#freedom dividend

[rv-on-fire]

April 2023 Financial Update

Let's try this again. This time with the correct month. Thanks for reading!

April went by in a flash and it feels like May is shaping up to do the same. Ever since we left Mesa we have been busy trying to get caught up on projects and hobbies while at the same time getting back to enjoying the things we love like hiking and site seeing. And since we have family that lives close by we have to make sure we find time to visit and catch up while we can. Over the last month…

View On WordPress

#adventure #blog #camper #Campground #camping #Campsite #Dividend #Dividend-investing #Dividends #early-retirement #Explore #F.I.R.E. #Finance #financial freedom #financial independence #FIRE #full time rv #Full-Time-Travel #glamping #goals #Hiking #Idaho #investing #investment #Investments #journey #life #lifestyle #live #living

[investsmartamerica]

Charlie Munger's Best 10 Snowball Dividend Stocks For Increasing Income

#dividend stocks #how to invest in stocks #stock market for beginners #stocks #barang selalu ready stock #financial freedom #passive income #financial education #how to make money #how to make money online #passive income ideas #stock market #smart money #Youtube

[fastlane-freedom]

The Transformative Power of Passive Income: Fastlane Freedom

In the world of money management, passive income is like a superhero for many people. It’s not just some extra money on the side; it’s a powerful tool that can change your financial future. In this blog, we’ll talk about why passive income is so great, look at its benefits, and figure out how to handle the challenges that might come up. “Passive income is the art of making money work for you,…

View On WordPress

#affiliate marketing #automated income streams #building wealth passively #digital products creation #diversified investments #dividend stocks #economic resilience #financial freedom #investment wisdom #long-term financial goals #money #money tips #overcoming financial challenges #passive income #passive income strategies #personal finance mastery #power of passive income #real estate income #wealth building

[kc22invesmentsblog]

Mastering the Art of Researching Dividend Stocks: A Comprehensive Guide

Written by Delvin Investing in dividend stocks can be a lucrative strategy for long-term wealth accumulation. However, it requires thorough research to identify the right dividend stocks that align with your investment goals and risk tolerance. In this blog post, we’ll explore a step-by-step approach to properly research dividend stocks, backed by details and examples. 1. Understand Dividend…

View On WordPress

#Analyze Financial Health and Stability #Assess Dividend Sustainability #Consider External Factors #dailyprompt #Define Your Investment Objectives #Evaluate Dividend Yield and Growth Potential #Financial #Financial Freedom #Financial Literacy #Generational Wealth #Identify Dividend Stocks #knowledge #Mastering the Art of Researching Dividend Stocks: A Comprehensive Guide #money #Moneymaking #Passive Income #Research Industry and Competitive Advantage #Review Management and Corporate Governance #Understand Divdend Basics #Wealth

[driskolreferrals]

SoFi High APY Accounts

Get $25 deposited into your SoFi account when you sign up using my referral link below. Must fund your NEW account with at least $100. Direct deposits earn you the high APY.

#banking #SoFi #savings account #checking accounts #credit reports #financial freedom #finance #APY #dividends #cash back #direct deposit #financial institutions #referral links #referral codes #anytime teller machine

[news-today-florial-blog]

The Power of Dividends: Earning While You Hold

In the world of investing, dividends are often seen as a powerful tool that can help grow your wealth over time. They provide investors with a steady stream of income, making them an attractive option for those looking to earn while they hold onto their investments. Let’s dive into the world of dividends and explore how they work their benefits, and some essential tips for investors. #Investing…

View On WordPress

#Dividend Stocks #Dividends #Financial Awareness #Financial Freedom #Investing Wisdom #Investment Options #Investment Tips #Long Term Investing #Risk Management

[jellisdraws]

My campaign has entered ACT THREEEEEEEEEEE

My players literally kick so much ass and I love them. We are now 75 sessions in. Act 1 took about 50 sessions, Act 2 took about 25- shorter but they were much more involved in the main plot of the campaign and the developments were HUGE. I fully anticipate Act 3 to take at least 70 sessions to get through. The party is splitting with plans to reconvene later so everyone is making a new character to have for the split arc and we’re jumping into the unknown together.

