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hedgewitchgarden · 1 year ago

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”It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me.” -Elisabeth Báthory

In July of this year, an independently-published book called Witchtoker’s Grimoire appeared on Amazon, the description of which stated, “This Grimoire is a collection of spells, how to’s, [and] magical writings, by a collective of creators from Tiktok.” I myself was unaware of said book until a snarling gaggle of videos about it popped up on the witchier corners of the Clock App, and the fury with which the Grimoire was being discussed piqued my curiosity, so I started doing some digging.

I am not sure when work on the Grimoire actually began, but from what I’ve been able to piece together, the creator behind it reached out to a handful of other WitchTok personalities and asked them to contribute spells, recipes, etc. A few people took issue with this — claims floated around that the creator would not accept submissions from witches she didn’t “approve” of, which seemed counterintuitive to a “community” driven book. But within the greater publishing industry, some projects involve open calls for submissions, while others are invitation only, so if the creator hand-picked her contributors, that doesn’t constitute compromised ethics.

The contents of the book, however, raised legitimate ethical concerns. One essay seemed to suggest that corpse water could be consumed. Another provided instructions for a spell jar that the author had made for a friend undergoing surgery to remove cancer: Because of the phrasing, some readers thought that the author was declaring the spell jar cured cancer.

Having read both snippets (screenshots abound), I can say that the actual problem is a severe lack of editing — like, if the cancer anecdote had been cut, the chapter on the spell jar would’ve been just fine. But it’s this dearth of editorial oversight that led to even bigger problems, primarily accusations that a good chunk of material in the book was plagiarized.

According to allegations, passages from at least seven different published works were lifted whole-cloth and incorporated into the Grimoire. Additionally, someone ran sections of the book through a plagiarism detection engine and apparently found that a number of spells had been copied and pasted directly from websites. And while the Grimoire does feature a bibliography, it does not include citations, which, honestly, would’ve only be helpful had the authors used their own voices to rewrite or summarize the info in question.

In a way, the bibliography almost functions as an admission of guilt. Like, “Oh, you wanna know where we swiped all this stuff? Feast your peepers!”

Lines were immediately drawn in the sand once official controversy hit the algorithm, with people on one side vehemently denouncing the Grimoire, and friends and family of the book’s creator vehemently denouncing the people denouncing it. The online battles escalated, and I decided that not a damn bit of it was any of my business. (Although I did throw the lithomantic stones to see if I should offer some objective clarification on what corpse water actually is. It felt like a neighborly thing to do.)

But as evidence of plagiarism piled up, and the book’s supporters realized that they were going to have to switch tactics if they wanted to stay on top of the situation, one of them said something that made me understand how problematic the Grimoire had been from the very onset.

I was scrolling through my For You Page a couple of mornings ago, flipping past conspiracy theories and videos from disillusioned contributors publicly requesting that their submissions be removed from future editions, when I landed on a live conversation between the book’s creator and one of her more ardent apologists. And that’s when I heard the following:

“[You] put together a conglomeration of people’s submissions. I don’t understand why all this comes on you. Like, you have to double- and triple-check every submission?”

“Or tell people that fire burns,” the creator replied. “Or that water is wet. Or that you should not get in the shower with a hairdryer going.”

And I had to stop for a second and collect myself, because the answer to all of the above is a non-negotiable yes: The editor of an anthology must absolutely double- and triple-check every submission, and the anthology itself must contain disclaimers to protect everyone involved. Whether desktop or traditional, this is how publishing works.

But this also made me understand that the people who put out the Witchtoker’s Grimoire approached publishing the same way they approach witchcraft: It’s something you can just do successfully without any education or training or skill. It’s not about growing, or teaching, or sharing knowledge: It’s about snatching up unmerited authority and using it to bully all of the smaller fish in the pond.

And when called out for troubling behavior, or spreading misinformation, or outright theft, it’s about redirecting the narrative, and manifesting a projective shield of victimhood behind which to hide: Anyone who speaks ill of them is a jealous detractor who doesn’t want you to know the truth.

It’s a shield that tends to collapse and bonk heads when the unbiased truth comes out.

As of this writing, the Witchtoker’s Grimoire has been pulled from publication, and the creator has issued a public apology, taking full responsibility and letting her viewers know that there will not be a revised edition. (The original plan was to tweak the worrisome bits and rerelease it.) To her credit, this was the right thing to do, and it displays some maturity on her part. Although as contrite as the video came across, it may have also just been an attempt to stave off the legal ramifications of selling a plagiarized manuscript.

If that’s the case, she’s in for a series of unfortunate surprises. Regardless of how sorry she may be about the debacle, the book went to print, and multiple copies were purchased — if the allegations prove accurate, this means that copyrights were actively infringed, and there will be consequences for that. A remorseful “whoops” won’t protect her.

I don’t know if she’ll ever try her hand at publishing again, but if she does, she’ll have a very hard time convincing anyone to take a chance on her pitches. Traditional publishers will more than likely give her a wide berth, and freelancers who want to keep their reputations stain-free will avoid collaboration. This particular path has ultimately come to a dead end for her.

Speaking of paths, the whole saga of the Witchtoker’s Grimoire reminds me of Mandrake from the Liminal Spirits Oracle (by Laura Tempest Zakroff; Llewellyn Publications, 2020), and one of Tempest’s interpretations of the card strikes me as a fitting end to this post:

“There is no easy or fast road to big rewards that are truly worthwhile. Eschew tantalizing shortcuts and lazy practices. Fully invest the time and care needed to perform a task properly and responsibly — build any house as if you yourself were going to live in it.”

The results we get out of our craft are directly and prosperously proportionate to the effort we put into it. If we expect good results from whatever it is we’re doing without honest effort — or if we expect results without honesty, period — we’re better off not doing it at all.

And y’all, we don’t just have to live in what we’ve built.

We have to live with it.

#witchcraft #plagarism #technology and religion #witchtok #witchcraft news

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1-800-c0sm1c · 2 years ago

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꒰crossteaming !꒱

genshin characters as your streamer bf/gf !

character x gn!reader

includes albedo, childe, kaeya, xiao, and hu tao!

warnings : none.

a/n : these ended up being longer than i expected, so im splitting up the post a bit <3 hope you enjoy :D

ALBEDO - THE MINECRAFT YOUTUBER

albedo gives me wilbur soot vibes, minus the height.

if anyone in genshin were to join a minecraft smp just to reenact hamilton and be a jason dean kinnie, itd be albedo and im absolutely right about this.

teaches klee how to play too, his most popular stream was when they beat the ender dragon together :)

he also seems like the type to strictly use minecraft education edition, which is also totally valid because some of the recipes in there are literally so cool ???

pulls a dantdm and has his own minecraft lab and everything, doing all his silly little experiments!

“surcose, we need to sell drugs out of a van RIGHT NOW.”

when chat found out you and albedo were dating, there were two reactions.

one side was really happy for you both, the other was albedos parasocial fangirls who immediately put you on a hitlist.

seriously, if you had a dollar for everytime you were @ed in tweets about writing your name in a death note, youd have enough money to pay for every single persons therapy appointments.

youre always there to cheer him on when hes in mcc, his own little personal cheerleader :)

you show up at his office and just.. stand in front of the door, staring at him through the window. it sounds weird yes, but the shocked expression on his face is worth the wait for him to notice.

CHILDE - THE GRAND THEFT AUTO ONLINE ROLEPLAYER

“no chat i have not gone red. im just startled, thats all.”

childe is the type of fella to participate in the most wacky roleplays on gta online, and i am sticking by this headcannon.

hes done everything from a drug empire to owning his own country, nothing is off limits.

surprisingly hes a really good actor? when youre watching his streams you dont get the cringey second hand embarrassment, its just fun entertainment :D

it took his chat wayyy to long to realize how fine he is, although to be fair he did have mostly men watching him. (not like thats an excuse or anything.)

i feel hes definitely been nominated for a streamy before! whether or not you think he deserves to win is up to you though LMAO

“only a small percentage of my viewers are actually subscribed-”

childe leaked your relationship by accident once by having a tab open of your instagram while he was streaming.

when chat confronted him, he kind of just… ended stream. (real smooth.)

fans went to your instagram afterwards and saw pictures of you two together and started posting them to twitter, and childe ended up on trending because of it.

you felt indifferent to the whole thing, but childe was panicking. he didnt want to let his viewers into that part of his life just yet, but he was, scientifically speaking, caught lacking.

you dont appear on streams much, and childe still avoids allegations about your relationship entirely. its not that he doesnt want to show you off, he does! he just doesnt like having less differentiation between his online persona and his private life.

“whos instagram are you stalking…? thats gonna be all from me chat goodnight!”

KAEYA - THE VALORANT STREAMER

kaeya doesnt play valorant because hes good at it, but because its fun to mess with the fanbase.

you know THOSE vtubers who are.. weirdly sexual? kaeya is like that but he does it in a satirical way.

likes messing with the homophobes too, but everyone still debates on what his sexuality is (kind of like jschlatt.)

definitely is problematic on twitter on purpose just to get people to talk about him, hes a little bit of an attention whore but we love him anyways <3

has never apologized for anything hes said or done EVER, and doesnt plan on it either.

“what do you mean i got canceled on twitter AGAIN? its only been 3 days!”

chat didnt believe him when he said he was in a relationship. so be dragged your ass into his room to show them.

it didnt work though, they thought you were a paid actor for the next 2 months LMAO

it got to a point where kaeya was doing literally anything on stream to convince chat, and finally you had enough.

you told him to take a break from streaming, he was way too obsessed with trying to prove something that doest matter to anybody but the two of you.

something finally clicked in his head, and after that you dont appear on camera as much anymore. for the most part people believe that you two are together, but hell still get donations joking around that they dont think youre a couple, simply because its funny.

“thank you for 200 bits! ….i am retracting my thank you.”

XIAO - THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PLAYER

i dont have any reason for this connection, other than it feels right.

if xiao werent a league player i would suggest smite, he just seems like hed be more into team games like that rather than overwatch or valorant.

just because hes my favorite doesnt mean im letting him off easily, league players get no rights <3 and xiao is no exception.

unironically listens to k/da as well, knows all the choreography but will literally never admit to it.

everyone in his chat has channel points stacked up to tell him to hydrate, he tends to forget when he gets really into the match.

“stream more by k/da for clear skin. no i will NOT be giving you a demo, i dont want a dmca.”

youre xiaos number one bully, and chat is always there to back you up.

when i played lol i was an ahri main, so stick with me here, its about to get real self indulgent.

youre a cosplayer, and one of your favorite ways to mess with your boyfriend is to dress up as his favorite characters. (peak s/o behavior right there.)

chat teased him heavily for his reaction, you could hear my chemical romance being blasted from the bedroom that night.

something about the cosplayer x gamer trope is just sooo <3

“you have no respect for league of legends players.” (duh - an ex league player)

HU TAO - THE DEAD BY DAYLIGHT PLAYER

when hu tao first heard about dbd i imagine she thought it would be an easy way to gain new clients, now she sticks around because its fun to terrorize people as killer, and be an absolute menace as survivor.

i think shed be a nurse main, but one of those that are insanely good at playing nurse. she wins the game in no time because her teleports are perfect.

i can only imagine how many people have rage quit because of her.

along with dead by daylight, i see her just overall being a horror game player. lots of five nights at freddys, resident evil, etc.

shes never gotten scared on camera before, chat has tried but shes always one step ahead.

“i lied, i dont actually like sex. put your clothes back on i need to explain to you the entirety of the five nights at freddys timeline.”

hu taos favorite pastime is scaring you, she stays on top of the newest horror content specifically because of that. (oh, and its also kind of her brand. but she puts you first <3)

shed sacrifice herself in a heartbeat if youre playing dead by daylight together. she always says if at least you survive its good enough of a victory for her too.

she also has gone on record to say yall are playing the security breach dlc the day it drops. run while you still have the chance.

youve tried to convince her to tweet at shayne and ryan about being on an episode of ghost files but everytime she just suggests to play phasmophobia instead. like cmon girl those are two different things.

even thought shes trying to scare you on purpose, you know shes always got your back if something happens.

“ha look at your face! …okay okay im sorry! come here, youre fine, ive got you.”

