It is weird, and I am not sure why it works or not. I noticed it years ago and I only remembered when my attempts were frustrated this time. I wish I knew what caused it or not. Basically what happens is when you try to boot from the USB, it shows the menu and all that, but it just doesn’t proceed. Like when I used my cheap-ass USB that I got from a dollar store (they no longer sell USBs there) it stalled at the linux mint start up logo. I gave it all the time it needed, but it just froze. When I used my brand new fancy Sandisk, it only took a few seconds to move past it. I will be using THAT USB for my desktop, but I have some backups to make before doing so.

And yes, I am writing this comment from my linux mint laptop. I finally will have more privacy on my comp.