just had emergency abdominal surgery and physically cannot eat. turn on the tv. get blasted by weight loss and diet ads

i think someone should get blown up about this

Reliable Information Regarding Top Legal Steroids

Lots of individuals couple steroids utilizing physique, but additionally create uses. Glowing help you in achieving healthful weight loss because of using unwanted body fat and even increasing lean muscle. On the other hand, anabolic steroids can be harmful to the physique, and additionally drinking it with out using doctor’s medication is illegal. The good news is, there are certainly legal steroids that incorporate natural ingredients which enable it to enable you arrive at your own fitness goals and keep well-balanced libido grades and even encouraging normal hypertension coupled with featuring dieting.

To find the best legal steroids, choose a pill that would be fabricated from high-quality, methodically analyzed active ingredients. A fantastic products may range of many advantages, for example boosting sex, improving vitality, not to mention maximizing heart well being. You ought to additionally have a free from danger not to mention hassle-free take, and turn into an easy task to run. Aside from that, it is best to obtain a complement which can be produced by lodge logic that has a potent character. You'll find this review just by interested in testimonials together with sites internet. By going to the site, you could buy some is crucial best alternative steroid products better.

Brutal Force DBULK is regarded as the top legal steroids that might enhance your sports functioning and then encourage muscles growing . Brutal Force DBULK is the perfect muscle-building complement with regards to musclemen who definitely are interested in generating massive results in addition to cutting themselves body fat amounts. It functions by pushing necessary protein exercise during the muscle without the use of inorganic best legal steroid brands 2021 like Dianabol. Aside from that it diminishes muscle mass soreness and even will allow a recovering for the structure soft tissue. It nutritional supplement is on the market for sale by owner in Wild Force’s site in addition to the business delivers a refund policy if there is discontent.

An alternative is without question CrazyBulk HGHx2 . HGHx2 is mostly a natural and organic nutritional supplement that can enhance personal evolution, energize any anterior pituitary gland in addition to maximize human growth hormone amounts. Truely does work leading each time being used next to a good quality muscle building food plan and employ system. Buyers can get weightloss, muscle mass achieve and even greater fitness, electrical power in addition to durability. That part checklist with regard to HGHx2 is definitely a combination of herbal selections, protein and additionally peptides, which are all 100 % natural ingredients which were thouroughly tested with regard to essential safety. Even so, it's very helpful to identify that gains may differ notably from a single particular person to another one.

The very last supplement on our list of often the best legal steroids might be TestoGen, and that is a pure examination product that can help you get back your energy in addition to enhance your exercise routines. It really is a trendy determination concerning blokes using small androgenic hormone or points it is an excellent option to a real health professional prescribed steroid. It's just a fast-acting manufactured goods is definitely backed by throughout 127,579 satisfied potential customers in more compared to 134 countries. If you should visit this website, you can buy increasingly more best legal steroid brands 2021 online software.

When shopping for the best steroid, it's important to look into the manufacturer’s status. A reputable company shall be sincere coupled with apparent close to the nation's product’s added benefits, similar to expanding testosterone grades, normalization stage, and also promoting weight loss. It will just use herbal essentials within the products along with go through Country wide Stockpile of drugs rules of thumb to grow lovely not to mention integrative fitness. To finish, huge car . enjoy a durable customer service network team that are able to respond to any questions you will have. It might be imperative that you check out the refund guarantee. A reputable company provide this insurance policy to keep it has the prospects.

https://youtu.be/kJcpTSNWXdQ

https://youtu.be/yIZ8zUOXh2g

Can you watch these when you have the time? Im curious about your opinion on this because I think youre really smart and these are some topics rhats been on my mind lately! Thnk you so much ❤️❤️

Okay, so there’s a lot here.  I feel like I should admit upfront that I dislike Joe Rogan.  I won’t really dig into why because you didn’t ask for that, but I will say that if you want to listen to someone wax philosophical, I feel like it should be someone who was actually a philosopher (like Contrapoints or PhilosophyTube) instead of UFC commentator and former host of Fear Factor, Joe Rogan.  Anyway, let’s dig into these videos…. 

The first one is called “Unattainable Beauty Standard Outrage” and it’s with stand-up comedian Bill Burr.  Frankly, I find it to be frustrating because they’re both average looking white men complaining about an issue that they’re really not subject to in any meaningful way.  Throughout this video, they conflate a lot of different issues-  the beauty standards average men and women are held to, the (edited) beauty standards present in advertisements, and the physical requirements actors and actresses are held to are all the same in this conversation.  They make them seem like it’s all the same when in reality that’s just…. three different conversations completely.  I think that’s a result of the fact that they’re just kind of talking, not making an argument or even really trying to get to a point.

Let’s start out with what they’re saying about the beauty standards that average people are held to.  Basically, their point is that if you cared about how you looked, you can compensate for it in other ways. The point here boils down to “ugly people won’t take the time to develop a personality like the rest of us, and they’re mad that they get treated differently.”  But the reality is that you can have a great personality, but discrimination based on physical appearance will still exist.  Similar to how discrimination based on sexuality isn’t cancelled out by white privilege or discrimination based on race isn’t cancelled out by being male, discrimination based on appearance isn’t cancelled out by having a winning personality.  Ugly people earn less than their attractive counterparts, on average have fewer friends, worse social skills, and less active sex lives, and are seen as less moral, trustworthy, and competent.  Women have it even worse; while men are able to compensate for their looks somewhat (and there are more “acceptable” looks that a man can have) through factors like wealth, social capital, and personality, women are taught from a young age that being attractive is the most important thing that they can be.  Because of that, women suffer more from looks-based discrimination than men do and are more impacted every time the standard for female beauty gets raised.

Moving on, they start complaining that the UK is banning advertisements that feature impossible standards of beauty.  To my knowledge, it’s actually only the London underground that did this, and I believe it specifically concerned advertisements that are digitally altered but selling a beauty product (correct me if I’m wrong here).  Specifically in this episode, they’re talking about products that promise you a “summer body” with a digitally altered image of a bikini model.   It’s false advertising when you show an edited model who supposedly got their body by using your product- and that should be illegal.  False advertising is illegal in lots of other realms.  You’re not allowed to claim that your dietary supplement will cure cancer, and you shouldn’t be able to claim that your “summer body” product will make you look like a digitally altered model.  Joe and Bill comment that people are being overly sensitive, and that these advertisements just make them “want to go to the gym”, but that misses the point completely.  Even if you went to the gym, there’s still tens of thousands of dollars of cosmetic surgeries and digital alterations that went into making that model look like that.  It’s not about work.  Those bodies aren’t achievable with work- the models themselves, who work out for hours a day and follow very strict diets, don’t look like that in real life either.  Pretending that those images are achievable through “hard work” is actually really damaging.  It can lead to people engaging in dangerous diets and exercise regimens, taking untested supplements, and feeling that their lack of results is a moral failing because they’re not “working hard enough” (which decreases self esteem).

Then they start talking about actors and actresses who are asked to lose weight for movies, and one actress in particular who publicly complained that she was asked to lose 15 pounds for a role.  Their takeaway is that the actress who complained is being lazy, that she was hired to be hot, and that she’s being ungrateful for the opportunity.  A quick fact check suggests that the person they’re talking about is Jennifer Lawrence, who said she “was told by producers of a film to lose 15 pounds in two weeks."  That’s a very different story to the one that they’re telling.  To lose 15 pounds in two weeks, 5′9, 140 pound Jennifer Lawrence would have had to burn 52,500 calories.  Even if she ate absolutely nothing and worked out at the level of an Olympic athlete 7 days a week, she would still have only burned 39,354 calories in two weeks.  That’s still 3.75 pounds short of 15 pounds of weight loss.  It was literally an impossible ask.  Upon telling the producer that she thought the weight loss demands were not appropriate, “he said he didn’t know why everyone thought I was so fat, he thought I was ‘perfectly fuckable.'”  And so to paint it as Jennifer Lawrence being lazy is a bit disingenuous.  But I’m willing to accept that maybe they just didn’t have that context, because it seems like their goal wasn’t actually to have a discussion based in research or argumentation- it’s to make the point that people are overly sensitive now and asking the world to cater to them.

Closing this conversation out, I don’t think it’s wrong for studios to ask actors to change their appearance for a role.  A big part of why people get cast for particular roles is their appearance, and as an actor, you have to be willing to adapt your appearance for the role. Just like you may be asked to dye your hair or wear colored contacts, I don’t think it’s necessarily wrong to ask an actor to gain or lose weight for a role (especially since both men and women are asked to do that, and the studio provides them with the support to be able to do that safely).  Those bodies are achievable with work, and I don’t think it’s wrong to show those.  But I think there’s a larger conversation to be had about who’s being asked to change their weight and why.  Christian Bale lost 62 pounds for The Machinist because his character was supposed to be emaciated from his insomnia.  The studio didn’t ask Bale to do that.  He made the decision to do it on his own, even though it made sense for his character to be that thin.  By contrast, Jennifer Lawrence was asked by the studio to lose 15 pounds to... what?  Look hotter in the movie?  Almost every female actress is expected to look a certain way in order to even be considered for a role, whereas men can be fat, mediocre looking, older, balding, and still be cast.  Even when a woman is playing a role where being hot isn’t part of the narrative at all, she’s still expected to be hot.  Even when you’re playing a character that’s “let themself go” or has “hit rock bottom”, the actress needs to look hot.  For men, there’s not that same requirement.  Having hot girls in your movie absolutely do get more people to see it, sure, but the cost is that you’re reinforcing the idea that women must be, above else, hot all the time.

