Hello and welcome to this session. In this session, we will discuss operations on real numbers. Rational numbers are closed with respect to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. That is, when we add, subtract, multiply and divide two rational numbers, we get a rational number itself. However, the sum, difference, quotients and products of irrational numbers are not always irrational. Consider an irrational number root 3. When we multiply root 3 with the rational number root 3 itself, we get 3 which is not an irrational number. Now we have some results which says that sum or difference of a rational number and an irrational number is irrational. Then the product or the quotient of a non-zero rational number with an irrational number is irrational. And then we have that if we add, subtract, multiply or divide two irrationals, the result may be rational or irrational. Let's take a rational number a, then irrational number root b. Then according to the above results, we have that a plus root b, a minus root b, a into root b and a upon root b would all be irrational numbers. Consider positive real numbers a and b. Then we have the following identities. According to which we have square root ab is equal to square root a into square root b. Then the next identity is square root a upon b is equal to square root a upon square root b. Next one is square root a plus square root b multiplied with square root a minus square root b is equal to a minus b. Then we have a plus square root b multiplied with a minus square root b is equal to a square minus b. And the next identity is square root a plus square root b, the whole square is equal to a plus 2 into root ab plus b. Also we have one more identity, square root a plus square root b multiplied with square root c plus square root d is equal to square root ac plus square root ad plus square root bc plus square root bd. Let's consider an example, square root 13 minus square root 6 multiplied with square root 13 plus square root 6. To evaluate this we will use this identity. So on putting a equal to 13 and b equal to 6 we get this equal to 13 minus 6 which is equal to 7. This is how we can use different identities to simplify the given expressions. When the denominator of an expression contains a term with a square root the process of converting it to an equivalent expression whose denominator is a rational number is called rationalizing the denominator. So we have to rationalize the denominator of 1 upon square root a plus b. We multiply this by square root a minus b upon square root a minus b where we have a and b are integers. Consider 1 upon square root 3 plus 4. Let's rationalize the denominator of this expression. To do this we multiply 1 upon square root 3 plus 4 by square root 3 minus 4 upon square root 3 minus 4. So this comes out to be equal to square root 3 minus 4 upon 3 minus 16 that is we get this is equal to square root 3 minus 4 upon minus 13 or we can also write it as 4 minus square root 3 upon 13. Now we discuss loss of exponents for real numbers. Let a greater than 0 be a real number and p and q be rational numbers. Then we have a to the power p multiplied by a to the power q is equal to a to the power p plus q. Then a to the power p whole to the power q is equal to a to the power pq. Next is a to the power p upon a to the power q is equal to a to the power p minus q. Then we have a to the power p multiplied by b to the power p is equal to a b whole to the power p. Consider the expression 5 to the power 1 upon 3 upon 5 to the power 1 upon 6. Let's simplify this expression. For this, we will use this law of exponent which says, a to the power p upon a to the power q is equal to a to the power p minus q. So, here we will put p equal to 1 upon 3 and q equal to 1 upon 6. So we get this is equal to 5 to the power 1 upon 3 minus 1 upon 6, which comes out to be equal to 5 to the power 1 upon 6. So this is how we use different laws of exponents for real numbers to simplify the given expressions. This completes the session. Hope you understood the concept of operations on real numbers.


Income tax 2023-2024. Business income or loss and other gains or losses. Get ready and some coffee so we can avoid the government forcing us to move into a shack with income tax preparation 2023-2024. Most of this information can be found in the Instructions for Schedule 1 section of the Form 1040 Instructions Tax Year 2023, which you can find on the IRS website at irs.gov, irs.gov. Looking at the income tax formula, we're focused online on income. Remember in the first half of the income tax formula is basically a funny income statement where normally you have income minus expenses resulting in net income. Here we have income minus various deductions results in taxable income. The income line, we want it as low as possible for taxes, therefore looking for things that we can exclude from income, also noting that some types of income might have more favorable tax rates other than ordinary income tax rates such as, for example, qualified dividends, long-term capital gains, possibly. First page of the Form 1040 here, we're looking at line number 8, which has additional income from Schedule 1. Here's the Schedule 1 that feeds into that line 8, additional income and adjustments to income. We're looking now at line 3 of Part 1, business income or loss. This will typically flow in from another schedule, which will be a Schedule C. The Schedule C usually being, in essence, an income statement for the business. Okay, so we're looking reporting business income for sole proprietorship in the tax year 2023, which involves summarizing your business's revenue, expenses, and net profit or loss for the year. Now, we'll talk more about a sole proprietor type of business in future presentations. Right now, since we're looking at the income line items, we want to focus in and just show that this would be one item that could be included in income.  Are you specializing in individual income tax returns, higher income tax returns, lower income tax returns in terms of income level, higher income being more complex. First, a word from our sponsor. Yeah, actually, we're sponsoring ourselves on this one because apparently the merchandisers, they don't want to be seen with us.  Like our Accounting Rocks product line. If you're not crunching cords using Excel, you're doing it wrong. A must-have product, because the fact as everyone knows of accounting being one of the highest forms of artistic expression means accountants have a requirement, the obligation, a duty to share the tools necessary to properly channel the creative muse. And the muse, she rarely speaks more clearly than through the beautiful symmetry of spreadsheets. So get the shirt, because the creative muse, she could use a new pair of shoes. If you would like a commercial free experience, consider subscribing to our website at accountinginstruction.com or accountinginstruction.thinkific.com. Lower income usually being easier, although it can be quite complex these days as well with things like the earned income credit. And are you focused on business returns or not? Business returns could include a sole proprietor that we'll talk about here, but also could include a partnership, in which case you'd have a separate flow-through entity and S corporation, which has basically a flow-through entity and a limited liability company flow-through entity or a schedule C type of, I'm sorry, a C corporation, which would be a separate basic legal entity, which is taxed at the corporate level. So the idea would be if you take on those business type of entities, there's usually going to be a lot more kind of tax planning work that will be involved and possibly more accounting work. So you're going to want to have a team together as well thinking, do you want to do the accounting, helping out with the accounting, or do you want someone else to be doing the accounting, give you the information for the data input, so just do the data input for the taxes and how much tax planning type of work might you be doing, noting that even when you're talking about just a schedule C, it creates a lot of changes to the tax return because now we have to work, think about different deductions, different credits, and we also have the self-employment tax possibly being involved. Okay, that said, a sole proprietor, your business income is reported on your personal income tax return using schedule C, form 1040, or schedule C, EZ. Now, so the schedule C is basically an income statement in and of itself. This gets confusing, I know, because we're talking here and said that the formula for the income tax equation is basically a funny income statement, income line items minus the deductions, but now we're saying that one of the lines that feed into this income line, in other words, one of the lines that feed into this top line of the income formula is actually coming from another statement, which is basically an income statement. In other words, it's coming from a schedule C, which is basically your business's income statement, which has business income minus expenses. The expenses on your business income statement are basically deductions. So what you're pulling into line one of income of this income tax formula is basically the bottom line, the net income, in essence, of your business's income statement, which is reported on the schedule C if we're talking about a sole proprietor. That's the general idea. Okay, schedule C, profit or loss from the business. So business income, report all income from your business, including sales, services, and any other income sources related to your business activities. Now note, when you're talking about a business, it's going to be more complex to determine what income is there, because when we talk about a W-2 income, 1099 income, note that the IRS is quite good, has become very good at forcing the payer to report to them the income earned if you're talking about an employee. The IRS already has the information. They got the W-2. They have the 1099s in certain cases for a contractor. When you're talking about a schedule C, it might be the case that you get 1099s, but you might not get 1099s that add up to the