Just as a quick disclaimer before I get into this exercise, Ronald Reagan is one of the most controversial and debated US presidents in political/historical discussions for his actions that impact the state of current day America. I'm a person in their twenties so I have my own biases that determines how I see these topics, but nonetheless I'll try my best to see both sides on a lot of these issues. If there's something that you feel that is misrepresented, incorrect, or flat-out missed I encourage you to say so in the comments. Just be respectful towards one another

Reagan Pros

- Communication Ability - When discussing the greatest orators to ever be president in US history, Ronald Reagan typically gets listed as being one of the top due to his speech delivery style and charismatic public persona. This isn't a statement that suggests that I necessarily agree with his rhetoric or politics, but I personally see him as the most effective speaker of all time. In the short term he provided an impression of strong leadership that enabled many Americans to trust the government again after a period low confidence for over a decade. In the long term, Reagan truly exemplified how the skill of communication can build a huge part of a modern president's reputation and legacy. For all time great speeches check out the 1987 Brandenburg Gate Address, or his statement following the Challenger disaster in 1986. The last point that I want to mention is that he had greater interpersonal skills than someone like J. Carter which made him a much more popular, effective, and transformative politician when working with the opposing political interests. Several bipartisan reforms were accomplished in large part due to his political acumen
- Contributions to the end of the Cold War - Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Cold War tensions were reinvigorated between the USA and USSR which effectively birthed a coalition led by RR who wanted to reverse previous efforts from the US government to limit the amount of nuclear weapons in its arsenal through SALT. Reagan also came into office as a hardliner strict on communism who later referred to the Soviet Union as an "evil empire", and indicated that much of government spending would be directed towards defense ($144 billion in 1980 to $322 billion by 1989). As such, funding for nuclear weapons technology sharply increased for new missiles and defense systems. The most notable new development in this period here was the Strategic Defense Initiative (derisively known as "Star Wars") that was a project to detect & protect the US against potential nuclear missile attacks. Critics noted that SDI was technologically infeasible, too expensive, and it would be dissolved by 1993; nonetheless the military spending applied pressure as leverage for the Soviet Union to sign nuclear disarmament treaties that would be key towards reducing tensions onto the end of the Cold War
Now I'm of the opinion that the collapse of the Soviet Union had more to do with internal economic and political factors rather than actions set forward by R. Reagan or the USA (I still think it played a big role), or that it was due to the idea that the USSR was bankrupted from the Arms Race. However I believe RR still deserves credit for forming diplomatic ties with Soviet leader M. Gorbachev. Despite the increased tensions in his first term to 1960s standards, they decreased during the second term as a result of several summits to accumulate towards the INF Treaty in 1987 that crucially eliminated all short-and-intermediate range missiles. Additionally, Reagan laid the groundwork for the START Treaty (signed by G. HW Bush in 1991) that would bar the deployment of thousands of nuclear warheads and ICBMS. In the end all of these events would help the US rise to the position as the leading world superpower by the 1990s after the conclusion of the 40+ year Cold War, with the menace of nuclear war coming to an end as a result
For more direct Soviet-related and nuclear policy positives for Reagan, he played a large role in the Soviet agreement to withdraw from Afghanistan in 1988-89, another development that was central to indicate the end of the Cold War. RR also lifted J. Carter's grain embargo against the USSR within the first three months of his tenure that was seen as a previous failure towards applying international condemnation. Reagan also signed policies setting protocol for nuclear wastes, and amendment to superfund cleanups
- Reagan's economic policies are credited as bringing lasting recovery throughout the 80s decade - This point is a major source of controversy in political discussions, again this section will attempt to see both sides of the argument, so bear with me here as the negatives will be discussed later. Reagan came into office during a time of significant economic lows with inflation existing at 13.5%, rising unemployment that would peak at 10.8% in 1982, and a recession within his first year. As a response to stagflation he favored supply-side economic policies inspired by the 1920s C. Coolidge era based in major income tax-cuts, government deregulations, cuts to social spending, etc... including an increase of defense spending. While this agenda is famously known as Reaganomics, I feel like there are misconceptions in regard to his tax policies where some taxes were actually increased in order to gain government revenues. But overall the goal of the framework was to boost economic activity by ideally stimulating demand and trade through tax-cuts on all levels
The first action in this plan was the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 that cut the top marginal tax rate from 70% to 50% over three years, the bottom rate from 14% to 11%, and reductions to capital gains, estate, and corporate taxes. Although it caused high budget deficits and low government revenues from the policy, TEFRA was enacted in the next year to reverse many components of the ERT, especially by tightening tax loopholes to increase revenues. Further tax loophole-closes and rule changes were accomplished by amendments to Social Security in 1983, DEFRA in '84, and OBRA in '87. Nonetheless $375 billion was still received by taxpayers in cuts following TEFRA. In 1986 the Tax Reform Act further set cuts with a reduction of top marginal rate from 50% to 28% (though capital gains taxes increased by 8%), it simplified the tax code, and importantly raised the lowest tax bracket from 11% to 15% which reportedly removed six million Americans from the income tax roll. The top-marginal tax rate has since remained at level below 40% ever since ERT in 1981. The last thing to mention for taxes is Reagan ending oil/gas price controls in 1981, and lowering the oil windfall profits tax the same year until an eventual end in '88. The move was a key reason behind an "oil glut" and significant price fall during the mid 80s that benefitted the US (at the expense of other nations), but it actually undercut domestic oil drilling. As for the matter of inflation, Reagan is credited for closely sticking by Fed-chair Paul Volcker (appointed by Carter in '79) and his tight money policies that broke the back of inflation, even nominating him to a second term
Supporters of Ronald Reagan and his neoliberal economic policies give him a large amount of credit for the prosperity of the mid-to-late 1980s that can be seen in several statistics. While these metrics certainly aren't the be-all-end-all to economic realities and should be considered in context; GDP grew at a rate around 3.5% up to 7% each year, the unemployment rate bottomed out at 5.3% by 1988, federal receipts actually increased by $275 billion throughout the tenure despite large budget deficits, and that real median personal/family incomes on average were both increased by $4400-4700. However, critics and opponents perceive Reaganomics a failure for promoting a lasting economic influence that has lead to major wealth inequality, a favoritism of the American people towards tax cuts, high budget deficits, a steady decline in Union membership, etc... that has led to deterioration of the middle class and blue collar jobs out of America. There will be more on this later in "cons"
- Amnesty for illegal immigrants - The 80s were a historical high for illegal immigration to the United States where Ronald Reagan actually supported their integration and legalization as a response through the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This is coming from someone who is pro on the issue, I totally get it if others have different opinions, but this law granted amnesty for three million immigrants who entered the US prior to 1982 and were still living in the country. It also strengthened the standard of hiring practices from employers by making the purposeful employment of aliens illegal
- Bipartisan reforms to Social Security - By the early 80s there was severe doubts whether or not the program of SS could survive in the immediate future (even by '83), while originally RR sought cuts to the program, he organized a bipartisan commission on reform which came up with the proposals to delay COLAS, change tax-rate schedules in the upcoming 6 years, and raise a SS-income tax on high-income individuals to gain short-term revenues
- Civil Liberties Act of 1988 - This law provided reparations to Japanese-American and Aleut people who were victims of internment during WW2. The government pledged to issue an acknowledgment and apology of the injustices committed, including a $20,000 compensation grant ($53k in 2024) for over 82,000 still-living people who experienced the awful travesty
- Firearm Owners Protection Act - I'll be completely honest, I've got no opinion on gun ownership laws. But this one withdrew several gun restrictions set by the 1967 Mulford Act with the backing of the NRA, though machine guns produced after 1986 were banned for personal use. Later in his post presidency he would throw his support towards the 1993 Brady Bill
- Martin Luther King Jr Day was made a federal holiday in 1982
- Other foreign policy positives - After Israel conducted a siege in Beirut and bombing campaigns against Lebanon in the 1982 Lebanon War, Reagan strongly opposed the actions taken and likened the event as a "holocaust". While facing resistance from the Israeli PM, he successfully applied pressure to stop the bombings. Additionally, he was the first president to make note of the Armenian Genocide that happened in 1918
- Signing of the Montreal Protocol - The MP was an international treaty that attempted to address the huge hole in the Earth's ozone layer by gradually banning substances that were responsible for its depletion, specifically CFCs or HFCs
Well...

Reagan Cons:

- Reagan's economic policies are blamed for leading to a major wealth inequality gap in the last 50 years - I would argue that the biggest legacy from Ronald Reagan's presidency when discussing it today is centered around his neoliberal economic policies that would be highly influential and similarly followed by future presidential administrations. If you wish to see some evidence of wealth inequality growing in the last 4-5 decades, I suggest reading up on this Pew Research article that examines the phenomenon through multiple metrics. Going back to Reagan, there is first the matter of taxes where I see him as having a high influence towards the American public's favoritism of low-taxes and tax cuts as one aspect of a potential source of inequality. It's important to get it out of the way that trickle-down economics isn't actually a real economic theory, it's a term that pokes fun of supply-side economics. Moving on beyond taxes there are several other areas within this argument to examine. One of the biggest topics in this regard is the SEC legalizing stock-buybacks in 1982 (rule 10b-18), I consider this a major negative for the status of worker wages/incomes where corporate profits became more directed towards stock values and the enrichment stockholders. There will be much more on how the poor was hurt through many policies in the next three points
- Massive increase to national debt and large yearly budget deficits - From the span of 1981-1989, the national debt nearly tripled as it went from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion which in large part had to do with increased public expenditures, reduced revenue from tax cuts, and a shift towards mass-borrowing to cover for federal deficits that led to the US becoming the world's largest debtor nation away from the largest creditor. The deficit each year hovered around 150-220 million dollars, although the deficit as a percentage of GDP decreased from 5.9% in 1983 to 2.7% in 1989. While it is not this premise that I take the most issue with, the budget deficits were alleviated to some extent through cuts on social programs
- Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 - In an effort to decrease government spending, this law rolled back several Great Society programs and other federal assistances such as food stamps, federal guaranteed student loans program school lunch program, public transport, Veterans Program, Medicaid, etc... The OBRA most importantly ended direct federal funding for community-based mental health centers, it is seen as a serious cause in the increase in homelessness in 80s America going forward. Reagan also said (paraphrasing) that "homelessness is a choice". However it's important to note that this law passed at veto-proof majorities, but nonetheless it cut out many forms of government assistance for the poor
- Union-busting - The most notorious labor strike to come out of the 1980s was the PATCO strike in '81 for thousands of air-traffic controllers who were attempting to gain more improved working standards (32 hour work week, $10k pay increase, better benefits). In response to the disruption Reagan threatened to fire the workers unless they returned to work within two days, as it is illegal for federal workers to engage in work stoppages. Over 10,000 air traffic controllers did not budge on their demands and were promptly fired by Ronald Reagan. I might catch flak for this but I'm actually of the opinion that what terms strikers were seeking was highly unrealistic, and the response from the president shouldn't be seen as too unreasonable given the circumstances. Still, the event was a further blow to Union membership for workers in the US (a trend since the 1960s) as the government wasn't willing to negotiate with striking workers as done in the previous decades. What this indicated is that the working class increasingly lost negotiation power to negotiate more favorable wages
There are other economic negatives to acknowledge stemming from this time period, one being a failure to reduce the poverty level from 13% that remained unchanged throughout the tenure. In fact, poverty actually increased to 15% in '83, but then went back down again to 13% by 1988. This period is also notable for a greater inclination towards offshoring jobs given labor rule changes, something that would come ahead in the future decades (especially with Ron's push for NAFTA to come to fruition under GHWB and B. Clinton). Otherwise, this is a brief overview into the argument for how Reaganomics has set the USA on a path towards increasing wealth inequality that has helped diminished the middle class, and led to many economic pitfalls experienced in the modern era. Personally I am not a supporter of Reagan's economic policies and think they played a significant enough role cultivating poor economic conditions experienced in the modern era, and the influence for high politicians to follow a similar neoliberal agenda. Although I think it's way too much of an oversimplification to chalk up all modern economics problems on Ronald Reagan, it's something I see fairly often online. From my POV I consider Reaganomics as a reasonable idea in the short term to boost a struggling economy, but bad as a long term economic policy outlook
- Negative deregulations - There are some deregulatory actions taken by R. Reagan that I think were a good thing, but there are several that I think were ultimately damaging or distasteful to society. The most notable one in my opinion was the continued deregulation of the Savings and Loans Association through, the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act that was passed to help save the industry and help the housing market, but unfortunately the savings and loans crisis of the 80s/90s led to a 32% failure of associations in large part to issuing junk bonds and risky investments. This policy is also seen as a contributing factor towards the 2008 financial crisis 20+ years down the road, but this premise is disputed.
I also disagree with the deregulation of the broadcast industry which saw the FCC entirely repeal the Fairness Doctrine (leading to the standards of networks like Fox News), but children's television became far less restricted which saw entire cartoons exist pretty much as toy ads, or the marketing of junk food
- Poor record on environmentalism - Since the memo for the federal government was one of pro-business, pro-cuts to government agencies, and deregulation, it also extended to weakened environmental policies that enacted spending cuts of the EPA. RR himself favored decreased regulations on pollution, and failed to renew the Clean Air Act throughout his time in office. One of the most controversial cabinet members was Sec. of the Interior James Watt who was anti-environmentalist. and opened up coastal waters to oil drilling or coal mining. JW was later convicted due to a lobbying scandal within the HUD
- Response to AIDS crisis - R. Reagan and his administration's response to the unfolding AIDS/HIV epidemic is one of the most controversial talking points to come out of the tenure where people allege that he outright ignored the crisis, which not only promoted the spread of disinformation on the disease, but even worse contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans that especially devastated the gay community. On the other hand, defenders repudiate many of these claims with evidence of actions that RR had somewhat of a proactive, but covert response to the crisis. As for my personal take on this subject I definitely think it's a low point for Reagan's presidency, he was slow to react to the crisis to a considerable extent, he should have listened more to appointees like E. Koop, and that there were PR blunders that aged badly. On the other hand, I remain skeptical over the extent on how much a different president would be an improvement over Reagan given the social attitudes of the time. It's a very touchy issue to this day
To get into critiques, the first administration response to the epidemic was from the Press Secretary L. Speakes who repeatedly laughed at questions concerning AIDS in 1982. In the early years the CDC originally struggled with researching the disease on fairly limited funding due to spending cuts of the organization which may have delayed the discovery of the HIV virus (officially confirmed in April 1984), including challenges to support for funding from congress, and even the Reagan administration's religious slants that made promoting AIDS awareness/prevention more rigid (abstinence-only sex education). It wasn't until September of 1985 until RR made the first public statement on it in a press conference outlining a mass funding plan, but he expressed sympathy with parents who were scared of sending their kids to school with other kids who had the virus, though the CDC reported back in 1983 that the disease can't be transmitted through basic touch. There are more criticisms here to discuss, but this summarizes many talking points against Reagan's handling of the HIV/AIDS crisis
For the defenses of Reagan in response to the grief, he is praised for his appointment of Surgeon Gen. Everett Koop who took on important initiatives promoting AIDS awareness and infection-prevention plans in a mass mailing campaign. Contrary to popular belief funding for AIDS from congress and signed by RR was actually granted in 1983, albeit to a small extent as it was only $2.6 million, but in late 1985 $190 million in AIDS research was approved ($70 million more than what the administration requested). An important positive came in relation to treatment where the FDA in this era had relaxed their drug-approval policies, meaning that the field of medicine could push HIV/AIDS drug-treatments to patients faster than before, and skip the licensing process
- Escalation of the War on Drugs - This is another point that is judged purely on modern political beliefs that form my personal bias on the topic, and over 30 years of hindsight to go off of. Personally I disagree with the late 20th century efforts to crack down on drug-related offenses and the intense police, military, and political pressure to wage the war. The 1980s are notable for being the beginning of a huge spike in incarceration rates in large part to non-violent drug offenses that disproportionately impacted black Americans and other minority groups, sources claim that drug offenses went from 50k to over 400k by 1997. Now it's important to note that the initiatives were massively popular throughout American society, and experienced overwhelming bipartisan support where every related law such as the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 (increased federal penalties for drug distribution and possession, mainly cannabis), Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 & 1988 (increased mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offenses. $1.7 billion in funding for the efforts, Office of National Drug Policy created, etc.) all passed at veto-proof majorities. The foundation of "War on Drugs" was also created by R. Nixon and helped by his predecessors. But still, Ronald and Nancy Reagan were key leaders in all of these expanded efforts, particularly with the "Just Say No" anti-drug PR campaign where much of it comes off as bizarre
More on incarceration topics, the 80s were seen as a huge push towards privatized prisons which would exponentially grow in the 90s decade due to the support of tough-on-crime legislators. I also disagree with the increased militarization of the police as seen with Public Law 97-86, though also passed with a veto-proof majority. There is a potential layer of hypocrisy with the federal government where many writers and conspiracy theorists allege that the CIA was at the very least least complicit in the drug trade perpetrated by Nicaraguan connections, mainly those involving the backed Contra rebel group. It leads into the next point
- Iran-Contra Scandal - One of the biggest sources of controversy within Ronald Reagan's administration is this event which is considered one of the greatest scandals in presidential history. Prior to 1980 J. Carter imposed an arms embargo on Iran in response to the Iran Hostage Crisis, Reagan vowed to continue it and encouraged upon other nations to do so through Operation Staunch in '83. However senior officials conducted secret missiles sales to Iran (with the help of Israel) in attempt to secure the release of seven US hostages in Lebanon, and illegally used a portion of the proceeds to fund the anti-communist Contra rebel organization in Nicaragua. The assistance to the Contras had been rendered illegal through the 1982 Boland Amendment to prevent an overthrow of the Sandinista government, but the perpetrators from the NSC & CIA willingly circumvented congress through this complicated scheme which all came to public attention in November of 1986
Thirteen men who were involved to varying extent were indicted for crimes related to the affair, where five of the most notorious members such as Sec. of Defense C. Weinberger or National Security Adviser R. McFarlane were pardoned by George HW Bush in 1992. Other key officials such as Oliver North, who took the fall for the event, had their charges overturned, or were granted immunity in exchange for testimony. As for Reagan's involvement or knowledge of the scandal in action, it continues to be disputed but O. North claimed that he fully knew and approved of the plans. It was a complete PR nightmare for RR that forced him to confront the reality of the situation in front of the American public in embarrassing fashions ("I don't recall"). In the end Reagan was cleared of any indictment based on a lack of concrete evidence, though recorded statements lead many to believe that he gave a greenlight on the operation. Iran-Contra was a major blow to his credibility and approval rating at the time, as such it also leads to the attitude that RR should have been impeached for the affair. Despite all of this, his popularity still prevailed in his post-presidency
- Support of brutally repressive dictators in Central & South America - A large element of Ronald Reagan's anti-communist agenda as indicated by the Reagan Doctrine was to support anti-communist factions throughout the world under a new wave of containment. While this foreign policy approach certainly wasn't unique to RR compared to other Cold War {residents, or that the opposing communist forces were innocent by any means (not trying to condone communism here), he still supported several dictators who were responsible for human rights abuses
One of the most notorious supported dictators was Efraín Montt who was the president and military leader of Guatemala during one of the worst periods of the country's civil war, where he was accused of committing genocide and terrible crimes against humanity against the Mayan People by the tens of thousands. The Reagan administration sent over $10 million in military aid, petitioned congress to reopen aid to the country when it was closed, and the POTUS himself personally backed Montt by saying he gets a "bum rap". Another criticism came for the support of the El Salvador military government who fought against the FMLN in the country's civil war. Again the FMLN unignorably murdered civilians too, but the other side formed death squads and committed all sorts of atrocities against people at a far more extensive rate. Then of course you have Nicaragua with the support of the Contra rebels to fight against the Sandinistas (also see mining operations in their waters, and an embargo that went against international law)
This event is only mentioned in "cons" for continuity reasons, but many consider the 8-day invasion of Grenada in 1983 justified where neighboring Caribbean nations asked for assistance in response to the military coup, the safety of six hundred American medical students was needed to be protected, and that there was suspicions that the construction of a huge airfield in the country was to be used for Soviet military interests. Despite the instance of 19 American soldiers killed, 24 Grenadian civilians killed, and hundreds wounded the operation was considered a success by many, and a morale boost to the US military after failures in Vietnam, Iran, and Lebanon. On the other hand the event generated international controversy where many allied nations like the UK or Canada questioned the legality of the affair
- The arming and CIA training of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan indirectly led to the rise of the Taliban & Al-Qaeda - The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan occurred prior to Reagan's presidency in 1979 where the US government approved of Operation Cyclone to phase out over $20 billion in funding for Afghan resistance groups. In the last Carter years the funding was fairly limited (>$1 million in 1979) but was planned to greatly expand each year necessary in the 80s to around $630 million per year in 1987. In reference to the Reagan Doctrine, the Soviet-Afghan War was arguably the most important conflict to direct attention towards as over 100,000 insurgents were trained from the efforts. Continuing onto the negatives over Islamic terrorism in the aftermath of the conflict, while it is true that groups like the Taliban evolved from the Mujahideen, the Northern Alliance who fought against and opposed the Taliban during the Afghan Civil Wars also rose from the same disparate group. With this instance, I believe that the rise of the situation with these groups were inevitable after a Soviet defeat, but the billions of US dollars in soldier training and weapons would unfortunately empower them as an indirect consequence of military backing, and lead to several major geopolitical conflicts involving the US in the years to come onto modern times
- Actions relating towards the Iran-Iraq War - After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Iraq deemed it a prime opportunity to invade Iran to gain Western territory as a result of political turmoil and a lack of international support for the new rule. Originally the US stayed out of the conflict, then soon came to favor Iraq by 1982 due to a greater perceived threat apparent to the US in a potential Iranian victory. To me this seemed like a lose-lose situation on who to side with more as it was between Saddam Hussein versus Ayatollah Khomeini, but the US supplied several billion dollars in military/economic aid for Ba'athist Iraq throughout the war, and turned a blind eye against widespread human rights abuses committed against groups like the Kurdish people via chemical weapons. Despite this premise occurring for several years throughout the 80s, Reagan actually managed to supply both sides during the conflict as mentioned before through covert weapons deals. While all of this is messy enough, the US in one incident was very much hurt through an attack on the USS Stark in 1987 by Iraqi aircraft who supposedly mistaken the ship for being an Iranian tanker. 37 crewmen were killed and 21 wounded from two missiles that hit the frigate, Reagan showed no response against Iraq and blamed Iran as responsible for the whole ordeal
- Other negatives relating to foreign policy in the Middle East - In October of 1983, the Beirut Barracks Bombings occurred where hundreds of US military personnel were originally deployed on a peacekeeping operation during the Lebanese Civil War, 241 of them were killed as a result of two suicide bombings. The Islamic Jihad who were responsible for the attack accomplished their purpose as the MNF promptly withdrew from Lebanon, Ronald Reagan as a result was criticized for a weak response where he showed that the US would retreat from any form of aggression faced by Islamic terrorism. 6 months prior to the Barracks bombing, a *US embassy in Beirut was also bombed which killed 17 Americans.&& The last point to mention for Middle East topics is the *1986 Air Raids on Libya* in response to a discotheque bombing in West Berlin, where the retaliation happened on loose suspicions that Libyan agents and M. Gaddafi were behind the terrorist act. 45 Libyan soldiers and 15 civilians were killed
- Support for Apartheid Regime in South Africa - During the 1980s anti-Apartheid resistance in the country grew stronger due to a series of events and political repressions that became the center of international attention. While many in US congress were leaning more towards strict sanctions on the SA government, Reagan was put in a difficult situation from his POV where he saw the government as a key anti-communist ally engaged in proxy wars against neighboring countries. He called for weak measures condemning the government such as "constructive engagement" and minor restrictions, but faced heavy criticism for vetoing the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. Congress overrode the veto with overwhelming bipartisan support
Other African foreign policies in the eighties that has been met with disdain is Reagan's backing of UNITA in Angola that has committed human rights abuses, and again I'm not trying to condone or defend the opposing MPLA for their own crimes, it's a terrible lose-lose situation like many other foreign policy affairs listed. The last point I want to mention is the continued support of Mobutu in Zaire and H. Habre in Chad for more African brutal dictators that the US condoned
- Continued the status quo for US support for repressive regimes in Southeast Asia - Many of these instances have roots before Reagan's time in office as they were either anti-communist or served US interests in some shape or form. As such, support for Suharto in Indonesia during the occupation of East Timor continued, and the administration approved of an unprecedented $300 million sale of arms was conducted in '86. Reagan stood by dictator F. Marcos in the Philippines despite evidence of violence and election fraud, though he changed course in a peaceful transition of power. Lastly, there was a flow of covert aid for the KPNLF in Cambodia which was composed of Khmer Rouge members
- Numerous other scandals within the Reagan Administration - Something that I'm surprised doesn't get discussed too often for the negatives of RR's presidency are the other instances of corruption or misdeeds from federal government officials. There is some misleading information in the following article, but here is the wiki detailing the scandals throughout the administration, particularly relating to the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development, the EPA, defense department, close secretaries, military officials, etc... Many of these indictments were either overturned, or were later pardoned by later presidents. But still, 28 people were convicted of crimes within this group. I'd go as far to say that Reagan had one of the most corrupt administrations, it was unfortunately a downside to his "delegator", hands-off management style, although none of these other scandals implicated Ron personally
Another terrible look from the admin came when they put forth a policy to provide tax exemptions for racially discriminatory, or segregated schools, but public backlash compelled a swift reversal of the decision. Continuing on a similar theme Reagan vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 that required all institutions who receive federal funding to comply with civil rights rules/standards, congress overrode the veto. Additionally he called for an outlaw to desegregation busing as well, citing a necessity for a "freedom of choice" for parents and school children for what schools they attend
- The surveillance state expanded under Reagan - Exec. Order 1233 (1981) expanded the power of intelligence agencies like the CIA and FBI to spy on American citizens or foreign governments for security motivations, which would serve as one basis for the NSA to grow within the next 40+ years
- Misunderstandings related to presidency - These points aren't real negatives but I thought it was appropriate to put them here. At any rate, I've seen RR receive credit for the release of the 52 American hostages which concluded the Iran Hostage Crisis, I'm of the view that RR had virtually nothing to do with that happening beyond simply being elected, and that it was just a personal insult to Jimmy Carter from the Iranians. Reagan even credited Carter for the doing the legwork to get the people free. On the next point, it's something I see all the time but I truly do not believe (or at least remain skeptical) that Ronald Reagan was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease by his second term, we have no true way of confirming
- Attempts at Christianized policies - Many hold a disdain for Ron's large influence for aligning the Republican Party with the Evangelical movement and stricter social conservativism, as such I disagree with his attempts for a federal law to ban abortion, support for efforts to mandate a school prayer, or the push towards "abstinence-only sex education"
- Mixed legacy with Supreme Court appointments - Reagan successfully appointed four officials to SCOTUS in his tenure which most notably concerned Sandra Day O'Connor, W. Rehnquist was elevated to Chief Justice, then A. Scalia and A. Kennedy were nominated later. One failure in this respect is RR's insistence for the nomination of Robert Bork which strained relations between the POTUS and the Senate
- Ketchup became a vegetable
Ronald Reagan is one of the most controversial US presidents for his time in office that had a major impact on the political and economic direction of the country onto the late 20th century, which the ripples can still be seen today. The way that I see him, is that in many ways he came into office at the right time to provide short-term successes for long lasting economic issues, and inspired American on a level not experienced since JFK. However there are many domestic policies and foreign policy strategies that I simply can't get behind, which is influenced by my own biases and hindsight. So Reagan's grade ceiling to me is a C. Historians continue to rank him fairly high in the top 15, but you'll find all sorts of criticisms for his presidency on this website which generally tends to lean left. Apologies for more Reagan spam on this sub
Again if I missed anything or wish to dispute any of my claims, please say so. I will likely edit this post to update it with more information in the future. Thank you for reading. If you want to check out other pros/cons of all presidents up until this post, check here