So that’s that.  Let’s move on to the second video,  “No, It's Not "All Men"”, featuring comedian Iliza Shlesinger.  I should say that I like Iliza quite a bit and I’ve seen her perform, so I’m curious to see where this goes.  It’s also important to note they’ve been smoking weed, which... provides some context to this episode, I think.

So again, they start by bitching about this “beach body ready” ad that got “pulled in the UK” (actually just from the London underground) that Joe is so up in arms about.  This time he shows the ad, and it turns out that it was pulled due to “concerns about a range of health and weight loss claims made in the ad”.  The concern is false advertising.  So again, to paint it as, “ugly women are too sensitive because some women are actually beautiful” is disingenuous, and serving the narrative that “people these days are too sensitive”.  They’re also making the assumption that this ad hasn’t been digitally altered, which I find difficult to believe.  

Iliza goes on to talk about how her boobs are real and some people ask her if they’re fake, and she doesn’t like that, and how women shouldn’t judge other women to their faces about how fake they perceive them to be.  I think that’s a fine claim to make on an interpersonal level, but I also think that if we don’t start acknowledging all of the manipulation and work that goes into appearing “effortlessly beautiful”, we’re going to fall deeper into this beauty standard arms race.  Iliza kind of gets a pass on this because she openly admits to having a “fake nose”.  Then she makes a good point about how women will be hated no matter what they do, and so it’s important to remember that when someone doesn’t like you, it typically has more to do with them than it does with you.  She also says that when you don’t like someone, it’s important to do some introspection to figure out where that’s coming from, which is also great advice.  Then they wander into talking about how feminism doesn’t mean that you like women more than men or that you’re asking for special treatment, just that you support the idea of equality, and that’s fine. Joe rogan praises Iliza for being “a feminist, but not annoying”, which is gross.

Iliza then says that feminists who say, “all men” are part of the problem, and I think she’s just missing the point.  When feminists say, “yes, all men”, what they mean is that all men are benefiting from male privilege, regardless of the actions that they’re taking (or not) to better that situation.  People in positions of privilege have to acknowledge that privilege in order to be able to better the situation, and by separating yourself out as “not one of those men”, you’re saying “it’s not my problem because I’m one of the good ones, so I don’t have to think about myself critically or alter my behavior in any way.”  That said, I think Iliza is right that that stance can be taken too far and serve to alienate the men who are allies in the feminist fight for equality.  

Then, Iliza equates the phrases “all men are bad” and “all women are sluts”.  I think this is a bad take; “all men are bad” is a generalization made by a marginalized group about a powerful group that they’ve been victimized by.  Every woman I know has had some type of intimidating, frightening, dangerous, humiliating, or dehumanizing experience with a man during their lifetime.  “All women are sluts” is a powerful group insulting a group that they marginalize, with the intention of controlling that group’s actions (by making them feel ashamed of being “slutty” they’ll stop being “sluts).  “Slut” is also particularly charged in this scenario, because it centers maleness.  What is a slut?  A slut is (usually) a woman who sleeps with men but who won’t sleep with the man calling her a slut.  Which, coming full circle, is why some women say “all men are bad”.  

I get their larger point that generalizations are rarely helpful, but again, they’re making this false equivalency between a political slogan (”all men”), a gendered insult (“all women are sluts”), and random, unhelpful advice, (”women want you to slow down in the bedroom”).  In the first case, the generalization serves a purpose- it’s to let men know that they’re not exempt because they’re a “good guy”.  In the second case, it’s an insult that contributes to a gendered power structure.  In the third case, it’s just shorthand for “the majority of women that we’ve surveyed” because repeating that phrase over and over again will take away from the point they’re trying to make (that maybe you could be better in bed by listening to the sluts, Joe).

All in all, I like this one better than the first one, but Joe Rogan hasn’t grown on me over the course of watching these videos.

Doyenne ~ Part 5

Warnings: Tommy Shelby x Reader

Summary: Tommy needs help from one of Birmingham’s most powerful underground gangs, the Hemlock Angels. Little does he know, he’s not the king of Birmingham after all.

Warnings: None really

Word Count: 2650

__________________________

Against your initial preference, Tommy had taken you back to his home, insisting that if Darby Sabini was after you, the last thing you should do was stay at home alone. At least at his house, he was there to keep you safe, despite your insistence that you were a fully capable gang boss in spite of your lack of penis. 

But why did part of you want to go to his house? Why did part of you actually like that he wanted to keep you safe? Why did part of you, against all previous accusations from business partners that he was a dirty double crosser, want to trust him? 

So that night you found yourself sitting on his couch with a glass of whiskey in your hand, staring off into the fire. Everything felt too relaxed for your comfort. Tommy’s main maid had given you medical supplies to cleanse and bandage up your calves and neck. She’d even drawn you a bath to wash off all the blood and apologized profusely when the only other clothes she could find was a clean uniform she kept in her quarters. 

Having read in the news word of Grace’s murder over a year ago, you had a suspicion that perhaps she and Tommy were lying but also completely understood why he wouldn’t want to lend you his deceased wife’s clothes. 

The maid’s uniform hadn’t bothered you at all. In fact, it made you feel humble again, a nice reminder of where you could be and that you needed to be grateful for what you had been able to build. 

“Are you alright?” Tommy inquired seeing that you’d been zoned out, looking at the fire roaring for who knew how long. 

You shook yourself from your thoughts, “Yeah… yeah. I’m fine.” You lied. You weren’t. All you could think about was the horrible end that your men had met. Although you knew that it wasn’t your fault, you couldn’t help but blame yourself for it. There wasn’t even a valid reason for it. No good explanation. You just felt so damn guilty. And now you’d have to tell their wives and children what they’d lost.

“You weren’t responsible for what happened, Y/N.” Tommy sat in the armchair beside the couch you were on, practically reading your mind from your face. It was as if you hadn’t even tried to hide what you were feeling. Your typically personable or tough exterior was now solemn and void of light. 

Raising your cigarette to your lips, you took the deepest drag you’d ever taken, “I wish I could believe that. They were good men. They should have gotten real honest work. I never should have employed them knowing the risks of the job, knowing they had families.” 

“They chose to work. They could have gotten jobs anywhere in town but they made the choice to get into all of this. They knew the risks.” He spoke bluntly but truthfully and you knew it deep down. “Would’a like more?” He asked, pouring himself another glass and raising it to you, offering you a refill. 

“I’m alright, thank you.” You rejected, not even glancing down at the crystal in your hand. But you knew the last thing you needed right now was to spiral into a hole of drunkenness no matter how badly you wanted to. You were already feeling relaxed from the two glasses you’d had anyways but you weren’t sure just how relaxed you wanted to be near him. 

He lit himself a cigarette and stared off into the fire as well and the two of you sat in silence for a while. It was surprisingly comfortable considering your entire past with the exception of today had been filled with small arguments with the goal of establishing dominance over each other. But it wasn’t about that now. For once, you felt like equals and it was nice. In fact, it almost felt like neither of you were gang bosses at all but simply friends hanging out. It was a nice change for both of you but you couldn’t tell if the nervous butterflies in your stomach were from your subconscious not trusting him, being paranoid about Sabini’s men coming after you, or because you were alone with Tommy. 

“Thank you,” You finally mumbled out to him, eyes never leaving the roaring flames ahead of you, “For coming to save me earlier.” 

“You were only there because of our deal. As much as I didn’t want to get involved, I couldn’t bring myself to leave you to his will.” He almost sounded apologetic. Almost. 

A small forced snort left you, “You mean so that you can still get the last $50,000.” You corrected sarcastically. 

He shrugged, arms resting across the arms of his chair, “That is part of it.” 

You had to admit, you appreciated the honesty. “Well, regardless of your reasons, you did do a lot today.” You shifted in your seat, pulling your legs up onto the couch with you. 

“Are you cold?” Tommy asked in a surprising display of tenderness. 

It took you off guard, “What? Oh, no, no I’m fine. Thank you, Thomas.” You lied, tucking your feet in closer to you and flinching when your bandaged calves came into contact with your fingers. At least it had stopped bleeding finally. 

He straightened up slightly at the sound of his first name coming from your lips. It was the first time you’d referred to him as anything but Mr. Shelby. Maybe it was the whiskey, maybe it was a new sense of comfort since he’d referred to you by your first name earlier today in the heat of panic. Regardless, his name coming from you sounded like liquid gold. 

