Latest news with #conservative
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Health
- The Guardian
After 15 years of premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction, will I ever satisfy my wife?
I am a 48-year-old man. Both my wife and I come from a conservative background; we believe that sex before marriage is a sin and saved ourselves until we got married in our early 30s. Before getting married, I masturbated but never had any real sex. Our first night turned out to be a disaster. I couldn't get an erection. However, as the days passed, we managed to have sex but not to my wife's satisfaction, because I finished within 30 seconds of penetration. I think I suffer from both erectile dysfunction (ED) and premature ejaculation (PE). My ED is not consistent – I have been prescribed Viagra and use it sometimes – but my PE continues, and is taking a toll on us. My wife is uninterested in sex because she doesn't get anything out of it. It has been about 15 years now and we have two kids but our sex life has not improved. I tried couples counselling but that was more about building a bond between us (which I believe is not an issue as we love each other and can't think about being with someone else). The only missing piece in our life is satisfying sex. I would do anything to satisfy my wife but I am feeling helpless. This may seem radical to you, but a woman does not need a penis in order to be satisfied. I recommend that you learn how to give her an orgasm before you penetrate her. There are many places to find instruction about doing this, but basically you need to learn where her clitoris is and how you can touch her in an arousing and ultimately satisfying manner. Embarking on this type of exploration may seem daunting but if you can approach it as a loving couple you may be successful. Of course, your wife will have to be willing to work on this, so you will have to talk to her first and be sure she consents. The best way forward would really be to work as a couple with a good sex therapist, who could also treat your early ejaculation. Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders. If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to (please don't send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Right-Wing Leader Says Conservatives Need ‘Scalps' of Woke Wall Street CEOs
In late January, the CEO of the pro-business American Legislative Exchange Council told right-wing operatives and officials that they need a 'scalp' from one of two supposedly woke CEOs of major Wall Street firms. Lisa Nelson, who leads ALEC, was discussing Larry Fink of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, the second largest bank in the country. She appeared to be speaking metaphorically, as she struggled to refer to an unknown movie. Nelson made the comments at the Consumers' Research Summit in Sea Island, Georgia. Rolling Stone has obtained exclusive audio and documents from the event. Nelson noted she had spoken about this at breakfast. 'Whether it's Larry Fink or Brian Moynihan, we have got to take one of these guys out,' she said, presumably another metaphor. She added, 'Brian Moynihan is the guy, or Larry Fink is the guy that we should have their scalp.' ALEC is a powerful 'bill mill' that brings corporations, conservative advocates, and state legislators together to hash out right-wing, pro-business legislation that is then introduced nationwide, with a focus on red states. A spokesperson for ALEC declined to comment for this story. 'Over the past three years, the assets BlackRock manages on behalf of our clients have grown by $4 trillion to $12.5 trillion,' says a BlackRock spokesperson. 'We are focused on delivering for each and every client in every market we operate in around the world, including helping millions of Americans in states across the country retire with dignity.' Bank of America declined to comment, though a person familiar with the matter says that the bank's representatives attended ALEC's annual meeting last week. Fink and his firm BlackRock have become primary targets in conservatives' crusade against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing and initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The firm has trillions in assets under management, and manages billions of dollars for public pension funds. Because of its extensive holdings, BlackRock exerts enormous influence across the stock market through shareholder votes. In his widely-read annual letters to CEOs, Fink has written that 'climate risk is investment risk.' Moynihan, for his part, has defended the idea of inclusion in the workplace, characterizing it as a positive business opportunity. Consumers' Research targeted Bank of America in 2023 for engaging in 'anti-consumer' behaviors: namely, having internal DEI training and offering tips