My partner has 3 kids and his ex (divorced for 10 years) has always tried to alienate them from him. We haven’t seen SD14 in almost 9 months. She has sparsely texted her dad back, but only because he texted her mom asking why she wasn’t responding to him. She graduates this week and he is really torn on whether he should show up or not.
Since SD14 stopped seeing us, her relationship with SS15 and SD11 has been impacted. She has distanced herself from them because they still see us and has become her mom’s best friend. Dad understands and has never tried to push boundaries, but she still refused to see him on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and her birthday. We still see SS15 and SD11 weekly.
SS recently got into football and his mom has been against it because she cannot afford a lot of the fees, but hates when dad pays for anything. SS was starting to join the practices and we went to drop off cleats for him at his moms. We didn’t know he had rushed out to meet us while they were finishing up dinner and SD14 had followed him out. She spotted us driving away and immediately told their mom what happened and mom grounded SS. Mom asked SS why he didn’t ask her first and he said he knew she wouldn’t get it for him. This really upset my partner because SD14 and mom have made seeing to and talking to dad a punishable offense.
Because SS has football, it sort of messes with the summer schedule my partner has with the kids. The judge decided MWF 3-8pm (I know) and football practice is 3-6pm. Dad and mom meet for drop offs in the middle. Since SD14 has stopped coming, SS11 will be left alone for at least part of the visitation. She has told us she wants to come no matter what, but she gets pressured by her mom to not come because dropping her off is a hassle. “What’s the point if SS isn’t going to go?” Or “you’re going to stop seeing your dad when you get older anyways, right?” Mom has signed only SS11 up for summer school and after school YMCA which usually students must stay until at least 4:30pm because it is free, and if it is not utilized, they will bump her for someone else in the waiting list. Her grades were good and she didn’t need extra help, there’s no reason for her attending (it’s not camp).
We absolutely support all the kids having extra curricular and social lives. SD14 was in cheer and my partner took her to every event that was scheduled during his visitation time. She confessed she only did it because her mom wanted her to because she regretted not doing it at her age. Now that SS wants to join football, we are figuring out what to do, but we know his mom at least is not interfering in this choice.
Their mom hasn’t mentioned anything about summer school yet, but I’m starting to give up. I know they aren’t my kids, but I support my partner in anything related to his kids. SS wants to come live with us, but hasn’t been ready to say anything against his mom. He also worries about what would happen to SD11 if he really did leave because they have a close bond and he gives her confidence. I used to have more fight in me, but my spirit just isn’t all in anymore.
The past year has been so taxing. SD14 disappearing from our lives affected me more than I expected and it just seems to be non stop difficulties from the other side. I am mentally preparing for Father’s Day and my partners birthday because, chances are, SD14 won’t show up for either. Their mom has never hidden her hate for their dad and it’s just so annoying to me. One of the main reasons SD14 stopped coming was because she was tired of getting yelled at by mom every time mom needed to drop off or pick them up. Mom would always be in a bad mood if anyone even spoke of dad. SD14 realized that getting on mom’s good side meant cutting off dad, but I guess it is working for her. SD11 and SS see it too, but they haven’t given into it.
We fought so hard for the time that we have with them. The judge was not kind and we are only getting to some kind of normal life. To see my partner be reminded constantly that this person is trying to erase him out of his kids lives, it’s heartbreaking. Other family members have said they understand and they are resigned to just waiting until they are adults and come to their own conclusions. SS15 is almost there, but I feel like we’re fighting a war. Thanks for reading. Not a lot of people I can talk to about this.

Most people love and trust God no matter what they do. With that being said..
I’ve developed an awesome relationship with the creator(the universe), or so I thought.. you see.. it has been showing me not to settle, even when it comes to them.. what do you think about that?
Need more details? I know you do lol
Just think.. if the creator asked you, “Why do you love me if I’m not loving you how you should be loved?” Example (not a personal experience, just an example): You meet the man of your dreams, the one the creator showed you in your imagination & they’re.. in a happy relationship. If the creator is in control.. why would it do that? Or, “why do you continue to trust me if I don’t fulfill the desire given?”…. “You shouldn’t, so don’t.” Example: you trust that your reality is about to change, you feel it.. you talk to the creator about it.. but it doesn’t. You trusted that it would.. the creator knows you did.. because it made you.. but why? Why did it make you if the plan was to not fulfill?.. that one was personal 😭😭😂😂😂 I literally saw my reality change to what I desire before my eyes & the creator snatched it away.. went from a one bedroom apartment.. to my dream home for a split second.. right back to that 1BR 🙄 can you say.. wtf. The belief & disbelief all in one.
Now, it’s hard.. because of course you want the creator to love you.. of course you want to be able to trust them too.. but this is a.. don’t settle, even when it comes to me lesson.. so.. what now? Just love myself until you do? Well, I have.. & it’s been working. Now.. yes.. it’s purpose behind this experience, so does the creator really not love me? Lol.. it’s doing it on purpose.. it’s really making itself not love me how I should be loved.. on purpose.. but deep down.. right? This isn’t the first time it tried to teach me this lesson.. & looking back.. I still didn’t know my worth in the moment.. it’s like I did, but was looking at the bigger picture while the universe is like.. NO.. I’m not being the good to you that you deserve now.. accept it & love yourself until I do. Well.. guess what! I trust that it will love me.. maybe not how it should.. how I deserve to be loved now.. but it will later. I know it will..
lol I guess.. I KNOW it’s just a lesson.. a “right now if I’m not being good to you how I should.. accept it.. because I didn’t create you to settle.. even when it comes to me. I created you to know your worth.. know what you deserve.. & not settle for anything less of it.. even. when. it comes. to me.” .. lesson.
That’s all, thanks! ❤️

I (21F) joined in August of 2022. Went basic and AIT from (January 17th, 2023 — August 1st).
I signed with a 20k bonus (25U). I still haven’t received anything. I talked to my Readiness Officer when I first got to my unit and found out that they didn’t know I had a bonus. (He found it in my paperwork that I did) and he said “oh ok I’ll push the paperwork”. That was 9 months ago.
I need to know what my options are? Is it a lost cause?
He said that it was above his pay grade and that it’s not something he deals with. (I’ve asked him for updates many times)
I’m in Louisiana.
Also I’ve been a PFC since I’ve joined. I thought I automatically made SPC after so long. Or has it changed?

A couple of weeks ago, I (25F) attended my 10 year middle school reunion. While I initially didn’t get any indication that I had pissed people off, I have recently received multiple messages from people telling me I was being arrogant and insensitive at the reunion party. I am genuinely unsure whether I did anything wrong, and would really appreciate some input.
For context - I am from a small town in a European country, that while being somewhat picturesque and charming, is for a lack of a better word extremely ‘white trash’. Substance abuse issues are extremely common (especially meth addiction), as is teenage pregnancy, petty crime etc. I lived there up until the end of middle school, when I chose to move cities by myself so that I could attend a university-preparing high school (the schools in my town only offered vocational high school degrees that would have not allowed me to go on to attend university. I loved school and going to university was my absolute dream.) I kept in contact with some of my middle school friends, but since I don’t really use social media I lost contact with most of my childhood friends. In my country, we end middle school at 15/16 and we are now 25, so earlier this year someone from my class invited us all for a 10 year reunion during the Easter holidays. I was going to visit some of the few friends and family I have left in the town around the same time, so I agreed to attend.
The reunion was a good time. A lot of people had already had several kids and gotten married, and it was really sweet seeing pictures of people’s children and hearing about their lives after not having seen them for so long. We also all asked about each other’s work/careers, which I assume is a super common reunion question. Since my town is a bit of a ‘dead end’ place most people had very standard jobs which you don’t need any higher education to do: carpenter, electrician, mechanic, hairdresser etc. While some people had started bachelors degrees, it quickly became clear that I was the only one who had obtained a university degree in the room. A lot of my former classmates were also unemployed, and had clearly had severe struggles with meth abuse, periods of homelessness, incarceration etc. A lot of people still seemed to live in the low-cost social housing complexes where I also grew up.
This is where I might have acted like an asshole. When people asked me what I have been up to since I left, I answered matter-of-factly and honestly. Since moving, I ended up doing very well in high school. Because of my good grades, I was able to get a scholarship and move abroad to attend a very famous elite university (think Harvard, MIT..). I developed a burning passion for my subject and got funding to go to a different (equally famous and elite) university where I did my masters degree and eventually PhD. I was stoked to get my doctorate while still being so young, and am currently doing a postdoc and lecturing at the same university. Additionally, I work part-time for a very famous international organisation (think the World Bank, IMF-type organisation), as an associate researcher. Although I didn’t say all this when people asked me about my life, I very straightforwardly said the names of the university and organisation I work for. I considered not saying it as to not come across as braggy, but ultimately decided that it would be best to just be honest about my life. I am an extremely bad liar and it just seemed too awkward to try and avoid the topic of my career. While no one made negative comments at the time about this, I got some very shocked and loud reactions about this at the time. But my hometown friends are now saying I was rubbing my success in the face of the rest of the class and taking away the spotlight from the mothers in the room that also deserved that kind of attention. They said it was insensitive to be so transparent about my life when I know how difficult life is for most people in my hometown. One friend even accused me of ‘forgetting my roots’.
What makes me even more assholey potentially, is that I also think I subconsciously wanted to let some of my former classmates know how well I was doing in my life due to how they treated me in the past. I came out as a lesbian very young and my classmates treated me like trash for it. I was beat up more than once after school, the other girls stopped inviting me over to their homes, and only two classmates really stayed friends with me (the ones who are still my friends today). The day I moved away, the ‘queen bee’ of my middle school told me that no matter how far I moved she wanted me to remember that I would always be a ‘trailer park d*ke’ no matter what. I think part of the reason why I chose to flaunt my career - and my stunning girlfriend on top of that - is that I wanted to rub it in how wrong she was. When I saw her at the reunion, she had clearly struggled with substance abuse issues and was apparently on her 3rd marriage. I would lie if I said that didn’t give me some level of sick satisfaction. I never brought up my accomplishments without someone asking me first - but now I’m starting to wonder if I should have kept my mouth shut. So, am I the asshole?
(Also - I am typing this on my phone while in a moving car, so sorry for any grammar mistakes and bad language.)

Okay, so for starters, I (20F) recently learned that I was suffering from a deformity called ‘tuberous breast deformity”. I won’t go into much detail but it’s basiclly when a woman’s breast does not develop “normally” and looks more cone-shaped, and that also some women cannot produce milk because of this. Now you will ask me how is this even related with this community, and let me explain. I’ve always felt insecure about my boobs, from when I was 10 years old to my current age. I cannot recall a time that I looked at my naked chest in the mirror and not felt utter disgust about my body. I always assumed I had “ugly” boobs. And recently, after learning it was actually a condition, I was devastated. Constantly crying, over-eating, not wanting to go out, feeling like less of a woman… It’s affected my grades, my social life, and my relationships (I don’t want to date anymore because of this because I feel like I’ll be a disappointment to men). Like 2 days ago, I was depressed, as usual, about this situation, and my mother came into my room, asking me what was wrong, and I immediately burst into tears, not wanting to tell her but I did eventually. At first, she tried to understand and comfort me, but I could feel it in her eyes that she did not see this “issue” that big of a deal. She’s seen my boobs before and she thinks they are normal. She told me why are you crying for something that you cannot change… And I told her that was exactly why I was crying, like??? Then she told me to get surgery at some point if it made me feel THIS bad, and I agreed, I said I consider getting implants and after that, she suddenly CHANGED. She asked me how I could even consider implants, how I would be able to breastfeed with implants, that it poses terrible health risks etc. but the “understanding” look in her eyes completely disappeared and I even started feeling like she was judging me even though I explained it wasn’t only for COSMETIC reasons. She did not believe that this was a “deformity” and she thinks that it’s made up by plastic surgeons, she won’t accept it no matter what I say, she told me to do whatever I wanted but that she wouldn’t call it a deformity and that she didn’t support me in the surgery, and trust me when I say it feels SO, SO INVALIDATING. She was like “what do you expect me to do/say?” in a condescending tone and we eventually started arguing and I told her to get out of my room because I got so angry at her. She then sent me pictures of other women with small breasts to try to make me feel “better” even though I constantly explained to her it was about the SHAPE and not the size, I eventually sent her a picture of my breasts and a normal picture of some other woman’s breasts and NO, SHE WON’T ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG. To her, breasts come in all shape and sizes and mine looks “perfect”, I guess I am a schizophrenic for having a breakdown for a good 8 years. I tell her this deformity is not my only problem but also a mother that doesn’t understand me, she tells me to think about her struggles and that I would feel “lighter”, completely making it about her now (she suffered from brain hemorrhage and has to take medicine for the rest of her life not to have seizures) and I understand, this was/is very traumatic for me too, but WHY are you bringing it up now that I tell you I am in PAIN and that I HATE my body, why make it about you, the fuck???? Then I tell her I will never speak to her again and block her from whatsapp. She went to a drawing course afterwards and by the time she came back I was at the kitchen preparing something to eat. She tried to talk to me and I just glared at her, and because my profile picture was still visible to her somehow she didn’t see that I blocked her, so when she asked me “did you see the messages I sent you?” And I was like I blocked you. Then she got angry, we had an argument again. A day later, she sent me a picture of a text message from whatsapp, turns out she wrote something along the lines of “I support you” but because I blocked her I did not see it. Upon seeing this I went to her room and asked her why didn’t she sent me that sooner, she was like because you blocked me, you never understand me, etc. I got frustrated and left again. A day later, she sends a picture to the group chat about a quote saying “Even though I did not understand you, I loved you, and it hurt when you couldn’t do the same”. It was clearly for me, and I felt so annoyed because she was still making it about her, I went into her room and asked her why she sent that to the group and she was like “I sent it for no reason, it was just a quote I liked etc.” and I was like it’s clearly about me, why are you making the situation about yourself??? She was like why are you still insisting, I told you it was not about you, etc. but it WAS. I was like you never understood me and you never backed me up in anything so don’t worry, I will leave, she was like “Okay okay, leave then, just leave me alone” then I got angry and she got angry, telling me “what about the times you did not understand my problems??” making it about her again, she called me obsessive, she said that I was “not normal”, that I was pushing a subject she did not do, she told me she didn’t see me as her child anymore and that she started hating me, I asked her what I did to deserve such words and she said “So you can tell me you hate me and you will leave but I can’t?” then she started telling me she was sick and using medicines and I was bothering her, she asked me “what do you want from me??”, I calmly told her I did not push anything, I was simply asking her a question without saying anything offensive to her, but then she says I called her sick in the head and other mean words that she made up, I was fucking shocked, I was like I DID not say anything like that, I did not say anything bad at all, but she insisted I did, what the fuck? I told her I was so done with her narcissistic behaviors, she started screaming at me to get out, I didn’t, I kept asking her what I did to deserve this bad of a reaction, she got in my face and screamed louder for me to “GET OUT”, eventually my father got involved and I went out of the room. Now there is a guest at the house and she’s acting all perfect as if nothing’s happened between us, interrupting me when I speak, she even answered a question our guest asked to ME for ME, and I was like my mother is writing my bipography, then I turned to her and said “I have a mouth, you know? That question was asked to me.” Had she understood my pain and been there for me, I wouldn’t have gone through this fucking “rollercoaster.” I am going crazy because of her deranged behavior, is she a fucking narcissist or just traumatized because of her own disorder is what I can’t decide on. I know she is really upset about developing epilepsy and she had a seizure recently, which I know is the reason she’s been feeling bad recently, but is this really an excuse not to be on my side? What do you guys think?