Things are coming together in such an exciting way, the future ofcthe game feels fresh and the bones I have laid out in the past two arcs are strong and allow for tons of flexibility on the part of my players and how they drive the narrative. And I feel like this is possible because I have “broken” some of the tacit rules of DMing. I’m not sure these things work without a group you’ve played with regularly for a long time but I’ll share what I can in hopes that it encourages other DM’s to cut loose a little bit.

1. I did not give them freedom when designing characters. When I proposed this campaign, the idea would be the main cast would all be kids who grew up together. The players and I sat around for multiple session 0’s designing the town these kids grew up in, as well as their families, their connections to each other and so on before they ever even had the chance to choose classes. They only were allowed to write their own backstories for the duration of a 15 year timeskip between the prologue and campaign start. On top of this I gave the players the mandate to make a second, high level character sheet that they couldn’t even name, characters whose purpose would become clear as a story within the story of the campaign. It was a whole lot of effort but it has paid dividends. The character backstories made for the 15 year gap we’re more tied to the world than any I have seen, and the players were more keen to know about the world in turn. The second characters allowed for them to experiment with other builds and feel powerful, while I could use the sessions involving them as a mechanic to reveal lore in a way that made sense, and have the actions of the players shape the narrative consequences their main characters are dealing with.

2. I have not told this story chronologically. As alluded to above, the higher level characters are powerful figures from a forgotten past that the main group is inexorably tied to. While the events of the main campaign have been in order the group has jumped around through time experiencing visions of the past in no discernible order (at first) though a pattern and timeline has emerged. As the group seeks the truth of a forgotten age I needed a way to give them lore they otherwise couldn’t access, this method has allowed for me to tell a story and expand and continue the mystery without lore/info dumping on my players too hard. Every truth or revelation feels earned: as they decipher the clues left behind with the information gained from their visions.

3. I’ve railroaded them when necessary. I’ve been DMing for about a decade now, and I can confidently say there are no hard and fast rules around railroading your players and letting them determine their own path. Imo, the best campaigns allow both the players and the DM to hold the narrative reins in their hands. While the players should always be leading the action, they should not always be leading the direction. It is necessary to give you the DM the time to bury leads, invest them in your villains and NPC’s and ensure they have a stake in the primary conflict outside of their character backstories. Once you have established what the heck is going on and given them some mile posts to achieve then you can let them lead themselves.

4. I’ve allowed and encouraged metagaming. In a campaign where I’m already doing a bunch of weird stuff to affect how the narrative is told and explored, I have happily allowed metagaming at the table and happily answered lore questions and given them information to clarify things I want them to know. My players excitedly discussing theories about my game? Crack, I want to encourage it! I’ve worked hard to craft a cool mystery into the campaign and if they have questions about their clues I want to answer them! I’ve Also ‘Metagamed’ consequences to certain actions, letting the characters fully know the stakes of certain rolls, or given context to a situation so the player can make an informed decision in character. Often they still choose to accept the dramatic irony, seeing how certain decisions will affect things. The degree of openness I’ve brought to the way the story is told has seen rewards again and again with interesting decisions and amazing plays being made that are all the more impactful because the players know the weight of those actions and decisions.

5. I’ve been downright mean. I have been mean as hell when it comes to fighting during the climactic sequences, counterspelling healing, taking out downed characters, ruthlessly using mechanics to my benefit and everytime it makes seeing them succeed by the skin of their teeth worth it. And it reinforces themes I care about and explained during session 0, the world is big and scary and they are a small and new part of it. Dnd campaigns work best when there are stakes. You don’t need to have those stakes be massive and life threatening all the time and not every combat should be a knockdown drag out slug fest, but your villains and antagonists should be smart, effective and fucking powerful. They should challenge or overwhelm your heroes at times. The stakes make those dice rolls and choices valuable.

6. I’ve played with a DM PC since session 1. I love having a DMPC. I know not everyone does, but to me it opens up so many more chances at RP. I can check in on my quiet players in game, I can reward my roleplayer characters with fun RP, and I can share little facets of the world the group might not otherwise get. The DM PC does their best to not take center stage, instead doing their best to let other characters shine and in both combat and RP I’ve found this to be an excellent tool and way to increase my enjoyment and feel connected to the story the way my players experience it.