Wordlessly, Tommy stood up and walked off to a cupboard before returning with a burgundy blanket and handed it to you, “Take it. You’re cold.” He extended the folded blanket to you and you took it, finding yourself caught staring at him as you did so. 

Even though he still had that same dang cold look on his face, his eyes almost seemed gentle and concerned in a way you’d never expected to see from him. The fire burning brightly behind him illuminated every highlight and cast shadows to accentuate every sharp angular line. He’d shed his coat earlier in the night, now relaxing in his white button up, tie, and suspenders. 

Had he always been this attractive? No, no, stop that. 

“Thank you,” You reluctantly took the blanket but didn’t hesitate to throw it over your body. This time, instead of returning to his arm chair, he sat beside you on the couch. You eyed the distance between the two of you, heart pounding inexplicably. He was still sitting a respectful distance away, there was nothing to be concerned about. But why did he sit on the couch when he’d already established a seat in the chair? 

“Can’t have you go freezing on me.” 

You looked over with a shocked expression, “Was that actually a joke? Is Thomas Shelby actually capable of having a sense of humor?” You teased but the amazement was genuine.

He sighed, sipping his whiskey to hide the chuckle that had threatened to creep its way up, “It has been known to happen on rare occasions.” 

“Ah, well don’t keep it up. Someone might think you have a heart.” You joked, nudging his leg slightly with your foot through the blanket. 

Tommy’s eyes flashed to his leg just as the movement happened and his chest froze up. Were you flirting with him? You’d been flirting with him throughout your entire professional relationship so far but he’d chalked it up to a tactic you used to get what you want. His suspicions had only been confirmed when your entire demeanor changed as the day’s events unravelled but this looked like genuine flirting.

He’d watched as your confident, almost cocky, attitude had melted away into a real person. It was a shift that you hated watching in yourself. You’d never allowed your facade to drop for anyone except yourself and Rita. Even then, it wasn’t much of a facade. It was the real you, just the most confident version of you. The most manipulative version of you. Not that you were a necessarily manipulative person but you had ways of getting what you wanted, through both force and kind gestures. But now you were a real person around him. 

“So how did you get into all of this?” You pried, feeling more relaxed with your questions as the two whiskey’s kicked in. 

Tommy shifted to lean back into the crevice of the couch, turning to face you more, “Well, me father was a thief when he was around. He stole whatever he could get his hands on and that was all he did. No real job or anything. My mum was dead too so we didn’t have much money, even before he left us. When he did, I swore we’d never live like that again. The Blinders were just a small, mostly family, group running books illegally before the war but when I came back, it took off.” He explained, surprisingly candidly. He inhaled, the sudden weight of the truth being out to anyone but his family weighing on him instead of making him feel lighter, “What about you?” 

You gulped down the rest of you whiskey, “Kind of similar. Grew up flat broke. My parents worked their asses off to provide for us. My dad got injured in the factory and my brother went off to war where he was killed. It was just up to me and me mum to take care of everyone but it became very clear very quickly that women don’t make enough to live in the city here. A change needed to be made. I needed to be paid like a man. So I started small with bootlegging and it grew from there.” 

You sighed, adding, “My brother never knew anything but poverty and struggle. All I wanted was to show him how good life could be.” 

“I’m sure he would be very proud of you. I like to think the same about my late wife.” Tommy admitted, stopping when he did. What on Earth was he thinking, bringing up Grace? He knew what happened when he thought about her. This wasn’t the time or place. 

“I read about that in the paper when it happened. I’m so sorry for your loss.” You knew a thing or two about loss. Not in a romantic sense but you’d lost many people that you loved. 

Tommy sighed, wanting to change the subject. He hated that he let his guard down with anyone. “Are you still okay on whiskey?” 

You laughed quietly, “You trying to get me drunk?” Tommy didn’t say anything, just looked exasperatedly at you and your jokes, “Okay, fine. Can I please get another glass?” 

He nodded, getting up to pour you more. You muttered your thanks when he went to return the crystal bottle, “So is all this nice stuff just an act to get what you want?” 

The question took you back although it was something you’d been asked before. Most of the men in the business didn’t understand that kindness could get you more than violence in some situations. “Not entirely,” You began honestly,” I think that kindness is a good initial motivator, especially when they’re doing a favor for you. In business, it shows good faith. But don’t you see enough misery in this God forsaken city, anyways? I’m not here to make people miserable. Quite the opposite,” You stood up and walked towards the fireplace, leaning on the wall beside the mantle, “I want money and success but if I can do it while helping people escape life for a while, then that’s the best thing I can think of.” You paused, almost for dramatic affect, your voice more stern when you spoke again, “Violence is a good tactic when the kindness runs out.” 

Tommy nodded, eyebrows raising for just a moment as he considered that perhaps you had a good thing going, “I have to admit, sounds like you might be onto something,” He pressed himself up from the couch, strolling towards you casually, “It seems like your people seem to respect you and listen to you. They don’t question your authority.” 

With every word he spoke, he took another step towards you until he was almost toe to toe with you. You leaned back against the wall and looked up at him, his face completely illuminated by the warm fire light, your heart in your throat. He was beautiful and he was standing so close. The tension in the air was thick, almost suffocatingly so. 

His eyes locked on yours and no matter how hard you tried to pry them away, you couldn’t bring yourself to. You didn’t want to. Your body was suddenly strong, as if trying to fight the vibe in the room, as Tommy peered down on you. You almost fell into his touch before he could even make contact with you, so touch starved. You’d been so caught up in your work for so long, you couldn’t even remember the last time you’d felt the touch of another person. 

Just when the tension became too much, just as it was about to crack, just as you saw his hand move to touch who knows what part of you, you ducked away from him, rubbing your arm awkwardly, “I should really get going to bed. Long day, y’know? But, um, thank you again for everything.” You lamely excused yourself, screaming at yourself to get a hold of your emotions. 

Tommy reached behind his neck with the hand he was going to touch you with, playing it off as if he were rubbing his neck, “Yes, yes, of course. Let me show you the guest room.” He offered, already beginning to walk towards the stairs before you stopped him. 

“Thank you,” You put your hands up panickedly, “But I think I remember where it was when I got changed earlier. But if I get lost, I’ll let you know.” You chuckled awkwardly, backing up slowly towards the stairs as you spoke. “Have a great night, Mr. Shelby.” 

Tommy watched in confusion as you made your way up the stairs, totally avoiding all eye contact with him. There it was. His last name again. Not Thomas anymore as it had been all day. Once your form disappeared around the wall, Tommy groaned and downed his whiskey in one huge gulp, slamming his glass down on the table. His fingers gripped the wood of the side table tightly as he hung his head down, trying to collect himself. He was slipping. Emotions were too high now, yours from being kidnapped, his from talking about Grace. Maybe it was for the best that nothing happened. 

When you made it to your room, you quietly but firmly closed the door, leaning against it while you sank to the ground. Your hands ran through your hair as you took a deep breath. Stop, take a breath, get yourself together. Touch deprivation, alcohol, emotional distress, actual attraction and reciprocated flirtation for the first time in a long time… it was all getting to you. But it was getting your guard down. You had to get a hold of yourself. 

This attraction to Tommy was unprecedented. Most other men you worked with were older or had comb overs or little mustaches that were just too small to look natural or were complete utter asses to you about your gender. But here Thomas Shelby was, right in front of you, non-discrediting, valiant, smart. A true equal to you. And his amazing looks didn’t hurt anything either. 

But it did. It hurt everything because with him, you let your walls come down, and you knew from experience that that could be disastrous. 