#✧;;↬ my work.❞┊🍓#genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #genshin impact x you #genshin x you #albedo x reader #kaeya x reader #childe x reader #xiao x reader #hu tao x reader

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transracialqueer · 3 years ago

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The Baby Brokers: Inside America’s Murky Private-Adoption Industry

by Tik Root

6/3/21

Shyanne Klupp was 20 years old and homeless when she met her boyfriend in 2009. Within weeks, the two had married, and within months, she was pregnant. “I was so excited,” says Klupp. Soon, however, she learned that her new husband was facing serious jail time, and she reluctantly agreed to start looking into how to place their expected child for adoption. The couple called one of the first results that Google spat out: Adoption Network Law Center (ANLC).

Klupp says her initial conversations with ANLC went well; the adoption counselor seemed kind and caring and made her and her husband feel comfortable choosing adoption. ANLC quickly sent them packets of paperwork to fill out, which included questions ranging from personal-health and substance-abuse history to how much money the couple would need for expenses during the pregnancy.

Klupp and her husband entered in the essentials: gas money, food, blankets and the like. She remembers thinking, “I’m not trying to sell my baby.” But ANLC, she says, pointed out that the prospective adoptive parents were rich. “That’s not enough,” Klupp recalls her counselor telling her. “You can ask for more.” So the couple added maternity clothes, a new set of tires, and money for her husband’s prison commissary account, Klupp says. Then, in January 2010, she signed the initial legal paperwork for adoption, with the option to revoke. (In the U.S., an expectant mother has the right to change her mind anytime before birth, and after for a period that varies state by state. While a 2019 bill proposing an explicit federal ban of the sale of children failed in Congress, many states have such statutes and the practice is generally considered unlawful throughout the country.)

“I will never forget the way my heart sank,” says Klupp. “You have to buy your own baby back almost.” Seeing no viable alternative, she ended up placing her son, and hasn’t seen him since he left the hospital 11 years ago.

Movies may portray the typical adoption as a childless couple saving an unwanted baby from a crowded orphanage. But the reality is that, at any given time, an estimated 1 million U.S. families are looking to adopt—many of them seeking infants. That figure dramatically outpaces the number of available babies in the country. Some hopeful parents turn to international adoption, though in recent years other countries have curtailed the number of children they send abroad. There’s also the option to adopt from the U.S. foster-care system, but it’s an often slow-moving endeavor with a limited number of available infants. For those with means, there’s private domestic adoption.

ANLC was started in 1996 by Allan and Carol Gindi, who first called it the Adoption Network. The company says it has since worked on over 6,000 adoptions and that it’s the largest law corporation in the nation providing adoption services (though limited publicly available data makes that difficult to verify). ANLC’s home page is adorned with testimonials from grateful clients. Critics, however, see the organization as a paradigm of the largely unregulated private-adoption system in the U.S., which has made baby brokering a lucrative business.

Problems with private domestic adoption appear to be widespread. Interviews with dozens of current and former adoption professionals, birth parents, adoptive parents and reform advocates, as well as a review of hundreds of pages of documents, reveal issues ranging from commission schemes and illegal gag clauses to Craigslistesque ads for babies and lower rates for parents willing to adopt babies of any race. No one centrally tracks private adoptions in the U.S., but best estimates, from the Donaldson Adoption Institute (2006) and the National Council for Adoption (2014), respectively, peg the number of annual nonrelative infant adoptions at roughly 13,000 to 18,000. Public agencies are involved in approximately 1,000 of those, suggesting that the vast majority of domestic infant adoptions involve the private sector—and the market forces that drive it.

“It’s a fundamental problem of supply and demand,” says Celeste Liversidge, an adoption attorney in California who would like to see reforms to the current system. The scarcity of available infants, combined with the emotions of desperate adoptive parents and the advent of the Internet, has helped enable for-profit middlemen—from agencies and lawyers to consultants and facilitators—to charge fees that frequently stretch into the tens of thousands of dollars per case.

A 2021 ANLC agreement, reviewed by TIME and Newsy, shows that prospective parents were charged more than $25,000 in fees—not including legal costs for finalizing the adoption, birth-mother expenses and other add-ons (like gender specification). The full tab, say former employees, can balloon to more than double that.

“The money’s the problem,” says Adam Pertman, author of Adoption Nation and president of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency. “Anytime you put dollar signs and human beings in the same sentence, you have a recipe for disaster.”

Even though federal tax credits can subsidize private adoptions (as much as $14,300 per child for the adopting parents), there is no federal regulation of the industry. Relevant laws—governing everything from allowable financial support to how birth parents give their consent to an adoption—are made at the state level and vary widely. Some state statutes, for example, cap birth-mother expenses, while others don’t even address the issue. Mississippi allows birth mothers six months to change their mind; in Tennessee, it’s just three days. After the revocation period is over, it’s “too bad, so sad,” says Renee Gelin, president of Saving Our Sisters, an organization aimed at helping expectant parents preserve their families. “The mother has little recourse.”

Liversidge founded the nonprofit AdoptMatch, which describes itself as a “mobile app and online resource” that aims to “increase an expectant parent’s accessibility to qualified adoptive parents and ethical adoption professionals.” She says the hodgepodge of state statutes invites abuse: “Anyone that knows or learns the system—it doesn’t take much—can exploit those loopholes very easily for financial gain.”

Thirteen former ANLC employees, whose time at the organization spanned from 2006 to 2015, were interviewed for this story. Many asked to remain anonymous, out of fear of retaliation from the Gindis or ANLC. (The couple has filed multiple suits, including for defamation, over the years.) “The risk is too great for my family,” wrote one former employee in a text to TIME and Newsy. But whether on or off the record, the former employees told largely similar stories of questionable practices at an organization profiting off both adoptive and expectant parents. “These are such vulnerable people,” says one former employee. “They deserve more than greed.”

The Gindis have long faced questions about their adoption work. In 2006, the Orange County district attorney filed a scathing complaint contending that while operating Adoption Network, the couple had committed 11 violations, including operating as a law firm without an attorney on staff and falsely advertising Carol as having nursing degrees. Admitting no wrongdoing, the Gindis agreed to pay a $100,000 fine.

Since around that time, the Gindis’ exact involvement with ANLC has been difficult to discern amid a web of other companies, brands and titles. They both declined interview requests, but Allan did respond to emailed questions, explaining that he plays what he termed “an advertising role” for ANLC, including for the company’s current president, Lauren Lorber (the Gindis’ daughter), who took over the law practice in 2015. Before that, an attorney named Kristin Yellin owned ANLC. Former employees, though, say that despite an outwardly delineated setup, Allan in particular has remained heavily involved in ANLC operations. As far back as 2008, even though Yellin was the titular owner, “everyone knew that Allan Gindi ran it,” according to former employee Cary Sweet. (Sweet and other employees were plaintiffs in a 2010 discrimination and unlawful business practices lawsuit against ANLC. The company denied the allegations and the parties settled for an amount that Sweet says she isn’t allowed to reveal but called “peanuts.”)

In an interview, Yellin bristled at the idea that Allan Gindi was in charge during her ownership period, saying, “I realized what the Gindis’ role was and how to put boundaries on that.” Lorber, who declined an interview for this story, wrote via email that Allan has been a “leader” in adoption marketing. He maintains, also by email, that over a 25-year period, each attorney for whom he has provided his “highly specialized marketing services” has been “more than satisfied.” In an earlier text message, Allan also characterized the reporting for this story as “an attack on the wonderful work that Adoption Network has done and continues to do.”

Sweet, who worked with both expectant and adoptive parents at ANLC from 2008 to 2011, says she wasn’t aware of Klupp’s experience but remembers a situation involving a staff member’s threatening to call child protective services on a mother if she didn’t place her child for adoption. In a 2011 deposition taken as part of Sweet’s lawsuit, Yellin stated that the employee in question had told her that they had conveyed to the mother that “if you end up not going through with this, you know social services will probably be back in your life.” Yellin said that she found the comment inappropriate in context but did not perceive it as threatening or coercive.

Lorber, who has owned ANLC since late 2015, wrote in an email that she’s unaware of any incidents in which birth mothers were told they would have to pay back expenses if they chose not to place their child. But Klupp isn’t the only expectant mother to say she felt pressured by ANLC. Gracie Hallax placed two children through ANLC, in 2017 and 2018. Although the company arranged for lodging during her pregnancy (including, she says, in a bedbug-infested motel), she recalls an ANLC representative’s telling her that she could have to pay back expenses if she backed out of the adoptions. Madeline Grimm, a birth mother who placed her child through ANLC in 2019, also says she was informed that she might have to return expense money if she didn’t go through with the adoption. “That was something that I would think of if I was having any kind of doubt,” she says. “Like, well, sh-t, I’d have to pay all this back.”

The experiences described by Klupp, Hallax and Grimm fit a pattern of practices at ANLC that former employees say were concerning. Many describe a pervasive pressure to bring people—whether birth parents or adoptive couples—in the door. This was driven, at least in part, they say, by a “profit sharing” model of compensation in which, after meeting certain targets, employees could earn extra by signing up more adoptive couples or completing more matches. Former employees say birth mothers who did multiple placements through ANLC were sometimes referred to as “frequent flyers.” (Lorber and Yellin both say they have never heard that term.)

“The whole thing became about money and not about good adoption practices,” says one former employee. As they saw it, ANLC made a priority of “bringing in the next check.”

Adoptive parents, former employees say, were sometimes provided inaccurate statistics on how often the company’s attempts to matchmake were successful. “They almost made it seem like birth mothers were lining up to give their babies away,” says one. “That’s not reality.” (Yellin says in the 2011 deposition that the data were outdated, not inaccurate.) Clients pay their fees in two nonrefundable installments, one at the beginning of the process and another after matching with a birth mother. As a result, former employees say, if the adoption fell through, there was little financial incentive for ANLC to rematch the parents, and those couples were routinely not presented to other birth mothers. “Counselors were being pressured to do this by the higher-ups,” claims one former employee, recalling instructions to “not match couples that are not bringing in money. Period.”

Some prospective adoptive parents whom the company deemed harder to match—those who were overweight, for example, say former employees—were given a limited agreement that timed out, rather than the standard open-ended contract. There was also a separate agreement for those willing to adopt Black or biracial babies, for which the company offered its services at a discount. (In her 2011 deposition, Yellin acknowledged that there were multiple versions of the agreement and providing staff with obesity charts. When asked if obesity was a reason clients got a limited agreement, she said, “Specifically because they were obese, no.” In regard to whether what a couple looked like was considered, she responded, “I can only speculate. I do not know.”)

Former ANLC employees also allege the company would encourage pregnant women to relocate to states where the adoption laws were more favorable and finalizations more likely. “I believe it’s called venue hunting,” one recalls. And while that former employee made sure to note that ANLC did produce some resoundingly positive, well-fitting adoptions, they say the outcome was largely a matter of luck, “like throwing spaghetti on a refrigerator to see if it’ll stick.”

Yellin acknowledges that when she took over the company in 2007, “there was a feeling that some of the adoption advisers had felt pressured just to make matches.” But she says she worked to address that and other issues. Yellin says she put an end to the use of the limited agreement, and denies that ANLC ever advised birth mothers to relocate to other states to make an adoption easier. She also says she wasn’t aware of any instances of birth mothers’ being coerced into placing their babies. Other practices, though, she defended. Charging lower fees to parents willing to adopt babies of any race makes business sense, Yellin says. “Their marketing costs were lower. That’s just the reality of it.” Lorber maintains that fee structure stopped in 2019. More broadly, she noted that of the thousands of parties that ANLC has worked with over the years, the complaint rate is less than half of 1% and “that is one track record to be proud of!”

But ANLC’s practices over the years could have legal implications. Experts say that reports of any organization’s putting pressure on birth parents to go through with an adoption would raise concerns about whether those parents placed their children under duress—which can be grounds for invalidating consent and potentially overturning adoptions. And ANLC may be violating consumer-protection laws with a clause in its agreement that makes clients “agree not to talk negatively about ANLC’s efforts, service, positions, policies and employees with anyone, including potential Birth Parents, other adoption-related entities or on social media and other Internet platforms.” The federal Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 makes contract clauses that restrict consumer reviews illegal, as does the 2014 California “Yelp” bill.

“It would certainly be unlawful,” says Paul Levy, an attorney with the consumer-advocacy organization Public Citizen, who reviewed the agreement. “If they put this in the contract, what do they have to hide?”