All this being said, the most important thing I do is talk to my players. Communication is the most important thing in cooperative storytelling and knowing what they want and enjoy out of stories is most important to running a campaign that will see your players coming back for more every week and having a blast doing it.

So yeah, cut loose DM’s! Do that funky weird idea you have, talk about it to your players. Go ham. And play in the way that suits you and your players best! You’ll see dividends

#dnd #dnd tool #dnd advice #dm advice #thoughts #it speaks #ttrpg advice #ttrpg guide #ttrpg #dnd 5e #telling stories #DM tips #Joe writes #eldritch soul campaign

[ryo-maybe]

This is definitely the epitome of my Cranky Old Man opinions but I really do think that it would have been better if it was KanColle that ultimately set the standard for mobage and gacha games instead of the likes of FGO and GBF. It's paradoxical, but this sentiment has only grown stronger the better the narratives have become, to the point that they have now become a standard for the model.

I'm obviously not going to wear such rose-tinted glasses that I would go as far as to claim that in no other medium are narratives driven, at least partially, by profit. But in no other medium as in gacha do I find it so detestable and so prominent.

I don't like a model where a narrative MUST be constructed so as to drag on without a way to wrap up its intricate plots and exquisite themes until it finally fizzles out when the dividends don't justify it anymore. I don't like a narrative focus that switches constantly across an increasingly bloated cast of characters made to shine only to be cast aside because we have introduced our 300th pvp-breaking unit this week and we need to make sure players sell their Toyotas to get their brand new fave once they finally hit the 500 minimum rolls required to achieve the pity pull. I don't want to miss out on key plots or characterization hidden behind past events I have no way to experience other than by watching 3 hours long YouTube clips. I don't want to cry tears over a service that's bound to disappear one day, leaving me with no means to experience it again at my own leisure.

And, for that matter, it's not just about the stories or characters now. It's the same with mobage that feature gameplay and graphics that are on par with retail games, because nothing feels disheartening like watching clips of some sick PGR combos and thinking "Man, I wish this was an actual game".

I don't bemoan the stories or the gameplay that are out there and are good, I bemoan that they are confined in a medium that I personally don't think deserve them. Like, yeah, it's cool and wonderful that people, if so willing, can experience them for "free", but, man, I don't know. I might be putting the moron in front of oxy because it's been One of Those Days, but to me, that's the "freedom" of a hostage.

KanColle had (well, has, because somehow, it still very much is alive) virtually nothing to it but voiced lines for its characters, but at least that means if a game like that had closed its doors, I sure wouldn't have been bitter about it as if it had been something along the lines of Arknights

[loving-n0t-heyting]

“The truth is that no modern man, in his heart of hearts, believes that it is right to invade a foreign country and hold the population down by force. Foreign oppression is a much more obvious, understandable evil than economic oppression. Thus in England we tamely admit to being robbed in order to keep half a million worthless idlers in luxury, but we would fight to the last man sooner than be ruled by Chinamen; similarly, people who live on unearned dividends without a single qualm of conscience, see clearly enough that it is wrong to go and lord it in a foreign country where you are not wanted.

“The result is that every Anglo-Indian is haunted by a sense of guilt which he usually conceals as best he can, because there is no freedom of speech, and merely to be overheard making a seditious remark may damage his career. All over India there are Englishmen who secretly loathe the system of which they are part; and just occasionally, when they are quite certain of being in the right company, their hidden bitterness overflows.

“I remember a night I spent on the train with a man in the Educational Service, a stranger to myself whose name I never discovered. It was too hot to sleep and we spent the night in talking. Half an hour’s cautious questioning decided each of us that the other was ’safe’; and then for hours, while the train jolted slowly through the pitch-black night, sitting up in our bunks with bottles of beer handy, we damned the British Empire– damned it from the inside, intelligently and intimately. It did us both good. But we had been speaking forbidden things, and in the haggard morning light when the train crawled into Mandalay, we parted as guiltily as any adulterous couple.”