full amount of the business income. For example, if you have a nail salon business or if someone's a hairstylist or possibly a restaurant, a masseuse, those kind of things where they're getting paid by people that are in the customers rather than getting paid by a business, then the IRS has no leverage to force the payer to give a 1099 for those payments because they don't get a deduction. You don't get a deduction for getting your haircut. So therefore, you might not get 1099s for those types of businesses, and many businesses are that way. If you're doing business and you're working for another corporation, like you make widgets for a larger corporation, because it's a larger corporation, they're going to want to deduct the payments that they're making to you even though you're not an employee, the IRS is going to force them to issue a 1099 and you might get 1099s in those cases. Therefore, the IRS is skeptical about those businesses that are cash-based that work for the end customer like restaurants, hair salons, nail salons, all the ones that got hit during COVID, which I still think my conspiracy theory, the government took that as an advantage to take out those businesses. They don't like those businesses because they can't track them as easy. But anyway, expenses deduct all ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in running your business. This includes costs such as rent, supplies, advertising, utilities, wages paid to employees. It's very important that if you have someone that has a Schedule C business that they file their tax return, especially if they get 1099s, and they report their expenses. Because remember what the IRS is going to receive, they're going to get the income side because they might get 1099s reporting the income that someone paid to the business. If you do not file a tax return, what will happen is you are going to the IRS is going to see the income side but not the expense side. This is often where people get in deep trouble with the IRS over years because they just don't file their tax return and they don't really understand the whole consequences of not doing that because they've always been a W-2 employee in which case we have trained people not to really understand their tax consequences because we force the employer to take the money out of their wages for them. So they've been trained not even really to think about it. When they start a new business oftentimes, they don't keep up with their tax obligations possibly and then they get hit with possibly the IRS saying that they earned like 100,000 of income when really if they had all the expenses that they wrote off, it would be a lot less, right? Because the IRS only has the income side of things, not the expense side of things. So you've got to make sure that you're tracking the expenses and reporting it so that you can take advantage of those on the taxes so you can report your net income which is the fair thing to report and pay taxes on, not the gross income. So net profit or loss subtract your business expenses from your business income to calculate your net profit or loss. This figure is then reported on your Form 1040 and is subject to income tax and self-employment tax. We sneak that one in there, right? Because it's also subject to self-employment tax which adds a significant level of complication to the tax return. Remembering self-employment tax is similar to payroll tax, meaning it's basically social security and Medicare. When we talk about payroll tax, once again the IRS has forced the employer to do the withholding so the employee doesn't really think about it. We see it on the W-2 but it usually doesn't have an impact on our taxes unless like we overpaid because we had multiple jobs of social security or something like that. But for sole proprietor then we haven't paid in, we don't have the payroll so the government can't take the payroll taxes so they want to take the payroll taxes in another format, that being self-employment tax resulting in the Form 1040 not only calculating the taxes that we owe for federal income taxes but now the social security and Medicare taxes which again is significant. So self-employment tax. We'll talk more about this when we get to the Schedule C but we'll just touch on it here. So sole proprietors must also pay self-employment tax that's social security and Medicare if their net earnings from self-employment exceeds $400. So if you lost money then you might not have to deal with that, right? But if you made more than $400 then you might have to deal with self-employment tax which is obviously a fairly low threshold which I don't think has been increased for years. That's why it looks kind of ridiculously low. So this is calculated using the Schedule SE, so Form 1040. So half of your self-employment tax can be deducted from your gross income on your Form 1040 which can reduce your taxable income. So now you're probably saying like what? So you're telling me I have to pay income taxes which is going to be reported by going to the bottom line of the Schedule C net income flowing into the first page or eventually to the first page of the Form 1040. I pay income taxes on that and you're going to calculate self-employment taxes that we'll talk about. But then I get to deduct half of the self-employment tax. Where do I get to deduct half the self-employment tax? Do I deduct it on the Schedule C as a business deduction? And the answer is no because if you deducted it on the Schedule C it would have an impact on net income which is what the self-employment tax is calculated on making a circle reference. So you have to deduct it somewhere else so it's going to be an above the line or adjustment to income. We'll see a tax software example of this in the next presentation. But just to touch on again there's a lot of kind of components that are changed even with a fairly basic Schedule C. So home office deduction just to note if you use part of your home exclusively for business you may be eligible to claim the home office deduction which can reduce your taxable income. Oftentimes small businesses work from home and so that's just going to add another level of complexity to calculate the expenses for the home office because normally if your home is a personal expense not deductible for taxes except we have exceptions for that like the mortgage interest for some reason. Basically it's just to prop up the housing industry. I think that's the original reason that happened. But normally you don't get to deduct the home but if you use your office for home then you might be able to deduct some of the home office expenses like utilities possibly and part of the mortgage interest might go then to the home office and the Schedule A one and or the other. You have to split them between the two in some way, shape or form and you might even have depreciation and so on which we'll talk about again at a later point. So quarterly estimated taxes. So since taxes are not withheld from your business income as a sole proprietor you may need to make quarterly estimated tax payments to cover your income tax and self-employment tax liabilities. So in other words this is where a lot of people get into trouble because they're W2 employees. They've been trained not to think about taxes. It's not even my responsibility. The employer does it. Everything happens automatically. But when you go from a W2 employee to a sole proprietor you have to pay your own taxes and actually painfully write that check or do the electronic transfer these days to the government and you have to do it during the year, not at the end of the year which means you don't even know how much tax you owe especially if you're a new business because you might not even be making money. You might have a loss so you might not know how much you owe but if you do make money the IRS wants the money as you earn it you can't just wait till the end of the year and pay them. Why not? Because they hit you with the sticks of penalties and interest not physically, metaphoric sticks, penalties and interest. They still hurt. They still hurt. So you try to avoid that by paying them taxes. Now again you might say well how much do I pay them? What's my tax rate? Well I don't know. It's progressive. It's a progressive tax rate so we don't know. So what if I made like 10,000 in the first month or something? Do I pay them like, there wouldn't be any tax because that's below the progressive tax threshold possibly I might not owe any tax. Well no you have to average how much you're going to make for the entire year so that you can properly calculate what the average tax would be on your yearly income rather than on like your monthly income. It's like well I don't know how much I'm going to make. That's the problem right? So that's why this is why the progressive tax system being more and more complicated does cause problems and probably decreases the gross GDP because again it's uncertainty. We don't know. We can't really tell what's going on. So that's the game we kind of have to play. Figure out how much you're going to pay. Try to overpay a little bit to avoid getting hit with the sticks of penalties and interest. So use Form 1040ES to calculate and pay these estimated taxes. Additional considerations depending on your business type and location. You may be subject to other taxes or reporting requirements such as sales tax or local business taxes. So remember we're talking here about the federal income tax and we tacked on to that self-employment tax which is kind of equivalent to payroll tax, social security and Medicare but in the state you might also owe state taxes which they might use a state income tax but they also might use a sales tax or have some other business tax that they hit you with. So consider consulting with a tax professional to ensure you're taking advantage of all eligible deductions and credits and complying with all tax laws and reporting requirements. Let's look at the line instructions. Line four, other gains or losses. So if you sold or exchanged assets used in a trade or business see the instructions for form 4797. Who needs to file form 4797? Taxpayers who sold or exchanged business property including real