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Savvy Senior: Do I Have to File Income Tax Returns This Year?
Shared from LGBTSr.com
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
What is the IRS standard tax deduction for 2021? I didn’t file a tax return last tax year (2020) because I lost my job and my income in March due to COVID. But I got a part-time job in 2021 and am wondering if I made enough money that requires me to file this year.
Part-Time Retiree
Dear Retiree,
Whether or not you are required to file a federal income tax return this year depends not only on how much you earned last year (in 2021), but also the source of that income, as well as your age and your filing status.
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One Thing or Another: Are We There Yet?
By Mark McNease
It’s always One Thing or Another… a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.
This column was always intended to be lighthearted, even in its most serious moments. Sure, I look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all. I even ponder death now and then, since it’s pretty much the end point for all of us. Where we go after that, if we go anywhere, is not something I spend much time thinking or worrying about. I have appropriate clothes for any destination, or none at all, in case it’s especially hot.
But 2020 was so difficult, so groundbreaking, like a sledgehammer outside my bedroom window, that it stands unique among the years of my life. And now, two weeks into a new year, it’s still here! The same election we would normally have moved beyond by now, accepting it as part of the political bargain we make for living in a country where people are allowed to vote, keeps hold of us as if to prevent our escape. The frustrations of lockdowns and limited interactions and one-way grocery store aisles and the politicization of absolutely everything has us frayed within an inch of insanity. And that’s just Tuesday!
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The Twist Podcast #149: Capitol Offenses, Crazytown USA, and This Week’s Twist Listicles
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we survey the wreckage of a failed coup, celebrate entertainment birthdays and anniversaries, troll the headlines, and offer some quotes for the apocalypse.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: All Along the Watchtower
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
The Amazon Trail: All Along the WatchtowerWhen it’s dangerous to represent the citizens who elected you—we need to pay attention. We need to acknowledge that anti-democratic power is quietly accruing and will lash out; will harm rather than protect this too-trusting nation.
Oh, hell, what can I say at a time like this? Did we think they’d simply go away?
When angry white criminals occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon back on January 2, 2016 and the seven miscreants were charged with federal conspiracy and weapons violations only to go scot free;
When, in the 1980s and 1990s angry white Christians organized to legalize discrimination against their scapegoats-of-the-day, gays, in order to build a vast political machine;
When a woman was killed by a white supremacist at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia;
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The Twist Podcast #148: Good Vibrations for 2021 (Enough is Enough)
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose for our first podcast of 2021. Positive vibes, positive outlook, dreams in the pipeline, and a look at the headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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Last Humble Brag of 2020
I never post reviews (it’s such a humble brag – no offense to my author friends! I do it in plenty of other ways), but after this crap year I needed this. From a reader on Goodreads for the new book, Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery:
“It’s been too, too long of a wait. Five years! I read “Kill Switch” back in 2016 and have been hoping for a 6th book in this amazing and thrilling series.
I love the characters of Kyle and Danny. It’s refreshing to read a LGBTQA+ book with main characters of my generation. And to make them a well rounded, 3-dimensional, realist gay couple. I was pleasantly surprised and refreshing thrilled that even though they were a loving and affectionate couple I did not end up knowing their penis size, what their favorite type of lubricant was and who pitched and who catched. Mark McNease has a wonderful way of slowly building suspense and character development. He sucks you into the story and doesn’t let go. Highly recommend this series and I hope and pry Mr. McNease writes many more books in this series.”
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The Twist Podcast #147: So Long 2020! The Best and the Worst
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose for our look back at the year that felt like forever. This week we talk the best and worst of 2020, words and phrases to retire, food trends, and yes, some gratitude as we prepare to turn the calendar.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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Merry Best Seller List Christmas!
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‘Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery’ Hits #1 in LGBT Mystery!
Merry Christmas! Finally, something good to end this year on. My newest, Reservation for Murder: A Kyle Callahan Mystery, hit #1 in LGBT Mystery on Amazon’s Kindle list today.
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The Twist Podcast #146: Our Annual Christmas Gaytacular, This Week’s Listicles, and Our Very Own Naughty and Nice
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose for our annual Christmas Gaytacular! This week we celebrate stocking stuffers, talk about our must-lists, admit to some naughty and nice, and scroll the week in headlines. We’ll be back in two weeks for our Year End show with the best, worst, and indifferent of 2020.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing
Join Mark’s email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and his monthly newsletter!
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Fiction Makes the Perfect Stocking Stuffer: LGBTQ Book Giveaway Starts Today!
You can read your way into the New Year with over 50 LGBTQ fiction titles available through January 15. Just CLICK TO BROWSE and start downloading directly from BookFunnel. You’ll find authors such as Marshall Thornton, Darby Horn, L.C. Mawson, Daniel De Lorne, Kat Silver, Brad Graber, me of course, and many more.
Subscription to an author’s email list is required. So sign up, download, and start reading today. And remember, murder never takes a holiday.
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Book Review: Dear Child, by Romy Hausmann
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
Dear Child, by Romy Hausmann
c.2020, Flatiron Books $26.99 / $36.50 Canada 368 pagesThere’s no one else like you in the world.
No one with the same tongue-print or identical ear shape. Nobody else has your memories, and every experience you’ve ever had is unique to you alone. You might favor one parent or other, you may have a twin or a doppelganger, but in the end, you are one-of-a-kind. You’re irreplaceable but, as in the new novel, Dear Child, by Romy Hausmann, someone can sure try.
Hannah was sure that Sister Ruth wasn’t too smart.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: But …
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
The Amazon TrailBut…
The year 2020 wasn’t a total bust except for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who should not have died or have been permanently harmed by Covid 19. In the U.S., many lay those deaths and disablements at the hands of the greedy, power hungry 2020 administration and its followers.
Personally, I’ve been taking inventory of the bad and the good with my sweetheart, and finding some surprises.
Yes, over seventy-four million Americans voted to keep the traitorous officials in office, but eighty-one million plus voted to restore our democracy.