~George Orwell, The road to Wigan pier

Orwell himself was at the time he describing an officer of the imperial police, which made an especially acute mark on his conscience. I think about this passage often; it provides for one thing a better lens of analysis for some of his better known works than easily half the eisegesis usually supplied for him on either side of the aisle. But there’s really quite a lot to say about it besides

#a cop and a teacher walk into a train #moral injury #freeze peach

[random-thought-depository]

My position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if anybody's wondering about it:

In the short term, Israel should stop bombing Gaza and allow more humanitarian relief in. In the longer term...

The "Israel is an apartheid state" talking point is basically correct: Israel's functional policy toward its Palestinian minority is to make them a subaltern class with less rights and make them live in shitty Bantustans; I consider that morally unacceptable. There's also no realistic morally acceptable way for Israel to get rid of the five million Palestinians who live in Gaza and the West Bank. The Israelis are stuck with the Palestinians and have a moral obligation to reach a mutually acceptable settlement with them that allows both nations to thrive.

By the same token, the Palestinians are stuck with the Israelis. Whatever your opinion on how this state of affairs came to be, the important fact is there are now millions of Israelis living in the territory of the state of Israel, there is no realistic and morally acceptable way to remove them from that territory, and it's quite reasonable for the Israelis to demand that any final settlement includes some kind of arrangement to protect them from the morally unacceptable means of removing them or from other retaliation.

The Israelis are the side with more power in this dynamic, therefore primary moral responsibility for improving the situation belongs to the Israelis. Have some Palestinians done bad things? Are some Palestinians violently antisemitic? Sure. Is Hamas bad? Probably, I guess. But if every Palestinian became a committed pacifist tomorrow, it's likely this would result in little or no change in their material conditions. The Israeli government by contrast could create enormous material changes in the situation tomorrow by making different choices. The Israelis have more freedom of action, and therefore more responsibility.

I've been talking about morality, but I'll also offer the points that:

1) The occupation inflicts great costs in blood, treasure, tears, sweat, and insecurity on both sides; it's really obviously hugely negative-sum and there's a big peace dividend (in far more than simply a financial sense) waiting for both sides if they can reach a mutually acceptable settlement and make it work.

2) A society where approximately half the population is a subaltern caste with less rights who are forced to live in shitty Bantustans is an inherently unstable arrangement.

3) The Israeli government gets a lot of mileage out of its special relationship with the USA, but... Sooner or later there's going to be a switch from internal combustion vehicles to battery electric vehicles, when that happens the Middle East is going to become much less strategically important, Israel is going to become a less valuable ally to the US government, and the US government will have less incentive to send the Israeli government money and weapons and protect them from international blowback.

I don't know what a good (or at least acceptable) final settlement would look like. Maybe it'd be independent Israeli and Palestinian states. Maybe it'd be a joint Israeli-Palestinian state with equal citizenship for Israelis and Palestinians. Maybe it'd be something else. I leave it to people who know more about the region to work that out, and I leave it to supporters of Israeli functional apartheid to pick their poison regarding whether they prefer to argue against Palestinian independence or democracy. I would probably be happy with any settlement that gives Israelis and Palestinians freedom, peace, security, a right to stay in their homes (more-or-less, e.g. a two-state solution would probably involve relocating a lot of the West Bank Israeli settlers to 1967 borders Israel, and I think that would be acceptable, but "drive the Jews into the sea" is not acceptable), and the conditions to thrive.

I know that sounds really idealistic, and in a way it is, it's a description of what I'd consider a good resolution, not what's plausible, but I'll also point out that in the long term a mutually acceptable settlement is one of the two available stable equilibria. The other available stable equilibrium is a decisive demographic victory of one side or the other, probably achieved by genocide or mass expulsion of one side by the other (Palestinian fertility rates are not much higher than Israeli fertility rates now IIRC, so it's unlikely Palestinians will win a decisive demographic victory by higher fertility), and I actually don't think the good stable end-state is much less plausible than the bad stable end-state here. There's a reason the Israeli government has tolerated the existence of the Palestinian population as a massive thorn in their side for 50+ years, and I don't think it's primarily benevolence; I think they're rationally scared of the blowback attempting to kill or expel all the Palestinians would create (and mass killing or expulsion of Israelis is very unlikely because of Israel's strong military).