estate used in a business. Taxpayers who received business property from a casualty or theft. Taxpayers who disposed of depreciable property used in their business and taxpayers who sold certain types of business property that cannot be depreciated. So note when you talk about business property we have an income statement on the Schedule C. We don't typically have the balance sheet reported as it's liabilities equity. We just have the Schedule C which is the income statement because we have an income tax but so you would think that you would just expense things as they happen which would normally people would think of a cash based system which might be usable although there could be exceptions if you have a substantial amount of inventory for example and what not which we'll talk more about those later but even if you're on a cash based system sometimes you have to do a cruel things meaning for example if you buy property, plants and equipment you have to put it on the books as an asset instead of expensing it because there's such a big difference in timing difference between the point in time that you actually use that stuff versus the time that you purchase it and so now you have to deal with depreciation if you have depreciable assets and then when you sell those assets then you might sell them at a gain or a loss and then you have to deal with the calculation of the sale or disposal of depreciable assets not all small businesses might not have to deal with many depreciable assets depends on the type of industry you're in if you just have gig work for example you might not have a whole lot of depreciable assets because you might not have very limited things that you're using for the business that are long term assets in any case we'll talk more about that later in the Schedule C section just to point it out here IRS Form 4797 quote sale of business property end quote is used to report the sale, exchange or involuntary conversion of property used in your trade or business and certain depreciable property this form helps taxpayers calculate the gain or loss from these transactions and determine how the gain or loss is treated for tax purposes e.g. as ordinary income or capital gain so in other words one of the things is when you sell property it's kind of like when you sell stock it's usually going to be a categorized as capital gains and we talked about the idea that sometimes you could have beneficial treatments in terms of tax rates that are more beneficial than the normal ordinary income progressive tax rates and capital gains sometimes falls into that category in part because like if you sell something that went up in value like a building then the building even though you sold it like this year it might have increased in value over the last 10 years and so if you sell it this year and you got a gain of $100,000 that $100,000 might put you into a much higher tax bracket because you're recognizing all the gain this year whereas if you were able to recognize the gain over the last 10 years because we have a progressive tax system it might not have put us up into as high a tax bracket that's just one kind of argument as to why we might have capital gains taxed at different rates if we did not do that then you would feel like you don't want to sell the property because it's going to push you into these large high tax brackets which would have a downward or dragging effect on the economy because people would be reluctant to trade and whatnot so key sections of Form 4797 Part 1 so used for reporting the sale of property held for one year or less these are short term gains or losses which might be more likely taxed at the ordinary higher tax rates rather than a preferential tax rate so Part 2 used for reporting the sale of property held for more than one year long term gains or losses Part 3 used for calculating the ordinary gains and recapture amounts for certain types of properties such as depreciable real estate and equipment that has been depreciated so this recapture thing is a whole nother kind of topic in and of itself because what ends up happening is if you buy like equipment and then you depreciate the equipment and usually the IRS has accelerated depreciation methods they might give you like even a 179 or special depreciation when you deduct the depreciation you're getting a tax deduction at ordinary income tax rates but what if you sell the property then and you have a gain well if you had a gain then it seemed then you might have over depreciated the property right which is likely to happen because they have accelerated depreciation and if you're able to recognize the gain at favorable tax rates meaning not ordinary income tax rates but lower tax rates it would lead people to try to manipulate the tax system possibly by taking larger deductions for depreciation at ordinary income tax rates and then trying to then recognize the sale at capital gains rates and so now you have this whole recapture thing because of the changes in the tax rate which again is these things like the progressive tax rates having these tiers of taxes and then having different tax rates entirely for things like capital gains and like qualified dividends and things like that you would think that they seem pretty straightforward but the rippling effects that they have when you're trying to do tax planning can be significant the things add up things get complex over time just because of the varying factors they come into play in the moving landscapes that happen with them so part number four used to summarize the information from parts one through three and calculate the total gain or loss to be transferred to your income tax return important instructions determine the correct part to use depending on the type of property sold and how long you held it for you will use different parts of form 4797 to report the transaction was it long term, short term do you have recapture involved calculate the basis so the basis is kind of like the cost of the property but it could be a little bit different than the cost depending on because you might have done something to the property which could have altered the basis but in essence the cost of the property when you sell property how much did you buy it for how much did you sell it for most equipment you would think you would sell at a loss because you bought it and then you sold it at a price that's less than what you bought it for but you also have depreciation so we're really talking about the depreciated cost that you sold it for depreciation could be accelerated oftentimes in the tax code which could result in having a lower kind of basis that you're calculating the gain on so to determine your gain or loss you'll need to know the property's basis which is generally it's cost adjusted for improvements depreciation in any prior year losses okay so then we have the recapture of depreciation some or all of the gain on depreciable property may be treated as ordinary income due to depreciation recapture rules especially for section 1245 and section 1250 property so again if you sold equipment at a gain that would think it would lead to believe that you over depreciated it because you were allowed to do so with accelerated depreciation getting favorable tax rates on the deduction resulting in the IRS wanting to recapture or tax the gain at those same ordinary income tax rates as opposed to more favorable or lower tax rates on the okay so reporting to other forms depending on the transaction you may also need to report gains or losses on other tax forms such as schedule D form 1040 for capital gains and losses schedule D most commonly used for individual taxpayers to report like sales of stocks and bonds for example


Eso es lo que yo quiero. The kind that kids look up at with this face. Sin que digan lo que tengo que pensar o quién tengo que ser. In my village, I'm sure. I'm going to have secretaries, me coffee and the newspaper, and jive me to important meetings. I'm going to have expensive cars. Lamborghini. Brother in San Antonio. Y que lleguemos todos bien. May God watch over our journey. And bless it with His blood. Camina! She looks at me, she holds my hand, and says, tomorrow, tomorrow at night, is when you'll be able to catch it. Not before, or the others had to pay her. But not me. She also gave me something to eat. La bestia mueres. It eats an arm. Oh, un pie. Y dormir a malado. Yo voy a usar mi cinto. Yo no me voy a dormir. Come with me chips. Or guns. Or just a robot. O la migra.  And the police rob you. Or the cartels rob you.  Por quidnapote mata. Pues por lo pronto me voy a amarrar con mi cinto. Porque se te ca... I've seen it. Wish I hadn't. Been doing this for about four years now. You know, we've received testimonies of people seeing their loved ones fall off and die because of these branches. So doc, all right? The past few years, they ride alone. I mean, those that you see that make it to the U.S. live through hell. Can't think about the odds or else you wouldn't be able to do it.  