Wise (formally transferwise) is a banking service/app generally used by frequent travelers who like to have different currencies at the same time.
I joined wise with the potential hope of locking in a good exchange rate for the Japanese yen, as I will going on vacation in April 2025 (almost a year from now). It is unknown what the exchange rate will be by then, so who knows, I might lose out even with this effort.
Either way, on to the question.... I find the fee structure very confusing, if some one can explain it to me....
It says 2 fee-free monthly withdrawals under $100 each.
Then $1.50 USD per withdrawal under $100
Then $1.5 per withdrawal of $100 + 2% of the amount above $100.
So, scenario (excluding the 2 initial free withdrawals) and also assuming I find a fee-free ATM, which do exist.
(1) $100 withdrawal will have a $1.50 fee
(2) $200 withdrawal will have a $1.50 (for the first $100) + $2.00 (2% of the additional $100) = $3.50 fees total...
Now..... Wouldn't it be cheaper to do 2 separate $100 withdrawals, again assuming a fee free ATM? As in 2 separate withdrawals would be $3 rather than $3.50.
Another example...
One $1000 withdrawal (daily max) would be $1.5 + $18 = $19.50
Vs ten $100 withdrawals would have ($1.5x10) $15.
I have zero issues making multiple $100 withdrawals throughout the day. Or just sitting in front of an ATM continuously making withdrawals.... But it seems flawed that smaller withdrawals would be cheaper than one large withdrawal...
Can someone clarify what I may be missing, or confirm that $100 withdrawals will be my best course of action?
*As a side note, I will have a credit card which will be a lions share of my spending, as well as a normal checking account with zero international transactions fees if I need additional cash. Again, this Wise account was made so that I can attempt to lock in the current favorable yen exchange rate prior to my trip a year from now.**
Thanks friends.

First of all, I really like your wedding styles and would love to attend one.( preferably a rough and desi wedding) once in my lifetime. I want to wear those lungis and traditional clothes. Hehe, seems too much fun.
Well as I said I will write a reviews of all film i watch so I binged watcg this three today. Let's get into it.
Bangalore Days: At first, I thought it was just going to be some fun flick, but wow! It was really something else. I ended up crying a little at the end (I just love Disney happy endings). Fafa is amazing as usual, but it was different from his action star role in Avesham.
I loved all three main characters; their differences yet strong friendship take the story to another level. I enjoyed the whole fun part in Bangalore, and then boom, some serious stuff went down, but they didn’t forget to joke around. Overall, a good movie. For cons, it was a bit too long for such a simple story. 4/5 for me.
Ustad Hotel: I knew something fun was going to happen at the start, but I still laughed so hard. As expected, it starts with fun and then places you in the characters' backstories and situations. Ustad was a great mentor and kind chef. Those lessons about cooking and why we cook really hit home, you know?
I really loved the actor (two movies and he’s in both), and he delivered a good performance nevertheless. I liked the ending and how everything worked out. The romance was kind of a miss here (though the actress is totally 10/10 🙈).
Kumbalangi Nights: Okay, whatever this movie is about, the place has my heart. What a beautiful place! And the Bobby guy, getting high and doing nothing—I feel you, my man. This place is 100% for chilling, nothing serious.
The whole brother dynamic started with fights and sadness but leaves you on a great note. I hoped there would be more story around Frankie, but we got Saji and Bobby. You start to hate Soubin Shahir's character in every movie at first, but the character development was too good. How Bobby got a baby and a job, how Saji became responsible. Boney and his girlfriend came out of nowhere, but yeah, good one.
And and Fafa... my man is a legend! He was scary as hell. How he groomed his moustache and all those looks—dude is a legit gangster.The worst time to propose: when he is shaving you and you’re asking for his sister-in-law’s hand... lmao! No words. Give a raise to the guy who chose the BGM, legend. Expected yet terrific end sequence. Loved this one. 4.5/5
Well, I had so much fun. Next weekend next three movies. Tell me how you liked this movies as well. Or some fun fact(maybe something traditional because I watched it with eng sub so..) Do you guys use letterboxd? Share ids.
thank you guys :)

Heh. Nice.
Creativity is returning, and I promise that the series doesn't devolve into a slice of life between Valteria and Xander (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, just not where I want to go - you'll have to instead content thyself with slices of slice of life here and there). Going to try and keep to updating roughly every 7-10 days, but again, I don't hold myself very strictly to any schedule so that may not always happen. Enjoy!
First Previous Next
Elements are, well… elemental. Not in the sense that they are beings comprised of a single physical element - though they generally are. I mean they are created by a conflux of a single type of elemental mana. This is often seen at ley lines, areas where mana flows and rushes like a river, but it can happen anywhere two errant streams of mana of the same type collide. Not every collision results in the formation of an elemental core, around which an elemental will concrete rapidly from a physical material local to the area that aligns with the core’s mana type. Some happen with no discernable effect. Others produces auroric lights, or short lived ‘will-o-the-wisps,’ which are not to be confused with actual spirits or other ethereal monsters.
-Brant Colis during a lecture on elementals, College of Magical Studies, part of the esteemed University of Sempta
*********************************************************************************************************************
Xander smiled at her and planted a quick kiss on her lips, causing Valteria’s eyes to widen at the suddenness of it. “Thanks,” he told her. “I couldn’t have had a better teacher.”
Valteria blushed at his glowing commendation, and perhaps from the kiss as well. “You’re sweet,” she said. “But there are better teachers than me,” Valteria told him in a more serious tone. Her serious face cracked a little bit into a smile as she said, “Too bad you don’t know any of them! You’re stuck with me, instead.”
“Mmm, I don’t mind one bit,” Xander said. Thinking to check his watch, he briefly glanced at the time. “Say, what time do you usually close up shop? It’s getting to be late afternoon, and I imagine we’ll want some light if we’re going to test out that crossbow.”
“Hm? Oh, right, damnit, I’d forgotten already.” Valteria glanced at one of the clocks in the room to confirm the time. “Ah, hell, I’m ready to call it quits for the day anyways. I doubt anyone else is going to come in today anyways. Let’s walk to guild training area.”
“Certainly, I would be most happy to escort the lady,” Xander said, as formally as he could manage.
“What did I say about bowing and scraping?”
“Sorry.”
Valteria locked up the shop as they exited, and the two of them made their way to the training yard that the guild had set up. Xander was glad that Valteria seemed to know where it was, because he had never actually been there. His practice for the tournament had been conducted out in random fields, as he’d worried he’d be taking up too much space swinging around all that chain. During the walk there, they chatted about how Valteria hoped the crossbow would perform, and she reminded him that she still wanted to see the guns that he had mentioned. He agreed to show her, as long as the training yard was safely positioned in such a way that he didn’t need to worry about anything down range.
After about half an hour of walking through the city, and then through the outskirts of the town, Valteria led them to the training yard. There were a few mercenaries training throughout the area, some sparring together in a sandy pit, while others were practicing their aim with bows, crossbows, and spells by firing at targets placed at the ends of a set of lanes. Xander was pleased to see that there was a berm build up behind the targets to prevent anything that went through the targets escaping the bounds of the training yard. He supposed that certain skills attached to a bolt or arrow might necessitate it. It would certainly work well enough for his firearms. He was glad he’d silenced them, as it would be rather disturbing to the rest of the mercenaries present if he hadn’t.
“So, which do you want to try out first? The guns or the crossbow?” Xander asked.
Valteria thought for a moment. “Hmm,” she said aloud as she pondered. “I think the crossbow first. I’m eager to see how it performs so that I can work on properly pricing it, as well as seeing if we need to tweak the design before we make more.”
“Sure, that makes sense. Guns can be a treat for after we do our official business,” Xander replied.
“Shame there’s only a wooden target, I’d like to see how it does against something like a chest plate,” Valteria sighed.
“You forget who you’re with!” Xander reminded her. “I can make us a steel target in no time at all. But we probably ought to test it out on the wood first, just to make sure it even works.”
“Oh right, I forgot you could just make one. That seems like a good idea. Would you mind making me some bolts, too? I didn’t even think to stop to get any,” Valteria said, slapping her forehead lightly.
“Coming right up.” Xander went to work creating a few crossbow bolts for Valteria to fire, handing them over one by one as he made them. He stopped after creating ten bolts. “That should be enough to test the thing out, right?”
“Mmhm, I would think so.” The two of them walked together to a lane at one end of the yard, making sure that there were a few empty lanes between them and the next closest merc. No one paid them any mind, save for an occasional glance in their direction as people briefly wondered who the odd couple they didn’t recognize were. Still, the yard was free to use, and no one bothered them.
Valteria cranked the crossbow arms back and took a knee as she placed a bolt into the channel of the crossbow. She took some time to aim at the target at the end of the lane before firing. The increased force of the arms snapping back into place jerked her forward a little, but the shot still found its mark, at least for the most part. It went a little wide, hitting the left edge of the target. The bolt punched through the wood with what seemed to be ease, burying itself fully into the berm behind the target.
“Wow, I wasn’t expecting it to jerk like that,” Valteria said, looking down at the crossbow. “It’s certainly got some power to it.”
“Shall we see how it does with steel?” Xander asked.
“Sure, though I have my suspicions that it’s going to either blow right through the metal or the bolt is going to shatter. So, it is going to require higher grade bolts from a good [Fletcher] to really operate at full efficiency,” she explained.
“Makes sense,” Xander said with an absent nod as he created a sheet of steel of about the correct thickness for a chestpiece. Once he was done, he jogged down to the target and leaned the sheet of steel up against it before jogging back to Valteria. “All you,” he said to her.
“I have to do all the work?” She said sarcastically.
“I mean, if you don’t want to shoot it, I’ll be happy to,” Xander replied. “But what’s more fun than putting holes in things with a weapon?”
“Uhm, a lot of things?” Valteria asked.
“Okay, yeah, you’re right. But it’s still fun!”
“It is.”
Valteria was able to land most of her shots on the metal target, which proved equally flimsy as the wood had to the runically enhanced crossbow. Two went wide, embedding in the berm instead, but overall she seemed pleased with the test. “I’m not exactly the best shot,” she told Xander. “I’m surprised I only missed two, in all honesty.”
“Considering that you don’t have a combat class, I think you did pretty well for someone who doesn’t regularly go out and fire a crossbow,” Xander said approvingly. “Ready to try out a gun?”
“Yes!” Valteria said excitedly.
Xander chuckled at Valteria’s enthusiasm, manifesting the tube fed .22 rifle from his inventory, along with some ammunition. “We can start off with something small.” Carefully placing the rifle down, he held up some of the small rounds for her to see. “This is a bullet. A twenty-two caliber long rifle bullet, to be specific. It’s designed for small game, so it has essentially no kick behind it, but it’s very reliable. It’s a good one to get acquainted with before I swap you over to trying out my pistol and shotgun, since they have a little more kick to them. Here’s how you load it.” Xander went through the process of pulling the spring loaded rod out of the tube that held the ammunition, Valteria watching carefully as he loaded it up to capacity. “So you’ve got eighteen shots right now. This right here is the safety,” he indicated the push button near the trigger that operated the safety mechanism. “You can’t pull the trigger unless this side is pushed in. Helps keep accidents from happening. Now, before I hand this over to you, you’re going to indulge me and listen to the four rules of firearm safety, okay?”
“Okay,” Valteria said with a firm nod.
“Alright, so the first rule is this: always assume that a gun is loaded. Messing around with one just because you think it’s unloaded is a great way to accidentally get someone killed. Two, never point the end of a gun at something you don’t intend to shoot. Keep it pointed down at the ground at all other times. That way, if you do accidentally discharge it, no one can get hurt. Number three pertains to your target. Be sure of your target – make sure you know what you’re shooting at – and just as importantly, know what’s beyond your target. You don’t want to shoot through something and end up also shooting something or someone you didn’t intend to. And the last rule is to keep your finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. Simple enough, right? They could all easily followed with a crossbow, too. Got it?”
Valteria nodded again. “Got it,” she replied.
“Alrighty, well then let’s get you shooting! I’ll show you the three postures for shooting, as well as how to use the sights and then I’ll let you run through a full tube or two before we swap to something a little more fun to shoot.” Xander held rifle downward and indicated the scope on the rifle. “This is a magnified scope. Think of it like a little telescope with an X in the center. You look through it like this,” Xander held the rifle up to his cheek, pointing it downrange, “and line up the center of the X with where you want to shoot. The position I’m in right now is how you should fire while standing. See how I’m a little leaned forward and my right foot is to the rear? That’s to help absorb recoil, not that this gun has much. It’ll help with the larger one, though.” Xander then kneeled down, placing his elbow on his knee to brace his arm. “This is how you’d fire while kneeling. Very similar to how I saw you do it with the crossbow.” Finally, he laid down and said, “And this is how you fire when prone. If you step behind me, you’ll see that the gun, my shoulder, my body, and my right leg are all one straight line.”
“I see,” Valteria agreed, looking at him from behind.
Standing up, careful to keep the rifle pointed downwards, he said, “I’ll let you choose how you want to shoot. Here you are.” He held the rifle out for Valteria to take, who did so gingerly. Xander was pleased to see that she was keeping her fingers away from the trigger.
Valteria moved into position at the opening to the lane and knelt. Xander went to stand behind her. She took up the proper position, mimicking how Xander had shown her.
“I’m going to adjust your posture slightly, so don’t be startled, okay?” Xander softly said.
“Okay,” Valteria replied.
Xander leaned over slightly and put his hands on her shoulders, squaring them a little bit more. “Okay, now aim, and when you’re ready, pull the trigger.”
Valteria took her time aiming, getting used to the scope and the position her head needed to be in to properly use it. “This scope thingy is quite handy. I can see things so much closer!”
Xander laughed, saying, “Yeah, I use it all the time just for looking at things that are far away.”
Valteria took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger, eliciting a small crack from the rifle, most of the relatively minimal noise of the rifle being silenced by the runes Xander had engraved on the end of the barrel. A ping could be heard as the bullet hit the metal sheet, putting a tiny hole in it.
Valteria looked around. “That’s it?” She asked. “I was expecting something... more.”
“Well, this one is a small caliber round, so there’s not a lot of oomph behind it compared to something larger. But if we take a walk down there, I’d wager we could find the hole it made in the steel.”
“Strange how something so small could penetrate a piece of steel armor...” Valteria said, trailing off thoughtfully.
“I don’t think it would penetrate really well-made armor from a higher leveled [Smith], and I’m certain it wouldn’t penetrate armor that I’ve done runework on. This is completely unimproved steel, after all.”
“That’s fair,” Valteria agreed.
“So, do you want to finish off the other seventeen rounds, or is this one too boring?”
“I want to try the bigger one!” Valteria said excitedly.
“Fine, fine,” Xander relented. “Same rules for this one, okay?” He took the rifle back from Valteria, unloading it and stashing the gun and ammo back in his inventory. He pulled out the shotgun and a handful of shells, opting for slugs to reduce the chance of any kind of ricochet from the steel target. “This is a pump-action shotgun.” He held up the shotgun in one hand. “And this is the ammunition it fires.” He held up his handful of shotgun shells in the other hand. “Quite a bit bigger than the other one.”
Valteria nodded along. “That one looks more exciting.”
“You load the round into the tube on the bottom like so,” Xander said as he pushed five rounds into the tube. “And to load a round, you pump the slide towards you and then away from you.” The shotgun made the classic cha-chuck­ noise as he pumped the slide, loading a round. “This is loaded now. Safety works the same way. Here you go.” He carefully handed the gun over to Valteria, who took it with a little more confidence than she had with the small caliber rifle.
Watching her get into a kneeling position and shoulder the rifle, Xander commented, “Adjust the buttstock a little, you want it more on the meaty part of your shoulder, not on the outside. It’ll absorb the recoil better.”
Valteria complied, shifting the rifle slightly to adjust. “This one doesn’t have a scope,” she said.
“Oh right, yeah this one is a bit shorter ranged. You just line up the bead on the end in the center of the sight posts closer to you to aim.”
“Oh, oh I see,” Valteria said, returning her cheek to the stock of the shotgun.
“Fire whenever you’re rea-“ Xander was interrupted by the muffled crack of the shotgun firing. Valteria let out a noise halfway between a squeak and a grunt as she rocked backwards, falling backwards slightly from her position of kneeling to sitting on the ground.
“Oww,” She muttered. “This one hurts! You didn’t tell me it would hurt!”
“I did tell you it would have more kick, though,” Xander laughed. “That one packs a lot more punch than that little twenty-two. Do you want to shoot it again?” He asked.
“No,” Valteria said sullenly, holding the shotgun out for Xander to take. “I’m already going to have a bruise from just that one. How do you use that thing?”
Xander shrugged. “Eh, you get used to it. And with proper form, you learn to take the recoil better. Here, watch.” Xander stepped up to the lane and demonstrated, firing the remaining four rounds in quick succession, the slide clattering as he quickly pumped rounds into the chamber.
“Hmph,” Valteria huffed, seeing that Xander had had no issue with the recoil.
“Oh don’t be like that,” Xander chided her, giving her a quick, one armed hug as he stowed the shotgun in his inventory.
Valteria let out the kind of whine one does when they’re mildly inconvenienced and want to be dramatic about it.
“I have one more that I think you’ll like. It’s got more to it than the little rifle, and less than the shotgun. And it’s a lot smaller. It’s called a pistol. I guess you could think of it like the hand crossbow of guns?”
“I think smaller might be good after that last one,” Valteria said, still cautious.
Xander pulled his final firearm from Earth from his inventory into his hand. “This is the pistol.” He manifested a magazine, and said, “and this is the magazine, which the rounds go in.”
“Why’s it called a magazine?” Valteria asked, interrupting him.
“Uh, I actually don’t know,” Xander admitted. “Just what it’s called,” he said with a shrug.
“Anyway, the magazine goes in the pistol like this,” he firmly seated the magazine. “And you load the first round like this,” he said as he racked the slide. “The safety is a little bit different on this one – it’s this lever here. You toggle it down and then it can fire. You’ll want to hold it like this,” he told Valteria as he demonstrated a classic pistol shooter’s pose, both hands in use and slightly leaned forward.
“Ready to try it? I promise it’s not as bad as the shotgun,” he said. “I do feel a little bad about not telling you.”
“You should!” Valteria said as she took the proffered pistol.
“Make sure you keep it pointed down, still,” Xander reminded her.
“I will, I will,” she grumbled. Valteria took up her spot at the lane and mimicked Xander’s posture as best she could from a single demonstration. She looked back at him briefly, expecting some kind of comment or correction, but Xander was silent, just giving her a smile.
“Not bad,” he said. “Give it a try, just make sure you keep a firm, even grip.”
Valteria pulled the trigger, flinching slightly after her experience with the shotgun. Her flinch made the round miss the target. She looked at the gun with a little more favor in her eyes as she realized that it wasn’t going to hurt like the shotgun had. “I think I like this one better,” she told Xander.
“Try not to flinch like you did. I guess that’s my own fault after the shotgun,” he admitted, “but it’s bad for your aim. Other than that, you’re doing just fine,” he encouraged.
Valteria let off another round, this one hitting the large, steel target, letting out another ping across the training yard. “This is rather fun,” she admitted.
“You’ve got sixteen left before you need to reload. I’d recommend a steady pace to start out with, though. Take your time to aim. You can pop off rounds quickly on the next magazine.”
The two of them spent their time, and more than a few magazines – Xander would load one up while Valteria used the other – together at the range amicably. From an outside perspective, the two of them would have seemed more like good friends than a new couple. For his part, Xander appreciated that Valteria wasn’t seemingly needy, or overly touchy or intimate. He wasn’t sure if that would change, at least regarding touch, but right now, considering how fresh their relationship was and the fact that he was still feeling more than some guilt over even being in a relationship, he was perfectly content to move slowly for the most part. It would probably be best for Valteria too, he considered, as she was new to dating in general. He didn’t want to inadvertently take advantage of her in some way or push her boundaries.
As dusk began to fall, Xander and Valteria stopped their target practice. Xander had convinced her to wrap up with the shotgun and a few more shots from it as a finale, and she’d agreed now that she knew what to expect, the annoyance of the sudden recoil having faded. Before they left, Xander brought the steel target up for Valteria to see. It was riddled with holes, Xander pointing out the impacts left by each different caliber. He set it aside and out of the way to disintegrate, and the two began to walk back into town.
“Where do you want to eat?” Xander asked Valteria.
“Mm... I’m not sure. I hadn’t put much thought into it, honestly,” Valteria responded.
“Well, the only two places I know are Charles’s place and the inn my team and I are staying at. Though, if we eat there, prepare to be mobbed by the team and teased about dating me.”
“You’ve already told them?” Valteria said, sounding a little nervous.
“Only one, and I assume that she has kept it private, but the other three would immediately assume if they saw us together at a table. You know they thought that us comparing notes after the match was a date in disguise? They kept giving me dating tips like I wasn’t the only one of them that had ever held down a long-term relationship before,” Xander said with a laugh.
Valteria laughed. “I suppose it makes sense that they’ll tease us about it having come true, then. I suppose you’re worth a little teasing,” she said sarcastically.
“Damn right I am!” Xander replied. “But you still haven’t answered the question. Where are we – well, you, really – eating?”
Valteria slowed her pace, considering for a moment. “Hmm... I have to admit that I’m interested in who your team is. The people you keep company with are an important aspect of one’s self, after all,” she said discerningly.
“Ahh, so you want to know if I hang out with the wrong sort of crowd?” Xander teased. “They’re good people. Took me back without blinking an eye when I returned as... what I am now. I’d be happy to introduce you to them.”
“Then it’s settled, we’ll be eating there. What’s the name of the inn?”
“Uhh... shit. I can’t ever remember the name of the place. But I know how to get there!” Xander admitted.
“You’ve been staying in the city for how long?” Valteria asked, in disbelief.
“Uhm... more than a month.”
“And you still don’t know the name of the place?”
“I just never think to look at the sign when I’m leaving or coming back!” Xander said, vainly trying to defend himself.
Previous Next