( ben barnes + cis male ) — have you seen charles greco ? this thirty-eight year old is a personal financer who resides in manhattan. he has been living in nyc for thirty-eight years, and is known to be charming and confident, but can also be conniving and arrogant, if you cross them. people tend to associate them with beaten italian leather boots and smiles that never meet his eyes. @codstarters​

triggers for neglect, drug use, gambling, & personality disorders.

general information.

full name: charles greco. handle: charlie. title: n/a. age: 38. date of birth: november 12, 1983. place of birth: manhattan, new york. zodiac: scorpio. gender: cis male. nationality: italian-american. religion: atheist. orientation: greyromantic heterosexual. relationship status: single.

physical attributes.

face claim: ben barnes. height: 6'1″. weight: 170 lbs. hair color: dark brown. eye color: dark brown. tattoos: none. distinguishing marks: deep brown eyes. outfit/clothing style: beaten boots, expensive jeans, dark shirts, worn leather, fitted suits.

background information.

hometown: manhattan, new york. current residence: manhattan, new york. past residences: manhattan, new york. spoken languages: english, italian, german, russian. financial status: upper class. education level: college graduate. organization: potential illegal ties.

familial information.

mother: alessia greco. father: unknown. siblings: none. children: possibly a few bastard children.

personality.

moral alignment: chaotic neutral. mbti: estp-a - the entrepreneur. enneagram: type 9: the peacemaker. temperament: choleric.

biography.

one thing was incredibly clear to charlie greco from the moment he could comprehend the hand that life had dealt him: nothing would come easy, and nothing would be worth the time if it was.

his mother always had the means of making a decent living for her son and herself, but squandered all of her earnings on selfish means instead. she was certainly a beautiful woman: alluring both physically and with a wit sharp as a blade’s edge, but all of her attention had always been selfish. surely it was habit taught to her from a young age, something she never bothered to break before she involved herself in other human interactions. but it was likely her beauty and charm that had seduced the man who impregnated her, and the likes of his name were never so much as whispered around offspring. charlie has never known the man’s name.

babies should be a joyous occasion, and yet alessia greco found a way to make it entirely self-involved. her body had to bear the pain, her child was what made everyone so pleased, her creation. anyone who dared to involve themselves in the mess of his mother’s life was sure to see how narcissistic the beautiful italy born-and-bred woman was, and yet no one pressed a finger onto the issue.

but such is the way of the world, so often are children abandoned to their fates.

he was a beautiful baby, but grew to be an awkward toddler, an awkward little boy. alessia made no attempt to hide her disgust at how her creation could be so gangly and ungainly, could stow away for hours with quiet toys that suggested knowledge more than play with other children. but perhaps that was for the better — she couldn’t very well brag and show up with something like him, her offerings would be meager in comparison to children who were the spitting images of their beautiful parents. simple genetics, the awkward transitional period of a child, were held against a child who knew nothing of the world or such disgust from his mother. charlie was six, and alessia greco was the love of his life. all mothers should be, for little boys.

but as he grew older, as his awareness developed, and as the blinders fell from his eyes charlie became aware of his mother’s feelings. while he was utterly devoted to her, drew pictures of her at school or told stories about my mom and me, she was ashamed of his too-long legs and chubby cheeks. his loss of innocence came across the dinner table (boxed macaroni and cheese again, so mom could go out again for the night), when he told her “i love you, mommy” and alessia heaved a sigh and responded with a purfunctory, “yea.”

grades meant nothing. educational achievements meant nothing. unconditional love from a child meant nothing, and charlie began to realize that if he wanted something more than boxed macaroni and cheese for dinner every night (if alessia even bothered to make it) he would have to get it himself. however it wasn’t as simple as taking it — simply taking things earned him a swift but stern slap across the face and if he hadn’t learned in his younger years, charlie surely understood alessia’s feelings with those.

he learned his charm from her, but it wasn’t easy being the odd child he was. still, with a desire to achieve, charlie applied himself to the art of manipulation. he discovered it was simple with the charm of a child: people were more likely to assist if you added a few tears, a little naievety. his teachers began to understand his plight as home as difficult when he spun the yarn of his mother having become deathly ill. his peers found him appealing when he shared goods pilfered or traded from others (without their knowledge for the former), and the reputation he earned himself in his youth formed the personality that perfected at puberty.

while all of these tricks worked outside of the household, charlie never managed to pull the wool over his mother’s eyes. but where unconditional love once stood in tolerance for alessia and her narcissism, now contempt remained. charlie fell out of love with his mother at twelve, and never looked back.

on the summer at the end of his freshman year of high school charlie left an odd-looking boy. in the fall of his sophomore year he returned transformed, as if the summer heat had been a chrysalis and the ugly caterpillar emerged a butterfly. now if you held up a picture of alessia greco beside charlie you could see he was her child, all it took was a shot of growth hormone and the deepening of his voice. abyss-black eyes were the stark difference between the two of them (ignoring the thick black hair that sprouted from his face if he didn’t tame it back to stubble every four or so days), and alessia noted how much she despised the way he stared at her now. it made her skin crawl if only because it seemed as if he was looking through her.

and he was. now he saw her for what she was: a selfish woman who had only wanted him to brag about her own achievements. but he hadn’t been worth bragging about when he was small, and now that he towered over her she wanted him to be seen with him. but charlie refused, perhaps a little too politely for her to understand at first, and it was only in a binge of some substance abuse that he took a stern hand with her. only when she struck him first out of a dead sleep — staring at him for near twenty minutes before lashing out at him. it was the threat of never touch me again that he punctuated so perfectly, threatening to hold back no means to defend himself should she raise another hand at him.

alessia mourned for herself the loss of her baby boy. all that was left was a man who was nothing more than a reminder of her failed relationships throughout the years. you’re just like them. you’re just like them.

but he was nothing like them. perhaps the only similarity being how much he despised her, as they all did in the end.

over-achieving won him an early high school graduation by one year and excellent grades a near free-ride through college. he was always good with numbers, always good at calculations and the choice to step into the mathematical field was easy. alessia was notably absent when he gained his college diploma, if only because charlie couldn’t be bothered to let her know of the date. any by now he’d escaped the clutches of her den and made his own home somewhere on the other side of the city. he was sure he would never purposely cross paths with her, and if they did meet it was purely accidental. purely venomous.

his first steps into the world of banking began the same as any other bland story: a teller whose talent for numbers opened gateways of opportunity. charlie was twenty-two when he was offered the position of personal finance. he was twenty-four when he began taking private, rich clients, and it was only a few months into that position that he met “slick ricky” dimatteo. the meeting wound up more fateful than any singular moment he had with his mother, at least it was opportunistic. silver-tongue and charm allowed for charlie to step into the world of second set of books, illegal numbers … extra money.

now he looked exactly like the son of alessia greco. fine suits, hundred-dollar hair cut, winning smile the smiles never met his eyes — that died in his childhood, with his innocence, but he when he wagged his tongue people listened and were apt to believe the words that oozed from his lips. honest life turned to opulence … he was sure he could have had more if he wanted it, but sitting on the outskirts of a life of real crime was comfortable for him. when he stole away in the middle of the night to confirm the collection of illegal debts owed he kept his own two hands clean (so what if his command got people hospitalized, right?) and charlie prided himself on the ability to forget what he had seen. things are so often lost in the black abyss.

potential connections.

clients: charlie works as a personal financer - he cooks two sets of books. this can either be a legitimate client or one that seeks to make bets or otherwise gamble their money in some form through his other connections. 

past flings: 30+ please. charlie is a one and done kind of person. he’s not at all unfamiliar with his needs and has never expressed romantic interest in any of the women he’s slept with.

arm candy: someone who attends high-class events with him. typically someone who understands his humor, and also understands that in the world of money appearances are everything. best suited to someone he’s more friends with than a stranger. (davina yueng).

friends: legitimate or otherwise. if they aren’t connected to his illegal business, they don’t know about it. if they are friends with him through said illegal business, obviously they know. (abby rosen).

i’m open to various other connections, these are just some ideas!

Collagen Peptides Advantages

Pure Sarms.

Content

Muscular Tissue Gain.

Delivery & Returns.

Dynamite Supplements Oxyslim Elite 60 Caps.

Reinforcing Muscle Mass.

Since these two aspects are one of the most crucial for fitness fanatics, making use of RAD140 is a no brainer. You've possibly landed on RAD140 because you were seeking supplements to assist in accomplishing your bodybuilding and also physical fitness goals. However it is very recommended to all the people to take the pre- exercise supplement best CrossFit pre exercise which will certainly assist you gain fitness easily and also offers you more injury. RAD is powerful sufficient to restrict the effect of testosterone on the prostate and also other unwanted areas. It has actually also been revealed to be more anabolic than testosterone, as well.

Professor David Craik offered an interesting presentation on cyclotides - cyclic peptides generated by a range of plants.

The peptides can also be used to deliver cytotoxic representatives to tumors with profound efficiency.

Extremely, the peptides demonstrate really rapid tumour infiltration and also retention combined with rapid clearance from systemic flow.

These peptides, comprising three disulphide bonds that create a "knot", are both diverse and durable.

Prof. Craik provided a review of these peptides and their utility as a foundation for the shipment of restorative peptide epitopes.

The reasoning seems to be that these various other agents can provide the 'fuel' for performance, while an energizer provides the 'ignition'. Differing only in potency and also duration of action, all these representatives produce enhanced alertness, an increase in high blood pressure, heart price as well as depth of respiration. The central results likewise indicate that the user will have the ability to partially offset the impacts of exhaustion. Energizers may additionally increase the rival's discomfort limit, permitting that added push past their generally optimum initiative.

Muscular Tissue Gain.

https://highgrade-labs.com/product/needle-with-1ml-fixed-needle-syringe/ appear to favour this technique of improving performance over nearly any type of other. Athletes may illegally make use of hGH in combination with AAS in an attempt to boost muscle mass and also strength. On the various other hand, hGH is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, which is important for normal development in children and assists the body in structure muscle and bone. Cyclists will certainly take stimulants both alone or as a cocktail of several relevant medicines. There seem to be no guidelines here, although energizers might commonly be taken together with longer-term 'treatments', such as steroids, EPO and also growth hormone.

