money that goes against those checks. The annual interest rates are in the three-digit or higher range. AMG – the payday lender who sued the FTC–In the example given, Breyer calculates monthly interest of 30%.

HR2668 and the hearing cheered the National Consumers League, which has campaigned against the scourge of payday lenders for decades. The court’s April 22 ruling “puts the interests of a convicted fraudster above the needs of victims of fraud,” said John Brevault, vice president of public order for the Labor Party-backed consumer group.

“We are incredibly discouraged by the decision to deprive the FTC of one of its most effective tools to reclaim ill-gotten gains from criminals. This decision will encourage the criminals who defraud millions of consumers annually, costing them billions of dollars and immeasurable emotional damage.

“Practically every day we hear from fraudsters whose financial lives have been ruined by fraudsters. Consumers need and deserve a consumer protection agency with the power to make them whole. Congress should urgently pass legislation restoring the FTC’s authority to receive compensation on behalf of victims of fraud. “

The judges had overturned a $ 1.3 billion FTC fine against payday lender Scott Tucker and his firm AMG Capital Management. The fine was equivalent to the amount AMG removed from consumers between 2008 and 2012. Aside from Tucker charging 30% monthly interest on a typical $ 300 loan, Tucker, now taking the time to extortion, would pile up the fees, interest on interest – and principal – month after month, just like the rest the branch.

Only in this way could the consumer avoid such massive financial weight: deciphering the legalistic small print in the AMR loan agreement. This pact said that the only way to opt out is to not only pay off the entire loan after a month, but also to refuse in writing that AMR can transfer it.

Breyer wrote that the FTC went too far and misinterpreted section 13 (b) of its 107-year-old law to justify its heavy fines against AMR and similar scammers. He said the section allowed the FTC to seek injunctions against such practices, but that is all. It could use a different section and lengthy process to seek unspecified minor fines to prevent potential financial exploitation rather than reclaiming past damage, he added.

Not enough to stop them

Witnesses and lawmakers said this was not enough to stop payday lenders.

“For decades, the Federal Trade Commission has protected consumers by seizing stolen money and returning it to victims of fraud,” said Schakowsky. The court benefited “scammers and criminals everywhere”. HR2668 “will restore authority to the agency to assist victims of fraud and scams” and “get money back into the pockets of hardworking Americans”.

Based on recent and previous judgments that also hampered the FTC: “The agency that is supposed to protect me – and my 86 year old mother and teenage daughter and my former students who are now in the military – no! has more of the tools to get his job done, ”said Ted Mermin, law professor at the University of California. It is also tight on staff, he added.

Without the power to collect the heavy fines, “the FTC is unable to perform its most basic function: getting money back for the people from whom it was illegally taken,” added Mermin, who also runs the California Low-Income Consumer Coalition directs.

As the U.S. coronavirus pandemic is overcome, the need for a robust FTC is growing, he warned. As the economy recovers from virus shutdowns, “We will continue to be besieged by unfair and fraudulent practices of all kinds. They will be particularly aimed at seniors, veterans, low-income communities, colored communities and mom and pop businesses. “

The FTC’s “need for public enforcement capacity” is “acute” because 90% of low-income people cannot afford to hire private lawyers to prosecute fraudsters and because legal clinics are overburdened and understaffed, Mermin said.

Despite not giving testimony to the panel, the Chamber of Commerce was expected to have sided with payday lenders and other corporate fraudsters.

“The FTC is advocating a change in the law on the pretext that it needs the appropriate tools to combat ‘fraud’,” said the corporate lobby. “However, instead of calling for a legislative solution that would allow the agency to respond to such obnoxious practices, the FTC wants” a major extension of its powers “to” seek monetary damages in general. “

That statement inadvertently pointed to the real ramifications of the court ruling: that it allowed all businesses, not just payday lenders, to engage in such practices without being put off by the FTC with hefty fines – a point USPIRG in citing his denunciation of the decision.

EMPLOYEE

source https://www.cassh24sg.com/2021/06/28/congress-tackles-payday-lenders-after-scotus-lets-them-off-the-hook-peoples-world/

[createuntiltheendoftime]

Alright, look. I live in Washington State, which has one of the highest minimum wages at $13.50 an hour. 

lets break this down

In washington, the average for:

Car insurance, least coverage is: $73.67/mo

the cheapest studio apartment in WA: $376/mo

health insurance, least coverage: 273.12/mo

Now, I am a college student, and my decently gas efficient car has a 14.5 gallon tank. Today, the gas I saw was 3.14 dollars a gallon--AKA suuuper cheap. normally, its aroun $3.33-3.89 on average. I go through a gallon of tank a week because of where I live, work, and go to school.

So. 14.5 gal x 4 weeks = 58 gallons. 58 x $3.14 = $182.12

I went to the Costco website where you buy bulk stuff for cheap. Say you only go shopping once a month, cause that’s all you can afford. most stuff you can get for cheap, including hygiene, for example, tampons, because i bleed like a bitch one a month. Or shampoo, etc. This is also when you are making your own laundry soap, instead of paying 34 dollars for it.

Adds up to $175.76

This is the bare minimum to exist, and its NOT good food. Its barely survivable food.

If you have a dog like me, and frankly, I would rather die than give up my dog, he’s my whole life. That’s another $40.99 for a 40Ib bag of dog food. Hopefully, this lasts you the month.

However, when you buy at Costco (still cheaper than not buying at Costco) you need a membership. $60 dollars.

Again, this is minimum wage at 13.50 an hour. full time job? 40 hours. Without sick time, without any problems, without closures, the most you can get without working overtime is $2160. Before taxes.

So far, this stuff adds up to $1181.66

This gives us 978.34 to work with.

Now how much is that monthly pay after taxes?

You get $916 per month according to this website

https://smartasset.com/taxes/washington-paycheck-calculator#HQ2VHyeHwS

Hey guess what now we’re in debt! Off monthly costs!!

Now, please remember two things.

THIS DOES NOT TAKE ANY UTILITIES INTO ACCOUNT!

THIS IS ALSO BASED OFF THE LEADING MINIMUM WAGES IN THE COUNTRY. Washington and California have the highest state minimum wages in the entire country at 13.50 an hour.

After all this, taxes, food, rent, you have:

$-265.66 in your bank account.

You still haven’t paid your utilities