And those are the ones that never make it. They die on their way. And many, well, they try over and over again determined to get across. To me, it's simple. They're living in extreme violence and these countries more than half the population want to leave. If these dangers won't keep people away, what will? Nothing. Until the situation changes in their home countries, people will risk their lives to get away. Thank you. Great job. In power, I'm sorry, but we cannot. To the blow in our nation's demand and actions have caused on its children amnesty. This crisis is Obama-made. Look, these children do not appear to be malnourished or physically abused and they do not appear to be afraid. They have had a refugee crisis. Some people want to make this a refugee crisis so that the U.S. is forced to take these children in and resettle them. The descendants of those that are trying to shut it behind them. These children do not meet the definition of a refugee Listen, the foundation to this crisis are the markets in the U.S. for illegal drugs and the sale of guns to the armors who supply the gangs with their weapons. Now we can continue to treat the symptoms, but it would be better to implement a cure. Our war on drugs is responsible for crime and bloodshed in both Mexico and Central America. Do you remember the 80s when we funded mercenaries and sent our military into Central America? Most of the Hispanic population now in the U.S., they for the most part have not assimilated and most have not become productive members of society. Want to destroy the drug cartels? Legalize all the drugs. Maybe. We need to train these children how to fight them. They need to intervene and wipe out the narcos in Mexico and Honduras. How do we convince American citizens that their drug use, abuse causes death for not only them, foreign citizens and our all military people? Yes for those kids. Our drug prohibition is fueling the problem. The underlying problems are the weak will to escape reality through drugs and the liberal elite to enable them. That's with coming illegally to the United States undoubtedly to steal a job from a U.S. citizen that they would abandon their own kids. Give me your guns used by those gangs our purchase in the U.S. We systematically destroy the local culture in many Central American countries and our search for cheap labor as well as for drugs. In the 1980s, Robert Reagan chanted $500 million free and illegally sold weapons to Iran from the Contrast Fight against the Nicaraguan Sandinistas. Today I'm going to invoke the Statue of Liberty's offer of refuge to the poor and tired. Please wake up to the modern American welfare state. Our nation simply cannot afford to allow failed Latin American economies to export their poverty to the United States. The CIA orchestrated and invaded 200,000 deaths. There's a nasty bit of common playing out here and we as a nation have sins to account for. We are not innocent. Look, it's easy to make humanitarian gestures especially if one is not paying a personal price. We have enough gang problems in the 1990s. Even though those people pass right through that country and right here. Why? Because Mexico profits on the transit of illegals but makes it absolutely clear that undocumented Central Americans will not be allowed to stay in Mexico. Come on. These children are our future doctors. Children will be our future doctors and teachers. 100 years ago you could do exactly what these children are doing today.  It is at least as dangerous with all the gangs and drugs in East LA where many of these children are going to end up anyway. This is economic immigration illegal to steal our jobs. I am ashamed small issue of children from Central America fleeing across our southern border on political terms rather than humanitarian ones. Maybe you don't what ancestors used to come here legally. Actually our immigration laws were changed in the 1920s by the people who did not like the millions of Jews and Italians that crowded into New York City. I mean many of our ancestors would be turned away today. It is a real tragedy that many of the great grandchildren of the Ellis Island immigrants have contributed so much to America. Turn their back on the nation of immigrants that welcome their ancestors and attack these children even as they eat bagels and pizza. What these children are doing is no different from what our ancestors did. New York Times. July 13th, 2014. Comments from Sonya Nasaria's article The Children of the Drug Wars. A refugee crisis, not an immigration crisis. Disenforcement. ICE. Come this way. A Mexican, anyone appearing to be a child will receive mandated TV Protection Reauthorization Act. Screening. Once she, he is determined to be an unaccompanied child migrant she, he must be transferred to an office of refugee resettlement. All within 72 hours. Set a security setting possible and verification is required. Fill this paper up. And this. And this. And this. And this. Sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, family friend. No boyfriends or girlfriends. There are seven different types of O-R-R facilities but over 80% of them are simple shelters with little ability to cater to special needs. Dad, mom. And you're sponsored. You'll be released only to the proper sponsor. The primary goal of the staff is to reunify the child, youth, with family. The children fit to almost a year depending on the complexity and the history of the case. Most take three to six weeks. And over 80% of the youth will be reunified in the U.S. Less than 10% will be deported. Staff, sirs. Immigration cases. If they do not attend them. In his hands. So this can only be interviewed very carefully, especially my mother. It depated towards the money my family has saved for many years. The connection man will be a passport. Seventeen. Fort. In the passport. I am 22. I look older than 17. I flew from Sudah, Brazil. Then when I swelled, we crossed the Amuzon River here. And Amukonda slid right by me. That was one of the worst moments I had. They are 17 feet long to the borders of Colombia. There were different connection men. I could always tell when a connection man I needed was me. They look a certain way, you know. Very tired but strong and with eyes. They seem to have eyes all around their head. In Colombia, I spent 13 hours on a boat.  We made it into a Panama and spent two days there crossing the jungle. From Panama, we made it into Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala. I thought it would never end. So many of us just marching, just going and going through land and water, halting, humid, the leaves, the size of cars. Hang my shirt to dry on a branch. And in the morning, it would be more wet than before. The very different this land might. Many asked us what our destination was. We said, the U.S. They let us go. They did not want us to stay. Connection men all along the way. Altogether, it cost my family $15,000. In Tijuana, I could see the U.S. It was a dream to be so close to have traveled so far. It's a God post. It moved close to me. I felt like I was floating. It was floating towards me. Everything my family hoped for, right there. I stepped across into the United States. I was still that same person, but I think I expected to turn into a prince at that moment. Something like that, something magical. I turned myself into Boda Patul and I told them I was 17. The officers, they questioned me and took me to the office of a refugee and resettled. It was all very serious with them. They all looked bored and insidious. But I smiled. I was so happy. They found a shelter in San Diego that had a bed for me. I stayed there for a few weeks. I met young men like me, but I was the one who traveled for them, they couldn't believe it. They contacted my uncle Jamal, who lives in Chicago. Uncle Jamal came to get me. I waited for my twin sister, Sahar, who followed three weeks after I left. My uncle Jamal told me she drowned in Colombia. At Anemulani it means fast, fun, sweet, carry on with me. I'm going to take care of your queen. We left to defend ourselves. We took everything we had. We walked. Carreteras Nuevo Laredo Reynosa, Tu Mariano Matamoros. That's where the migras put us up. I lost him down to 16 September. Carretera, Camargo Ensenada, Camargo Olmos, Santa Cruz Ensenada, and finally to South Pete Diaz Avenue. After over 15 hours of non-stop walking, I hid in a trunk under a mound of earth with only a straw to help me breathe and enter into the United States. I crossed from Nogales to Arizona. I didn't see light for 16 days. It took us to shower. The sun came through the windows and it stung our eyes. It is nicer than where I was last. We cry all night. I'm used to it. One night, one of the teachers, well, we call them teachers, but they're like prison guards, not teachers. Really? She's saying, why are you mess with us? One night, one of them came around and told us they're going to huge earthquake in all of Central America. What? We cried all night. They do that to me. I'll punch them. No, you won't. Soy de Andores. I am from Fuerta de Cajuta, El Salvador, Chicago. Chicago, Guatemala. Aquí estamos. I can't believe that I'm here. I miss my sabuelos. I miss my mother and brothers. I'm going to see my mother for the first time since I was two.  I don't know when I'll see mine again, but I'll find a way. I'll find a way to bring them. I miss my best friend Julieta and my family, of course. But you'll see. We'll be like sisters here for a little while at least. How long will we be here? And before they come, yes. It depends. Maybe a few days. Maybe a month. I've never been outside my garage. It's a small village by the water.  That was it.  I've seen worse than that. We get one call each day. One to our family back home and one to our family here in the U.S. Make sure you tell your family that you're eating well and being treated well. Make sure you say that. What do we do here? The social workers check on us. We play. We have lessons like to learn English. I learned how to be in an interview. Some girls come and do games with us. They are nice. They go to college in the shelter. I like this one game where we list what we hope for the future and draw it. They say it is a life map. Hurt you? Not here, no. We're safe here. How do you know that? You've got faith. We haven't been through all of this for nothing. God is watching over us. Not always. Cook looked at me. Does he sleep here? No, he doesn't and he wouldn't hurt you. I saw something. I can't stop thinking of it. You have to leave it behind. Forget what you've seen. Look at that. I know, but... No, it's fascinating. She was very weak and I helped her. She was so... After she gave birth, her baby away. What do you mean? Who did? They can't do that. The guards. The father came and just took the baby. I was behind the glass of the detention room when it happened, so I couldn't reach her, but... I saw it all. The father didn't even... Look at her. She took the baby in his arms and walked away like it was a loaf of bread. How did you know it was the father?  