Stories of enticement and pressure tactics in the private-adoption industry abound. Mother Goose Adoptions, a middle-man organization in Arizona, has pitched a “laptop for life” program and accommodations in “warm, sunny Arizona.” A Is 4 Adoption, a facilitator in California, made a payment of roughly $12,000 to a woman after she gave birth, says an attorney involved in the adoption case. While the company says it “adheres to the adoption laws that are governed by the state of California,” the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous because they still work on adoptions in the region, says they told A Is 4 Adoption’s owner, “You should not be paying lump sums. It looks like you’re buying a baby.”

Jessalynn Speight worked for ANLC in 2015 and says private adoption is rife with problems: “It’s much more rampant than anyone can understand.” Speight, whose nonprofit Tied at the Heart runs retreats for birth parents, worries that the industry sometimes turns into a cycle of dependency, as struggling women place multiple children as a means of financial support. (The same incentive may also encourage scamming adoptive birth parents, with purported birth parents who don’t actually intend to place a child for adoption or are never even pregnant.) Anne Moody, author of the 2018 book The Children Money Can Buy, about foster care and adoption, says the system can amount to “basically producing babies for money.”

Claudia Corrigan D’Arcy, a birth-parent advocate and birth mother who blogs extensively about adoption, says she routinely hears of women facing expense-repayment pressures. Some states, such as California and Nevada, explicitly consider birth-parent expenses an “act of charity” that birth parents don’t have to pay back. In other states, though, nothing prohibits adoption entities from trying to obligate birth parents to repay expenses when a match fails.

“How is that not blackmail?” D’Arcy asks, emphasizing that in most states, fraud or duress can be a reason for invalidating a birth parent’s consent. According to Debra Guston, adoption director for the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, conditioning support on a promise to repay or later demanding repayment if there is no placement is “at very least unethical.”

States are ostensibly in charge of keeping private-adoption entities in line. Agencies are generally licensed or registered with the relevant departments of health, human services or children and families. Attorneys practice under the auspices of a state bar. But even when misdeeds are uncovered, action may be anemic and penalties minimal. In 2007, Dorene and Kevin Whisler were set to adopt through the Florida-based agency Adoption Advocates. When the agency told the Whislers the baby was born with disabilities, the couple decided not to proceed with the adoption—but they later found out that the baby was healthy and had been placed with a different couple, for another fee. After news coverage of the case, Adoption Advocates found itself under investigation. In a 2008 letter to Adoption Advocates, the Florida department of children and families (DCF) wrote that it had found “expenses that are filed with the courts from your agency do not accurately reflect the expenses that are being paid to the natural mothers in many instances.” Although DCF temporarily put the organization on a provisional license, a spokesperson for the department says that after “enhanced monitoring for compliance,” it relicensed the company, and there have been no issues or complaints since. (When contacted, Adoption Advocates’ attorney replied that the company is “unable to respond to your inquiries regarding specific individuals or cases.”)

More recently, in 2018, the Utah department of human services (DHS) revoked the license of an agency called Heart and Soul Adoptions, citing violations ranging from not properly searching for putative fathers (a requirement in Utah) to insufficient tracking of birth-mother expenses. Rules prohibit anyone whose license is revoked from being associated with another licensed entity for five years. But a year later Heart and Soul owner Denise Garza was found to be working with Brighter Adoptions. DHS briefly placed Brighter on a conditional license for working with Garza but has since lifted all sanctions and never assessed any fines.

Enforcement is even harder when middlemen operate as consultants, facilitators or advertisers or under any number of other murky titles that critics believe are sometimes used to skirt regulations. There is little clarity on who is supposed to oversee these more amorphous intermediaries.

Jennifer Ryan (who sometimes goes by “Jennalee Ryan” or “Jennifer Potter”) was first a “facilitator” and is now a kind of middleman to adoption middle-men. Her “national online advertising service” refers expectant parents to lawyers (including her own son), facilitators and other intermediaries; as of November 2020, the company was charging these middlemen fees starting at $18,800 for each birth-mother match (with the idea that the cost is passed on to families). Ryan declined an interview but, in an email, she says she does approximately 400 matches annually. Among the websites Ryan operates are Chosen Parents and Forever After Adoptions, which both include a section that lists babies for adoption, sort of like a Craigslist ad. One example from last August: “AVAILABLE Indian (as in Southeast Asia India) Baby to be born in the state of California in 2021…Estimated cost of this adoption is $35000.”

Many advocates say they would like to see reforms to private adoption in the U.S. Even Yellin, a proponent of private-sector involvement in the adoption space, says there probably ought to be more regulation. But calls for systematic change have remained largely unheeded, and agreeing on exactly what should be done can be difficult.

Some believe the problem could be addressed with greater federal-level oversight—pointing to the foster-care system, which a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services helps administer, as an example (albeit an imperfect one). But Liversidge notes that family law has traditionally been a state issue and says that is where fixes should, and will likely need to, occur. She wants to see improvements such as an expansion of mandatory independent legal representation for birth parents, better tracking of adoption data and the reining in of excessive fees.

Illinois attempted to take a strong stand against adoption profiteering in a 2005 adoption-reform act, which barred out-of-state, for-profit intermediaries from engaging in adoption-related activities in the state. But Bruce Boyer, a law professor at Loyola University who championed the legislation, says, “We couldn’t get anyone to enforce it.” Only after much pushing and prodding, he adds, did advocates persuade the state to pursue a case against what Boyer called the “worst” offender: ANLC.

The Illinois attorney general filed a complaint in 2013 alleging that ANLC was breaking the law by offering and advertising adoption services in the state without proper licensing or approval. To fight the suit, ANLC retained a high-profile Chicago law firm, and within months, the parties had reached a settlement. ANLC agreed that it would not work directly with Illinois-based birth parents, but it did not admit any wrongdoing and called the resolution “fair and reasonable.” Boyer disagrees. “They caved,” he says of the state. “There were no meaningful consequences that came from a half-hearted attempt.” The attorney general’s office declined to comment.

What few changes have been made in adoption law are generally aimed at making the process easier for adoptive parents, who experts say tend to have more political and financial clout than birth parents. At the core of the inertia is lack of awareness. “There’s an assumption in this country that adoption is a win-win solution,” says Liversidge. “People don’t understand what’s going on.”

Many proponents of change would, at the very least, like to see private adoption move more toward a nonprofit model. “It’s a baby-brokering business. That’s really what it’s turned into,” says Kim Anderson, chief program officer at the Nebraska Children’s Home Society, a nonprofit that does private adoptions only in Nebraska (with a sliding fee based on income) and which rarely allows adoptive parents to pay expenses for expectant parents.

Whatever shape reform ends up taking—or mechanism it occurs through—advocates say it will require a fundamental shift and decommodification of how the country approaches private adoption. “A civilized society protects children and vulnerable populations. It doesn’t let the free market loose on them,” says Liversidge. Or, as Pertman puts it, “Children should not be treated the same as snow tires.”

Yellin kept working with ANLC as an attorney until late 2018. By then, she says adoption numbers had dropped significantly because of increased competition and a decreasing number of expectant mothers seeking to place their babies. But the company seems to still be very much in the adoption business. During the pandemic, Adoption Pro Inc., which operates ANLC, was approved for hundreds of thousands of dollars in stimulus loans, and its social media accounts suggest it has plenty of adoptive-parent clients. According to data from the search analytics service SpyFu, ANLC has also run hundreds of ads targeting expectant parents. For example, if you Googled the term “putting baby up for adoption” in January 2021, you might get shown an ANLC ad touting, “Financial & Housing Assistance Available.”

Meanwhile, Allan Gindi continues to play an advertising role for ANLC (and to use an “@adoptionnetwork.com” email address). Court documents connected to a bankruptcy case show that, in 2019, Gindi expected to make $40,000 per month in adoption-advertising income. (He says that number was not ultimately realized but did not provide any more details.) Lorber’s LinkedIn profile says that ANLC is a “$5 million dollar per year” business. “And that’s just one family in Southern California,” remarks Speight, who used to work for ANLC and who runs a birth-parent support nonprofit. “Think about all of the other adoption agencies where couples are paying even more money.”

Klupp’s Facebook feed still cycles through “memories” of posts she made when she was placing her son through ANLC. They’re mournful but positive, she says; in them, she tended to frame the decision as an unfortunate necessity that put her son in a loving home. “I thought everything was really great,” recalls Klupp, who has since immersed herself in the online adoption community. What she’s learned has slowly chipped away at the pleasant patina that once surrounded her adoption journey; such a shift is so common, it has a name, “coming out of the fog.”

“They take people who don’t have money and are scared, and they use your fear to set you up with an adoption that you can’t back out of,” Klupp says of the industry. “I’m sure even the parents that adopted my son … didn’t know half the stuff that went on behind the scenes. They probably paid this agency to find them a baby, and that’s what they cared about. And this agency takes this money from these people who are desperate.” Klupp isn’t anti-adoption; in fact, she’s been trying to adopt out of foster care. The problem, she says, is the profit. Today, she believes she has a better understanding of the extent to which ANLC influenced her and now views her decision as, at the very least, deliberately ill informed, if not outright coerced. She says she’s taken to deleting the Facebook posts about her son’s adoption as the reminders pop up—they’re too painful.

“It seems like the agencies have some universal handbook on how to convince doubtful moms,” she says. “I know in my heart that I would have kept my son if I had had the right answers.”

[Link in the notes]

#adoption #adoptees #human adoption #adopt #private adoption #domestic adoption #tq posts #long post

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tabloidtoc · 4 years ago

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National Enquirer, December 14

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Prince William’s secret cancer crisis

Page 2: Chris Martin is caught between girlfriend Dakota Johnson and ex-wife Gwyneth Paltrow who are both hawking sex toys -- Gwyneth is accusing Dakota of copying her Goop brand and she’s letting Chris know it loud and clear -- Dakota signed on as co-creative director with the sexual wellness brand Maude to launch a line of hip sex products and Dakota’s gotten wind of Gwyn’s whining and thinks she’s being ridiculous -- Chris is proud of Dakota and he feels for Gwyneth but he really wants to be left out of this

Page 3: Martha Stewart has whipped up a new recipe for romance which is red-hot dates with a string of men ordered up online and she may be 79 years old but she’s still cooking with gas in the dating department -- Martha’s getting more dates now than she ever has and she’s saying it makes her feel younger and hotter than ever but all the guys know the deal that there’s no pressure and no commitment and it��s just for the fun and the good company because Martha’s not looking for a relationship

Page 4: Just weeks after Blake Shelton popped the question to longtime love Gwen Stefani they have something else to celebrate as Gwen is expecting a miracle baby at 51 -- after years of trying and failing to have a child together new photos show Gwen sporting what looks like a telltale baby bump -- after years of enduring grueling rounds of IVF treatment without any success Gwen had given up hope of being able to conceive again and she and Blake even looked into adopting but their baby dream has come true naturally

* Reba McEntire’s romance with actor Rex Linn is less than a year old but she’s already driving him crazy -- it was wonderful for the first few months but Reba is so controlling Rex is begging her to give him some space -- Reba wants to be together 24/7 and while Rex loves being with her he’s starting to find her a bit suffocating -- Reba also sees red whenever Rex mentions his former fiancee Renee DeRese and she’s worried Rex is talking to his ex when he’s not around and he has a good relationship with his ex and believes that’s none of Reba’s business

Page 5: Britney Spears lost her bid to have her father Jamie Spears removed from a controlling role in her conservatorship so she’s spending whatever money she can get her hands on to exact her revenge -- Britney is worth about $60 million and she gets a very healthy stipend from that so she’s going through it like water to thumb her nose at her dad and her recent no-holds-barred trip to Maui to celebrate her 39th birthday was more than a little payback because dropping $50,000 on a birthday trip to Hawaii was a satisfying slap in the face to her dad

Page 6: Matthew McConaughey is taking his midlife crisis to an all-time high by planning to do a stand-up comedy tour -- after baring his soul in a memoir the 51-year-old star is totally gung-ho about the comedy thing and he’s cleared his schedule and hired a coach to work on his timing and punch up his jokes -- he’s written a lot of jokes and tried them out on his wife Camila and friends but they’re already tired of his cheesy one-liners and dad jokes and fart gags -- Camila wants to be supportive but she can’t fake it and friends wonder if Matthew’s lost the plot and others claim he might get more inspiration is he took up smoking weed again