Adam Shatz wrote a really good essay about the present situation in Israel/Palestine, I'd tentatively endorse pretty much everything they wrote in it. Their final paragraph closely parallels my own opinions:

"The inescapable truth is that Israel cannot extinguish Palestinian resistance by violence, any more than the Palestinians can win an Algerian-style liberation war: Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs are stuck with each other, unless Israel, the far stronger party, drives the Palestinians into exile for good. The only thing that can save the people of Israel and Palestine, and prevent another Nakba – a real possibility, while another Holocaust remains a traumatic hallucination – is a political solution that recognises both as equal citizens, and allows them to live in peace and freedom, whether in a single democratic state, two states, or a federation. So long as this solution is avoided, a continuing degradation, and an even greater catastrophe, are all but guaranteed."

Edit: also, opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinian territories shouldn't be used as an excuse for antisemitism, much like opposition to Hamas's opportunistic massacres of Israeli civilians shouldn't be used as an excuse for Islamophobia or being shitty to Palestinians.

#Israel/Palestine conflict

[rv-on-fire]

February 2023 Dividend Portfolio Update

There is only one word that can sum up our dividend portfolio for the month of February, “blah”! We could probably end this blog quickly as this was just one of those months where nothing exciting really happened. The only exception is that our dividend from ABBV hit a small milestone and continues to be our top performer. February is typically a slow dividend month in general and our…

View On WordPress

#blog #Dividend #Dividend-investing #Dividends #early-retirement #F.I.R.E. #Finance #financial freedom #financial independence #FIRE #full time rv #Full-Time-Travel #goals #investing #investment #Investments #money #net worth #personal finance #Portfolio #Retire #retire early #retirement #RV #RVlife #saving #stock market #Stocks #travel #update

[investsmartamerica]

#dividend stocks #how to invest in stocks #dividends #warren buffett #passive income #financial freedom #passive income ideas #stock market #dave ramsey #smart money #Youtube

[kc22invesmentsblog]

O Realty: A Stellar REIT and an Excellent Passive Income Opportunity

Written by Delvin Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have gained popularity among investors seeking passive income and long-term wealth accumulation. Among the top contenders in the REIT market is O Realty (hypothetical name). In this blog post, we will explore why O Realty stands out as a great REIT and an exceptional passive income opportunity. 1. Stable and Diversified Real Estate…

View On WordPress

#Consistent Rental Income #dailyprompt #Experienced Management Team #Financial #Financial Freedom #Financial Literacy #Generational Wealth #Geographic Diversification #knowledge #money #O Realty #O Realty Dividend Payment History #O Realty: A Stellar REIT and an Excellent Passive Income Opportunity #Passive Income #Potential for Capital Appreciation #REITS #Stable and Diversified Real Estate Portfolio #Stocks #Wealth

[eaglesnick]

Scandal After Scandal: Will They Never End?

Boris Johnson was so beset by scandal that his own party turned on him and threw him out of office. We all know about the Partygate affair but there were also questions raised regarding his personal monetary arrangements.  From charges of corruption concerning him asking a Tory donor to supply funds to refurbish his Downing Street residence, to his appointment of the BBC Chairman and an alleged £800,000 loan, Johnson was the epitome of the self-serving Tory.

Johnson has gone but the scandals have continued to rumble on. We had the unedifying debacle of multi-millionaire Nadhim Zahawi being forced to resign after he was  found  guilty of serious breaches of the ministerial code  by covering up issues to do with his attempts to minimise his tax bill.

Sunak’s own wife also avoided UK tax payments by claiming non-dom status. After being asked to “come clean” on his wife’s tax affairs and after much embarrassment the Sunak’s decided she should pay tax in this country.

It is not only those Tories at the top of government who are self-serving. Conservative MP’s have been calculated to have received an additional £15.2 million on top of their MP salaries, personal fortune hunting seemingly more important than giving their constituents 100% of their time. 