Something must have happened. The night the baby was taken, I heard screams howling all night long, and suddenly it was very quiet. We're here. We're here now. You come from one of the worlds deadliest cities, San Pedro Sula Andores. It's like a war there. You can't walk in the street without feeling scared. Anything can happen. The gangs, they threatened me and my whole family. They ordered me to join and they told my family that they would kill all of us if I didn't obey. My friend, Julieta, well, she had the same problem as me and she chose to join. I made her a promise. We promised each other that we'd both get jumped together. We were both so scared and... it was a way of getting through it like a team. But I left her. I never showed up. My family, they insisted that I leave. They quickly got the money together. It was all the money they had saved. And my relatives saved too. I couldn't let on that I was leaving. If anyone found out, well, then that would be it. It happened to my cousin, Jorge. They split his throat at school because somebody let out that he was going to leave the gang. I had to keep quiet. We had to keep quiet even to Julieta. I wanted to stay and just disobey my parents. A part of me wanted to go through with it, you know? I never saw Julieta before I left. I don't know what happened. She's okay. And I know she needs me for what I did. And I do too. But I can never go back. If they send me back, well, then I'd be like my cousin, Jorge. I can do it! Everything in English, please. I was very bad. I liked it. English, boys. That's good. I don't like cilantro. What do you mean, cilantro? Cilantro, huh? The student. This is the first class. Primera clase. Okay? Coming to your new class. Hello. What is your name? Your next. Adrián. Que voy dejame. My name is Adrián. Good. Very good. And then you would say... ¡Somaricha! ¡Somaricha! Stop, boys! Stop it. Adrián, you would say... I am new to this school. Excellent. Very good, Adrián. Very good. Well, no one is going to let you enter like that. Very good. Ian. I first met Adrián when he was 17 years old. He was living in a shelter in San Francisco.  The stall, though, was shot at by gangs when he had refused to give them a cut. He had witnessed robberies, stabbings, shootings, and had had enough. So he took a bus to the Mexico-Guatemala City border. There, he crossed the Suchate River by inner tube. Then he stole a bike and pedaled to the city of Tapachula. He walked 150 miles north. 150 miles north, making sure not to go near La Rosera. La Rosera, that's the scrub land known for migraine kidnappings and assaults, right? Yeah. I slept on the doorstep of a church and I saw that the migraine shelter had burned to the ground. Do you have any gum? I think so. Oh, so Adrián, what happened next? Well, in the town of Arriaga, I got our la vestia. Look, hadn't you heard the horror stories? What, the people got their body parts sliced off? They slipped while trying to jump on the boxcars? Or fell off while sleeping? Yeah, yeah, I heard it right. I knew the stories about the guys to look out for, time on with machetes and guns. The kidnap was sent by the gangs. Oh, and the Mexican police. And none of that scared you? It's not even conceivable. How long were you on the train? I rode into Guadalajara. Christmas night, I slept on a sidewalk. Got back on, rode into Monterrey.  Surprised? Kind of hard to surprise me. But the green nail polish was a clue. Kelly. Oh, excuse me, Kelly green nail polish. So you were attacked and... I ran. I ran and ran and ran until my feet were bleeding. That was the worst. Like for anything, shoes, food, clothes, I sold. I sold for that very good. I kept going, but I northed it. I northed it. Northed to the border at Nuevo Laredo. Yeah, and when I couldn't get across, I moved backwards. Backwards? 450 miles south to San Luis Pueblo, see? 200 miles west to Guadalajara before heading another thousand miles... Wait a minute, wait a minute, what?   Just turn back? No, I'd come too far. You went north. To the son of that desert? I made it. But they caught me right away. But at least the shooters didn't get me. Shooters? Yeah. You know, some on the U.S. I'd try and shoot us while we're crossing. Some kind of game. They didn't get me, though. Because you're invisible. Okay, okay. So Adrianne, tell me, what's life like for you here? Gets the shelters to my stuff, all right?  Well, do you have any friends? I'm not here to make friends. All right, so what are you here for then? I don't know.   Any plans after that? I want to go to cosmetology school. Good, good, that's good, Adrianne. Um, just one last question I kind of have to ask. Adrianne, what are those bruises that I see on your neck? Those aren't bruises. They're hickeys. So this, this is what you came here for, the American Dream. I'm not here for the American Dream. I just, I just wanted to get far away. According to the reports, your government is studying the possibility of economic and military support and assistance to the present government. The government junta and especially the armed forces and security forces have resorted to repressive violence, producing a total of deaths and injuries much greater than under the previous military regime. The junta and the Christian democrats do not govern the country. That political power is in the hands of unscrupulous military officers who know only how to repress people and favor the interests of the Salvadoran olivarchy. I hope that your religious sentiments and your feelings for the defense of human rights will move you to accept my petition. Thus avoiding greater bloodshed in this suffering country. Capítulo 4, aquí. Chapter 4, here.  Who is your father? I've already said. Yes, yes, you've said a businessman, but that's a lie. We all know he's no businessman.  I really don't know why you're here or what you want. Who is your father? If you want money.  Listen, you've made a mistake. No, no, no, we most certainly did not. I'll give you anything you want. Who is he? Please. Who is your father? God, all right. Before he was a businessman and a general, he was a general a very long time. Yes, he was. A Salvadoran general. Is that all you wanted? Okay, so can I leave now? Large Bishop Romero. Who was he? I don't know. I guess a martyr. You know who killed him? Please, I'm an American. Salvadoran. I was born here. I don't know. I don't know or you don't want to know. That general, the one who ordered Romero's assassination, killed tens of thousands of innocent people. Seventy-five thousand people, Salvadorans, died in that war. What does that have to do with me? Us avoiding greater bloodshed. Us avoiding greater bloodshed in this suffering country. On March 24th, 1980, one month after writing this letter, Romero is assassinated while giving mass. To this day, the person who gave orders is walking freely. As is the general who ordered the death of four American knights. And the general who murdered 200 mostly women and children gathered peacefully in a plaza on San Salvador. And hundreds and thousands of others. That's just El Salvador. I'm innocent. Not with that last name. You're saying that I'm responsible for some atrocity that I never knew about, that my father committed?  Hey, Nouris, I'm not excusing you from responsibility. That war happened before I was so formed. We're not responsible. Who is? Those people. Those killers. Get them, not me. I mean, why do you care so much? It was ages ago.  We want an apology. I am not my father. What those people did over 35 years ago has nothing to do with me. Who I am, what I do now, that letter was to Jimmy Carter. Why don't you hunt him down, torture him? What about the people who elected Jimmy Carter?  And Reagan's family, how about that? We want justice. Oh, that's what this is. This is justice. You can't decide to pass down crimes like this from one generation to another like this. I'm not in the States.  I don't even speak Spanish. Why should I be blamed for the things that he did? Why should I? I'm my own man. I've got my own dreams. Clean slate. My life is a clean slate. You're asking me to turn my back on everything I've known? How can I do that? What are you going to do to me if I don't?  How different are you then? It wasn't me. I didn't do anything. I'm innocent. I didn't do anything. I didn't do anything. I thought you were something. You were something, gal. I thought he would be here to help us. You said that he was the only one that we could trust, that he knew the way that nothing could go wrong. I'm always waiting now. What do we do? We've been lied to. Nothing my mother's waiting for me. She's worried. I can't go back.  I don't stand a chance out here. Oh man, what are we going to do? How could I have been so stupid? He abandoned us here. Took what he needed and left us to die. No. He's lost in a torment. He refuses to follow rules or orders. He makes up his own rules and he gives orders. He's a fighter. He's a survivor. He's hungry. He's thirsty. He's poor. He's alone. He's cocky. He's a foreigner. He's a citizen.  He's a recipient. He's a snake. He's an eagle. He's sitting in the corner on the floor. When he calls I tell him I'm fine. I can feel their breath on my neck during the phone call. They laugh and take his money. Money that's meant for my comfort, for my school, for my protection. Nightmares I can't get away from. Things I did. I hide. And it's safe here but I can't stay. The priest says that all will be forgiven but is this kindness real? I can't stay. I have to run. I have to get away. The shed he raised high above me. My mother screams. My baby sister crying. Behind me. He was always the better runner but his scarf got caught on top of the wire fence. His eyes strayed towards me. They hold me back. I can't help. They laugh at him swinging. My face. He was singing in his car. Warehouse of metal and darkness. Sweat pouring over me for long hours.  No more. I'm 16. And I'm ready to take on the most terrifying adversary. I am ready to sacrifice myself for others. I know how to fight. I know how to persevere. I can take it. I can take anything. I am backed into a corner, caught between wars, fighting my way out. I raise myself up all on my own. I am a secret. Atheist. Hungry. Resilient. Intelligent. Generous. Faithful. In my class, ahead of the pack, ready to gamble it all. Somos persistentes. We're trustful. We're unstoppable. We are leader. We are tough. Tenemos visión. We are unbeatable. Somos el futuro. We are the future. Tenemos grandes sueños. El futuro.