for how clients can calculate their greenhouse gas emissions. Amid Republican attacks on ESG and DEI, including from President Donald Trump, BlackRock and Bank of America both dropped out of Net Zero alliances, which require a commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Additionally, both companies have eliminated their DEI goals, while maintaining a general commitment to inclusion. Consumers' Research, which hosted the event, is at the center of a network of nonprofits tied to the right-wing power broker Leonard Leo that is waging a 'War on Woke' against corporations and financiers who embrace ESG investment criteria — or the idea that asset managers should consider the threat of planetary devastation when deploying money. Leo's network helps fund ALEC, which has pushed model legislation in the states to ban asset managers for state retirement funds from promoting ESG. The anti-ESG coalition has notched some wins in terms of BlackRock and Bank of America's public posturing, but these conservatives argue the fight is far from over. 'We have our good examples. We're sharing them every day when they get out of something,' Nelson noted, but 'it's words right now.' That's why conservatives need their scalps, Nelson explained. 'And, you know, and that's — it's like the scalps. I don't know what the movie is,' she said, adding it was about 'taking the scalps.' 'Brian Moynihan would be the perfect person,' Nelson continued. 'We were talking about it at lunch, or breakfast. I think he is ideologically all-in on everything he's doing.' Comparing him to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, the ALEC chief said she doesn't believe that Dimon is 'all-in' ideologically. 'I think he is just seeing where the winds are blowing and trying to have his cake and eat it, too — and 'I'm gonna play footsie with everybody,' and all is going to be OK for JPMorgan in his mind,' Nelson asserted. Nelson spoke with a JPMorgan executive on a panel at ALEC's annual meeting last week. A JPMorgan representative declined to comment but confirmed the firm is an ALEC member. ALEC does not disclose its donors or a full list of its members. The organization receives some corporate funding, including from Chevron, and donations from lobbying groups for Big Pharma, fossil fuel interests, the telecom industry, and electric utilities. ALEC's Private Enterprise Advisory Council includes Mike Thompson, a top lieutenant at Leo's consulting firm CRC Advisors, which helped manage the summit; as well as execs at Consumers' Research; the American Bankers Association (ABA); oil billionaire Charles Koch's business empire; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington's top business lobby. Bank of America previously cut ties with ALEC in 2012. Nelson, who previously ran global government relations at credit card giant Visa, made her comments about the CEOs during a larger conversation about the necessity of political neutrality in public investments. Fiduciaries, like BlackRock, are legally bound to act in the best financial interests of their clients. Conservative politicians and groups, ALEC included, have demanded that companies eschew ESG and DEI as part of their investment criteria, arguing the only thing that should matter is maximizing shareholder profit. During Nelson's panel, an operative asked the panelists if they had any examples where Republican-led states had 'in their efforts to kind of correct, [and] go from liberal ESG investing, instead of going back to neutral, they over-corrected,' to a place where they're putting public money into conservative investments. 'If we want neutral, we should want neutral,' the operative said. Debate ensued, with most participants concluding that long-suffering conservatives needed to beat back Big Banks, who are in cahoots with the Left — neutrality be damned. 'That's a very good kind of point to bring up,' Nelson said. 'But I think you know, we should plant our flag as far as we possibly can.' Thompson, the CRC exec who moderated the panel, agreed, but was more explicit, comparing the Left and Big Banks to Hitler: 'If the Allies said, 'Hey, Hitler, will you go neutral? You've taken over France. You've got Northern Africa. You've got all this stuff. We'll stop if you stop.' OK, he'll stop for a little while and then he'll keep coming.' He complained about an initiative attempting to get companies to reduce their climate impact, because it was rating corporations and docking them for giving money to nonprofits that do not align with their climate goals. 'Which means ALEC,' Thompson said, adding it 'means Consumers' Research should get no money from the other side.' 'We need to stop their momentum and then push back,' Thompson continued. 