“Since the end of 2019, millions of pounds of outside earnings have been made by a small group of largely Tory MPs."  (Skynews: 08/01/23)

When Sunak, after much delay, made public his own tax affairs we discovered that for the year 2021/22 he made £172,415 unearned income from dividends and £1.6 million from capital gains. In total, the PM paid an average tax rate of 22% over a three-year period.

For you and I, the basic rate of tax on income between £12,571 and £50,270 is 20%.  Between £50,271 and £125,140, it is 40 %, going up to 45% for earned income over £125,140.

For Mr Sunak to have only paid 22% on his millions is therefore quite a smack in face for ordinary tax-payers, and one only made possible because the Tories have arranged the tax system to benefit  themselves and their rich friends.

“Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “[The tax returns] reveal a tax system designed by successive Tory governments in which the prime minister pays a far lower tax rate than working people who face the highest tax burden in 70 years

“… the fact that Sunak paid less than a quarter of his gains in tax highlighted the problems with taxing capital gains at a much lower rate than income…The low tax rate is because we have much lighter taxes on wealth than work”   (Guardian: 22/03/23)

So, if you work for a living, expect to pay proportionately more in tax than those who live on unearned income.

Way back in July 2022, Rishi Sunak was so disgusted with the immoral behaviour of Boris  Johnson that he resigned his post as Chancellor. This is what he said at the time:

“... the public rightly expect government to be conducted properly, competently and seriously. I recognise this may be my last ministerial job, but I believe these standards are worth fighting for and that is why I am resigning.”

But if a week is a long time in politics, then 9 months is an eternity. As we have seen, Sunak himself has become as equally embroiled in monetary scandal as his predecessor and now he is under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Committee. 

“Rishi Sunak investigation: Government blocked Freedom of Information request into childcare firm.

Mr Sunak is currently being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over his failure to be more transparent about his wife’s shares in childcare agency Koru Kids when quizzed on the subject by MPs.

It comes after i revealed last month that Akshata Murty, the Prime Minister’s wife, holds shares in the firm, which stands to directly benefit from reforms to the childcare system announced in last month’s Budget.” (inews: 19/04/23)

Time and time again we see top Tories under investigation by the Parliamentary Standards Commission. Time and time again we see how self-serving and unprincipled our leaders really are. Mr Sunak it seems, is no different to his predecessors and the sooner he goes the better.

#uk politics #rishi sunak #boris johnson #scandal #corruption #tax affairs #standards #promises

[chattingwiththelightkeeper]

Delightful Dominant Dividends

BDSM discussions often capture attention for their discussions around the profound effects of lifestyle play on the submissive psyche. However, the impact of BDSM play on dominants is equally significant yet less talked about. Within the dynamic of dominance and submission, dominants experience a myriad of positive effects that go beyond the physical realm. From heightened intimacy to increased self-awareness, the benefits of BDSM play for dominants are profound and multifaceted.

Firstly, engaging in BDSM play empowers dominants to explore and understand their desires, boundaries, and limits more deeply. Through negotiation, communication, and consent, dominants delve into the intricacies of their psychological landscape. This process fosters a heightened sense of self-awareness and self-discovery, allowing dominants to better understand their own needs and desires within the context of power exchange dynamics.

Moreover, BDSM play offers dominants a unique opportunity for emotional catharsis and stress relief. The act of taking control in a consensual and negotiated manner can be incredibly liberating for dominants, allowing them to temporarily escape the pressures and responsibilities of everyday life. Through the cathartic release of dominance, dominants often experience a profound sense of relaxation and emotional fulfillment, leading to reduced stress levels and increased overall well-being.

In addition to the psychological benefits, lifestyle play can enhance the intimacy and connection between dominants and their partners. The trust and vulnerability required to engage in power exchange dynamics foster a deep sense of intimacy and connection, strengthening the bond between dominants and their submissives. Through the exploration of dominance and submission, partners often develop a deeper understanding of each other's desires, needs, and boundaries, leading to greater emotional intimacy and fulfillment within the relationship.

Furthermore, BDSM play provides dominants with an opportunity for creative expression and exploration. Within the boundaries of negotiated consent, dominants have the freedom to explore their fantasies, desires, and kinks in a safe and controlled environment. This freedom allows dominants to tap into their creativity and imagination, leading to a more fulfilling and satisfying sexual and emotional experience.