Page 7: Grieving Bobby Brown worries he’s cursed after the tragic death of his 28-year-old son Bobby Brown Jr. -- his son’s death follows the deaths of his ex-wife Whitney Houston in 2012 and the couple’s 22-year-old daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown in 2015 -- Bobby has suffered through so much pain in his life and it’s left him feeling like he’s cursed and he’s a loving father who always does the best he can and what’s right for his kids but there seems to be no escaping tragedy -- no foul play is expected in the death of Bobby Jr. but the coroner has yes to release the cause of death but Bobby Jr. seemed fit and healthy and had never been a drug user and was excited about a singing career after releasing his first single in September

* Donny Osmond is heading back to the Vegas strip to do a one-man show without his sister Marie Osmond and she’s fuming over the betrayal -- Marie is still smarting after getting dumped by The Talk and she thinks Donny could have been sensitive enough to at least invite her to join him -- Marie’s jealous co-stars on The Talk drove her off the daytime chat show because they couldn’t handle being overshadowed by her -- Donny will debut his new solo show at Harrah’s in August

Page 8: Doting Dolly Parton swooped in to save goddaughter Miley Cyrus from a meltdown after Miley trashed her sobriety during a boozy bender -- Miley has been on the wagon for six months after years of indulging in weed and alcohol but the boredom of lockdown pushed her over the edge -- Dolly has been a source of inspiration and strength to Miley during this difficult time and she’s never lectured Miley about her lifestyle only shown her unconditional love and understanding and that’s what Miley’s responded to

Page 9: Lady Gaga hopes to tango with Brad Pitt and they’re close to making a love connection -- the two have been in deep talks about working on a big-screen thriller and the conversations have turned up close and personal because the two have more in common than people realize -- Brad has always been a huge music nerd and Gaga wants to throw herself into movies in a big way after the success of A Star Is Born -- Gaga is ready to cash out of her latest relationship with businessman Michael Polansky because they quarantined together and things got a little too close for her tastes and she’s now set her sights on Brad who recently became unattached after giving the brush-off to German model Nicole Poturalski -- Gaga’s interest in Brad has not gone unreciprocated because Brad is fascinated by Gaga saying she’s cool and talented beyond words and he’s made it clear she’s his number one choice to star alongside him in next movie and as a result the new duo is set to spend months together in Japan filming the racy thriller Bullet Train and they both think that this will be a great opportunity to see if the chemistry they’ve shared in conversations is real

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Julia Garner filmed her role as a phony heiress in Inventing Anna in NYC, Gary Busey picked up a copy of the National Enquirer at a Malibu newsstand, Jay-Z tossed around a football with pals during a Hawaiian getaway, Heidi Klum shot Germany’s Next Top Model in Berlin

Page 11: In the latest tragedy to strike the Getty dynasty 52-year-old John Gilbert Getty was found dead in a Texas hotel room -- he was a descendant of J. Paul Getty the oil tycoon who was once the world’s richest man -- the Getty fortune is worth an estimated $5 billion but the family has been rocked by a string of tragedies

* Gutsy Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman kept his colon cancer diagnosis secret from his own brothers Derrick L. Boseman who is a pastor in Murfreesboro in Tennessee -- but when Derrick called Chadwick to congratulate him on his career the actor broke the tragic news -- Chadwick’s last words to him still echo in his heart: Chadwick said, “I’m in the fourth quarter and I need you to get me out of the game,” which Derrick understood to mean it was time for him to go -- Chadwick died on August 28

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- the scrawny look of the holiday tree at Rockefeller Center revealed something that happens every year -- the tree is always filled with faux branches because that’s the only way the tree can sustain 50,000 LED lights

* Marie Osmond hasn’t spoken to Sharon Osbourne since she left The Talk because Marie and Sharon were professional but never friends

* Scarlett Johansson is worth $165 million while her new husband Colin Jost tops out a $6 million but despite the difference Colin bought both wedding rings -- some men may be intimidated by a wife who’s rich and famous but not Colin and paying the bills is something the two have worked out together

* Woody Harrelson chats with police after a day filming The Man from Toronto in Ontario (picture)

Page 13: Conan O’Brien is putting on a happy face on his retirement from late-night TV but he was forced out -- after nearly three decades hosting a daily show Conan announced he’s leaving his TBS talker for a weekly variety series on HBO Max but he knew he had to go even before he was asked because he was made aware months ago that his show would not be renewed because the ratings weren’t great and the network was looking to replace him so he started looking for other opportunities

* Lizzo wailing about the pitfalls of fame in an emotional TikTok post has sent out the alarm among her friends who fear she is days away from a full-on meltdown -- she seems to be hanging by a thread and is trying to numb the pain with endless cycles of comfort eating and she already weighs 350 pounds -- Lizzo’s unhappy with her weight and hates the sight of herself when she looks in the mirror but she’s unable to stick to a diet and ends up binge eating through the night

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Emboldened by his legal victories last year accused sexual abuser Kevin Spacey is denying all the allegations in a 2020 lawsuit in New York against him and demanding the case be brought to trial so he can clear his name -- Kevin is feeling pretty confident after two sexual harassment cases against him in Los Angeles and Massachusetts were dismissed last year and he wants his day in court to prove he is not the monster these charges paint him to be -- in the September suit two male accusers charged Spacey sexually assaulted them when they were 14 and the first accuser alleged Spacey assaulted him on multiple occasions after they met in an acting class in the ‘80s -- in the same suit actor Anthony Rapp charged Spacey invited him to a party at his home and grabbed his buttocks and lifted him onto a bed and lay on top of him

* Serial killer Ted Bundy relived the details of one of his horrific killings in his final conversation before he was fried in the electric chair in 1989 -- Bundy who was convicted of killing 30 women and suspected of doing the same to many more across four states in the 1970s and ‘80s spilled his guts to a psychologist just hours before his execution death and it can be heard in its frightening entirety on the Crimedoor app -- Bundy details the murder of Georgann Hawkins

Page 16: Accused Jeffrey Epstein madam Ghislaine Maxwell is under quarantine in a federal pen after being exposed to a guard with COVID-19 and now sources fear she could die before facing justice on child sex trafficking charges next year

Page 17: Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton’s kids are devastated after their best friend Lupo the family dog passed away -- the beloved dog had become a fixture in family photos but sadly died at age nine leaving Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte and especially Prince George enormously upset -- for George especially this is a tremendous upset as Lupo was his best friend and he has been there his entire life and this is his first experience with loss and he’s been crying nonstop and asking where Lupo is now

Page 18: American Life

Page 19: Russia is using a brain-frying microwave weapon to target American envoys in the U.S. and around the world -- a team of doctors and scientists at CIA headquarters determined the mysterious illness that’s plagued embassy workers in recent years was the handiwork of a weapon that can send a mind-scrambling sonic beam through windows and walls from two miles away -- since 2018 the weapon has zapped 26 diplomats in Cuba who reported suffering from migraines and ringing in the ears and dizziness and vertigo -- Some has longer-term effects such as fatigue and loss of vision and difficulty sleeping symptoms dubbed the Havana Syndrome

* Elon Musk is already designing posh planetary digs for residents of his future city on Mars and he said the first million Earthlings to arrive will live in glass domes -- Musk’s outer-space enterprise is still a little sketchy on details of how to ship a million people to Mars by 2050 and change the atmosphere by terraforming or planting the right stuff to create oxygen

Page 21: American Pie singer Don McLean’s daughter has blasted him as a verbally abusive tyrant who left her with deep psychological scars -- Jackie McLean claimed her father insulted and degraded her and forbade her from following in his musical footsteps and even threatened to exclude her from his $50 million fortune if she spoke out against him -- despite her dad’s warning Jackie has embarked on a musical career with her husband Shawn Strack forming the group Roan Yellowthorpe

Page 22: Hey, Big Spender! Hollywood’s tippers and tightwads -- Jessica Simpson, Mick Jagger, Rachael Ray, Taylor Swift

Page 23: Russell Crowe, Donnie Wahlberg, Jeremy Piven, Johnny Depp, Bill Cosby

Page 25: Justin Bieber is questioning his future in the scandal-scarred Hillsong church after his former pal and pastor Carl Lentz was booted out in disgrace -- the singer has long relied on Hillsong which some have branded a cult and Lentz to help him navigate fame -- Justin’s at a crossroads right now because he definitely felt betrayed by Carl and now he and his wife Hailey Bieber are deciding whether to stay with the church

Page 26: Viola Davis has revealed how growing up poor in Rhode Island affected her self-worth saying what comes with poverty is invisibility and we just want to be somebody desperately -- Viola says her feeling of I’m Important helped drive her career which has led to an Oscar and two Tonys and an Emmy

* Hollywood Hookups -- Vanessa Hudgens is dating Cole Tucker of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jordan Fisher and Ellie Woods married, Luann De Lesseps dating Garth Wakeford

Page 27: Nicole Kidman has revealed there is only one cure for her desperate struggles with loneliness which is in the arms of husband Keith Urban -- Nicole said she practices psychological discipline to keep her career and home life separate but isolation still plagues her

* Dallas star Linda Gray is mourning the death of her son Jeff Thrasher at the age of 56 -- she’s heard from some former Dallas colleagues who have rallied around her and expressed their condolences -- no cause of death for Jeff has been revealed

Page 28: Cover Story -- Prince William is trapped in a cancer nightmare after medical tests have led doctors to suspect the heir to Britain’s throne may be fighting a slow-moving form of the deadly disease and now the 38-year-old royal and his family are terrified he is in severe danger and medical experts are monitoring his health for any symptoms of the illness -- there’s talk around the palace the prince’s decision to reveal he tested positive for COVID-19 during the spring is really an attempt to explain away his condition because doctors found something funky when they checked for the virus -- if William’s health takes a turn for the worse it could further erode confidence in the monarchy which has already endured Prince Andrew’s sex scandal and the defection of Prince Harry -- when William’s doctors dropped their cancer bombshell his wife Duchess Kate Middleton locked herself away with just their kids for five days and she’s practically had a breakdown but she’s learned to be a royal and is now coping very bravely and confronting the future with steely resolve but she is urging William to mend fences with his estranged brother Harry

Page 32: Health Watch

Page 36: Jessica Simpson is preparing her windpipes for a post-pandemic musical comeback -- she hasn’t released an album since Happy Christmas a decade ago but wants to storm the pop charts once again and recruit some of her wider family to give her a disco edge because Jessica has always looked up to Diana Ross who is sister Ashlee Simpson’s mother-in-law and Jessica has been bugging Ashlee to hook her up with Diana and she thinks they could do an incredible duet

Page 38: Paul McCartney has taken a seething jab at a two-faced gold-digging mystery woman in his new song Lavatory Lil but insisted it’s not about his ex-wife Heather Mills

* Lil Wayne’s ex-girlfriend fears he will go insane behind bars -- the rapper is a convicted felon banned from possessing a weapon and now faces up to 10 years in jail after federal agents in Miami caught him with heroin and cocaine and ecstasy and marijuana and a gold-plated gun -- former girlfriend Melissa Howe says he won’t cope and it took him years to get his life back to normal after his last trip inside so for it to happen again for him to be put behind bars it would really get to him mentally

Page 42: Red Carpet -- American Music Awards -- Kristin Cavallari, Christian Serratos, Paris Hilton, Dua Lipa, Bebe Rexha, Megan Fox

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- LeAnn Rimes holding a dog on Hallmark Channel’s Home and Family

Page 47: Odd List

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celineksoto-blog · 5 years ago

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Sunday Riley: Wrote Fake Sephora Reviews for Almost Two Years - says FTC

By Celine Soto

SUMMARY: Sunday Riley is a Texas-based, high performance skincare brand, powered by science and balanced by nature that launched in 2009. Its products are sold at Ulta Beauty and Sephora. They are praised for their use of green technology, meaning that its commitment to produce a clean formula and recipe for its products such as using flower and plant extract oils, rather than artificial fragrances, all while producing products in small batches makes it stand out from its competitors (Sunday Riley, 2019).

In October 2018, about one year ago, a Reddit user who claimed to be a former employee at Sunday Riley disclosed emails that showed employees were requested by the Sunday Riley company to create Sephora accounts and write fake reviews leaving positive comments about the company’s products. The email was as extensive as giving instructions to the employees on how to install a Viral Private Network (VPN), which makes reviews untraceable to the company’s IP address.