Going on everyone Sam here with late and sports cards ripping two boxes of 22 23 penne prism mega basketball mega boxes for Blake H. So good luck here Blake. Let's do it. Oh Yeah, I'll be able to get to yours for sure. Yeah, I can all get to yours for sure Joel. Absolutely Yeah, I mean yours penini one takes like two seconds to open so Absolutely, absolutely Joel It's a little about the auntie Murray pink ice Cam Johnson and Jalen McDaniels tie tie Washington. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you two seconds of joy or not. Yeah, it's valid That's valid and your name are pink ice Jalen Brunson. It's the impact. Oh shag Bajie. My John Bolchop Silver John and Kaminga pink ice EJ Liddell and Joellen bead steal a draft AJ Griffin down Terry and base Pink ice of Max Christie Devin Vacelle Silver green emergent Jane and Ivy It's bar Smith rookie and we'll chamberlain. So I'm Nicholas Hey guys Devin Booker and Alec Berks.  He felt lucky up anyone football. Oh, yeah, dude They're Andreas picking up some tier one Robert with a Ship it to seal it. Good luck on your second box here Blake, but Ubre Marjombo champ and Derek white it's the impact Johnny Davis warring up big Ben Wallace Pink ice Herbert Jones silver Walker Kessler. Nice one there Silver Ben Simmons global reach Peyton Watson does in vain Silva DeAndre eight in pink ice Cody Martin and Yanis nice one there and Johnny Davis rookie 3 and 2 I'm assuming I don't think I don't think we have any more of it to be honest Joel Doug McDermott and Jordan Clarkson. I don't think we've had three and two Jalen Williams like even a single box of it in like a two months probably we went through it pretty pretty quick Yeah, I don't think we have any left in the shop to be honest Andrew Wiggins silver Mitchell mark Williams and Moussity about they Yeah, I mean if we did I'd be all I'd be all for it obviously, but I really just I don't think we do much a Morris train man and Taris that'll do it for your break there Blake. Thanks again for the support buddy. Get him right out to my man


Imagine, it's 1400 years ago, it's the 9th of Maharram. You're in your tent and at night you hear noises and commotion and voices coming from outside.    Knowing when the morning comes what's going to happen to you. So the morning comes, now it's the day of Ashurah. You walk up to the Imam to offer yourself to him, offer your service to him and he lets you pick what you want to do. What would you want to do on that day? I would sacrifice myself to him. I would do everything that I can do to help him out like on the day of Ashurah. How would you help him? Would you, for example, go and get water with Abul-Fadil Abbas, would you want to go and fight against the enemy? Would you protect the tents of the women and children? Would you help the wounded? Would you keep the small children busy so they forget about the thirst or their family members being killed on the battlefield? I would say I would help Abul-Fadil Abbas to help him bring the water to the tents. How would you help him? Because that day he was alone by himself, no one was helping him. So if someone was like to help him, to tell him like there's someone behind you, he may be like be safe and give him the water. Why have you picked him out of all of the scenarios? He could have gone to help Ali Al-Aqbar, he could have helped Qasim, he could have helped. Because he was holding the rye of Imam Hussain. So if he sat down, that's me like they were always finished and they won. And I would like, I want to leave him like be holding it for as long as he can. So yeah, that's why I picked him. Now imagine you've gone to college. You've had a long day at college, you're tired, you're hungry.  Each of them running around in a different direction.  And it looks to you like you have a visitor, a guest has come to your house. So you say to your dad, who's come to see us? And he says he hasn't come to see us, he's come to see you. Now you think to yourself, maybe it's a friend from mosque or a friend from college or a friend from down the street, maybe one of your neighbours.  In that moment, what would you say to him? What would you want him to say to you? First of all he will say that I am of Imam Mahdi army. I will help him in the future.  What would you say to him? Anything like, mercy of Allah, maybe like he said, I am not Rahman in Allah, from God that's all.  What do you do? I would tell him to stay forever, I want to see him forever. Why? Because he's Imam Hussain. Here's a Master of Jannah. At the beginning I asked you about 1400 years ago. I asked you about a day that's already happened and gone. And I gave you, I said to you that you could have the choice of what you wanted to do. Now it might be easy to say, if I was there I would do this, if I was there I would stop this from happening, if I was there I would try and help this person so he can do this rather than them dying for example. A lot of us forget in this day and age we have Imam Mahdi. And in a way him being physically absent from us, is a way of him giving us a choice of how we want to serve him. Because he's not here in person to say, Jawad pick this up, go and do this for me, Jawad help me with this. So you have a choice in how you want to help him. What do you think you've done for the 12th Imam? What do you think he deserves from you? Well to be honest he deserves everything that I can do, like pray, everything that I like. For example he got Ziyarat to him so everything we can do at the ear. How do you think he feels with you as his follower? I'm not expecting anything really.  No I think he's happy with me. What makes you say that? I always like read Daraat, I know I read Quran as well. And I go to Majalist as well, yeah a lot. What do you think the most important thing is that we can do to become closer to him? Just like key focus, religion, prayers and stuff like that, Daraat as well. What's your favourite Daraat? For me it's the document. Why the document? Because I don't know, when I read it I feel different. What's your favourite line in the document? Why those lines in particular? Because Allah is like mess food. So when I always just say that I feel good. I feel that something gone, something bad come from me.


Hello everybody, I'm Lance Goyki and today we're talking about the dumbbell row and how sometimes people seem to be just kind of throwing their neck and their head to one direction to get the row done. We've talked before about how the core is important, but how the core is not just your abdominal muscles or your deep back muscles, but it's also everything that goes all the way up to your cranium and includes your ribs and all sorts of other stuff. So we need to make sure that you're getting these positions correct. I have one client in particular, I picture doing this. Basically it's kind of like you're supporting your arm for that dumbbell row, you've got your dumbbell in this hand over here and then as you're rowing you just kind of just tilt your head, often times it falls down too, but you just kind of tilt it away from the row and it just kind of looks like you're doing the row with that.  And we'll talk about that in the future. Okay, we're talking about tilting away. Basically all you need to do is you got to straighten it out. So my favorite way to kind of get into the correct position is you're just going to sit there and you're going to think I want to be as long as I can from head to tail. Okay, and as I elongate all of that, everything just kind of like the curves put themselves where they need to be, you know, if I do this I'm shorter than if I do this. So that cue generally takes away a bunch of the messy stuff. So what does it look like if I'm here and I'm rowing, this is maybe a little less exaggerated, then I just try to get long from head to tail like this and then I have my row. Now my neck doesn't feel quite as tight and I'll be able to feel more in my rowing muscles. I also want to show you it from this side just because I know this one's kind of subtle, it might look like this. Okay, and then when we get long, straightens out. Okay, again, core stuff is important, positioning is important. You need to make sure your neck, it has a normal curve, isn't too flat but also isn't, you know, curving in ways that are a little bit unreasonable because you've got a lot of nerves that come out of that cervical spine. You've got all those things running down through your arm that are supplying your rowing muscles. You want to keep them as free as you can so you can recruit as many motor units as possible and really train your muscle.


Verne and Kunda is receiving his fifth session of radiotherapy. The 37-year-old is one of 2,500 patients who get treated each year at the Cancer Diseases Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. This facility is the first and only cancer treatment centre in this developing country of 14 million people. From 2007 when we officially opened, the numbers have more than tripled. So in that case we can say that the cancer is on the increase. Over the past 10 years, 16,000 people have been treated at this hospital. Before it opened, Zambian cancer patients had to join a long waiting list for costly treatment overseas. Many of them simply died. The IAEA, which supports the use of radiation medicine in its member states, has played a key role in the development and operation of this hospital. Without IAEA to develop a centre like this, which is highly technical, it would be very difficult for us. Up to now maybe we're not going to have this centre treating the numbers that we have. Today the hospital's two teletherapy machines treat over 130 patients a day. A BRCA therapy unit treats the rising number of patients with cervical cancer. The centre offers mammography services for early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. We are screening women in Zambia above the age of 40 years. So now how are we catching those women to come for screening? We are doing a lot of socialization programmes in the country by doing outreach programmes. Apart from the outreach programmes where we go in different areas to tell them the importance of having a mammogram, we are also using the media just to make sure that we reach out there to tell the people about early detection. We've had an overwhelming response the last five years from the people. Mercy Chippampi, like many of her colleagues, was trained under IAEA programmes. She now coaches radiographers around the country and teaches students from Zambia as well as other African countries. With IAEA support, the hospital is able to serve as a teaching centre for radiotherapy technicians. James Secona uses the experience gained through IAEA training programmes to educate students. He also oversees all the radiotherapy services. We are putting smiles on people's faces and that goes a long way because no money can buy that. Somebody who comes anguished in pain and after treatment is able to smile and say I'm feeling much better is a feeling that is just immeasurable. You can't put any value to that. As the country's sole cancer treatment centre, the hospital needs to accommodate patients from all over Zambia and neighbouring countries. To cope with the growing demands for its services, the hospital was recently expanded to include inpatient wards. These include facilities for children who suffer from cancer and are receiving treatment. When detected early and treatment is available, many cancers are curable. Elsewhere in the country, the situation is very different. At the central hospital in Livingstone in southern province, there are facilities to screen and make a clinical diagnosis of cancer and conduct surgery when needed. But there's nowhere to treat cancer locally or even analyse samples. Cancer patients need to make the seven-hour journey to the cancer diseases hospital in Lusaka at their own cost, often without their families and friends. Many do not complete their treatment. Some don't even start. A project is now underway to open the country's second cancer treatment centre here in Livingstone. The IAEA will be supporting this expansion. A plot of land has already been identified as the location for the future hospital. So having a centre here shortens one, patients' distance to move away from their homes. Two, for the hospital so it's extremely very important because then we have the interaction because most cancers are multidisciplinary approach to care. So the interaction between the specialties is enhanced as well as it makes it very convenient for the patient to seek this care. Cancer is on the increase in Zambia, with 70% of cases being among women. Most cancer patients go to hospital when the disease is at an advanced stage and often fatal. National schemes are in place to raise awareness of cancer and extend screening services. This means the number of diagnosed cases will grow even further. With the right equipment and properly trained doctors, radiation therapy is a vital component of cancer control. In the future, the people in the Livingstone area may have direct access to this life-saving treatment they so badly need.