Since 7th grade I had this friend group, me, Tom, Gabe and Max. When the 8th grade started, a new girl, Marcos, came to our class. My friend group befriended her and she became part of our group. The first major situation that happened with Marcos was when me and Tom were talking about the finalists gala on our school. Out of curiosity I asked him who his pair for the gala was. Tom said he was going with Marcos, saying she had told him I already had a pair (I didn't). I talked to Marcos to clear this and she told me without hesitating that Isa told her she was going to invite me to be her pair. I thought it was weird because I wasn't close to Isa. Since I was suspicious, I texted Isa asking her if she was going to invite me, which she replied no
During lunchtime, I was hanging out with two of my friends Sam and Roxy, and since I was unsure of what to do, I told them the story, without saying it happened to me. They gave me their opinion but I gain courage to tell them the story was about me. They were shocked and asked if I was being serious. At this point, I was panicking due to how stressful this was being. One of them asked me if I knew about the video and I had no idea what they were talking about. Someone had sent one of the girls in my class a sexual video of Marcos showing her lower parts (apparently everyone in my class knew about this except me, Tom, Gabe, Max and Marcos). I was shocked and Sam and Roxy told me other lies Marcos had told them (having diabetes, judging girls for their body when she has a similar body type to them, etc)
To talk about the situation that made me create this post, I got a message that Marcos had added Max into the group that me, Tom, Gabe, and her had. I texted the girls in a separate group about what she had done and they were shocked like me. In the group chat where she added Max, I texted "Why did you add Max?". Then Marcos sent a message saying "Because I wanted to" (she would often say this in a cocky tone). My anger grew as I snapped. I sent a long message saying she didn't need to speak to me like she was better or superior. I said she shouldn't have added Max without letting us know and told her that she could complain all she wanted, cause I was right there listening to her. While the girls in the other group supported me, Gabe and Max came to her defense saying that that was unnecessary.
Both Gabe and Marcos herself argued that I had also added people they didn't know to the group before, and I hadn't asked either (To my defense I added 2 of my friends without asking the group but I told them who they were and asked if they didn't mind. I couldn't confirm this since I had erased old messages from the group). The girls on the other group reassured me I did the right thing and they told me if Max, Gabe, and Marcos tried to confront me face to face, they would be by my side I believe I'm the asshole because I was rude to her and I overreacted, but AITA?

So you get the context and here is some background to it I and my significant other (19F)has known each other in our 11th grade as classmates its been 3 years now but due certain issues I had to change my school in 12th grade so basically we kind of stayed in touch and our friendship grew close although she didn't advance on me because I was in a relationship which was my first ever relationship actually and it only lasted 2 months after that I wanted to focus on myself so I went to gym and got in decent shape (i wasn't fat but a chubby guy thanks to COVID) actually it's very fucked up I liked her in my 11th grade but she liked someone else back then so then i decided to move on from her (was still in touch and talked to her as she was my classmate) then after my break up she became close to me day by day and acted like my girl so after my 12th grade i decided to propose to her and she said yes and we are in a relationship since 1 and a half year it's not toxic one we although I have some bad mood swings sometimes and she still handles me overall she is the best partner i ever had and I have her every social media handles and i love her but after our first anniversary things took a different turn and I started to distance myself from her because she comes from a conservative Muslim family and I am a Brahmin Hindu guy I even told her to break things and get moving but she had a mental breakdown as she said she only loved me and couldn't love anyone more and she might be able to be the same If I left her, so I am staying in a relationship but since that day I have felt myself being more aggressive towards her for no reason we have more fights and I am the one to blame she is the sweetest girl I ever met tbvh and I love her and there is no other girl whom I love so much but my fear is in future we might not be together ( marrying each other) so let's break things because even then we would hurt but atleast we will save time and move on honestly I love her but ik my family won't accept her ik I am too young to worry bout this and i have almost 6-7 years to marry but you get my concern honestly I am trying to distant myself from her I don't text her too much honestly I feel bad because I love her from the bottom of my heart and I don't know why I am acting this way what should I do should I break things of with her or should I go with the flow honestly I don't want to hurt her too much she is hurting either way I want to help her and myself I don't know what to do should I leave her or stay with her

Hi everyone. A few months ago I made this post as an update to my residential cleaning business journey. Well, I've made the decision to put an end to that journey and shut the business down. This was not an easy decision to make. I noticed a lot of people got value out of the last post, so I felt compelled to make this final update.
To preface everything, one of the main reasons for me making my original post had to do with the fact that, generally speaking, when I saw content on the internet related to cleaning services it was very reductive of the difficulties that one actually faces when starting up a business. I won't deny that I was sold on this idea of "Create website + Put a business on Google LSA + Hire contractors = Big Moneys 🤑" I thought this would be a pretty simple come up, but I learned quickly that that's not the case. Below I'll talk about why I’m leaving, go over some common myths I see, and what my future plans are, and some other stuff.
I hope that this post reaches anyone interested in doing this business — not to deter you from doing it, but rather as a forewarning for what you may be getting into. (Hint: It's not sitting on your ass all day while contractors and VAs do the work for you.) I think there’s a lot of value in learning from other people’s experiences and mistakes, and please remember that this is just my personal experience — results may vary.

Why did I start a cleaning business in the first place? Why am I leaving now?

Truthfully, I had dreams of achieving “financial freedom” and living the good life. I wanted to build "passive income" while enjoying a relaxed life, living where I wanted to, driving what I wanted to, and ultimately doing what I wanted to. In the guru space, the cleaning business is sold with these dreams in mind, and I genuinely believed that it was the path that I was headed down. It was only a matter of time and hard work. Looking back now, I realize these reasons were a bit superficial. Not necessarily in and of themselves, but as a premise for getting into this business. This led to me realizing something really important, that is probably the underlying lesson learned: If you don’t have passion or genuine interest, you will probably burn out. If you don’t burn out, then honestly more power to you. For me, I reached a point where I had to ask myself if this was what I really wanted to do. If, for potentially the next 5-10 years, I would be happy and fulfilled with this pursuit. As you now know, the answer was no.
Now, I definitely consider myself entrepreneurial and I love business — it energizes me, it’s one of the few things I find truly engaging and get excited about. But one of the main reasons I’m shutting down is that I have zero passion for this business at all. I actually did some cleanings myself in order to learn what was going down, and I absolutely hated it. I went out and put flyers on mailboxes and hated it. I hated talking about my business to people. I hated being the little guy on the block while the franchises and the 300+ five star review businesses were booming with business. I don’t think many people talk about this, but getting over this curve at the very beginning is really tough. Not just in a business sense but also psychologically — you’re really grinding from the ground up. I also have zero connections in the area, so I couldn’t really ask around for referrals to build upon. So yeah. I knew all of this at first, and I thought I’d be able to toughen through it. But again, I think it comes back down to the lack of passion that I had. I didn’t have it in me to push through, probably because deep down I didn’t really want to. And I think that’s okay. You’re allowed to not like stuff. I'm still happy that I went and did it instead of always having wondered “What if?” There were a lot of good lessons learned from this experience.