The leak was initially posted on Instagram and Sunday Riley fired back in defense of its scheme. The comment wrote, "The simple and official answer to this Reddit post is that yes, this email was sent by a former employee to several members of our company, at one point, we did encourage people to post positive reviews at the launch of this product, consistent with their experiences” (Elassar, p. 18, 2019). Also stating that the company believes competitors would “often post negative reviews” in order to defeat the brand.

Eventually, this triggered an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to file a complaint against the company. This was an ongoing process, but as of Monday, October 21 2019, the skin care brand finally settled with the FTC. The consent agreement form in the settlement read that “this matter settles alleged violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices” (FTC, p. 1, 2019). According to the FTC, “The complaint alleges that the respondents violated Section 5(a) of the FTC Act by misrepresenting that certain reviews of Sunday Riley brand products on the Sephora website reflected the independent experiences or opinions of impartial ordinary users of the products, when they were written by Ms. Riley and her employees” (FTC, p. 15, 2019).

After almost two years (2015-2017) of violating Section 5(a) of the FTC Act by creating fake reviews on its retailer’s websites in order to boost sales, Sunday Riley agreed to not post any more fake reviews. “False Advertising and Fake Review Fraud distort the markets by harming honest companies” said FTC commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. The verdict of this settlement was that the FTC ordered that Sunday Riley will not and can not break the law again.

REACTION & PAGE PRINCIPLES:

Even after the FTC found the alleged accusation of Sunday Riley’s scheme to be true by the ex-employee that leaked the emails, the Sunday Riley cosmetic/skincare brand is still not admitting to any wrongdoings. An article in The New York Times wrote, “The settlement does not provide consumers with refunds, and it does not force Sunday Riley to admit any wrongdoing: The company simply agreed to not break the law in the future” (Garcia, p. 3. 2019). The company was only charged with making false or misleading claims of the products and deceived the public by not disclosing that the reviews were written by the CEO and her employees. I am sure that this has happened before with other companies, but not to this extent. Not to the extent of registering Sephora accounts under different identities and lying to potential customers who take product reviews into account when making purchase decisions. In 2016, a study showed that a one-star rating increase on Yelp could mean a 5 to 9 percent increase in revenue; therefore, statistics prove that online reviews affect customers. (Garcia, p. 11, 2019).

Tell the Truth: According to Arthur W. Page, tell the truth means to let the public know what’s happening with honest and good intention; provide an ethically accurate picture of the enterprise’s character, values, ideals and actions. Telling the truth is a principle that did not align with Sunday Riley’s settlement. Posting deceptive and inaccurate comments to a well-known website such as Sephora, can not only skew consumers choices, but also there will be a lack in confidence that the reviews are truthful. Not only were the customer reviews biased and fake, but Sunday Riley did not have to disclose that the reviews were written by employees and the CEO herself. After reviewing this incident, myself, I noticed that Sunday Riley did not make any announcements via social media. Its Instagram and Twitter were completely free of any PSAs from the CEO or a higher-up. Its content showed regular promotion of its products and links to its “Sunday Riley Edit” blog attached to its website. The only space that they spoke out on was the Instagram account “Esteé Laundry” which is an anonymous beauty collective blog. I have attached the announce in the comments by Sunday Riley back in October of 2018, but has since had no further comment. The FTC did tweet about this incident, along with many upset customers of Sephora.

Realize an Enterprise’s True Character is Expressed by its People: Every employee – active or retired – is involved with public relations. It is the responsibility of corporate communications to advocate for respect in the workforce and to support each employee’s capability and desire to be an honest and knowledgeable ambassador to customers. I believe that this principle is the exact opposite of how Sunday Riley handled the law-breaking incident. First, the CEO, higher-ups and employees that abided by the rules that were given to them all showed their true character. The people involved knew that they were breaking the law and were not being honest ambassadors to Sunday Riley customers.

Prove It with Action: When this was exploited by former customer “whistleblower” a year ago in October 2018, Sunday Riley did not admit to any wrongdoing, instead stated that was an email sent by a former employee. A year later after its settlement with the FTC, although it is fresh, Sunday Riley has yet to come clean about the incident publicly. Personally, I will give the company the benefit of the doubt that this all just happened on Monday, October 21 and it is only two days passed the release of the settlement. The company still has a chance to prove it with action by maybe just releasing a personal statement apologizing to its customers.

SOURCES:

Chopra, R. Slaughter, R. (2019, October 21). “Statement of Commisioner Rohit Chopra Joined by Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.” Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved from https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/1550127/192_3008_final_rc_statement_on_sunday_riley.pdf

Elassar, A. (2019, October 23). “Skin care brand Sunday Riley wrote fake Sephora reviews for almost two years, FTC says.” CNN. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/22/us/sunday-riley-fake-reviews-trnd/index.html

Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). Sunday Riley Modern Skincare, LLC; Analysis to Aid Public Comment. Retrieved from https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/federal_register_notices/2019/10/192_3008_sunday_riley_skincare_-_analysis_frn.pdf

Garcia, S. (2019, October 22). “Sunday Riley Settles Complaint That It Faked Product Reviews.” The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/sunday-riley-fake-reviews.html

The Page Principles. (n.d.). Arthur W. Page Society. Retrieved from https://page.org/site/the-page-principles

#sundayriley

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captainxxxxxlove · 5 years ago

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centralparkpawsblog · 6 years ago

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Taste of the Wild vs Orijen

https://www.centralparkpaws.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Princess-pup-demands-high-quality-good-tasting-dry-dog-food.jpg Taste of the Wild (TotW) versus Orijen, who will win?

In our household, we’ve tried more than 50% of the different popular brands, and some not so popular.

Our household is made up of dogs with food allergies (Sophie and Calvin), heart disease (Daisy), Cushing Disease (Daisy and Sophie), high energy (Ginger), seniors, and picky eaters.

Finding a dog food that works for everyone can be pretty tricky.

There have been a select few that work for everyone, but more often we have multiple kinds of dog food in the pantry.

Picking the right food has become a more daunting task for many dog parents.

Why Should You Choose a High-Quality Dog Food?

I remember a time when buying dog food was as easy as throwing a bag of dog food in your grocery cart.

You should choose high-quality, delicious dog food because your prince or princess is worth it

Unfortunately, the ease and convenience of those days are gone for most of us.

With so many special needs and dog food varieties, the combination options are astronomical. Every dog is unique, and most have special dietary needs due to:

Size

Age

Health – GI Issues, disease, allergies, etc.

Weight (Both gain and loss)

Breed (German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, and Goldendoodles shouldn’t always eat the same food)

Activity Level

It’s incredible how many variables need to meet to come up with the right food for your dog.

With so many brands and recalls, it’s hard to know which one is the best choice to go with.

VarietyFirst IngredientProteinRatingPrice Taste of the Wild High PrairieBuffalo32%4.1$$ Check Price Taste of the Wild Pacific StreamSalmon25%4.3$$ Check Price Taste of the Wild Sierra MountainLamb25%4.3$$ Check Price Orijen OriginalChicken38%4.3$$$ Check Price Orijen Six FishAtlantic Whole Mackerel38%4.0$$$$ Check Price Orijen Regional RedBeef38%4.0$$$$$ Check Price

Taste of the Wild

Taste of the Wild Company History

Diamond Pet Company carries many different brands, one of which is Taste of the Wild.

The company started back in 1970 by two brothers-in-law and has grown quite rapidly.

Even though TotW has become a substantially large company, it has remained family owned since the beginning.

TotW has plants from California to South Carolina, with a few more in between. They have 5 manufacturing locations in total.

TotW uses sustainable and humanely raised ingredients. The formulas were developed based on a canines’ ancestral dietary requirements.

The commitment TotW makes to their customers is that it manufactures “…a high-quality, yet affordable pet food option.”

If you’re interested in learning more about this dog food brand, we reviewed Taste of the Wild in-depth here!

Taste of the Wild Varieties

TotW currently offers 9 different dry dog food varieties.

Of those foods, some are specifically tailored to the needs of small breeds and puppies.

Taste of the Wild 3 Best Sellers of Dry Dog Food:

High Prairie – Roasted Bison and Venison

Pacific Stream – Smoked Salmon

Sierra Mountain – Roasted Lamb

More Varieties at Amazon

More Varieties at Chewy

Orijen

Orijen Company History

Orijen is one of two brands created by Champion Pet Foods, which originated in Canada. It was founded by Reinhard Muhlenfeld in 1985.

Exporting goods from Canada has not a common practice, but with aid from the Canadian government, Champion Pet Foods has been quite successful in selling their dog food globally.

Orijen’s approach to marketing is a bit unconventional.

Orijen doesn’t utilize traditional marketing plans but instead relies on their outside sales force and word of mouth.

Orijen Varieties

Orijen has 8 different dry dog food varieties, not including their freeze-dried food line.

Orijen Family Pet Food 3 Best Sellers of Dry Dog Food:

Original

Six Fish

Regional Red

More Varieties at Amazon

Recalls and Lawsuits

Taste of the Wild

Diamond Pet Food has had several recalls, though TotW has only had a single incident in May of 2012.

The recall was for salmonella contamination at the plant in South Carolina. Dry dog food was the only one with contamination issues.

The production codes needed to be checked to verify if the food had salmonella issues. Food with codes having a 2 or 3 in the 9th space and an X in the next space were part of the recall.

Corrections to the manufacturing plants were successful in ensuring future issues did not arise.

However, there are two lawsuits filed against Diamond Pet Food specifically around the TotW brand.

Note that anybody can file a lawsuit and they are not evidence of guilt until ruled so by a judge

The two lawsuits are similar in nature, the first one was in August 2018 and the second one was filed in February 2019. The 2018 suit accuses TotW of food contamination in the following three varieties:

Prairie Canine Formula Roasted Bison and Roasted Venison Dry Dog Food

Pacific Stream Canine Formula Smoked Salmon Dry Dog Food

Puppy Formula Grain-Free.

The 2019 suit involves five varieties:

Prairie Canine Formula Roasted Bison and Roasted Venison Dry Dog Food

Pacific Stream Canine Formula Smoked Salmon Dry Dog Food

Prairie Puppy Formula Grain-Free

Southwest Canyon with Beef in Gravy

Southwest Canyon with Wild Boar

Both lawsuits allege the foods are contaminated with pesticides, heavy metal (arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium), acrylamide, and BPA.

Orijen

Orijen has not had any recalls in the United States.

Coincidentally, Orijen also had a lawsuit for similar contamination claims as TotW. This lawsuit was filed in March of 2018 but was later dismissed in February of 2019.

TotW’s lawsuits may end the same way.

What’s Important When Choosing a Dog Food?

There are several things to consider when looking for the perfect dog food.

Often, we talk about ingredients, and that’s a big part of the decision-making process, but it isn’t the only thing to take into account.

Where the food is manufactured

Where the ingredients are sourced

Availability

Taste (What your dog thinks!)

Price

Ingredients

Your dog’s individual needs (See list above)

Comparison of Taste of the Wild vs. Orijen

Ingredients

Winner: Orijen

These two brands have many similarities which made them fun to compare.

They both fashion their food on the more primal needs of our dogs, they both are grain free, and both brands are protein focused.

In addition to the philosophies behind their food they both outline, in the guaranteed analysis section, the Omega-6 & 3 fatty acid content.

Orijen

Orijen designed their recipes to be 85% prime animal protein, 15% fruit and vegetables, and 0% grains and potatoes.

All of their foods are packed with superfoods like pumpkin, kale, and spinach.

Also, Orijen has included pumpkin and sunflower seeds in their recipes. They use a variety of beans and lentils to make up for the lack of traditional grains and potatoes.

Their guaranteed analysis reflects 38% minimum protein, which is substantially higher than most dog foods, including TotW. Another thing Orijen does that many other dog food companies shy away from is use organ meat in their foods.

Organ meats may sound icky, but they are healthy and nutritious.

The aspect of this food I don’t like is the lack of traditional carbohydrates. Many dogs need grains and easily digestible potatoes.

Taste of the Wild

TotW includes potatoes and lentils in their foods to make up for the lack of grains. They have also included potato and pea flour in place of wheat or rice flours.

The first two ingredients in their best sellers are high-quality animal proteins, and though it does have some fruits and vegetables it’s nothing compared to Orijen’s list of superfoods.