'We don't need them to go, 'Oh, we're neutral now. We've run over 90 percent of your world. We've burned down 90 percent of your house, and now we'll stop' … Sometimes that means not neutral. It means get us back to where we can be neutral. It's not enough to say, 'We're no longer gonna push the DEI agenda, but we're still going to have trans bathrooms, you can go to any bathroom you want, do whatever you want. No, no, no. You have to rip out all those policies.'' Tom Jones — the right-wing opposition researcher notorious for publishing a DEI Watch List of mostly Black federal officials he decided should be fired by Trump — argued that conservatives should not 'get wedded' to neutrality. 'Publicly held funds should reflect the values of Americans, and if that means we're not going to invest in companies that support boycott, divestment, and sanctions, [against Israel] or we're not going to invest in companies that use slave labor in China, or we're not going to invest in companies that invest in Iran because it's a threat to American national security, we should 100 percent have those policies,' said Jones. 'I don't know what neutral means — but legal and principled,' said perennial anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, who seemed irritated with his compatriots' hypocrisy. 'I think you can't go to a court and say, 'We want to make decisions that aren't fiduciary, but we shouldn't be ruled to be stealing people's money, but they do.' I have no idea how you don't get laughed out of court with any argument…. This is a real slippery slope, and I don't know how you make that argument without laughing at yourself.' Described by NPR in 2001 as a 'conservative revolutionary,' Norquist famously told the outlet: 'I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.' A spokesperson for Consumers' Research tells Rolling Stone, 'For years, megalomaniacs at the helm of powerful corporations like BlackRock and Bank of America exploited their positions to impose a political agenda and bully others into compliance. The American people have had enough and they are demanding a return to business, not activism. Neutrality means moving away from the far left and back to focusing on consumers. There is still a long way to go and damage to make amends for before these companies and others like them can earn the public's trust again.' GOP attorneys general — long financed by Leo through their Republican Attorneys General Association — are currently suing BlackRock on alleged antitrust violations regarding its coal investments. The effort is being led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose top deputy bragged during a different panel that he threatened another big bank, Wells Fargo, into leaving the Net Zero Banking Alliance. (Texas had similarly threatened Bank of America's bond business, until it dropped out of the climate coalition.) Even former Congressman Ken Buck, who was the ranking Republican on the Antitrust Subcommittee, thinks Paxton's case against BlackRock is politically motivated 'lawfare.'In May, Democrats in the Senate and House announced probes into the exodus of banks from major climate change initiatives. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, tells Rolling Stone: 'We have apparent open admissions — straight from the mouths of fossil-fuel-funded Republican operatives and lawmakers — of their phony anti-ESG scheme and their calls for the 'scalps' of the banking executives who've warned about the systemic risks from climate change.'Facing increasingly costly legal backlash from Republican state officials in the Leo network, BlackRock has tried to mend fences with conservatives. In January 2024, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick detailed Fink's moves to get back into his good graces, by lining up investors for new natural gas plants in the state's power grid. That didn't dissuade Paxton from launching the antitrust lawsuit against BlackRock last November. Fink's firm withdrew from the Net Zero Asset Managers alliance in January, but the attacks from conservatives have not abated. They've continued even after the financier made a huge overture to Trump, in helping to achieve one of his key priorities: wresting control of the Panama Canal from China. Multiple agencies in the Trump administration have since written letters in support of Paxton's antitrust lawsuit. From the sounds of it, no amount of concessions will satisfy these conservatives, only scalps. More from Rolling Stone Jimmy Fallon Responds to Colbert Cancelation: 'I Don't Like What's Going On' Stephen Colbert Addresses Cancelation by Telling Trump to 'Go F-ck Yourself' Jon Stewart to CBS After Colbert's 'Late Show' Cancellation: 'Go F-ck Yourself' Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
The Guardian
a day ago
- Health
- The Guardian
After 15 years of premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction, will I ever satisfy my wife?