Grievances

Now, I want to dive into some of the specifics. Particularly, I want to debunk some of the things I hear and don’t hear from content creators, gurus, and people on the internet.

1. The Contractor Model & Getting Employees

This: I genuinely don't understand how people get away with doing this. When I started off I used contractors and found it VERY difficult to control the quality of work, as well as ensure what would actually be done during the cleaning, whilst maintaining a legal relationship with contractors. As I'm sure most of you know, you can't provide training or anything like that to contractors, and it's a bit harder to hold them accountable. If you see my last post you'll see some of my horror stories from the beginning (stealing cash, messing up cleanings), and in the end there wasn't much I could do about it. I decided to work with some part-time employees, but this honestly opened up a whole new world of problems to be solved. Getting supplies, where to store supplies, learning about the chemicals, training the cleaners, what exactly to include in cleanings, getting payroll stuff set up, managing the cleaners, etc. to name a few. Keep in mind that prior to this I had no experience with actual cleaning outside of cleaning my own home. So I knew there was a mountain of learning ahead of me. Which is fine, that’s how starting a business is. Except for one thing: this technically wasn’t “part of the original deal.” I was just supposed to do business stuff, and let the cleaners clean. The majority of online guru advice you see just simplifies this into “hiring contractors,” or even to take it further it’s just a matter of “getting good employees.” There’s actually so much more that comes with it though. This was one of the biggest factors in me deciding to stop the business, again tying it back to the lack of passion. When it came down to me actually learning the cleaning stuff, I hated it. So keep this in mind. If you do want to go the employee route, you might have to get into the trenches yourself, and you might find out that you do not actually like it. Again, a lot of these internet personalities claim to use contractors and have really successful businesses. I mean I guess it technically is possible, but I felt really anxious about not having quality control over what’s going on, and having that lack of security. There’s really nothing stopping a contractor from fucking you over. I know it’s the same with employee, but it still feels a little different by principle. Dunno. If it’s really working for them and anyone else, more power to them. The employees that I did have were great, but they were family friends so it came with a bit of strings attached and there were just some nuances that I won’t get in to.

1. The Intimate Nature of the Business

This is something I rarely hear talked about online. This is relevant to both the business aspect and the cleaning aspect of things. From a business side, it’s actually kind of hard to convince people to let complete strangers come in to their houses. I know it seems intuitive but again, I never hear it mentioned. Pair it with the fact that you’re a newer business with <20 reviews and you’re going up against long time businesses: Who do you think people are going to choose? Who would you choose to clean your house? I’m definitely not saying you can’t build your reputation up, but it takes a lot of work and grit. It’s not just “Slap your business on Google LSA and your phone will ring off the hook!” From a cleaning side, it is soooo much different cleanin in someone else’s home than cleaning your own home. I hear people say all the time how “they love to clean” and what not. I like to clean too, my space is pretty well kept. But when you go into someone else’s space and you have to get up close and personal with their mess, with their problems, with their own life, it’s really a different experience. Maybe some people don’t feel this way but this was a huge problem I had. It’s pretty difficult psychologically. Granted, I had one really, really bad experience with this but I’ll save it since this post is going to be pretty long as it is. (If you want to hear just lmk in the comments.)

1. Dealing with People

This isn’t really addressed by the guru’s. Dealing with people is not always that easy. Everyone has their own preferences, they want extra this, extra that, discount this, add on that, etc. It’s not always going to be that you have a good client that’s straightforward, wants to book, and goes through with that booking. Again, it seems pretty obvious, but it’s rarely mentioned. If you’re not that comfortable with sales and talking to the variety of personalities that the world has to offer, this might be something that’s difficult to deal with.

1. Being a Solopreneur

Not directly related to the residential cleaning business, but it is tough doing this on your own. For context, I’ve had a couple of ventures in the past that I did with friends that didn’t end up working out, but I always carried this sentiment with me that I could run a business on my own, and that I would do it more efficiently, it would be easier, etc. I can’t stress how difficult it is when you’re liable for everything that’s going on, and you have no one to help. It sucks. I’m glad that I learned this lesson, but damn my respects to solopreneurs out there, you have to be really mentally tough for this.

Final Numbers

I’m not going to go into much depth with this. I did a little spreadsheet last post but tbh I don’t really feel like it this time (sorry). We ultimately did $4.3k in revenue, and around $5k in expenses, including maybe like $1-2k of my own money that I sank into this. Honestly not a huge loss considering how much some people invest into their businesses from the jump. I’d say it was money well spent considering the lessons I learned. I will say this: If you do start something like this, don’t listen to the guru’s that say “You need this booking software! This accounting software! Etc! Etc!” I honestly sunk a lot of money into that stuff, and in hindsight I probably could have gone this whole time without it. Yes, it’s nice when you do have it, but it’s not really worth the cost when you don’t have much volume to start with. I think I had the idea in my head that I was going to be booming with business so I needed to “be prepared.” Honestly, take care of the absolute necessary’s first (LLC if you want, insurance, bonding) and get the extra stuff once it actually makes sense.

Consider your background

I think this is important to touch upon. There’s a narrative that I see that goes something like this: "Degrees are worthless, plumbers, electricians, lawn care owners make six-figures. You should do the same!” And then I guess presumably you are supposed to hear this and follow a similar path. As you know, I kind of fell into this narrative. I figured cleaning can make good money, the numbers made sense, so why couldn't I do it? Let me say something really quickly though. You might not be cut out for this kind of thing. I definitely wasn’t. I’m going to be honest, I don’t come from riches but I do come from middle class: solid upbringing, good university, parents got me a car in high school, you know the vibes. I usually had to work jobs to support myself, but I had a cushion to land on if it really came down to it.
Now, let’s think about the demographic that ends up doing these harder, boots-on-the-ground, laborious jobs: e.g. Plumber, electrician, lawn care, house cleaning, (I’ll just refer to them as “blue collar” jobs for the sake of brevity). Oftentimes, it’s not people that end up with business or accounting degrees, or even get the opportunity to pursue higher education or whatever. Not that that's a bad thing, but it's just what it is (or what I've noticed at least).
Like we established, I do come from the latter category, and as we know, I (and I’m now seeing many others online) tried to do a little segway into the former category.
I say all this to say, that you need to think long and hard about if you’re actually cut out for this. Because blue collar work is no joke, and if you think you’re just going to waltz in and play Mr. Capitalist and rake in a bunch of money while others do the tough work, you should reconsider what happens when it comes time for you to step in and get your hands dirty. For anyone that doesn’t actually know, cleaning a house is hard asf. If you’re considering going into this business, I encourage you to try deep cleaning a house that isn’t yours. You’ll see. This whole section might be personally anecdotal, and I hope that this doesn’t come off as patronizing, but I see a lot of people similar to me thinking that they can just follow the magic formula presented online, not realizing that they're entering a whole different world. After all this, I have even more respect for people that do blue collar work, boots on the ground, every day. It’s a grind that a lot of people will never know or understand.

So what’s next?

It’s definitely bittersweet leaving the business. Despite not going on for long, I put a lot into it; it’s pretty much everything I thought about for the last few months. I had a lot of hopes and expectations for this to not only work out, but I also thought I was going to become rich af lol 😂 I’m not saying it’s not possible, but please be wary that you will not get rich quick. At least not without being unethical in some shape or form. Up until now I’ve only really done small businesses for work. It’s provided a ton of unique experiences and lessons that were priceless and that I’m extremely grateful for, but it’s been extremely exhausting and stressful doing this for the past few years. I’m still pretty young, and I think that after learning everything I have, I’m ready to try to segway into some career of sorts. I’m looking heavily into a sales career (maybe tech). I think it would be really nice to hone in on one particular skill (rather than try to manage ten things at once), and I like how transferable sales is, in case one day I do decide I want to come back and try my hand at another business. I’m sure this isn’t the end of my entrepreneurial journey.
Anyway, if you made it this far, thank you so much! I know this was kind of a long post but I wanted to get everything off my chest and get some closure with the business. I genuinely do hope that this provides some value and insight to someone. I get a lot of my own information from people’s stories on Reddit and conversations with them, so I hope I can return the favor. I look forward to your questions and discussions in the comments, and let me know if I can help you out in any way! Best of luck to everyone and their own pursuits :)

Hi everyone! Looking to liquidate most of the games and consoles that I have as an extra. Pictures and videos have been included and updated. Shipping is included, prices are negotiable and discounted bundles are offered. More pictures and details will be provided per request. I may be at work so replies may take a while.
EVERYTHING [CONSOLE AND GAMES] PRICE: $199
Consoles: [Stylus, SD Card and Chargers are NOT included unless stated. Screens are working and no yellowing unless stated otherwise.]

• Nintendo DS Lite Pink [Item Only] - $36
  • Re-shell. Stylus and GBA slot cover included. Touch screen works but is not precise. Some dust inside the screens.
• Nintendo DS Lite Pink [Item Only] - $36
  • Minor cracks throughout the shell.
• Nintendo DS Lite Black [Item Only] - $34
  • Major scratches in bottom screen. Slight yellowing in top screen.
• 1x Replacement DS Lite Charger - $4 with a purchase of a ds lite.
• 1x Original PSP Charger - $12

[BROKEN/FOR PARTS] Consoles: [Some of these I never got a chance to fix, my skills weren't fitted for the repair, were cost heavy.]

• PSP 3000 [Item and parts] - $18
  • Re-shell gone wrong. Will be selling this item as parts only, specifically working motherboard and speakers. Anything else is questionable.
• Replacement DS Lite Top Screen [No speakers included]- $16

Games:
Nintendo Switch

• Assassin's Creed: The Rebel Collection [Item only] - $16

3DS

• Animal Crossing: New Leaf [CIB] - $21
• Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer [Item only] - $15
• Bit Trip Saga [CIB] - $13
• Bravely Default [Item only] - $23
• Super Smash Bros [Item only] - $10
• Monster Hunter Generations [CIB] - $10
• Story of Season: Trio of Towns [CIB] - $32
• Stella Glow [CIB] - $50

DS

• Animal Crossing Wild World [Item only] - $26
• Final Fantasy IV [Item only] - $17
• Dungeon Explorer [Item only] - $15
• Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise [Item only] - $17
• Rhythm Paradise [Item only] - $10

DS [Lower End Games] [Bundled Price: $16]

• Club Penguin Elite Penguin Force: Herbert's Revenge [Item only]
• LEGO Star Wars Complete Saga [Item only]
• Scooby-Doo First Frights [Item only]
• Hannah Montana Music Jam [Item only]
• Frozen: Olaf's Quest [Item only]
• Charm Girls Club: My Perfect Prom [Item only]
• Chronicles of Narnia Lion Witch and the Wardrobe [Item only]
• Moshi Monsters: Moshling Zoo [Item only]
• Paws & Claws Pampered Pets [Item only]
• Littlest Pet Shop Winter [Item only]
• Littlest Pet Shop Garden [Item only]
• Littlest Pet Shop Jungle [Item only]
• Imagine Fashion Designer [Item only]

Gamecube

• Pitfall The Lost Expedition [CIB] - $15

XBOX One

• Assassin's Creed: Unity [Item only] - $8
• Call of Duty Ghosts [Item only] -$8

PSP

• God of War Chains of Olympus [CIB] - $24
• SOCOM US Navy Seals Fireteam Bravo 2 [CIB] - $8
• Coded Arms [CIB] - $10

PS5

• Assassin's Creed Valhalla [CIB] - $12
• Marvel Spiderman: Miles Morales [Item only] -$12
• Jurassic World Evolution 2 [Brand New] - $25