Alright everyone, this video is a little late because I was building a new PC and I just could not get it working and just did not think to possibly check the new power supply unit until I did and discovered that it was bad, which I can't believe I've never had that happen but that was it. And here we are. So let's get to the video that is actually the last of 2022, the most disappointing games of last year. Now, I was actually pretty disappointed with Horizon Forbidden West and while Elden Ring was my game of the year, that one also disappointed me more than a little. But the games that were good or great but not as great as I was hoping aren't what this video is about. This one is about games that legit disappointed me. Not all the following games are terrible, although a couple of them are, but none of them are all that good. There's a couple on here that I'm sure people will disagree with but these were all games that I was very excited for this year. There's a big difference between terrible and disappointing. A game can only be disappointing if it's one I had high hopes for. AC Valhalla did not disappoint me because it was pretty much exactly what I expected. The games on this list range from pretty good to just terrible, but all of them were games that I was super eager to play and then, well, was disappointed Alright, let's get to it. Number 7 The Callisto Protocol There were very few games I was looking forward to more than the Callisto Protocol this year. This might be the best game on this list and is one of only two that I still think are pretty decent games worth playing, but I was hoping for this one to be an all-time classic. Dead Space 1 and 2 are easily amongst my very favorite games ever. Playing the first two Dead Space titles on harder difficulties not only had the almost perfect blend of survival horror and action gameplay, they also had amazing worlds, excellent stories, and pretty much perfect pacing. With several of the devs from Dead Space in the studio, I was looking forward to a game that struck that perfect balance again. Instead, the Callisto Protocol simply fails at its story in worldbuilding. The game is almost entirely focused on combat, but the combat isn't as dynamic or interesting as Dead Space.  A beautiful game that looks truly next generation, but that comes at the price of having to spend a few hours watching Jacob slowly crawl through vents or shimmy between walls while those next-gen textures load. There's enough good about the Callisto Protocol to make me think a sequel can be the game I was hoping for, but this game was just a tremendous letdown. 6. Thymesia Thymesia isn't a particularly good game. It's only on this list because I had pretty high hopes for it after following it through development. There still are very few good indie or AA souls likes out there, and the early looks at Thymesia had me thinking we were about to get another one, but the devs of the game made a few pretty big mistakes. Thymesia tries to synthesize a bunch of stuff that doesn't need it, and tries to innovate in places it should not. There's really no reason to reimagine progression in a souls like. Instead, a studio should spend its time making sure its progression is fun instead of totally revamping mechanics. Another classic mistake that seems to happen all the time is cramming a ton of different mechanics in. Thymesia looks like Bloodborne, but it has a deflection system like Sekiro, then it has an odd system where enemies can heal themselves if you back off. The game crams a ton of mechanics from across the genre instead of tightening its focus to make sure what it has is well done. For instance, that Sekiro deflection mechanic, that works amazing in Sekiro because it's a parry and a block combined. If you miss the deflection, you still block, so you're not terribly punished for missing them. Thymesia, the deflection is actually a parry, it's just needlessly punishing against bosses, but all that probably could have been overcome if the core of the game was better. Thymesia has very bland level design, enemies are uninspired, the regular mobs are so simple and easy that like the levels themselves are just mindless until you come up against many bosses or bosses, it's the only things that can possibly threaten you, and then those bosses and mini bosses are extremely frustrating. Worst of all, Thymesia commits the cardinal sin of a soul's like, it just feels bad. This is basically the difference between Lords of the Fallen, which is a bad game, and the Surge games which are great games. Same developer, but in Lords of the Fallen, everything feels stiff and clunky, and in the Surge, movement is snappy and responsive. You move very fast in Thymesia, but it feels like you're floating. Weapons don't feel like they have any real impact, the game just feels kind of amateurish in a way that dooms it. I only made it through the first three levels before I'd had enough. A big disappointment, because there's almost nothing good about the game at all. I was hoping for at least something as good as Ashen, instead I got the Bloodborne version of Lords of the Fallen. Number 5. Strangers of Paradise Okay, this one confused me. As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the very worst games I had ever played. It is just absolutely terrible. Level design, terrible. Story, terrible. Combat is terrible. The progression is, you know, below average. It's just awful, top to bottom. And I was like super pumped for this game when I first saw that Team Ninja was behind it, as Neo and Neo2 are among the best games the last 10 years. Then there was like almost no marketing for the game, which seemed odd for a game in the Final Fantasy universe with souls-like combat made by one of the best action game studios in the world. It made me a little suspicious that this game wasn't being marketed like a huge AAA release. I mean, Neo plus Final Fantasy doesn't sound like a game that should quietly release in the summer. Still, after Neo and Neo2, my trust in Team Ninja was sky high. But it didn't take long to realize that Strangers of Paradise was a slap together cash grab. Maybe at one point this was envisioned to be a real game, but what was actually released is something that feels like a GameStop bargain game from 2007.   And the HDR is broken. Level design in Neo isn't amazing, although it gets quite a bit better in Neo2. But in Strangers, it feels like something an intern put together. Combat is both boring and frustrating, as it sort of has souls-like combat, but enemies that have no tells and the screen is loaded with so many particle effects you can barely see what the hell is going on. The fact that there were not only reviews that said this game was decent, but even some that said it was actually good, blows my mind. Strangers of Paradise is a dreadful game. Absolutely terrible. It is not even worth $10, much less 30 hours of your time. One of the very worst games released last year and all the more disappointing because Team Ninja does a souls-like Final Fantasy game sounded so very promising. I mean, I don't know. I guess like the D team worked on this while they're working on their new China souls-like game, which is actually pretty awesome from the demo. Man, terrible. Number four, Steel Rising. Yet another double A souls-like that I was really looking forward to. Steel Rising isn't a bad game. It's got some interesting characters and an interesting premise, but it's just so janky everywhere in the design, which means it's simply not a very good game. Combat is fine, but boring. Animations are kind of weightless. Movement feels really slippery. The story is pretty bad, even though the world is really, really cool. Enemy variety is abysmal and the design of the enemies is quite annoying. Almost every enemy has a ton of health, so the game devolves into every fight being a slog against one of two different enemy types. And they all have these like crazy hyper armor moves. It just does not feel carefully designed. Bosses are interesting looking sometimes, but they're far too easy, even though many of their attack animations are not readable. Level design is actually one of the game's great strengths. And the game features proper side quests that send you back to previous maps to find an item or investigate a crime scene or talk to the marquee Lafayette. But because the combat is such a slog, making your way back through the maps is kind of tedious. Here's how you know this game was a huge disappointment. I stopped playing right before the final boss. Like, I just lost interest and like, you know, a few weeks ago I was like, oh yeah, that's right, that game. The story was not good enough to heat my interest. The progression is extremely shallow and the combat just isn't good enough to stand on its own. Steel Rising is very close to being a good game and I was looking forward to it a lot. But when all is said and done, you're left with something that's pretty forgettable. I was hoping for something that wowed me, but I ended up playing a game that had me thinking, yep, that sure is a video game. Now for the top three most disappointing games of the year. Number three, Bayonetta 3. Okay, to all you Bayonetta stands, hear me out. I love Bayonetta. I mean, I love, love, love Bayonetta 2. So other than Elden Ring and God of War, there were no other games I was more looking forward to than Bayo 3. Bayo 1 was a long time ago and going back to it now, it feels its age. But Bayonetta 2 is a timeless classic. The combat is amazing. Level design is simple, but pretty much perfect for the type of game you're playing. The characters in Bayonetta 2 are fun and interesting. And while the story is, you know, Bayonetta, it's somehow so charming and fun that the terrible fake British accents of Loki or the over the top melodrama of the plot all still works. Bayonetta 2 has really great progression with a ton of versatility in how you equip your weapons. Enemy and boss attacks are extremely readable. Everything works perfectly. You rarely get attacked from behind. The combat is challenging and precise, but forgiving enough that deaths are almost always your own fault. And when you fail to get platinum scores, it feels like you played bad rather than that the game can't handle its own mechanics. And Bayonetta 2 is a beautiful game even today. Art design is second to none.  