However there is also the issue of the sedentary lifestyles and also inadequate diet regimens which lots of people with schizophrenia embrace and also it is here that a great personal workout regimen can make a real difference. Nevertheless, you have to run PCT with Tren, which ought to be 20mg daily of Nolva for 5 weeks, cardarine gw outcomes.

Distribution & Returns.

Throughout the initial day, my mind was persistently informing me I was hungry. The second day my tummy was informing me I was hungry by regularly roaring. My energy levels stayed remarkably high throughout the rapid and I trained each day. I even finished 2 exercises on the last day, both at a relatively high strength and also without a visible dip in performance. When fasting our bodies damage down kept fat as well as create ketones for energy. Ketones melt a great deal a lot more successfully than sugar as well as, although there's little clinical evidence, individuals claim this aids with psychological clearness.

This could just be a ten minute stroll around the block or a stroll down to the shops once daily. Try to make the walk relatively vigorous to get the maximum benefit as well as do not just amble along.

It was frequently observed by team that lots of person's signs were much eased when they were operating in the ranch. If you do not really feel up to some press ups and also push ups in your bed room after that perhaps a bit of strolling would be great.

Dynamite Supplements Oxyslim Elite 60 Caps.

RAD often tend to have a greater anabolic activity which ultimately causes even more gains. RAD140 is essential in 2 elements, fat loss and also bodybuilding which are the two major purposes why many people are always in the gym.

To be efficient the walk needs to be fast enough to enhance your breathing rate yet not so quick that it would certainly make it difficult to talk with someone at the same time. Current proof points to the NHS not being very good at helping individuals with schizophrenia to manage their physical health issue. Then there is the problem of the negative effects of the antipsychotic drug utilized to treat the positive signs of schizophrenia such as hallucinations.

Strengthening Muscular Tissue.

Consequently you need to ensure that the drug levels in your blood suffice as well as stable throughout these hours. You can solve this problem by taking 50% of the overall day-to-day needs in the early morning as well as the remaining 50% at night. https://highgrade-labs.com recommended consumption of this supplement for novices is from 10mg to 20mg milligrams daily. Be extremely mindful not to surpass the advised dose as these can considerably affect the hormone equilibrium in your system.

Well, for tablets, all they do is rise blood flow, as well as all a boost of blood flow does is makes your erection stronger. To learn why the majority of us males are now exercising our member and also why you should to, take a while out of your day as well as keep reading to learn more. Tai Shikun asked Ximen Qing Xiao Qingzi Ah, in your papas unrefined medicine shop, is there anything that is colorless and also unsavory, consumed that makes individuals really feel warm as well as sweaty? After buying top steroid, you just need to abide to steroid finest methods and you will succeed. Remember to complement the use of top steroids with various other procedures. You additionally require to exercise carefully and to constantly consume a well balanced diet plan.

Sarms Vs Peptides, Sarms Vs Steroids Bodybuilding.

Genes affect points such as your skin shade, your height and also your voice but they have little bearing on exactly how muscle you will be. In a world, where people are bending their genetics to grow taller as well as totally alter their skin color it must not be tough to change something that is not coded in your genes such as your physique or weight. Users of SARMs GW have found that utilizing this medication in minimal dose supplies the optimum outcomes. It stands for individuals that have marginal or minimal experience concerning Cardarine, specifically when an individual has a minimum or no understanding concerning this medicine. Shop Uk shredding stack Sarms is additionally dependent depends upon its half-life period of 12 to 24-hour.

They do not mean to hinder the receptors of prostate, liver, kidneys or mind which makes them a potentially more secure alternative to steroids. SARMS job like hormones, which are chemical mediators in your body. They affix to certain receptors in the body and exert their effects depending upon the intensity as well as duration of the binding. The first suggestion behind the growth of SARMs was to create a medicine with anabolic impacts on skeletal muscle mass as well as bone, whilst staying clear of adverse impacts in other cells. Essentially, they are an altered kind of testosterone used in hormone replacement treatment and steroids. These are a course of androgen receptor ligands that bind to androgen receptors in the body and also activate androgenic signaling paths. By understanding its benefits, you can set the amount of it according to body needs because if we eat it in even more amount, after that it is unsafe to human organs.

Application seems in the 4mg to 12mg range, with optimal cycle size being 4 to 6 weeks. Given its much shorter half-life, RAD needs to be dosed at the very least twice daily. Dosing is in the 7mg to 21mg array, with 14mg being the "pleasant place". Nonetheless, it does work well in a SARMs pile to additional increase weight loss and endurance. When SARMs bind to the receptor they show anabolic and hypertrophic activity in both muscular tissue and also bone. This makes them perfect prospects for TRT, weakening of bones therapy as well as muscle losing therapy.

AmbioPharm Inc. Announces New Shanghai Campus Opening and European Executive Team Members - Business Wire

AmbioPharm Inc. Announces New Shanghai Campus Opening and European Executive Team Members.

Posted: Thu, 07 Jan 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Guys are understood to create feminine attributes such as busts as well as a high pitched voice. They experience accelerated male pattern baldness as a result of the increase of testosterone in their body. Women that use it excessively can develop masculine top qualities such as hair growth in locations where there were little to none like the top of the lips and the breast.

Countless individuals take sporting activities supplements expecting a variety of health and wellness advantages, from weight loss to bodybuilding. But some supplements are being sold unlawfully and also can be really hazardous. Nonetheless, what is promising is that also in cancer patients undergoing durations of serious muscular tissue losing, the intro of SARMs has demonstrated significant rises in lean body mass as well as much better general physical functioning. This is defined as being "tissue-selective", meaning they are only indicated to receptors that are required to create the preferred impact of the medicine.

Is collagen peptides good for hair growth?

Collagen may promote healthy hair in a variety of ways. For one, your body may be able to use the amino acids in collagen to build hair proteins and strengthen the skin that contains your hair roots. It may also prevent hair follicle damage and graying.

Nutrition isn't almost weight reduction, either-- it influences whatever from recuperation time to the ability to break poor behaviors, power levels to state of mind, high quality of rest to cognitive capability. We are machines made from flesh and also food is the fuel that makes each of our major systems feature. Irritatingly, every person functions differently, so it's my job-- and also your job-- to exercise each individual's partnership with food. I've been in the physical fitness sector for over 12 years and also throughout that time my understanding of-- as well as rate of interest in-- nutrition has actually greatly created. When I was starting out as an Individual Fitness instructor, all I really recognized was how to lead a workout; I flinch considering some of the strategies I utilized to utilize. Years of experience have taught me that nourishment is one of the most vital point, regardless of what your physical fitness objectives. Many people have actually observed this type of job to be very restorative and also there is considerable anecdotal material around the benefits of horticultural job as therapy.

So to learn about all those advantages, read this short article, as well as adhere to the instruction. According to health and fitness professionals, LGD might be proficient at building muscle mass however could not be effective compared to SARMS.

Broadcast: Rob Kranken, 01/18/19

[Fire Escape Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness]

Rob: Good evening everyone, this is 103.5 KPLR Radio, that was “Fire Escape” by Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. I’m your host, Rob Kranken, with you on this Friday night going into Saturday morning. It’s about 30 degrees outside and I am huddled in my studio with my jacket on and a blanket that I found in a storage closet. No one is on the road, and I’m hoping it stays that way ‘cause we got a lotta ice out there after Thursday's storm. In more personal news, I talked to Angelo as someone last week advised. I’ll respect his privacy on-air but I do think you were right. And besides, he’s alright to talk to. Much better than some of the interns. Speaking of which, those kids are so easy to mess with. You’d think a strange town like Kepler would give you immunity to a few scary goofs. Anyways, I’ll stop blabbering, here’s “Daydreamer” by Young The Giant.

[Daydreamer Young the Giant] [Shutdown Joywave] [Train Brick + Mortar] [Way Too Much Wavves]

Rob: That was “Shutdown” by Joywave, and then “Train” by Brick and Mortar, and “Way Too Much” by Wavves. It seems like it’s gonna be a pretty quiet night so I’ll go ahead and fill the silence before I leave you all to more music. So it’s January, right, the start of a new year. And people make those resolutions, and this, maybe two weeks in, is when a lot of people start falling off. First of all, if your goal involves weight loss, I’d recommend not bothering. Unless a medical professional tells you that and means it, and they’re not just being a prick, then you don’t need to lose weight. Second of all, if you drop off now you don’t have to wait ‘til next year to pick it up. Say you’re trying to learn a language. That Duolingo owl is still gonna be there in a month if you get too busy. And besides, languages are not easy and are never gonna make sense, so I’m proud of you for even trying. Now I’m an old man, I’m— I’m 42, so I haven’t made a New Year’s resolution in quite some time. But this year I was… well, I had something in mind. I was thinking this year I should get some hobbies outside radio, something I can do on my own. And I… I haven’t found anything that really sparked my interest yet, but like I said, the year isn’t over. So keep searching, I’ll keep searching, we all gotta keep searching. Then we’ll start over next year, hopefully as better people. I’ve rambled enough. This is “Cringe” by Matt Maeson.