Beyond the immediate gratification of physical pleasure, lifestyle play can have long-lasting effects on dominants' mental and emotional well-being. The sense of empowerment and mastery that comes from successfully navigating a scene can boost dominants' confidence and self-esteem, both inside and outside the bedroom. This increased confidence often translates into other areas of life, leading to greater assertiveness and self-assurance in professional, social, and personal relationships.

Moreover, engaging in BDSM play can foster a greater sense of empathy and compassion in dominants. By taking on the responsibility of guiding and caring for their submissive partner, dominants develop a deeper understanding of the importance of trust, communication, and mutual respect in relationships. This increased empathy and compassion can lead to more fulfilling and enriching interpersonal connections, both within and outside the community.

While much attention is given to the impact of lifestyle play on submissives, the positive effects on dominants are equally profound and deserving of exploration. From heightened self-awareness to increased intimacy and connection, play offers dominants a unique opportunity for personal growth, emotional fulfillment, and creative expression. By embracing their dominant desires in a consensual and respectful manner, dominants can experience a profound sense of empowerment, satisfaction, and fulfillment in both their sexual and emotional lives.

If you enjoyed this, I invite you to give my podcast a listen 'Chatting With The Lightkeeper,' a top 25% most-followed podcasts on Spotify but available on all the major podcasting apps and follow my socials for more exclusive content: Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, and X (formerly Twitter) for a deeper dive into the wonderful world of D/S.

As with all of my thoughts, please see this disclaimer.

©TLK2024

#bd/sm blog #bd/sm community #bd/sm daddy #bd/sm kink #bd/sm lifestyle #bd/sm relationship #d/s #d/s community #d/s relationship #dom/sub #my writing

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 29, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

OCT 30, 2023

On October 29, 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed. It had been rocked five days before, when heavy trading early in the day drove it down, but leading bankers had seen the mounting crisis and moved in to stabilize the markets before the end of the day. October 24 left small investors broken but the system intact. On Monday, October 28, the market slid again, with a key industrial average dropping 49 points.

And then, on October 29, the crisis hit. When the gong in the great hall of the New York Stock Exchange hit at ten o’clock, the market opened with heavy trading, all of it downward. When the ticker tape finally showed the day’s transactions, two and a half hours later, it documented that more than 16 million shares had changed hands and the industrial average had dropped another 43 points. 

Black Tuesday was the beginning of the end. The market continued to drop. By November the industrial average stood at half of what it had been two months before. By 1932, manufacturing output was less than it had been in 1913; foreign trade plummeted from $10 billion to $3 billion in the three years after 1929, and agricultural prices fell by more than half. By 1932 a million people in New York City were out of work; by 1933, thirteen million people—one person of every four in the labor force—were unemployed. Unable to pay rent or mortgages, people lived in shelters made of packing boxes.

While the administration of Republican president Herbert Hoover preached that Americans could combat the Depression with thrift, morality, and individualism, voters looked carefully at the businessmen who only years before had seemed to be pillars of society and saw they had plundered ordinary Americans. The business boom of the 1920s had increased worker productivity by about 43%, but wages did not rise. Those profits, along with tax cuts and stock market dividends, meant that wealth moved upward: in 1929, 5% of the population received one third of the nation’s income.

In 1932, nearly 58% of voters turned to Democratic president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who promised them a “New Deal”: a government that would work for everyone, not just for the wealthy and well connected.

As soon as Roosevelt was in office, Democrats began to pass laws protecting workers’ rights, providing government jobs, regulating business and banking, and beginning to chip away at the racial segregation of the American South. New Deal policies employed more than 8.5 million people, built more than 650,000 miles of highways, built or repaired more than 120,000 bridges, and put up more than 125,000 buildings. They regulated banking and the stock market and gave workers the right to bargain collectively. They established minimum wages and maximum hours for work. They provided a basic social safety net and regulated food and drug safety. 