Price and Value

Winner: Taste of the Wild

This was an easy pick.

Their food is in line with their goals of being of an excellent dog food at a low price. The average cost per pound for TotW is under two dollars while the average cost per pound for Orijen is over four dollars!

Availability

Winner: Taste of the Wild

TotW is available in most pet food retail stores, both in person and online.

They are even found in some hardware stores, doggy daycares, specialty grocery stores, and vet clinics.

Orijen has similar availability in pet stores, but they cannot be found in grocery or hardware stores, only in pet-focused retail locations or online.

And even then, not at as many online retailers.

Taste

Winner: Orijen

Almost a tie, but because I had to choose (Daisy hasn’t learned how to write or speak English yet), Orijen wins by a small margin.

I believe it was the unique kinds of proteins that gave Orijen that extra push.

The X Factor

Winner: Orijen

Orijen offers specially formulated recipes for seniors, puppies, and a weight management variety.

Also, Orijen’s fatty acid content is significantly higher than most dog foods.

As an added bonus, they have added chondroitin and glucosamine into their recipes!

Overall

Winner: Taste of the Wild

Orijen is in a class all of its own. With the high-end ingredients, the extreme levels of protein, and the abundance of superfoods, it’s hard to beat.

If you can afford to give your pupper a tiara, then Orijen is priced right for you

But like we mentioned before, ingredients aren’t everything.

Though Orijen can justify the price, it does make it cost prohibitive to the majority of dog owners. Especially if you own multiple dogs!

Taste of the Wild is a reasonably priced dog food and has the added benefit of being easy to find.

TotW is a quality dog food with an appropriate protein content that’s more suited to dogs with an average or activity level.

However, if your dog needs a high protein diet, such as working, sporting, or extremely athletic dogs, Orijen would be the best option.

Also, if your dog would benefit from the higher fatty acid, chondroitin, and glucosamine levels, such as dogs with arthritis or extremely active dogs, then Orijen would also be the better option.

The post Taste of the Wild vs Orijen appeared first on Central Park Paws.

from https://www.centralparkpaws.net/dog-food/taste-of-the-wild-vs-orijen/

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michaelandy101-blog · 4 years ago

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MozCon Digital 2021 Interview Collection: Ross Simmonds

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/mozcon-virtual-2021-interview-series-ross-simmonds/

MozCon Digital 2021 Interview Collection: Ross Simmonds

Whether or not you acknowledge his iconic tweets or have learn considered one of his content material exposés on among the world’s strongest manufacturers, Ross Simmonds has definitely made a reputation for himself within the content material world. By means of his expertise working with shoppers each giant and small, Ross has found the proper recipe for growing and distributing content material that may drive actual outcomes, and he’s able to share it with our MozCon viewers!

We’re completely thrilled to welcome him again to the MozCon stage, and we linked with him forward of the present to debate how he broke into the business, his content material philosophy, and what he’s trying ahead to at MozCon 2021.

Query: You’ve been masking content material creation and content material marketing for fairly a while, so may you inform us a bit about how you bought your begin? How did you set your self aside?

Ross: I received began in content material marketing by chance. It was a time when content material marketing actually wasn’t a factor. I received began by creating content material online about fantasy sports activities. My first weblog was all about fantasy soccer. I’d create content material 3 times every week writing about which gamers I believed had been going to carry out the very best, and other people from all around the world began to learn this content material and join with it whereas I used to be residing in my mother and father’ basement in the course of Nova Scotia, Canada.

That is when the sunshine bulbs went off that the web goes to be massive and that this complete thought of making content material online can provide the alternative to achieve hundreds of thousands of individuals.As I began to develop that fantasy soccer weblog, the site visitors went up whereas my marks went down and I needed to shift that fantasy soccer weblog right into a marketing weblog so I may fulfill my mum’s style of desirous to guarantee that I did good in class. She advised me to start out writing about marketing and so I did.

RossSimmonds.com grew to become my web site the place I created content material for years, and that ultimately began to get traction and engagement from individuals once more, all around the world, and ultimately I transitioned, once more, that RossSimmonds.com enterprise, which was simply me as a freelancer, into Foundation Marketing, which is a content material marketing company that works with B2B manufacturers throughout the globe on content material technique, content material creation, and content material distribution. I’ve persistently been placing out new content material regularly on my weblog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Fb, and and so forth., for a lot of, a few years and as such, individuals have began to take discover and have been in a position to see my mind-set round content material.

Query: This 12 months you’re discussing a brand new means of content material — seeing it as a long-term funding reasonably than a one-off creation. Why do you assume this mindset is troublesome for in the present day’s entrepreneurs to develop, and what’s the very best factor they’ll do to alter their perspective?

Ross: The #1 cause why content material is commonly seen as a one-hit factor and a one-time factor is as a result of we stay in a time the place on the spot gratification has by no means been extra simply acquirable and provides a dopamine hit. As such, entrepreneurs love the thought of urgent publish on a chunk of content material and seeing tons of notifications that persons are interacting with it, liking it, sharing it, and so forth., and that could be a nice feeling to have.

However it is vitally non permanent and what I am speaking about relating to content material as an funding is taking a extra long-term view, and recognizing that the belongings and content material that you just create in the present day can truly serve you persistently for years, if not many years to return from now, when you’re in a position to optimize, enhance, re-share, republish, and create issues that truly have a life cycle that goes past in the present day.

Query: You ceaselessly conduct case research on companies like Masterclass, Shopify, and Gong, who’re implementing extremely profitable content material marketing methods. What do you assume these companies have in frequent that’s driving their success? What recommendation would you give to different companies seeking to obtain related success?

Ross: Throughout the board, all of those firms have an inside dedication to understanding the worth of content material and its position in making a aggressive benefit. A variety of organizations do not view content material as a power that may supply a aggressive benefit long-term, however that’s precisely what it provides you. In case you create content material for a big period of time that content material is now going to be revealed and out there to the general public for years to return, and that content material — if it is rating in Google for prime worth key phrases — is ready to generate worth for your enterprise.

Some touchdown pages that exist in the present day that had been revealed in 2007 are nonetheless producing lots of of 1000’s of each single month for some firms, and these companies that view content material as an funding and acknowledge the facility, worth, and scalability of content material are those that win, as a result of they acknowledge that it is a good way to distinguish, that it’s a very scalable methodology for progress and driving traction and engagement, and that’s what actually differentiates a few of these best-in-class content material manufacturers versus everybody else within the business.

Query: At Basis, you’re employed with the total vary of shoppers from startups to giant Fortune 500 firms. How does your strategy to content material marketing change based mostly on firm dimension?

Ross: We begin by understanding the objectives and aims with each single shopper that we’re seeking to present providers for, and by understanding their particular person objectives, we’re in a position to tailor our suggestions and the methods during which we work with them based mostly on their objectives and what they’re seeking to accomplish — however we do not cease there.

We additionally dive deep into understanding what their present sources are, how massive their crew is, the best way that they internally talk, the methods during which they’re resourced by way of their crew construction, and so forth., and we use all of that to decide round how we are able to higher serve them to perform that overarching purpose. We additionally acknowledge that each single firm is totally different. They’ve totally different individuals, totally different objectives, totally different useful resource constraints, and totally different ranges of funding, some are personal, some are public, and and so forth.

All of this stuff match into the best way during which we are able to serve our shoppers, and thus we navigate every occasion in another way and in a bespoke form of nature the place it is customized and tailor-made to them.

Query: The way in which that customers digest content material is altering quickly day-to-day. In your opinion, what has been essentially the most dramatic change in content material marketing within the final 5 years? What do you assume goes to be an important space for content material entrepreneurs to deal with within the subsequent 5 years?

Ross: 5 years in the past, everybody was speaking about how it’s essential create extra content material and publish extra content material as a result of all of the gurus had been on stage screaming “Content is king”.

You quick ahead to now, and guess what? Everybody has listened to that mantra and that concept however content material has turn out to be quite common. There’s content material in every single place you look. Proper now, as any person reads the phrases which can be written on this display or is listening to an audio model of it, they’re consuming content material.

Content material has turn out to be simple to create and content material has turn out to be basically the bar. You are alleged to create content material. Now it is harder than ever to face out amongst all of the noise, all the lots of and 1000’s of weblog posts being revealed every single day, and the lots of of 1000’s of influencers on LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and so forth., and since it’s so troublesome to face out amongst them, I imagine that within the subsequent 5 years, the rising emphasis on creativity and stable distribution won’t ever be greater.

In case you’re in a boring business, you continue to have to be artistic and perceive your viewers’s ache factors and desires and provides that to them in a type of content material that they’ll need. That’s constant throughout the board, and I imagine that there is going to be an rising demand for creativity in order for you your content material to face out within the months — if not years — to return.

Query: What’s your favourite piece of content material that you just’ve ever created? How can individuals give it a learn?

Ross: A number of months again, I wrote a chunk known as the The SEO Moat: Why SEO Can Be A Competitive Advantage, and it actually speaks to the worth that search engine marketing brings to the market that always organizations are overlooking, despite the fact that it could actually actually play a large position in serving to a corporation unlock hundreds of thousands of in worth for his or her group.

Query: Who within the MozCon lineup are you most excited to observe this 12 months? The rest you’re looking ahead to?

Ross: I am tremendous excited to listen to what Flavilla has to say this 12 months. She all the time brings the warmth and her perspective on the science of buying habits is certainly going to be one thing I will likely be trying ahead to listening to.

A giant thanks to Ross for his time! To study extra about Ross’s upcoming presentation, see particulars on our different audio system, and to buy your ticket, ensure you click on the hyperlink beneath!

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newspapper99 · 4 years ago

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Express Recipes: How to make Creamy Papaya Raita

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auggie-hunter · 4 years ago

Text

hell was the journey...

...but it brought me heaven;

“i’m done.”

there was a finality to his tone, one he’d never had before when talking to her, and for a second auggie’s heart squeezed at how harsh he felt he was being.

because none of this was her fault. none of this was anything she’d done. not on purpose, anyway. everything that had ever gone wrong between them had been a matter of circumstance. circumstance of time, of their ages, of who they were in the world... all of it... getting in the way of them and what they wanted for themselves and who they wanted to be.

but it had come to a point where he realized he couldn’t do this anymore. he didn’t want to do this anymore. and as he did, he had to replay every moment he’d ever shared with her, every moment that made them become who they were. he had to face everything that would propel him to make such a decision that could mean the end of everything.

[i’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town, babe...]

the wig had been so itchy, and the cap wasn’t helping. he was so worried about it, he was too afraid to scratch and give himself away. his glasses combined with the fake mustache he was wearing were probably already doing a decent job of hiding his face, but he was 22 and kind of stupid. that, and maybe her flare for the dramatic was rubbing off on him.

john f. kennedy airport wasn’t exactly full to begin with at eleven o’clock at night on a thursday, and people seemed to be tired and hell bent on getting home. nobody was necessarily paying attention to anything out of place, let alone the tall, lanky kid in a wig and bad mustache. but he was nervous, and so he felt slightly hyperaware of everything. staring down at his phone wasn’t doing anything to help, either.

truth of the matter is they were probably being overcautious.

taking a few slow, deep breaths, he tried to settle himself, realizing he should probably chill so he didn’t look too sketchy and alert airport security. he glanced up at the screen, seeing her flight had, in fact, landed, and felt his stomach churn.

the problem was they’d never done this before. he’d never had to be this strategic for anything. and on top of that, he hadn’t seen her in years! not since they tried to date for like five whole minutes, and everything got messed up thanks to schedules, of all things. at the time, they’d thought to put a pin in it, until they could meet somewhere in the middle. but her world started to grow, and grow further apart from his, and that pin turned into three whole years and no contact.

but then he’d texted her one day in december, on pure impulse, completely unsure of whether or not she still had the same number. but it was her birthday, and he’d been thinking about her, as he tended to do when the date rolled around. and it wasn’t an obsessive kind of thinking, either, just a passing thought to the girl he’d liked so much way back when.

he’d taken a chance and sent the message with a birthday wish, and a six second vine with a ridiculous dance to stevie wonder’s happy birthday. he didn’t think she’d even get it, but for some reason, that felt more personal than… twitter of all places.

but then she answered. amused, and endeared, and grateful for his message.

and then they didn’t stop talking.

it was as if no time had passed.

and at first it was casual here and there conversations, catching up on the last three years. she told him she’d found his vine and two youtube channels, and liked to have the vlogs up in the background while she did other things.

teddy: which i realize sounds super creepy.

teddy: what i mean is they’re edited super well. and not too chaotic that they’re distracting.

auggie: well thanks. happy to be your background noise.

teddy: you and leo are very cute too. you look happy!

auggie: ha! thank you. he’s great!

she noted he hadn’t changed a bit, “in a good way!” and that he needed to be nicer to allie in his videos, even if she wasn’t always very nice to him. he’d told her he’d heard her last two albums and told her how great they were.

auggie: your voice is beautiful.

teddy: i’m cringing to an almost awful degree.

auggie: i mean it. you should be proud.

teddy: thank you. that means a lot.

it could’ve all been more awkward. it should’ve been, but somehow, it wasn’t.

they’d talk here and there, every few days about something random the other had seen online, or something that had happened in their lives. he’d seen she was alleged to be dating somebody, but he never asked. it just seemed like the sort of thing that truly wasn’t any of his business.

he’d send her photos of foods and desserts he’d test for videos for his main channel.

teddy: okay, listen. you need to make those cheesecake cupcakes for a video. i need the recipe and a guide. i don’t have a lot of time on tour, but for this? i’ll make time. please and thank you.