[Cringe Matt Maeson] [I See You MISSIO] [Salt Bad Suns] [So Tied Up Cold War Kids, Bishop Briggs]

Rob: So that was “I See You” by MISSIO, “Salt” by Bad Suns, and “So Tied Up” by Cold War Kids and Bishop Briggs. It looks like someone’s calling in, and now is as good a time as any, so I guess we’ll move into this part of the broadcast. Listeners, feel free to call in with whatever. Questions, comments, messages for other Keplerians. Hello, you’re on the air.

Caller: I was out in the woods the other day and I stumbled upon some mighty weird tracks. They looked a bit like goat prints, but they was looking like each goat was up two legs. I followed 'em for a bit before they turned into normal footprints. Actually, now that I'm thinking 'bout it, I suppose they was just some bored kids out havin' some fun.

Rob: Well, you never know. The woods are a wild place. Who can say? Maybe there’s goat people out there. I don’t know. Just keep an eye out, or better yet leave that area alone. Stay safe. [click] Howdy.

Caller: Hey Karen, I’m really sorry that I pushed you in front of me when that weird thing was coming at us. I was a coward. Please talk to me.

Rob: Karen, if you’re out there, and listening at such a late hour, this person seems sincere, maybe give them a chance. Or don’t, I don’t know what happened. [click] Who’s next?

Caller: Play some bleachers please? I'm feeling angsty.

Rob: Can do, listener. How’s five songs work for you? Great. This first one is “I Wanna Get Better.”

[I Wanna Get Better Bleachers] [Rollercoaster Bleachers] [Wild Heart Bleachers] [I Miss Those Days Bleachers] [Don’t Take The Money Bleachers]

Rob: That was “Rollercoaster” “Wild Heart” “I Miss Those Days” and “Don’t Take the Money” all by Bleachers. Feels kinda fitting for tonight’s mood. I didn’t mean to make it as angsty as it ended up, but you know how it is. Every plan adds to the amount of mistakes possible. Anyways, I’m gonna play this ad for y’all that I’ve been meaning to do.

[Audio advertisement transcript: [haunting orchestral music] Have you ever heard a true story that couldn’t possibly be real? Or maybe seen something you couldn’t believe with your own two eyes? No? [music cuts off] Then you’re not living, my friend! Come on down to the Cryptonomica, we have centuries of hidden knowledge of the arcane and the mystical! Stories beyond suspicion, creatures beyond compare! We’re just off State Route 16055. The Cryptonomica: a museum for the mysterious.]

Rob: Thank so much to the Cryptonomica for sponsoring us this week and every week since I’ve been here. This means that Ned Chicane is directly responsible for every impulse purchase I have made. You did this, Ned, you’re the reason there’s a gold metallic Slinky on my desk right now. I’m gonna talk about my personal life now, because no one is here to stop me. And I’m sure you’re all dying to hear the gossip here at the station. So, of course, station management is on us constantly about our use of the office materials here. We’re on a budget, you can’t be using this many sticky notes, where are all the pens, blah blah blah. Whatever. Now, I can be a little loose with my sticky note usage, but I promise I’m not wild with it. I usually leave them for whoever is next in the studio, usually Angelo, and I’ll mark the settings that need to be adjusted. Believe it or not, Angelo is actually new at radio, despite his wildly successful podcast and powerful voice. Don’t tell him I said any of that. But yeah, I’ll leave notes around. Then, the other day, station management says they won’t keep buying the sticky notes if I keep using them up. Which seems counterintuitive, but I don’t know. I’ve never understood capitalist business models. This is community radio, anyway. But I was starting to cut down on my notes. Only four notes instead of seven. Only one in the kitchen with all the stuff crammed in tiny lettering. Is that what you wanted, supervisor? To try and read my illegible handwriting, extra-small? Well, Angelo was actually using those notes, like I said. And apparently, when I was out today, he got me one of those huge packs of the pink ones, my favorite. I came back and they were sitting on my desk with a green sticky saying they were from Angelo. Now I don’t know about any of you out there, but when the sticky note revolution comes, I know whose side I will be on. There is no greater solidarity than rival coworkers coming together against an oppressive anti-sticky note management. I… it’s late, sorry y’all, I’m not too sure what that was. Anyways, I’m going to cut out a little early tonight, but I’ll leave you some extra tunes to make up for it. Thanks for listening, here’s “I Don’t Wanna Dance” by COIN.

[I Don’t Wanna Dance COIN] [Modern Jesus Portugal. the Man] [Giants Bear Hands] [Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene Hozier]

Chapter 7 -- The Nightmare

[Missed earlier chapters? Go catch up here! Otherwise, welcome back! Oh, and make sure to join our discord server! Chapter can also be found @ ao3]

“I hate this lady so much,” Pilar practically snarled as she adjusted the ship's course. “Was she ever young, do you think?”

“Nah,” Ariadne said from the passenger seat, trying in vain to get a spoon to stick to her nose, “I feel like she's probably been an unpleasant old crone forever.”

“She was probably already on Calisto when they got there and they just built the bio-dome around her stupid rocking chair.”

The Jovian moon Calisto was now within visual range, and the rest of the viewport was filled with yellow and orange swirls. No matter how many operations they ran through the colonial moons, they never quite got used to the scale of a gas giant. Jupiter and Saturn took their breath away every time they looked at them. Something primal and hard-coded into their DNA told them that this was not something they were meant to see, and yet, here they were, a stone's throw from Jupiter.

The ship pulled closer to Calisto and Ariadne abandoned her spoon effort to pull out fake IDs to get into the bio-dome.

They got into the dome without incident, found a small garage to park in, and gave an almost comically large tip to the downtrodden-looking lot attendant.

La Pesadilla's high-rise apartment was at the top of a building whose elevator was constantly broken. While a woman of her means would be able to have it fixed, she liked that it was broken because it meant anyone who wanted to visit her would have to take the stairs.

Ariadne quickly repaired the electromagnets, actually making the elevator much faster than it was before it had broken, and wrote “HA” on the “Out of Order” sign. They were at her door in seconds.

La Pesadilla answered and, like Jupiter, her appearance never ceased to shock Ariadne and Pilar. At a glance, one might guess she was 90 years old. Her skin was eerily reminiscent to a well-worn catcher's mitt both in texture and coloration. Her expression was about as friendly as a large-mouth grouper, and under her tattered bathrobe was an inexplicable t-shirt depicting what appeared to be a zebra wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigar. Whether she wore pants under the bathrobe was up for speculation.

She walked with a cane, even though she did not need one, simply because she liked to jab it at people when speaking.

“You didn't fix my elevator, did you?” she more snarled than said.

“Nope,” Ariadne lied.

“Good, I like it broken,” La Pesadilla grumbled, “makes it harder for people to drop by and ask me favors.”

There was a moment of silence in the hall as Pilar and Ariadne struggled to find the words to respond to this statement.

“Well, come in if you're coming in,” she said, gesturing into the apartment with her cane, “I pay to air condition the inside of the apartment, not the hallway. Every second this door is open is a waste of my money.”

Ariadne and Spacebreather, still at a loss for response, stepped into La Pesadilla's apartment.

The place was decorated like a family-style restaurant, which is to say, the walls were covered with hundreds of curios, oddities, and other units of nonsense which begged the question, “what exactly is the difference between vintage collectibles and old garbage?”

Two other women sat on an overstuffed couch in the corner, their focus divided between small information terminals affixed to the armrests and a holographic table at the center of the room playing an old rerun of Val Deimos, P.I. at an almost obscenely loud volume.

“Balotelli's cheating on his wife again,” said the one on the left, a relaxed-looking black woman of approximately 70 with wraparound sunglasses (worn indoors for reasons that were known only to her) and a blue-and-purple sweater knitted to look like a particularly starry galaxy that Ariadne thought might be subtly swirling and twinkling. “How much do you think he'll pay us to keep it under wraps this time?”

“No dice,” replied the one on the right, a strong-jawed white woman of perhaps 65, wearing a tank top, cargo pants, and combat boots with an iron-gray buzz cut. With one hand, she rapidly tapped on her terminal. With the other, she repeatedly lifted a rather heavy hand weight. She did not seem to break eye contact at any point with the flickering rerun streaming on the surface of the coffee table. “His wife knows. Hired a private dick to tail them last week. Tried to have 'em whacked but lost her nerve at the last second.”

“Do we have the records?” Galaxy-sweater asked.

“I have the contract here,” Tank-top replied.

“We double down. He's up for reelection in May, and I'm sure neither of them wants the scandal breaking in April. Probably pay a pretty penny to keep it under wraps.”

“Sex, betrayal, and intrigue?” Tank-top asked. “This sounds like a pretty valuable story. It'd be a shame if some reporter outbid them for it.”