Bayonetta 2 is one of my very favorite games of all time, because it feels so well designed and almost all of its compromises are so obviously related to the budget and are not designed flaws. I knew I was going on a two-week cruise this year and I kept Bayonetta 3 waiting on my switch so I could have time to savor it out in the ocean on vacation. And holy cow is Bayonetta 3 disappointing. Now listen, this is not a terrible game. It still has all the things you associate with a Bayonetta game, but none of it actually feels like a Bayonetta game. You've still got a ton of combos and different weapons, but you can only use one at a time. Bayonetta no longer has weapons strapped to her feet. That's fine. The weapons in this game are pretty cool and the animations are excellent of course, but everything outside of those weapons and animations are a big step down from the last game.  The direction is worse, all of it just worse than the last game. Bayonetta feels like an entirely different person. She seems to not care about anyone or anything and that's not what she was like in the previous games. And I mean I hate to say this, but she also simply has less sex appeal in this game. The first two games were sexy, man. Somehow Bayonetta 3 feels strangely toned down in many ways. Combat is deeply frustrating as the enemy design is bad. The enemies have very poor attack tells and you're attacked from off screen constantly as new enemies spawn in with almost no warning. Bosses are massive slogs as opposed to Bayonetta 2 when they are awesome, but those are just a moment to moment issues. Bayonetta's real problem is the story is terrible and the level design is a mess. Bayo 1 and 2 were relatively linear with occasional open areas. Bayo 3 feels like it started development as an open world game and got trimmed down in production as they went over budget. Most levels are big open maps and you spend way more time doing mini games, platforming, and puzzles than you did in the earlier games, probably more than the first two games combined. Don't get me wrong, that stuff has always been in the Bayo games, but it's right up in your face this time.  The combat trials in Bayo 3 are so much more frustrating than they are in Bayo 1 or Bayo 2.  I don't see how anyone could have played Bayo 1 and 2 and not ended up thinking that Jean and Bayonetta were a couple and a super cool couple at that. I have so many issues with this game, man, I will do a whole video on it. Suffice it to say, Bayo 3 is easily the worst game in the series. Every single thing about it is worse than Bayonetta 2. From art design, to story, to graphics, to combat, to level design, it's just worse in every way. That's pretty damn disappointing. Number 2, Shadow Warrior 3. Many, many years ago, I played Shadow Warrior and I liked it. I didn't think it was the best shooter in the world or anything, but it was one of the better early 3D linear shooter campaigns and one of the better 3D realms games. I played the reboot in 2013 and I recall thinking it was a pretty good game, but it didn't stick in my mind all that much, but I did really love Shadow Warrior 2. Somehow, the procedural mission generation and loot in that game just worked and the combat was both quite challenging and fast-paced. The seamless mixing of melee and ranged combat and the need to switch elements to deal with different enemy weaknesses made it a totally unique game, almost like a low-budget mixture of Doom 2016 and the first Borderlands. Now, it had a bunch of issues and it's very clearly a double A game. There probably was too much loot that was the same and the story was absurd and Wang could get a little tiring after a while, but the formula itself works and wouldn't have taken much to make a better version of that game. Simply having a bit more weight to the combat, making loot a bit less overwhelming and having more handmade levels in addition to the procedural missions would have been another great game. So when I saw the trailer for Shadow Warrior 3, I was very pumped. I even went and told my son like, dude, Shadow Warrior 3. The enemy design looked great and the gore was over the top, improved graphics, a grappling hook, better animations. What more could you want? When I found out the game was ditching the procedural missions, I was a little saddened, but I was still on board. When I heard there would be no loot aspect to the game, I did get a bit nervous, but I loved the game so much and I am such a huge fan of linear FPS campaigns, so this was still one of my most highly anticipated games of the year. But when I finally got my hands on it, what we're left with is one of the most low effort shooter campaigns I have played in a long, long time. Evil West turned out to be an excellent little game and after playing them both, I am now quite convinced that Shadow Warrior 3 was released to grab some money to keep developing the game they were actually interested in making, which was Evil West. Shadow Warrior 3 is so basic and average. The levels are just like a linear stretch of one combat arena after another. It feels like something made in another game's map editor by like an amateur like me. It feels like a mod, man. And those arenas are a problem because the combat itself has all the issues of the last two games with none of the charm. It still has that problem where animations feel weightless, arenas are boring and enemies aren't interesting to fight. This might be one of the least interesting uses of a grappling hook in gaming history. Weapons are fine, but there's barely any progression at all. Shadow Warrior has never had a good story, so it needs to rely on its gameplay. Shadow Warrior 3 feels like a tiny team threw together some assets and then just stitched tiles together to make a long series of arenas without any effort to have a well-paced gameplay experience. Nothing changes. From the first arena to the end of the game, it's just the same. It's fine if you're like shooters. It's not a disaster or anything. It's worse than that. It's boring. And boring is exactly the opposite of what made the Shadow Warrior games interesting. It is also simply not funny at all. I think I have heard pretty much every dick joke that is possible in the English language, man.  What a hugely disappointing game. But hey, Evil West is really good and has all the charm and spark that the Shadow Warrior games used to have. We'd all have been better off if this game had never been made. I hope they at least made some money. 1. Salt and Sanctuary Salt and Sanctuary is one of my very favorite Souls-likes. And one of my favorite Metrobanias. In fact, it is one of the very earliest Souls-like Metroidvanias made. I think it might be the first. So when the trailer for the sequel released, I was super excited.  All that's required was remaking the first game with some quality of life improvements, maybe clean up the skill tree, add an in-game map, new levels and gear, new bosses, boom. What are the best games of the year? That's all it takes. That's all the dev had to do to be assured of making one of the year's best games. Instead, Salt and Sacrifice simultaneously changes too much while also not changing nearly enough. None of the things I wanted to see improved made it into this game. The sequel lacks all of the quality of life features I thought desperately needed to be in the game. There's still no map. Why? It's a Metroidvania. Metroidvanias have maps. It's like half the game in a Metroidvania. Oh my god. The skill tree is still amazingly awful. Just amazingly awful. So not only did the things I wanted improved not happen, many things got considerably worse. There's no map still, but the levels are even more annoying to navigate because the sequel is designed around a hub and spoke system. You're supposed to revisit levels multiple times as you unlock traversal tools, but you have no map to know where you have and have not been. I will never understand making a Metroidvania without a map. The map is a core mechanic of the genre and has been all the way back to what was that game called? Right. Metroid. And Castlevania. Both of which have maps. But the first game still worked without the map because it's relatively linear how you move through the world.  It's pretty simple to know kind of which direction you've gone and which you haven't. But when you change things to have a hub world and spokes that come off it and in order to get to the next level you have to like hunt down different things, this all falls apart, man. How are you supposed to remember what area of which map had grapple points? You can't.  So what you end up doing is just wandering around the levels looking for places you didn't find sucks. And that's only the start of why I actually dislike the sequel, not just be disappointed. I don't like it. If there's one thing I don't need in my soul's likes or my Metroidvania's it is Monster Hunter. Having to chase a boss all over a level and kill it over and over and over to not only craft new gear but to actually unlock the next levels is just awful. The entire core of this game is extremely unfun. Stamina now regens even slower than the first game. The enemies have gotten faster and more frustrating while the player has gotten slower. In the first game getting juggled was a rare and very annoying thing. In the sequel, the sheer amount of time you are juggled from 100 to death is mind blowing. You will occasionally have multiple bosses on the screen juggling you from one boss to the other until you die without being able to do anything. It is terrible. Not only is the actual core of the design of the game not any fun, the combat has seemingly been surgically balanced around not being fun. Salt and Sacrifice might be the most disappointed I have ever been with the game to go from one of my favorite games of all time to a game I stopped playing four levels in is a tremendous failure. It turned out that 2022 was a year of disappointments for me. Even the games I loved disappointed me like Elden Ring and God of War. And then a bunch of games I was really looking forward to ended up being mediocre or bad. And then the very best games of the year all had extremely frustrating design elements that prevented them from being the all time classics they could have been.  So here's to hoping 2023 has some pleasant surprises for once. Man 2022, bury it dude. Alright, that's it. Thanks for coming. I'll see you next time. Bye.