(he made the video, and wore a TEDDYFRESH sweatshirt as a shoutout. mostly because he was excessive. he did get a sponsorship after that, and sends a sweater to her p.o box and a sticker of his logo)

she sent pictures of her brand-new baby nephew, and told him about each of her siblings, and he did the same, as well as his three best friends. he told her he loved allie almost too much, but that being outright terrible to one another was their thing.

auggie: she’s a dick though.

teddy: auggie! that’s so mean.

auggie: it’s not mean if it’s true!

and then the conversations got deeper, less about the superficial stuff like the little careers they were building for themselves, and more about how she hated los angeles and felt lonely. she admitted how if it hadn’t been for her sister, daily, and her best friend, olive, she’d have quit and gone home by now.

he’d admitted he’d been getting ready to break up with leo, who’d become way less kind to him than he appeared to be on camera, and that the fighting had become too much.

auggie: he’s… just gotten so awful. i feel terrible for even saying that.

teddy: i don’t think you’re terrible for saying that. especially if things are happening that confirm that observation.

auggie: i don’t know what happened. one day we were fine and the next we weren’t. and everything started to become a problem.

not even his siblings knew that.

auggie: it isn’t like that. not like how you’re imagining.

auggie: he’s just quick to anger now. there isn’t a day we go through without fighting.

teddy: it’s not making you happy anymore. that’s enough for me.

there was a trust built between them, and a friendship that slowly made him wonder if they could’ve made it work three years earlier.

he didn’t like to dive into those thoughts. not really, not when said thoughts could throw a wrench in all this new whatever they were creating. no reason to try and fix what wasn’t broken with wondering.

and things with leo had just ended a few months earlier. he’d come out unscathed, and it hadn’t gotten as horrible as they could have. and they managed to have a fairly private breakup. no dramatic video necessarily.

she hadn’t been as lucky.

as it turned out, she’d been dating someone, too. someone who wasn’t as quiet as leo had been, and aired out all of their dirty laundry. there were things she hadn’t even told him. not that he’d ever expect her to, but things that clearly weren’t meant to get out to anyone.

her very public breakup that painted her in the shittiest of lights, quite nearly broke her.

he hadn’t heard from her for weeks after that, and outside of a few messages here and there to let him know he was thinking of her, they don’t speak.

until she resurfaced nearly two months later.

teddy: hey.

auggie: teddy. whoa.

teddy: i know.

auggie: hi.

teddy: um. sorry for falling off. this was just... a lot.

auggie: don’t be sorry for that. ever.

teddy: yeah.

teddy: this might be a huge ask but...

and on that day, they talked over facetime for the first time since he’d reached out to her with that silly birthday message nearly a year prior. it had been awkward for the first bit of it as they took each other in and the initial jitters took over. but then her eyes watered, and the near literal floodgates opened up.

they talked for six hours that night, until he’d seen the sun come up in new york.

the conversation ended with a question. “what if... i came to new york for a bit?”

and that was how he found himself at jfk in an itchy wig and mustache combo, hiding in plain sight, to meet his (barely) ex and sorta new best friend. they’d worked out logistics about how she probably wouldn’t be able to make it in without a crowd. the disguises were a joke he made in passing, but she latched on so they could hide in plain sight.

(he didn’t know then it’d become a theme for them, or that they’d love it)

“hey you,” her voice draws his attention, up and away from his phone and he has to smile at the sight of her, short dark wig, glasses of her own. she barely looks like herself, but he’d know that smile anywhere.

it takes him a second to push off the wall, just taking her in after three years without properly seeing her outside of a photo or a phone screen.

“hey ted.”

they didn’t know it then, not as her eyes welled up just as they had on that call, or as he pulled her into a hug that felt like it lasted a lifetime, but they’d created home on that spot in the middle of the airport.

[...or if you strike out and you’re crawling home]

they had been so naive back then. so innocent to think they could ever pull off keeping what they’d created. he could almost laugh about it now. they’d spent that week in new york together, as he offered her a safe haven away from LA and the curse that was hollywood. and she came out feeling brand new.

he’d been living with ravi at the time, who’d been upstate visiting his parents, and when he walked into the apartment and ran into him, stopped short with such a force he nearly tipped over.

“aug, why is teddy bea in my apartment?” his eyes were wid like saucers as he eyed them both on the sofa in sweatpants and surrounded by snacks.

“did i forget to tell you we were friends?”

ravi blinked over at them. “um, yes.”

teddy smiled at him, like she knew she’d like him. “so you’re ravi, huh? nice to finally meet you,” she’d said brightly, as if she could’ve known then how much she’d grow to love him.

“auggie, why does teddy bea know about me, and why do i not know about her?”

auggie snorted, sipping his drink. “it might help if you stop talking about her like she’s not in the room, dude.”

ravi coughed, his cheeks going red as he realized his own blunder. he stepped farther into the living room. “sorry, teddy. yes, i’m ravi. nice to meet you?”

she giggled. “you sure about that?” she looked to auggie almost knowingly. “i promise i’m just a girl in sweatpants like everyone else.”

and though it had taken ravi a solid 10 minutes to get over being star struck, he found he liked her. a lot. and when she was gone at the end of the week, less heartbroken than she’d been when she came in, ravi had turned to auggie, his tone as serious as it’d been when they were five and evenly dividing gummy worms.

“you love her.”

auggie nearly spit out his coffee all over the floor of the A train. “don’t dude, don’t even go there.”

ravi looked almost insulted. “i won’t bet money because that feels rather gross, but the ‘i told you so’ will be so sweet.

auggie put a crisp hundred dollar bill in a birthday card for ravi the following summer when teddy kissed him on the rooftop of his apartment, both of them a little less than sober.

‘you were right.’

he never knew someone could become your everything that quickly. it’d been like she’d embedded herself underneath his skin, and he’d been certain he’d never get her out.

but he also quickly figured out that he didn’t want to. it wasn’t about anything she’d done, she’d never asked anything of him. it was more so the fact that he wholeheartedly refused to be in a world she wasn’t a part of.

[...and i can see us twisted in bedsheets august slipped away... like a bottle of wine, cause he was never mine;]

she dragged him to a house in rhode island that summer. the most stunning place auggie was sure he’d ever been to. a massive place she called the holiday house. “it was a gift for mom and dad’s thirtieth anniversary,” she’d explained once they were inside the front door. “i brought everyone here to celebrate.”

“graham style?” he’d teased, but she kissed him before it could be anything more than that, and led him up the stairs into her room.

he couldn’t place it then in the moment, but there was something so final about the whole thing.

“i’m going on tour in a month,” teddy had whispered in the quiet of the bedroom. the sun was starting to set, and they’d spent most of that day in bed, learning about one another in ways they’d never thought they would. not in the beginning, and certainly not in the last year.

“i know,” auggie nodded, pressing a kiss to her shoulder blade, and running up the soft skin of her back.

she leaned into his touch and turned to face him, lips finding his for a long, lingering moment before pulling back. “auggie, this...” she sighed, and bowed her head.

“what, ted?” he asked. he raised his hand to cup her jaw, gently lifting her face so she’d look at him.

“i don’t know if we can... do this,” she said softly. “i’m booked for almost the entirety of the next year, and i don’t.” she sighed. “i know we just started, but.”

auggie pressed his lips together, trying to find the right words to say to her. but what could he say? it wasn’t her fault she had commitments. he had them, too, even if his were way less constrained than hers were (by a landslide). he wanted to say no. to hang on for dear life and have them figure out the rest later, but that felt like a big ask, especially when their worlds looked like they did.

she sat up in the bed, hugging her knees to her chest still wrapped in sheets. “you surprised me, you know.”

he stayed back, giving her the space she seemed to be searching for when she pulled away.

“i almost didn’t answer your text,” she laughed and sniffled, looking slightly surprised by her tears. “on my birthday, i almost...” she shook her head. “we were growing a lot back then. and olive made a huge deal about people from my past coming to ‘take a piece of the pie’ or whatever,” she rolled her eyes. “i know what she meant, but i don’t know when i saw your message, i didn’t. that didn’t even cross my mind.”

auggie smiled up at her. “i’m glad i inspired some lack of... gold digger-ism,” he snorted, and she shoved him, laughter bubbling from both of them.

“i’m serious! you were just. i don’t know.” teddy grinned and wiped at her eyes. “my point is, i didn’t expect to get here. with you.”

he sat up then, scooting close as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “i didn’t expect it either, you know.” he touched his forehead to hers. “i had a boyfriend and everything.”

teddy pressed her fingers to his cheek. “now look at us.”

“now look at us.”

auggie looked at her for a moment, trying to take her in. it was a lot, for a second, a lot of emotion to take in, especially in such a heavy moment. he decided to kiss her then, soft, and slower than he hand all day. tender and grounding, like he felt she needed in that moment. like maybe he needed in that moment

and with a few words, he tried to ease her worries, and his own in the process. “what if... we hold on to right now,” he offered. “focus on here, and this time, and... hope for more later.”

“hope?”

“hope we can have more later. soon? eventually? i’m okay to hope for you, i think i’ve hoped for you for four years without even knowing it.”

he could almost see in her eyes the moment her heart burst at his words. and he wasn’t even sure if he believed the words himself, but he had to hold onto some version of the story in which he wouldn’t have to let her go.

“okay. we’ll hope.”

[back when we were living for the hope of it all...]

they put a pin in it again, leaving things open ended while she went off to make magic across the globe with her music, while life kept going for him. youtube, the death of vine, the move to twitch, the gaming, the sponsorships, the birth of fortnite, and ridiculous amounts of money. their lives go on, and they lightly keep in touch, tethered whether they wanted to be or not.

teddy’s career had skyrocketed with the release of her next album, a transition to more pop music that put her on the map with a different audience and tugged her in all different directions, further and further away from auggie and the little bubble they thought they could manage.

auggie: msg never shined so bright.

teddy: wish i could’ve seen you.

auggie: come over. or i’ll come to you.

they spent more time apart than they ever did together, but whenever she was in new york, they carved a space. when he was in california, she’d find him in san diego. twitch con and comic con made it so easy to hide (even if the captain marvel costume and wig she managed to hide in did a real number on him).

when they managed to steal a moment, it would be the world’s most earth-shattering moment.

they made time. they made it work. without a label because labeling it was what started all the trouble. throwing permanence into two impermanent lives would be their downfall.

it was stolen glances across venues, hurried kisses and more in dressing rooms, hotel rooms, and cars. it was whispered phone calls and falling asleep on facetime. it was texts about little, dumb things, because every time they got into more, it was just more heartbreak. it was promises of somedays and forevermores.

months turned into years, and they thought this was doable. it worked.

at least, it was what he told himself. it worked to get to have her when he could, when her life wasn’t pulling her in all sorts of directions. he could hide in plain sight with her.

it worked when he properly met her brothers and sisters, and her parents. it worked when she met allie, who loved to barge in without knocking on a day she had fiona and freddie in tow for a sunday brunch after teddy had slept over and was bouncing around his kitchen in one of his flannels.

it worked when ravi insisted she meet ben and leslie, and leslie fell all the way in love with her. it worked when he met olive and eliza, and olive told him he wasn’t even a little bit good enough for teddy.

it worked when people in their world knew, even if the outside world didn’t know.

but then they tied her to someone at one point, and there were pictures and videos, and a shit-ton of starry-eyed fans around the world talking about teddy bea and her new love. and his stomach churned at the headline because this is where the impermanence and lack of a label didn’t work.

teddy: i’m sorry.

he didn’t answer.