When he took office in 1953, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower built on this system, adding to the nation’s infrastructure with the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which provided $25 billion to build 41,000 miles of highway across the country; adding the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to the government and calling for a national healthcare system; and nominating former Republican governor of California Earl Warren as chief justice of the Supreme Court to protect civil rights. Eisenhower also insisted on the vital importance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to stop the Soviet Union from spreading communism throughout Europe.

Eisenhower called his vision “a middle way between untrammeled freedom of the individual and the demands of the welfare of the whole Nation.” The system worked: between 1945 and 1960 the nation’s gross national product (GNP) jumped by 250%, from $200 billion to $500 billion. 

But while the vast majority of Americans of both parties liked the new system that had helped the nation to recover from the Depression and to equip the Allies to win World War II, a group of Republican businessmen and their libertarian allies at places like the National Association of Manufacturers insisted that the system proved both parties had been corrupted by communism. They inundated newspapers, radio, and magazines with the message that the government must stay out of the economy to return the nation to the policies of the 1920s. 

Their position got little traction until the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional. That decision enabled them to divide the American people by insisting that the popular new government simply redistributed tax dollars from hardworking white taxpayers to undeserving minorities. 

A promise to cut the taxes that funded social services and the business regulations they insisted hampered business growth fueled the election of Ronald Reagan for president in 1980. But by 1986 administration officials recognized that tax cuts that were driving the deficit up despite dramatic cuts to social services were so unpopular that they needed footsoldiers to back businessmen. So, Reagan backed the creation of an organization that brought together big businessmen, evangelical Christians, and social conservatives behind his agenda. “Traditional Republican business groups can provide the resources,” leader of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist explained, “but these groups can provide the votes.” 

By 1989, Norquist’s friend Ralph Reed turned evangelical Christians into a permanent political pressure group. The Christian Coalition rallied evangelicals behind the Republican Party, calling for the dismantling of the post–World War II government services and protections for civil rights—including abortion—they disliked. 

As Republicans could reliably turn out religious voters over abortion, that evangelical base has become more and more important to the Republican Party. Now it has put one of its own in the House Speaker’s chair, just two places from the presidency. On October 25, after three weeks of being unable to unite behind a speaker after extremists tossed out Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the Republican conference coalesced behind Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA) in part because he was obscure enough to have avoided scrutiny.

Since then, his past has been unearthed, showing interviews in which he asserted that we do not live in a democracy but in a “Biblical republic.” He told a Fox News Channel interviewer that to discover his worldview, one simply had to “go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.” 

Johnson is staunchly against abortion rights and gay rights, including same-sex marriage, and says that immigration is “the true existential threat to the country.” In a 2016 sermon he warned that the 1960s and 1970s undermined “the foundations of religion and morality in the U.S.” and that attempts to address climate change, for example, are an attempt to destroy capitalism. 

Like other adherents of Christian nationalism, Johnson appears to reject the central premise of democracy: that we have a right to be treated equally before the law. And while his wife, Kelly, noted last year on a podcast that only about 4% of Americans “still adhere to a Biblical worldview,” they appear to reject the idea we have the right to a say in our government. In 2021, Johnson was a key player in the congressional attempt to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election. 

In his rejection of democracy, Johnson echoes authoritarian leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, both of whom have the loyal support of America’s far right. Such leaders claim that the multiculturalism at the heart of democracy ruins nations. The welcoming of various races and ethnicities through immigration or affirmative action undermines national purity, they say, while the equality of LGBTQ+ individuals and women undermines morality. Johnson has direct ties to these regimes: his 2018 campaign accepted money from a group of Russian nationals, and he has said he does not support additional funding for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. 

The rejection of democracy in favor of Christian authoritarianism at the highest levels of our government is an astonishing outcome of the attempt to prevent another Great Depression by creating a government that worked for ordinary Americans rather than a few wealthy men. 

But here we are. 

After Johnson’s election as speaker, extremist Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida spelled out what it meant for the party…and for the country: “MAGA is ascendant,” Gaetz told former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, “and if you don’t think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement, and where the power of the Republican Party truly lies, then you’re not paying attention.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

#Heather Cox Richardson #Letters From An American #MAGA #history #racism #Christian Authoritarianism #Christian Dominionism #Christian Nationalism #Biblical Republic