I am a 48-year-old man. Both my wife and I come from a conservative background; we believe that sex before marriage is a sin and saved ourselves until we got married in our early 30s. Before getting married, I masturbated but never had any real sex. Our first night turned out to be a disaster. I couldn't get an erection. However, as the days passed, we managed to have sex but not to my wife's satisfaction, because I finished within 30 seconds of penetration. I think I suffer from both erectile dysfunction (ED) and premature ejaculation (PE). My ED is not consistent – I have been prescribed Viagra and use it sometimes – but my PE continues, and is taking a toll on us. My wife is uninterested in sex because she doesn't get anything out of it. It has been about 15 years now and we have two kids but our sex life has not improved. I tried couples counselling but that was more about building a bond between us (which I believe is not an issue as we love each other and can't think about being with someone else). The only missing piece in our life is satisfying sex. I would do anything to satisfy my wife but I am feeling helpless. This may seem radical to you, but a woman does not need a penis in order to be satisfied. I recommend that you learn how to give her an orgasm before you penetrate her. There are many places to find instruction about doing this, but basically you need to learn where her clitoris is and how you can touch her in an arousing and ultimately satisfying manner. Embarking on this type of exploration may seem daunting but if you can approach it as a loving couple you may be successful. Of course, your wife will have to be willing to work on this, so you will have to talk to her first and be sure she consents. The best way forward would really be to work as a couple with a good sex therapist, who could also treat your early ejaculation. Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders. If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to (please don't send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Conservative influencer reveals why she is LEAVING Texas to return to liberal California
One of the internet's most popular conservative influencers is leaving Texas after four years to return to her home state of California. Blaire White, 31, fled her Hollywood home in 2021 amid rising homelessness and the state's tyrannical Covid policies to move to Austin, Texas. However, she announced this week that she's ready to return to California after spending the last four years in Austin. Addressing the major life change in a YouTube video, the transgender social media star shared her surprising reason behind the shock relocation. 'I was born there, so it is home for better or for worse,' Chico-born Blaire said. 'There are a lot of problems with California and a lot of people like to write off New York and California and say, "Just let them go overboard, let them burn," and I find that to be a very un-American perspective to hold,' she continued. 'California in my opinion is the most beautiful place in the world. Yes, I said the world,' she added. 'And it's even more of a shame because of that that it's run by demons.' While Blaire said that Los Angeles has now become 'ghetto and downtrodden,' she explained that she wants to return to the City of Angels to help improve it. 'I want to be someone who's part of the solution. I want to be someone who doesn't run from problems,' she insisted. 'I moved to Texas in the middle of Covid. So I moved to Texas in crisis. The lockdowns weren't ending, so much trauma from that, so much craziness, so it was kind of like an evacuation,' she continued. The YouTube star said that she's also eyeing a run for political office in the future and is excited to add her voice to California politics as a political commentator. Blaire is one of the most popular political influencers online and has previously appeared on The Joe Rogan Experience, Infowars with Alex Jones, Dr. Phil and more. She's not the first social media star to return to California after moving to Texas either. Shortly after Joe Rogan relocated to Austin in 2020, comedian Tim Dillon quickly followed. However, within just a few months Dillon ditched the red state to return home to Hollywood. 'It's a horrible city without a soul,' he told fellow comedian Whitney Cummings when describing his stint in Austin. 'It's not the live music capital of America. It's three heroin addicts busking with guitars. There's zero talent here in any capacity,' he continued. 'There's three restaurants that are good and I've been to all of them twice.' In another interview with the American Redact podcast, he said that Austin 'can't be compared to New York and Los Angeles.' In recent years, many people have left New York and California for Las Vegas, Florida, Texas, and Montana, citing high crime rates and taxes in their home states for the move.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Blaise Ingoglia takes office as state CFO, but Trump-fueled fight looms