●Movies Anywhere●
•(Bundles)•
•Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection Volume 1 (4k) (4 Movie) (One Code)
1: The Birds (4K)
2: Psycho (4K)
3: Rear Window (4K)
4: Vertigo (4K)
•Best of the 2000's 10 Film Collection (4K/HD) (One Code)
1: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (HD) (10-Film)
2: Best in Show (HD) (10-Film)
3: The Departed (4K) (10-Film)
4: A History of Violence (HD) (10-Film)
5: The Hangover (4K) (10-Film)
6: I Am Legend (4K) (10-Film)
7: Letters From Iwo Jima (HD) (10-Film)
8: Mystic River (HD) (10-Film)
9: Ocean's Eleven (HD) (10-Film)
10: Pan's Labyrinth (4K) (10-Film)
•Halloween Trilogy (4k) (One Code)
1: Halloween (2018) (4K)
3: Halloween Ends (4K)
2: Halloween Kills (4K)
•High On Your Watch List 8-Film Collection (HD) (MA) (One Code)
1: Due Date (HD) (8-Film)
2: Friday (HD) (8-Film)
3: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (HD) (MA) (8-Film)
4: House Party (HD) (MA) (8-Film)
5: Inherent Vice (HD) (MA) (8-Film)
6: Project X (HD) (MA) (8-Film)
7: Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny (HD) (MA) (8-Film)
8: We're the Millers (HD) (MA) (8-Film)
•Men in Black Trilogy (4k) (One Code)
1: Men in Black (4K)
2: Men in Black 2 (4K)
3: Men In Black 3 (4K)
•Meryl Streep 8-film Collection (4K/HD) (MA) (One Code)
1: Death Becomes Her (HD) (8-Film)
2: It's Complicated (HD) (8-Film)
3: Mama Mia!: The Movie (4K) (8-Film)
4: Mama Mia!: Here We Go Again (4K) (8-Film)
5: One True thing (HD) (8-Film)
6: Out of Africa (HD) (8-Film)
7: Prime (HD) (8-Film)
8: The River Wild (HD) (8-Film)
•(4K)•
1917 (4K)
2 Guns (4K)
Abominable (4K)
The Abyss (4K)
Aliens (4K)
Ambulance (4K)
American Gangster (Extended Edition) (4k)
Annie (4K)
Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania (4K)
Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (4K)
As Good As It Gets (4K)
Avatar: The Way of Water (4k)
Avatar: The Way of Water (Collector's Edition) (4k)
Avengers (4K)
Babylon 5: The Road Home (4K)
Backdraft (4k)
Battleship (4K)
The Batman (4k)
Big Hero 6 (4K) (MA Split)
The Big Lebowski (4K)
Black Hawk Down (Theatrical & Extended) (4K)
Black Panther Wakanda Forever (4k) (MA Split)
Black Widow (4k) (MA Split)
Bloodshot (4K)
The Blues Brothers (4K) (Theatrical & Unrated)
Bullet Train (4k)
Cinderella (4K) (MA Split)
A Christmas Story (4k)
Cliffhanger (4k)
Concussion (4K)
Cruella (4K)
The Dark Crystal (4k)
District 9 (4K)
Do the Right Thing (4K)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (4K)
Doom (4K)
Dr. Strangelove (4k)
Encanto (4K)
Enter the Dragon (4k)
Eternals (4K)
Evil Dead Rise (4k)
The Exorcist (4k) (Theatrical & Extended)
The Exorcist: Believer (4K)
The Fabelmans (4k)
The Fast and the Furious (4k)
Fast X (4k)
Field of Dreams (4k)
The Forever Purge (4K)
Free Guy (4k)
From Here to Eternity (4k)
Fury (4k)
Get Out (4K)
Ghostbusters Afterlife (4K)
Glass (4K)
Glory (4K)
Godzilla (1998) (4K)
Gran Turismo (4K)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (4K)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (4K)
The Guns of Navarone (4k)
Heat (4k)
Heavy Metal (4K)
Hellboy (2004) (4k)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (4K)
His Girl Friday (4K)
Hobbs and Shaw (4k)
Hocus Pocus 4k (MA Split)
In the Line of Fire (4K)
Invisible Man (4k)
It Happened One Night 4k
Jaws (4k)
Jaws 2 (4k)
Jumanji (1995) (4k)
Jurassic World Dominion (4K)
Jurrasic World Fallen Kingdom (4K)
Kick Ass 2 (4k)
King Kong (2005) (Theatrical) (4k)
Kramer Vs Kramer (4K)
Last Actio Hero (4K)
The Last Picture Show (4K)
Lawrence of Arabia (4k)
The Lion King (Animated) (4K)
The Lion King (Live Action) (4k)
The Little Mermaid (2023) (4k)
The Lost Boys (4k)
The Martian (Extended Edition) (4k)
Meg 2: The Trench (4K)
Moon (4K)
Morbius (4K)
Mulan (2020) (4K)
National Lampoon's Animal House (4k)
National Lampoon's Vacation (4k)
Oblivion (4k)
Oliver (4k)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (4k)
Onward (4K) (MA Split)
Oppenheimer (4k)
Parasite (4k)
Paprika (4K)
Poltergeist (4k)
Predator (4k)
The Prestige (4k) (MA Split)
The Prince of Egypt (4k)
Punch Drunk Love (4K)
The Raid Redemption (4K)
Rebel Without a Cause (4k)
R.I.P.D. (4K)
Rudy (4k)
Sense and Sensibility (4k)
Schindler's List (4k)
Shang Chi (4K)
To Sir With Love (4k)
Sleepless in Seattle (4K)
Smokey and the Bandit (4k)
Snow White (4K) (MA Split)
Soul (4k) (MA Split)
Spartacus (4k )
Speed (4K)
Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse 4k
Spies in Disguise (4K) (MA) (Split)
Super Mario Bros. (4k)
Starman (4K)
Tár (4k)
Training Day (4k)
Unbreakable (4K) (MA Split)
Venom (4K)
Violent Night (4K)
West Side Story (4K) (MA Split)
Whiplash (4K)
Zero Dark Thirty (4K)
Zombieland (4k)
•(HD)•
Ant-Man & The Wasp (HD MA) (Split) (MA)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (HD) (MA Split)
Beauty and the Beast (HD MA) (MA) (Split)
Black Panther (HD MA) (Split) (MA)
Black Phone (HD) (MA)
The Breakfast Club (HD)
Brother Bear (HD) (MA)
Brother Bear 2 (HD) (MA)
Captain America: Civil War (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Captain America: The First Avenger (HD MA) (Split)
Captain America: Winter Soldier (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Despicable Me 2 (HD) (MA Split)
A Dog's Purpose (HD) (MA Split)
The Fast and the Furious 6 (Extended Edition) (HD) (MA Split)
The Gunman (HD) (MA Split)
Hercules (Disney) (HD) (MA Split)
Hocus Pocus (HD) (MA) (Split)
Home (2015) (HD) (MA)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (HD) (MA Split)
The Huntsman: Winter's War (HD) (MA Split)
Jarhead 2 (Unrated) (HD) (MA Split)
Jurrasic Park HD MA (Split)
Jurrasic Park: The Lost World HD MA (Split)
Jurrasic Park 3 HD MA Split)
Jurrasic Park 3 HD MA
Jurrasic World HD MA (Split)
Les Misérables (HD) (MA Split)
Megan Leavey (HD) (MA Split)
The Menu (HD) (MA)
My All American (HD) (MA Split)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (HD MA) (Split)
The Nut Job (HD) (MA Split)
Oz the Great and Powerful (HD) (MA Split)
Peter Pan (HD)
Pitch Perfect (HD)
Pitch Perfect 2 (HD)
Point Break (HD) (1991)
Rio (HD)
Rise of the Guardians (HD) (MA Split)
Sleeping Beauty (HD MA) (MA) (Split)
Snow White (HD MA) (MA) (Split)
Snow White & the Huntsman HD (MA Split)
Straight Outta Compton (Theatrical) HD (MA Split)
Straight Outta Compton (Unrated) HD (MA Split)
Sword in the Stone 60th Anniversary Edition HD (MA Split)
Thor Love & Thunder HD (MA Split)
Upgrade (HD)
When the Game Stands Tall HD
Willow (HD) (MA Split)
●Google Play Disney Splits●
•(HD)•
101 Dalmatians 2 (HD GP)
Ant-Man & The Wasp (HD GP)
Atlantis: Milo's Return (HD GP)
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (HD GP)
Avatar: The Way of Water (HD GP)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (HD GP)
Avengers: Endgame (HD GP)
Bambi (HD GP)
Banshees of Inisherin (HD GP)
Beauty & the Beast (HD GP)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (HD GP)
Big Hero 6 (HD GP)
Black Panther (HD GP)
Black Panther Wakanda Forever (HD GP)
Black Widow (HD GP)
Brave (HD GP)
Bridge of spies (HD GP)
Captain Marvel (HD GP)
Captain America: Civil War (HD GP)
Captain America: Winter Soldier (HD GP)
Captain America: The First Avenger (HD GP)
Cinderella (Animated) (HD GP)
Coco (HD GP)
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom (HD GP)
Doctor Strange (HD GP)
Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness (HD GP)
Dumbo (Animated) (HD GP)
The Emperor's New Groove (HD GP)
Finding Dory (HD GP)
Finding Nemo (HD GP)
The Fox and the Hound (HD GP)
The French Dispatch (HD GP)
Frozen (Sing-Along Edition) (HD GP)
Hocus Pocus (HD GP)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (HD GP)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2 (HD GP)
Iron Man 3 (HD GP)
The Jungle Book (Animated) (HD GP)
The Jungle Book 2 (HD GP)
Kings Man (HD GP)
Kronk's New Groove (HD GP)
The Last Duel (HD GP)
Lightyear (HD GP)
The Lion King (Animated) (HD GP)
The Lion King (Live Action) (HD GP)
The Little Mermaid 3 (HD GP)
Luca (HD GP)
Maleficent (HD GP)
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (HD GP)
McFarland U.S.A (HD GP)
Mickey's Christmas Carol (HD GP)
Million Dollar Arm (HD GP)
Moana (HD GP)
Monsters Inc (HD GP)
Mulan (2020) (HD GP)
Muppets Most Wanted (HD GP)
Nightmare Alley (HD GP)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (HD GP)
Onward (HD GP)
Oz the Great and Powerful (HD GP)
Peter Pan HD (GP)
Pete's Dragon (Live Action) (HD GP)
Pixar Short Films Volume 3 (HD GP)
Pocahontas (HD GP)
The Prestige (HD GP)
Ratatouille (HD GP)
Raya and the Last Dragon (HD GP)
Robin Hood (HD GP)
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (HD GP)
The Santa Clause (HD GP)
Sleeping Beauty (HD GP)
Snow White (HD GP)
Soul (HD GP)
Spies in Disguise (HD GP)
Star Wars: A New Hope (HD GP)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (HD GP)
Star Wars: The Last Jedi (HD GP)
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (HD GP)
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (HD GP)
Sword in the Stone 60th Anniversary Edition (HD GP)
Thor Love & Thunder (HD GP)
Thor Ragnarok (HD GP)
Tomorrowland (HD GP)
Unbreakable (HD GP)
West Side Story (HD GP)
A Wrinkle In Time (HD GP)
Zootopia (HD GP)
●iTunes●
•(4K)•
Allied (4k) (iTunes Split)
Annihilation (4K) (iTunes Split)
Avengers: Endgame (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Captain Marvel (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Daddy's Home (4K) (iTunes Split)
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (4k iTunes) (MA)
Despicable Me 2 (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Despicable Me 3 (4K iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Doctor Strange (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Everest (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
The Fast & the Furious 6 (Extended Edition) (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Finding Dory (4k iTunes) (split) (MA)
Forest Gump (4K) (iTunes Split)
Gemini Man (4K) (iTunes Split)
Ghost in the Shell (Live Action) (4k iTunes Split)
Heat (4k iTunes) (MA)
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Iron Man 3 (4K iTunes Split) (MA)
Joy (4k iTunes) (MA)
Jurrasic Park (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Jurrasic Park: The Lost World (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Jurrasic World (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
The Kingsman Secret Service (4k iTunes) (MA)
La La Land (4k) (iTunes) (Split)
Les Misérables (4K iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Lone Survivor (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Maleficent (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (4K iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Moana (4K iTunes) (Split) (MA)
No Time To Die (4k)
Rocketman (4K) (iTunes Split)
Sicario (4K) (iTunes) (Split)
Sleeping Beauty (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Thor Ragnarok (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
War for the Planet of the Apes (4K iTunes) (MA)
Warcraft (4k iTunes) (Split) (MA)
Why Him (4k iTunes) (MA)
•(HD)•
All Eyes On Me (HD) (iTunes Split)
An Inconvenient Sequal: Truth to Power (HD) (iTunes Split)
The Big Short (HD iTunes) (Split)
Cheech and Chong: Up in Smoke (HD) (iTunes Split)
Den of Thieves (HD) (iTunes Split)
Good Kill (HD) (iTunes Split)
The Guilt Trip (HD) (iTunes Split)
I, Frankenstein (HD) (iTunes Split)
Megan Leavey (HD) (iTunes Split) (MA)
Nebraska (HD) (iTunes Split)
The Nut Job (HD) (iTunes Split) (MA)
Rise of the Guardians (HD) (iTunes Split) (MA)
Top Five (HD) (Itunes Split)
●Vudu●
•(4K)•
Annihilation (4K) (Vudu Split)
Apocalypse Now (Triple Feature) (4k) (Vudu)
Creed 3 (4k) (Vudu Only)
Daddy's Home (4K) (Vudu Split)
Early Man (4k) (Vudu)
Ender's Game (4k) (Vudu)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (4K) (Vudu)
Forest Gump (4K) (Vudu Split)
Gemini Man (4K) (Vudu Split)
Ghost in the Shell (2017) (4K) (Vudu Split)
Highlander (4k) (Vudu)
La La Land (4k) (Vudu Split)
The Man Who Fell to Earth 4K (Vudu)
The Mist 4k (Vudu)
Ran 4k (Vudu)
Rocketman (4K) (Vudu Split)
The Secret Garden 4K (Vudu)
Sicario 4K (Vudu Split)
Source Code 4k (Vudu)
Ugly Dolls 4k (Vudu)
•(HD)•
The Big Short (HD) (Vudu Split)
●Lionsgate●
•(4K)•
Apocalypse Now (Triple Feature) 4k (Vudu)
Belly 4k (Vudu)
The Cabin in the Woods 4k (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
Early Man 4k (Vudu)
Ender's Game 4k (Vudu)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (4K) (Vudu)
Expendables (4K) (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
Expendables 2 (4K) (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
Fall 4k (Vudu, iTunes)
Hacksaw Ridge 4K (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
Highlander 4k (Vudu)
The Hitman's Bodygaurd 4k (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
The Hitman's Wife's Bodygaurd 4k (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
Jigsaw 4k (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
John Wick Chapter 4 4k (Vudu, iTunes)
La La Land 4k (Vudu, iTunes) (Split)
The Man Who Fell to Earth 4K (Vudu)
The Mist 4k (Vudu)
Plane 4k (Vudu, iTunes)
Ran 4k (Vudu)
Requiem for a Dream (4K) ( Vudu, iTunes)
Reservoir Dogs (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
The Secret Garden 4K (Vudu)
Sisu 4K (Vudu, iTunes)
Source Code 4k (Vudu)
Total Recall 4k (1990) (Vudu, iTunes)
Ugly Dolls 4k (Vudu)
•(HD)•
Blue Steel (HD) (Vudu)
Dementia 13 (Director's Cut) (HD Vudu or Google Play) (4k iTunes)
Dream a Little Dream HD (Vudu or Google Play)
Extreme Prejudice HD (Vudu or Google Play)
I Still Believe (HD Vudu) or (4k iTunes)
Little Monsters (HD) (Vudu, Google Play)
My Best Friend is a Vampire HD (Vudu)
Shivers (HD) (Vudu, Google Play)
The Wickerman HD (From 4k but redeems HD for now) (Vudu)
●Paramount●
•(4K)•
Annihilation (4k) (Vudu, iTunes) (Split)
Babylon (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
Braveheart (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
Coming to America (4k) (Vudu, iTunes, Google Play)
Crawl (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
Days of Thunder (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
Dragonslayer (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
The Firm (4k) (Vudu)
Flashdance (4K) (Vudu)
Forest Gump (4k) (Vudu, iTunes) (Split)
Gladiator (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
The Godfather Coda (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
Interstellar (4K) (Vudu or iTunes)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
Love & Monsters (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
A Quiet Place Part 2 (4K) (Vudu or ITunes)
Rosemary's Baby (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
Scream (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
Scream 2 (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
Scream 3 (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
Scream 5 (2022) (4k) ( Vudu or iTunes)
Scream 6 (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
Sleepy Hollow (4k) (Vudu)
Sonic (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
The Sum of All Fears (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
Super 8 (4K) (Vudu or iTunes)
Sweeny Todd (4k) (Vudu)
Terms of Endearment (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
Titanic (4K) (Vudu, iTunes)
Top Gun (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
Top Gun Maverick (4k) (Vudu or iTunes)
The Truman Show (4K) (Vudu)
The Untouchables (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
Vanilla Sky (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
War of the Worlds (2005) (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
The Wolf of Wall Street (4k) (Vudu, iTunes)
•(HD)•
Mean Girls (2004) (HD Vudu, 4k iTunes)
Wonder Park (HD Vudu, 4k iTunes)

Man has this Sub changed. When I first joined early feb, there was less than 200 people. All good boys, barely made a peep.
Fast forward 2 months and we're on fire. Roaring Lions. Kings. On top of the world. Nobody could stop us.
1 month later.
Limp. Geeks. Crying.
Why da stock go down mommy?
The smallest gust of wind. The tiniest bit of pain. A grazed knee.
Now we have amnesia all of a sudden. As if all the solid DD, still visible in this sub reddit, has vanished.
Poof.
Gone.
Mu... Mu... Mu... Maybe the sh-short we're right? Maybe ru... ru... Rily is a fraud after all?
Then sell it Dork. Sell it, like you sold all those other stocks after a wittle dip.
I've seen war in the stock markets. Literal warfare against companies.
There's highs and there's lows.
And somehow, all the dorks manage to sell low.
Never once thinking "what if I just suck it up, and sell when its high"
I've said it once, and I'll say it again.
I would have more respect for you if you sold it when it shot up.
When we were Kings.
Now? You might as well have been a short.
But here's some advice. Don't come back to us when we're Kings again. Then you'll get really hurt.