(she was back in new york, two nights later, and he was fucking her in an elevator.)

but he got the same treatment, and way less notoriety, unless you knew what to look for. (and teddy knew what to look for.)

her name was blake, they gamed together all the time, and blauggie was born on the internet somewhere. she’s lovely, and he does like her, but it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere. she’s somewhere in texas, and he’s still not moving from new york, and long distances were really going to be the death of him.

teddy doesn’t know that though. and she showed up at his apartment in a trench coat with nothing underneath, coated in anger and jealousy. it was angry that night. for both of them.

[...and you know damn well, for you i would ruin myself...]

“i’m done.”

she was doing a secret show in paris at the end of february. a lover show. an extension of valentine’s day. and he only knew because she made it a point to stop in new york before she left to celebrate a delayed version of his twenty-eighth birthday.

except she left in the morning before he could say goodbye. and on the one hand, it hadn’t been the first time she ever had. she moved at such a rapid pace, that it lent itself to that kind of irish exit.

but he wasn’t having it this time. that one stung. before he could even comprehend it, he’d grabbed a backpack and bought a flight on the train ride to jfk.

(his bank called twice)

he texted daily. a hail mary. because if he texted teddy, he thought she might find a way to convince him they could keep doing it like this. that they could keep making it work from a distance.

nothing happened for the first two hours, he sat at the gate, resigned to having to guess and find her by some miracle.

and then, when they called his section to board, his phone buzzed.

daily: i was wondering how much longer was it gonna take you to do this. my god.

he found her.

“auggie, what are you...” her jaw had dropped and her eyes were like saucers. he was jet lagged as fuck after his flight, but had enough sense to gather that she had a show in a few hours. “how did you--”

“i’m not doing this with you anymore, teddy,” he interrupts, tone blunt. for all his exhaustion, he’s incredibly clearheaded about this. “i can’t keep doing this half in, half out thing with you.”

and auggie could gather how insane he must’ve sounded to her in that moment, how he’d jumped out of bed hours after teddy had left and followed her. to fucking paris. in his right mind, he would probably shake himself.

“i love you,” he said softly. “i love you, and i wanna be with you. fuck the long distance, fuck the messes we’ve made. i’ll follow you anywhere if i have to, i just... i’m done, ted.”

it was the most firm, steadfast decision he had ever made. and the weight of the silence and the shock on her face would weigh on his spirit for a little while after that. it was almost too heavy.

“then we’re done, auggie,” teddy said softly, eyes glassy, and voice loaded with emotion. “we’re done with the hiding. we’re done with treating this like anything other than what it is.”

“fuck it.” it’s the most certain he’s ever felt in his entire life, in an apartment in paris that screamed teddy graham and all that she was. “none of it matters anymore, ted. i don’t care about any of it if it means i don’t get to have you.”

she grabbed both his hands and drew him inside, pushing him back against the closed door and pressed her lips. “i love you,” she murmured against his mouth. “i love you.”

they’re married by the end of the week.

[...a million little times]

#language of love

0 notes

reaperofsassgard · 4 years ago

Text

can’t believe that the ‘hexing the Moon’ was such a great trolling that countless people believed it...

THE MOON WAS NOT HEXED

somehow some of you declared to feel an energy turbulence and “Apollo/Hecate is pissed”

you felt imbalance by a hex that did not even take place???

you really think that human hexes would affect gods???

or that gods would actually care?

also; sources? most people be talking about “baby witches said xy” without providing any links or quotes

the only two accounts we found on Twitter were @rodneystubbs saying he hexed the moon alone and @heyyadoraa who claimed that a few baby witches did the whole thing. again, no sources.

as someone wrote on Reddit:

It's the same 4 that tried to hex the fae. Apparently just 1 witch from witchtok know their names (one of them reached her on DMs), she said that "the hexers" is a small coven of 4 "baby witches" that are just trying to "prove a point". This witchtoker doesn't want to give their names so they doesn't receive any attacks (magickal or online).

only one witch knows them... how convenient...

a journalist at Cosmopolitan “[...] reached out to heyyadoraa for further information, but they didn’t respond”... and the method that rodneystubss described was as plain as making black salt or a home protection jar... ridiculous, basically anybody without further knowledge could vomit a recipe like that who knows how to google ‘hexes’...

the screenshots from an alleged discord server did not say anything particular either, the witches were just speculating but did not provide any useful info.

and rodneystubss replied:

if it does not scream 100% trolling, i don’t know what will

tldr; it seems like a mundane guy (with his homies) trolled the witch community and blew the whole shit up

p.s. so I’ve been doubting other witches’ legitimacy because it became obvious that many young kids are just larping

#witchy shitpost #witch #witchcraft #hex the moon

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gethealthy18-blog · 5 years ago

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Why You Need to Try Oil Pulling (It’s Not Crazy, Promise)

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/news/why-you-need-to-try-oil-pulling-its-not-crazy-promise/

Why You Need to Try Oil Pulling (It’s Not Crazy, Promise)

Learn about the practice of oil pulling for oral health. I’ll talk about the benefits of oil pulling, the types of oils you can use, how to correctly oil pull, and my testimonial about my personal use of consistent oil pulling.

What is oil pulling?

There are some complicated natural therapies out there. By comparison, oil pulling is deceptively simple. Sip some oil, swish for 10 minutes. That’s it!

Oil pulling therapy is a practice taken from Ayurvedic medicine that involves swishing (or “pulling”) unrefined oil in your mouth for several minutes.

Think of it as oily mouthwash, except way more powerful. (Don’t forget to try my mouthwash recipe, too.)

The modern adaptation of oil pulling has only recently become popular in Western society, but already many are reporting amazing results from this unorthodox therapy. (Read about my own results at the end of the post!)

What are the Benefits of Oil Pulling?

The alleged benefits of oil pulling cover everything from curing gingivitis to facilitating weight loss.

Some users even report a decrease in gray hair!

I’m a skeptic, personally, but there are some interesting stories out there that include benefits like:

– Whiter, straighter teeth

– Healthy, pink gums

– Increased energy

– Decreased migraine headaches

– Clear sinuses

– Less severe asthma

– Decreased allergies

– Improved PMS symptoms

– Regulated menstrual cycles

– Better sleep

– Clear skin

Overall, oil pulling is known as a powerful method of detoxifying the body. Coconut oil expert Dr. Bruce Fife, author of Oil Pulling Therapy, says: “Oil pulling is one of the most remarkable methods of detoxification and healing I have ever experienced in my career as a naturopathic physician.”

What Oils to Use for Oil Pulling

Traditionally unrefined sunflower or sesame oil was used for oil pulling, but today many other oils are used as well. Unrefined olive or coconut oil come highly recommended if you don’t want to use the traditional oils.

Oil Pulling How-To Guide:

1. Ideally oil pulling should be done first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (I’m assuming because swishing the oil in your mouth might trigger the gag reflex in some folks — and we don’t need to combine that with a big breakfast, am I right?).

2. About one tablespoon on oil should be used. You can start with less, though, if that seems like too much.

3. A couple drops of essential oil or a healing oil like oregano (which might be good for thrush) can be added if desired. (Learn where I shop for essential oils online here.)

4. Swish the oil slowly and methodically, not vigorously.

5. Try to make sure the oil reaches every region of your mouth.

6. Be careful not to swallow the oil. This stuff is cleaning all kinds of gunk from your teeth and gums — it’s not for eating, okay?

7. Continue swishing the oil for at least 10 minutes, preferably more like 20 minutes.

8. The oil will become very thin and foamy as you swish.

9. Spit the oil out and rinse your mouth thoroughly with pure water.

10. Brush with a natural toothpaste afterwards. Click here for ideas for toothpaste alternatives.

How often should you oil pull?

Oil pulling can be done as often as you like. Daily sessions are usually recommended if you have specific health problems you are trying to address with oil pulling. I’d recommend at least a couple times per week if you want to reap the benefits.

This traditional practice is also an excellent measure to add to your daily routine to facilitate detoxification and overall health.

My Oil Pulling Benefits Testimonial

I discovered oil pulling therapy last year and decided to try it for fun. I used coconut oil since that’s what I had around at the time. I didn’t notice any astounding benefits, so after about a week of swishing for 20 minutes each day I gave it up.

Since then I’ve pulled oil a couple times a month at random.

Then about a week ago I started thinking about it again and decided to give it another whirl. I used olive oil this time because it seemed convenient. I swished for about ten minutes a day for a few days.

Now, before I continue, I want to explain that I’ve had a problem with plaque building up on the back of my lower front teeth for as many years as I can remember.

A Note About Plaque

I realize the stuff that colonizes on the back of my teeth is actually called calculus — yes, like the math. It’s like the advanced form of plaque. Calculus is also known as tartar. For the sake of simplicity, I’m just calling it all plaque. If you’d like to boost your dental knowledge, read this page about calculus, plaque, and other junk you don’t want on your teeth.

Oil Pulling Testimonial Continued:

Because of a (mostly unfounded) aversion I have to dental visits, I don’t get my teeth professionally cleaned often (don’t worry, otherwise my dental hygiene is great!). And besides, clean teeth don’t happen twice a year at the dentist — they happen through healthy daily habits. So I was looking for natural ways to support healthy, clean teeth, and oil pulling fit the bill.

I decided to floss right after oil pulling with olive oil for the first time (usually I floss at night and do oil pulling in the morning–it never occurred to me they might go better together!).

And as I was flossing all of the plaque build up literally just broke away from my teeth. I was astonished, and ran out of the bedroom exclaiming to my husband how crazy this was, that almost all the build up was gone.

Over the next few days I continued to floss after oil pulling, and now I have virtually no plaque build up behind my lower front teeth. My teeth feel very smooth and clean.

Nothing short of a dental cleaning has ever been able to accomplish this before, and to put the icing on the cake this was absolutely painless (yay!) and basically free (I guess besides the tiny cost of a few tablespoons of olive oil).

(For the record, I don’t think the difference was really in the type of oil I used, but mostly in the timing and consistency.)

Want to learn more about oil pulling?

If you want to learn how to whiten your teeth with oil pulling, read this post HERE.

If you want to read more about the benefits of oil pulling, check out coconut guru Bruce Fife’s book Oil Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing

which can be found at a fairly reasonable price online. Not sure if your local library is going to carry this one, but it’s worth a shot to see if you can reserve it to get a peek at this interesting stuff.

Do you practice consistent oil pulling? I’d love to see your testimonial in the comments below!

Love coconut oil? More of my posts:

Elizabeth is the founder of The Nourished Life and has been writing about natural living for 12 years. Her work has been featured at Shape, Bustle, and Mother Earth Living. Her mission is to help you lower your stress levels and find fun ways to become happier and healthier. Read more about Elizabeth here.

Source: https://livingthenourishedlife.com/got-plaque-want-to-detox-try-oil/

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depaulcorpcomms · 5 years ago

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Sunday Riley: Wrote Fake Sephora Reviews For Almost Two Years – Says FTC

By Celine Soto

The leak was initially posted on Reddit and then Instagram by a anonymous beauty account, which led to Sunday Riley firing back in defense of its scheme. The comment wrote, "The simple and official answer to this Reddit post is that yes, this email was sent by a former employee to several members of our company, at one point, we did encourage people to post positive reviews at the launch of this product, consistent with their experiences” (Elassar, p. 18, 2019). Also stating that the company believes competitors would “often post negative reviews” in order to defeat the brand.

REACTION & PAGE PRINCIPLES:

SOURCES:

Dwyer, K. (2019, October 22). “This Skincare Company Admitted to Posting Fraudulent Reviews but Escaped FTC Punishment.” Fortune. Retrieved from https://fortune.com/2019/10/22/sunday-riley-online-reviews-ftc/

The Page Principles. (n.d.). Arthur W. Page Society. Retrieved from https://page.org/site/the-page-principles

#sundayriley

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