“Oh my god,” Ariadne cut in, “do you always talk in clichéd banter or is this for our benefit?”

Tank-top stopped her arm curls for half a second and then continued. Galaxy-sweater raised an eyebrow at her.

“Who's this lunchbox?” Galaxy-sweater asked in a derisive way that seemed to be second nature to mean old ladies and made even the most baffling of insults seem to make sense.

“This is that brat I was telling you about,” La Pesadilla growled.

Tank-top did not look away from her television program. “The one who always fixes the elevator?”

“I think so,” La Pesadilla grumbled. She wandered into the kitchen but continued speaking, incrementally increasing the volume of her voice so she could still be heard. “Her name starts with an A, and her wife here is named after … I don't know, some kind of rice dish.”

Pilar pondered this for a moment and resolved to ask Cookie about it later on.

“Shoot, hope that elevator is fixed.” Galaxy-sweater smiled, “I got bad knees and shit to do.”

La Pesadilla returned with two brightly colored plastic cups, filled with a cloudy yellow substance. She practically shoved these into the hands of her guests with a grunt.

“What do… what is…” Ariadne was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. She was barely reaching adulthood herself and she still had very little experience in the department of respecting her elders. She suspected that perhaps sixty percent of the people in the room were not acting as they should, but she was unsure of where she fell in that ratio.

“It's lemonade.” La Pesadilla removed a smallish disc-shaped tin from her bathrobe pocket, pulled out a handful of leaves, jammed them into her cheek, and began chewing them. “You're kids, you drink lemonade. You're in my house, I offer you a drink. The elevator's out of order, you take the fucking stairs instead of trying to fix it. There's rules to this sort of thing.”

“I said I didn't fix your elevator,” Ariadne stammered.

“You always say that.” La Pesadilla rolled her eyes. “What do you want? You're talking through our program.” She gestured at the hologram. The show was popular enough that Pilar had seen this particular episode several times with her parents, and since she had not had parents in approximately a decade, it was a safe bet it was not their first viewing.

“You could always pause it while we conduct our business,” Pilar offered in a tone she hoped would come across as helpful. She took a polite sip of her lemonade, which had no ice and seemed to be little more than powdered mix stirred into room-temperature tap water.

“You could've shown up on the hour, like a normal person, so you don't interrupt the last five minutes of my show.” La Pesadilla slumped into an old, heavily-patched recliner, searched for a small metal jar, and spat the leaves out into it. “So, spit it out.”

Galaxy-sweater let out a small “heh” at her phrasing.

“Why do you come here and bother me again?”

Ariadne finally seemed to find her voice. “We're looking for information.”

“Well, you've come to the right place,” Tank-top grunted, somehow still lifting her weight, “we've got all of it.”

“The Red God cult that's formed on Mars in the last year or so. We need to know everything we can about them.”

“What do we get?” La Pesadilla asked. “I mean, you're asking me to do the opposite of my job here. People pay me to keep their secrets. If I tell you about these guys, I ain't got no leverage on 'em, can't charge 'em for my services, feel? If I'm gonna spill the beans, I gotta know it's worth more than keeping my mouth shut.”

“Cut the crap,” Pilar said simply, “money is no object to us, and I think you'll be pleased with the amount we've deposited in your account as an act of good faith.”

La Pesadilla tapped at her display and raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Well, I'll be damned.”

“You'll get the other half when we have our information,” Pilar said.

La Pesadilla looked at Galaxy-sweater and nodded.

“Think we got something on them.” Galaxy-sweater said, tapping away on her own display. “Yeah, their leader's this fancy scientist turned whacked-out bible nut, calls himself the Zealot.”

“Real original nickname,” Tank-top added.

“Got into some real shady shit.” Galaxy-sweater furrowed her brow at the display. “We got our hands on a few black market ledgers about 20 years back, and the shit he was buying? Banned on just about every rock in the system.”

“Why would someone selling illegal goods on the black market keep a ledger of their customers?” Ariadne wondered out loud. Galaxy-sweater looked at her flatly and gestured vaguely at the blackmail operation they were currently sitting in the middle of. Ariadne took a sip of her lemonade. “I see.”

“You said 20 years ago?” Pilar looked confused. “These guys have only been operating for the past year, year and a half.”

“Nah,” La Pesadilla grunted, “they been around longer'n you kids have been alive. The Red God stuff is new. They used to walk around the moons, door to door, saying that the Earth was a New Sodom that was to be destroyed due to its sin and heresy and that the only way to be sure Jesus would spare the rest of the system was to join their church.”

“Or make a donation,” Tank-top said.

“Course, the day they predicted came and went.” Galaxy-sweater chuckled. “The Earth was still there. Then that happened, oh, five or six more times before everyone stopped giving them the time of day.”

“Buncha idjits,” La Pesadilla mumbled, “Jesus don't need our money, and he's got a whole universe to run. He doesn't go around blowing up planets because some people didn't pray right. All he cares about is if you're a good person. He don't even care if you believe in him if you ask me, just live your life best you can and he won't bother you.”

“Like bees?” Galaxy-sweater asked, smirking.

“Exactly, like bees. You don't bother him, he don't bother you.”

Ariadne thought this moralizing was rich coming from a professional blackmailer, and she couldn't help but think she'd been given the same advice about what to do when you encounter a swarm of bees, but she bit her tongue to avoid starting another tangent.

La Pesadilla took a sip from a nearby mug that seemed to be full of red wine. “Anyway, nobody bought his end-is-nigh crock and, last I heard, he was a pretty sick fucker. He bought a bunch of illegal shit and went underground. Nobody heard from them for a while, and they came back with a new god and a shiny new preacher. Little white girl, 'bout your age.”

Ariadne scowled. “Not even close.”

La Pesadilla matched her scowl. “Kid, if we're talking years, I'm easily five of you. You both got all your original teeth? You're the same age, far as I'm concerned.”

“What exactly did he buy?” Pilar attempted to break the tension. She, at times, was confused by Ariadne's talent for locking horns with grumpy older women, but suspected this was a deeper issue than they had time to unpack at the moment.

Galaxy-sweater looked at her screen. “We got three Cortex brand neural implants. Those things were all the rage back in the 90s, companies used to get them for all the employees so memos would go right to their brain.”

Tank-top laughed slightly. “Yeah, but they got banned pretty quick.”

La Pesadilla took another sip of mug-wine. “Security risk… a lot of bosses got caught snooping in their employee's thoughts. There was one big scandal where a manager tried to increase productivity by planting thoughts in his employees heads while they slept. An entire office working 16-hour shifts and sleeping at their desks because their brain was telling them 'if I stop working I'll die, if I ask for overtime I'll die, if I make a mistake I'll die.'”

“Yikes,” Ariadne concluded. “Go on, what else?”

“Blueprints for immersion pod,” Galaxy-sweater  explained, “That's a VR capsule that uses the brain's visualization center as a processor to create realistic simulations of pre-programmed scenarios. Originally designed for video gaming, scrapped because every focus tester who attempted to play a children's shoot-em-up game had to be treated for very real PTSD, and made illegal after the prototypes were found being used as training simulators for a radical Earth-based supremacist paramilitary corps.”

“I'm sensing a theme here,” Pilar chimed in.

“Here's where it gets really interesting,” Galaxy-sweater said, pointing at the screen, “he bought up a bunch of medical equipment. Machines for growing and implanting new organs.”

“Shouldn't need that,” Tank-top piped up, still watching her show but seeming to slow down on the weights. “I know he was sick, but if he needed a transplant he could get one at any hospital and be home for supper.”

“Could've been for implanting the Cortex device,” Ariadne suggested.

“Could be,” La Pesadilla said. “We ain't here to speculate, we just give you the information.”

“Aaaaand,” Galaxy-sweater reached the end of her list, “one Quantum Shift Generator. Weird little devices, designed for the Shop-n-Go corporation. They had this idea for expanding to the colonial moons that they could just build a single store interior which all of their storefronts would lead into, that way they could have a dozen stores in a bio-dome but only pay one set of overworked employees.”

“Wonder why that got banned.” Ariadne smirked.

“If you're thinkin' it's some worker's rights whatever, you're wrong,” La Pesadilla grumbled, pouring herself another mug of wine from a bottle that had been conveniently located next to the mug on the table. “It's because all the exterior doors led to the same interior, but they ain't give you the same courtesy on the way out.”

“What she's trying to say,” Tank-top said, placing her weight on the ground and reaching for a nearby bottle of water, “is that people would attempt to leave the store only to find themselves coming out of the wrong one. You could end up 15 miles across town in the 40 seconds it took you to buy an iced tea and a candy bar.”

“Would've made a great public transit system if there was some way to predict which storefront you'd come out of,” Galaxy-sweater offered.

“That's all we've got,” La Pesadilla said. “Where's the rest of my money?”

“Now, hang on,” Galaxy-sweater said, easing herself off the couch, “these girls paid good money and we have got one more thing. Been meaning to get rid of it anyway.”