The latest appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis, state Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, was sworn into office amid questions about his prospects of winning next year's election because his selection was opposed by President Trump. Ingoglia, an ally of DeSantis, dismissed the idea that he would prove short-term in the $140,000-a-year Florida Cabinet post. The former state senator said he was confident that Republican primary voters would choose him next year over Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who Trump has endorsed for CFO. 'There's going to be plenty of time to campaign,' Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican, said after taking the oath of office July 21 in a ceremony in the Capitol's Cabinet meeting room. 'I know two things in politics: The voters will not reward you unless you do a good job, and the second thing is, usually, like 99% of the time, in the Republican primary, the more conservative candidate wins,' he added. Although Gruters is hardly a moderate, he did, like Trump, support the recreational marijuana measure on last year's ballot, which failed to win the backing of at least 60% of voters. DeSantis and Ingoglia were opposed and the governor spent millions of dollars of taxpayer money against it. GOP battle brewing for CFO Gruters has been a longtime Trump ally and campaign leader in Florida and recently brought on the president's co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, and Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, for his CFO campaign. LaCivita labeled Ingoglia a 'never Trumper.' Gruters and Ingoglia are both former Florida Republican Party chairs. But while Gruters was deeply in the Trump camp, Ingoglia backed DeSantis in his failed 2024 presidential bid, setting the stage for a divisive GOP primary next year. But for now, Ingoglia said he is setting his sights on filling the CFO post, vacated since the April election to Congress of Panama City's Jimmy Patronis, who had served since 2017. Ingoglia said that among his first tasks would be to get rolling audits of local governments, which were approved by the GOP-dominated Legislature in a state-level version of the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He said it was important to 'make sure we're spending responsibly at the local level.' Ingoglia, who critics once dismissed as a 'lackey' of the insurance industry, pledged he would 'make sure that we're holding insurance companies accountable.' He said rate increases have been more modest lately in Florida but that when it comes to paying claims, 'if they're slow-rolling stuff, we're going to have conversations with them.' Ingoglia's critics don't expect a watchdog House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa doubts that Ingoglia will be much of a watchdog as CFO, a job that oversees the state's finances and regulates the insurance industry. 'Ron DeSantis is appointing a Tallahassee politician more loyal to him than to the people,' Driskell said. 'I believe Blaise Ingoglia will talk tough but continue the tradition of giving the insurance companies everything they ask for.' Ingoglia, 54, owns homebuilding company Hartland Homes, and lists his net worth at $28.3 million on his most recent financial disclosure. Ingoglia, a New York native, had been in the Legislature since 2014 and is a ranked poker player with more than $400,000 in winnings. Serving in both the House and Senate, he's been a DeSantis loyalist. How to get ahead in Florida government? Be a DeSantis loyalist Ingoglia sided with the governor on immigration and redistricting, breaking ranks with legislative Republican leadership. Ingoglia also spearheaded legislation that made it more difficult for public sector unions to operate and guided the governor's election law changes, imposing tighter restrictions on ballot drop boxes and absentee voting. 'He's been a fighter, every time there's been a fight he's run towards the fire and he's done what he told the voters he'd do,' DeSantis said of Ingoglia at the swearing-in. Is bond back? Once rivals, Trump and DeSantis deepen bond with shared targeting of undocumented migrants Trump-DeSantis' long strange trip DeSantis-Trump relationship? It's complicated DeSantis has now appointed two of the state's three Cabinet officers. Attorney General James Uthmeier, who had been the governor's chief of staff and presidential campaign manager, was picked to succeed fellow Republican Ashley Moody, who DeSantis named to the U.S. Senate. She replaced Marco Rubio, now Trump's secretary of state and national security adviser. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson is the only member of the elected Florida Cabinet who was actually put there by voters. Another vacancy at the top of state government, the post of lieutenant governor, also played into the Ingoglia ceremony. Former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who DeSantis named president of Florida International University, was in attendance. And working the crowd of well-wishers and lobbyists for the insurance and banking industry at the event was Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa, widely expected to soon be named lieutenant governor by DeSantis. Collins could be positioned as a DeSantis-backed candidate for governor next year – possibly setting up another GOP primary fight with U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Naples, who Trump has endorsed as Florida's next governor. 'Let's not put the cart before the horse,' Collins said when asked if he'd run for governor. 'There's a lot of things that have to happen, none of those I have a say in right now.' John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network's Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@ or on X at @JKennedyReport. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Blaise Ingoglia sworn-in as CFO, with Trump-fueled fight looming