I made a list:

House White Mask

House Uniform: White Mask
House weapon: Rivers of Blood
House Words: “heh nothing personnel kid heh.”
This house is known for its affinity for bleed weapons and iconic white masks. The majority of this house runs Rivers of Blood, though it is not unusual to see the occasional Mohgwyn priest with Mohg’s Spear. Eleonora’s Poleblade and double Reduvia daggers are also common sightings. They often prefer to wear raven feathers, though again, the Mohgwyn priests might be pimped out in more luxurious attire befitting a kid diddler.
Those who wrong the White Masks are mercilessly hunted and L2’ed at, even when the target repeatedly casually walks out of range of the L2 attack.
A social people, it is not uncommon to find an entire squad of White Masks all working together. They are unlikely to seek work as sellswords for anyone else outside of House White Mask. This appears to be related to some sort of social dynamic, as reports suggest White Masks rarely perform well when alone, but seem to benefit from each other’s presence. As such, they much prefer to stick to their own and are generally hostile towards outsiders.
However, they are not as aggressive as one might think and function similarly to hyenas, preferring to outnumber their prey, quickly running away when faced directly. Due to cripplingly low HP values, the White Masks rarely trust themselves to actively go out and hunt their prey, and they often fail to do so when they try. Instead, they prefer to band together, hoping to overpower any predators that come looking for them. Should they successfully band together and ambush a predator, they are known for their celebration rituals where they point down and crouch repeatedly.

House Ranni Simps

House Uniform: Snow Witch Hat, Carian Knight's Set, Blaidd's Set
House weapon: Moonveil
House Words: “Ranni’s war crimes are greatly exaggerated and she did nothing wrong.”
This house has an affinity for all things magic, sporting a wide array of magical arsenal at their fingertips, from moon projectiles to icy swords to calling down spears from the heavens. A diverse bunch, the Ranni Simps can be found either mimicking their queen’s dress to honor her, or dawning the armor of one of her many elite guard. The most common tools used in the name of Princess Ranni are Moonveil and the Darkmoon Greatsword.
A frail people with low HP, House Ranni Simps are often found being escorted to bosses by others, preferring to take free potshots at their enemies from the backlines, not knowing how to react in close quarters combat.
Similar to House White Mask, House Ranni Simps rarely hunts on their own. They are a less aggressive bunch that is more likely to focus on finding suitable bodyguards to escort them through the game, rather than attempting to ambush others.
House Ranni Simps seems to have little goals or interests beyond getting their princess onto the throne, and they’re willing to throw countless bodies at their enemies to achieve this goal. They react particularly allergically to anyone that would dare speak ill of their beloved lunar princess.

House Guts

House Uniform: Night’s Cavalry Armor
House weapon: Greatsword
House Words: “Do you want to making fuck BERSERRRRKERRR.”
House Guts are a simple folk. They like Berserk, they like big weapons, and they like cosplaying as Guts. It is believed that House Guts is actually the result of a cloning experiment gone wrong, with literally dozens of clones having escaped a lab and populated the Lands Between.
Despite what one might think about a band of clones, House Guts displays some of the most diverse behaviors of any group. Some hunt, some work as sellswords, some hire sellswords, and some even seem to wind up so confused that they end up using Rivers of Blood or magic spells somehow.
Their similarities tend to arise far more in their fighting style, where the Greatsword is overwhelmingly dominant, even if there are rare detractors from this pattern. Their signature technique is the Lion’s Claw, a devastating move that launches them up in the air before bringing their greatsword down on their opponents…assuming of course, they actually manage to land it, that is…
What they lack in wit, they make up with by being hardier than most other houses. If nothing else, they can tank a hit and get back up after.

House Tryhard

House Uniform: Lionel’s Set, Tree Sentinel Armor, Haligtree Knight Helm
House weapon: Every weapon under the sun quickswitched back-to-back in rapid succession
House Words: “We do not lose.” (and if you do just pretend your internet suddenly got cut)
House Tryhard is known for their vicious and relentless nature. Unlike other groups within the Lands Between, House Tryhard does not have one single signature weapon or fighting style it’s known for. The closest to this would probably be the double lance fighting style, though it would be a mischaracterization to attempt to pin this House down to any one fighting style. House Tryhard values diversity and adaptation to the various obstacles faced.
For reasons unknown, House Tryhard does however seem particularly fond of Lionel’s set and the Tree Sentinel armor, often with the Haligtree Knight Helm mixed in specifically. Perhaps House Tryhard decided on a similar look, so that they would be harder to distinguish from another and harder to hunt down in response to one of their raids as a result of the confusion with finding the precise culprit…?
House Tryhard are the most active and ruthless hunters within the Lands Between. They’re known for bravely charging up against stacked odds time and time again, jumping into the fray and seemingly pulling weapons right out of their asses left and right. Most other houses fear House Tryhard and are fully willing to work together and put their differences aside if a hunter of House Tryhard shows up. It is said that he only thing keeping House Tryhard from overrunning the Lands Between is that they are relatively small in number, and so infamous amongst opposing factions that they get overwhelmed in numbers and alliances by other houses whenever they attempt to grab for power. As a result, it is very rare for a member of House Tryhard to ever work as a sellsword or aid others in any way, instead only participating in self-interested behaviors.
House Tryhard are also world-class sprinters. They have won the 500m dash Olympic Title within the Lands between every year since it’s inception. They use this ability to their advantage whenever a battle isn’t going their way.
Finally, House Tryhard seems to possess the unique ability to disappear into thin air. Survivors of an assault by House Tryhard report the hunter mysteriously disappearing into thin air just before they were about to collapse from their wounds. It is unknown if this is just how those with the blood of House Tryhard actually perish, if they possess some sort of invisibility magic, or if some other force is quickly teleporting them away from the danger. Those that are witnessed actually dying are rarely seen again, perhaps cast out from the house entirely as punishment for their failure.

House Radahn

House Uniform: General Radahn’s set
House Weapon: Any boss weapon ever
House Words: “If I unlocked it for beating a boss, it is good.”
House Radahn is the result of survivors of the Radahn Festival. Having nowhere left to go after the conclusion of the Radahn Festival, the people who would become House Radahn began gathering together, united by their mutual confusion about what they were supposed to do next.
Members of House Radahn can vary heavily in fighting style, the one constant being their signature golden armor, which they proudly dawn in memory of their victory over the sickly General Radahn. Their weapon of choice tends to often be whichever weapon they happened to find laying about on the ground first. They put particular value in any tool found within the hands of a fallen God, opting to rely on the chosen tools of former Gods over more untested tools of warfare.
Their entire identity revolving around the Radahn Festival, it’s members once won a legendary battle by summoning as many random people as they could to fight the bosses for them. This is a practice that members of House Radahn continue to honor to this day, as they are the most common customers for sellswords.
A passive people, members of House Radahn will rarely ever pick unnecessary fights with others. It is an extremely rare sight to see any of them hunting another person. They much prefer to handle the politics of the Lands Between defensively, only seeking aid when necessary (AKA always) and never poking the hornet’s nest.
Did I forget anyone?

Me (18F) and Charles (fake name, 19M) have been friends for some months since we started college. Even though we really bonded, I have noticed that he may not be a great friend.
To start, when we are alone he starts talking badly about some friends we have in common. Since he found out that my faimily has more money than his, he started to make sure to make me uncomfortable about this: he always asks me to pay something for him (even when it's expensive or unnecessary) and encourages our friends to do the same. He also does comments about the way I dress, about my hair (saying I should use better clothes and have a hair treatment since I have money enough to) and about my lifestyle and how my life is futile and frivolous because I'm white and rich (he's black and poor). Futhermore, he insists to joke about my house is far away from everything.
I tried to ignore all that because we work really well together in projects and didn't want to affect my grades because of it. However, now what he did was the last straw. We were doing a sociology project in a trio, me, him and other friend, usually I edit the projects we do but this time he asked to do it. Unfortunately, I completely forgot and edited the project. After he noticed, he started to being rude at me saying that I that this was something he couldn't forgive after all I did and he wouldn't leave the group because of our friend. Just to make clear, I didn't do nothing to him and I apoligize for my mistake.
He knows my life is kinda crazy after my gradma was diagnosed with dementia and know I'm trying to spend more time with her (specially on the weekends). This is not an excuse, but I apoligize and, sincerelly, my mistake doesn't really harm anyone to justify this kind of behaviour. As I tried to be bigger person, he asked to talk to me personally in Monday to have a real talk.
However, we are not kids anymore and I'm tired of him acting like a angry teenager all the time. So in the talk I problably gonna say that I understand his reasons, but I think we are spending to much time together and our friendship is wearing thin because of this. I also intend to unvite him to my birthday and to spend part of the summer in my beach house. (for a little bit of context: I always have huge birthday parties and schedule the date to the trip to my beach house).
(Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language)
So, AITA?

These are my June predictions for the Golden Globe nominations.
Best Drama Film:
Blitz
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Queer
The Piano Lesson
Sing Sing
Next in Line: The Nickel Boys, Hard Truths, The Apprentice, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Gladiator II, Here, Juror No. 2
Best Drama Actor:
Timothée Chalamet for Dune: Part Two
Daniel Craig for Queer
Colman Domingo for Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes for Conclave
Sebastian Stan for The Apprentice
John David Washington for The Piano Lesson
Next in Line: Paul Mescal for Gladiator II, Tom Hanks for Here, Nicholas Hoult for Juror No. 2, Andre Holland for The Actor
Best Drama Actress:
Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Hard Truths
Angelina Jolie for Maria
Jessica Lange for Long Day's Journey into Night
Saoirse Ronan for Blitz
Tilda Swinton for The Room Next Door
Robin Wright for Here
Next in Line: Noemie Merlant for Emmanuelle, Anne Hathaway for Mother Mary, Ryan Destiny for The Fire Inside, Saoirse Ronan for The Outrun, Regina King for Shirley
Best Comedy/Musical Film:
Anora
The End
Joker: Folie a Deuz
Kinds of Kindness
Nightbitch
A Real Pain
Next in Line: Challengers, Emilia Perez, Didi, Hit Man, Wicked, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
Best Comedy/Musical Actor:
Jesse Eisenberg for A Real Pain
Michael Keaton for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
George MacKay for The End
Joaquin Phoenix for Joker: Folie a Deux
Jesse Plemons for Kinds of Kindness
Glen Powell for Hit Man
Next in Line: Ryan Gosling for The Fall Guy, Josh O'Connor for Challengers, Mike Faist for Challengers, Ryan Reynolds for Deadpool & Wolverine
Best Comedy/Musical Actress:
Amy Adams for Nightbitch
Lady Gaga for Joker: Folie a Deux
Mikey Madison for Anora
Emma Stone for Kinds of Kindness
Tilda Swinton for The End
Zendaya for Challengers
Next in Line: Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Karla Sofia Gascon for Emilia Perez, Ariana Grande for Wicked, Zoe Saldana for Emilia Perez, Jenna Ortega for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Uzo Aduba for The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat
Best Supporting Actor
Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain
Samuel L. Jackson for The Piano Lesson
John Lithgow for Conclave
Clarence Maclin for Sing Sing
Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice
Stanley Tucci for Conclave
Next in Line: Harris Dickinson for Blitz, Denzel Washington for Gladiator II, Paul Raci for Sing Sing, Stephen Graham for Blitz
Best Supporting Actress
Toni Collette for Juror No. 2
Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor for The Nickel Boys
Natasha Lyonne for His Three Daughters
Lesley Manville for Queer
Isabella Rossellini for Conclave
Next in Line: Maria Bakalova for The Apprentice, Joan Chen for Didi, Hong Chau for Kinds of Kindness, Michaela Coel for Mother Mary, Julianne Moore for The Room Next Door
Best Director
Sean Baker for Anora
Edward Berger for Conclave
Luca Guadagnino for Queer
Greg Kwedar for Sing Sing
Steve McQueen for Blitz
Denis Villeneuve for Dune: Part Two
Next in Line: Todd Phillips for Joker: Folie a Deux, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, George Miller for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Joshua Oppenheimer for The End, Ridley Scott for Gladiator II, Yorgos Lanthimos for Kinds of Kindness
Best Screenplay
Anora
Blitz
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Queer
Sing Sing
Next in Line: The Piano Lesson, The Nickel Boys, A Real Pain, Joker: Folie a Deux, Kinds of Kindness
Best Animated Film
Inside Out 2
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Moana 2
Wallace and Gromit
The Wild Robot
Wildwood
Next in Line: Despicable Me 4, The Most Precious of Cargoes, The Legend of Ochi, Kung Fu Panda 4
Best Non-English Language Film
All We Imagine As Light
Didi
Emanuelle
Emilia Perez
The End
Evil Does Not Exist
Next in Line: The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Girls Will Be Girls, The Girl with the Needle, Pedro Paramo, Grand Tour
Best Original Score
Blitz
Challengers
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Joker: Folie a Deux
Sing Sing
Next in Line: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Gladiator II
Best Original Song
Song from Diane Warren: Relentless
Song from Emilia Perez
Song from The End
Song from Joker: Folie a Deux
Song from Mufasa: The Lion King
Song from Wicked
Next in Line: Song from Sing Sing, Song from Despicable Me 4, Song from Moana 2
Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Deadpool & Wolverine
Despicable Me 4
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Inside Out 2
Joker: Folie a Deux
Wicked
Next in Line: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Mufasa: The Lion King