She ambled over to a bookshelf, grabbed a small, shabby-looking paperback, ripped the back cover clean off, and handed it to Ariadne. “They dropped this in our mailslot back when they were still pretending to be Christian. Got a picture of the Zealot on the back. Might help.”

La Pesadilla jabbed her cane towards the closed door. “Now, get out of my house and put that money in my account.”

Ariadne and Pilar put down their half-finished lemonades, more than glad to not have to finish drinking them, and walked towards the door. As they exited, they heard La Pesadilla mumble, “and so help me if that elevator is working.” The door closed behind them and they immediately heard it lock.

In the elevator ride down to the first floor, Ariadne looked at the laminated cover she'd been handed. The photograph was of a white man, perhaps in his 40s, with squinting, intense eyes, a full but neatly trimmed gray beard, a straight, pointed nose, and a wide-brimmed black hat.

She felt uneasy and turned the book over. Something about him, something she couldn't quite place but knew very few others would see, hit upsettingly close to home. She didn't look at it again for the rest of the trip back.

How to Find the Best Peptide Source For Melanotan II

When it comes to purchasing peptides, most researchers will turn to the internet. Although experienced researchers probably have their preferred peptide suppliers, those new to the field may find it difficult to find a reputable one. A reputable peptide supplier will provide information about the quality of their products and the peptide itself. Then, they can easily compare suppliers and decide which one will be best for their research needs.

Several years of research has focused on the use of melanotan 2, and it has been shown to have several beneficial effects. Among these are a decrease in body weight, a reduction in adipose tissue, and a decrease in calorie intake. These results may be important in treating obesity and reducing compulsive tendencies, and in treating conditions like autism.

While the peptide itself is harmless, some people are concerned that it may cause freckles and moles to swell. This may lead to a misdiagnosis of skin cancer. A recent investigation by MailOnline uncovered three eBay sellers selling melanotan 2 online. These sellers were all European and had a hundred percent feedback from 250 buyers. However, the peptide is banned in many countries and is therefore illegal to ship and sell.

Although peptides are highly effective and safe to use, many online sources are selling ineffective peptides that cannot be relied on. The best way to use melanotan 2 is to dilute it with Bacteriostatic Water. Bacteriostatic water contains 0.9% benzyl alcohol, which suppresses the growth of bacteria that can contaminate the peptide. Injecting Melanotan 2 with Bacteriostatic Water will prevent any toxins or side effects from affecting the peptide.

Melanotan is an advanced version of MT-1 that promotes the production of melanin in the body. This substance has the added advantage of targeting melanocortin receptors on the skin and a cycle of amino acids that promotes better absorption. It's ideal for avoiding the harmful effects of UV-B rays and helping you protect yourself from skin cancer.

The best peptide source for melanoma is available from the USA peptide warehouse. This online peptide company claims to provide high-quality research peptides. Their products are 98.6% pure and they ship internationally for a very low price. A good peptide source should offer you a sample of their products so that you can test them for purity before making a final decision.

Although there are many reputable online peptide vendors, you should do your research before making a purchase. Beware of rogue companies who might be selling illegitimate products. You can also ask around for recommendations. Reddit is an excellent place to check out reviews from real customers. http://www.supplybenzocaine.co.uk/news/42-en.html are honest about their experiences and can help you decide if this peptide vendor is right for you.

Some side effects of melanotan include nausea, sex drive, and appetite loss. In these cases, you can reduce the dose or inject half as much as you usually do twice daily to spread the peptide's absorption. Of course, every person is different and should consult a medical professional if they are suffering from severe side effects. You should never use a peptide without consulting your doctor or pharmacist.

There are several benefits to melanotan, including appetite suppression and skin pigmentation. Some studies even show that melanotan can reduce impulsive and addictive behavior. Some researchers are studying its ability to boost erection function and improve sexual health. These benefits are sure to make melanotan a popular peptide in the near future. For men, melanotan can improve erections and sexual function, which are two of the most important determinants of sex life.

There are various sources of melanotan, with many promising results. home-page is an example of a peptide with similar properties. It induces skin tanning and was originally used to treat skin disorders. Its half-life is approximately 30 hours. It is used in many skincare products as a supplement to increase the intensity of the tan. So, if you're interested in finding a peptide source for melanotan 2, be sure to check out the following articles.

The medical Influences of Cannabis Advised Beliefs

Enter any bar or maybe public place and canvas opinions on cannabis in addition to there will be a different opinion per each person canvassed. Some beliefs will be well-informed from decent sources while others will be simply just formed upon no good reason at all. To be sure, research plus conclusions based on the research is tricky given the long track record of illegality. Nevertheless, the good news is groundswell of opinion in which cannabis is good and should often be legalised. Many States inside the and Australia have taken the trail to legalise cannabis. Many other countries are either using suit or considering solutions. So what is the position now's it good or not To enhance real property cannabis is used loosely at this point to represent cannabis and bud, the latter being procured from a different part of the seed. More than 100 chemical compounds are only in cannabis, each perhaps offering differing benefits as well as risk.

A person who is stoned on smoking cannabis could possibly experience a euphoric assert where time is inconsequential, music and colours tackle a greater significance and the human being might acquire the nibblies, hoping to eat sweet and unhealthy foods. This is often associated with inable motor skills and assumption. When high blood concentrations of mit are achieved, paranoid thinkings, hallucinations and panic attacks may perhaps characterize his trip. During the vernacular, cannabis club Thailand is often categorized as good shit and terrible shit, alluding to extensive contamination practice. The allergens may come from soil excellent eg pesticides & serious metals or added hereafter. Sometimes particles of direct or tiny beads involving glass augment the weight distributed. A random selection of treatment effects appears here in setting of their evidence status. Most of the effects will be shown like beneficial, while others carry probability. Some effects are slightly distinguished from the placebos of your research.

Cannabis in the remedying of epilepsy is inconclusive out of insufficient evidence. Nausea and even vomiting caused by chemotherapy is often ameliorated by oral hashish. A reduction in the severity connected with pain in patients by using chronic pain is a possible outcome for the use of weed. Spasticity in Multiple Sclerosis clients was reported as upgrades in symptoms. Increase in desire for foods and decrease in weight loss around patients has been shown in constrained evidence. According to limited research cannabis is ineffective from the treatment of glaucoma. On the basis of confined evidence, cannabis is effective inside treatment of Tourette syndrome. Post-traumatic disorder has been helped by way of cannabis in a single reported trial offer. Limited statistical evidence take into account better outcomes for terrible brain injury. There is not sufficient evidence to claim that pot can help Parkinson's disease. Restrained evidence dashed hopes this cannabis could help improve the outward indications of dementia sufferers. Limited data evidence can be found to support a link between smoking cannabis and also heart attack.

How to Create an Awesome Instagram Video About Internet Marketing Coupons

Acquiring Medifast promotions and savings can provide you with good cost savings another time you go searching for a.Medifast diet approach is one of the most well-liked weight reduction plans nowadays . The meal plans are ready preserving in your mind your wellness and so are packed with nutritional characteristics. These diet programs are very well authenticated and devised by skilled pros in the sector of fat loss etcetera. Nevertheless, not All people was able to manage these diet program designs right until the price reduction Coupon codes were created offered because of the Medifast corporation. Savings and promotions are some of these alternatives . Selling price is a vital variable, which establishes its In general feasibility to get a family. Medifast understands the necessity of consumer gratification and it has come up with the most beneficial discounts on their own most favored products via discounted promo coupons.This allows individuals to obtain the type of life they need with ease.

™

There isn't any fantastic cause why you need to shell out far more on any distinct products, when the promotions might be enjoyed effortlessly. All you should do is expend slightly time studying for these coupons and maintain optimum wellness. Medifast knows the value of superior wellbeing for someone. This increases your general performance in terms of efficiency.That is only attainable if you give the body what it wants . As a result, Medifast gives you finish flexibility to go for the top diet plan strategy for the comfort of your home and P.C.

Medifast can be an acknowledged brand all across the globe, and This is due to they impose coronary heart within their products. The hands of experts are skilled in building wonderful good quality solutions, suited to intake from the folks of any age, adults and kids alike. You too can also get the correct diet system for you personally with no expending a fortune .Your entire body dimension won't make any difference On the subject of benefiting from these savings and promotions . Medifast savings can be obtained conveniently as the company would not want its buyers to search listed here and there to get the Discount codes suiting their specifications. Essentially, Medifast applications are designed for any personal . As a result, there is absolutely no one stopping you from getting these Positive aspects in a cut price cost.

If you're unaware of the entire process of getting these special discounts, you will need not get worried any more as you will discover entire guides on this on line. Having these discounts and promotions is not hard.There are numerous Web sites giving bargains on Medifast plans.Having said that, you must carryout some exploration to learn which Web site has the ideal deal in your case.Discount coupons are available by the various search engines or hyperlink or Internet websites quickly. As a result, hunt for an internet site that offers you the ideal deal coupons.Additionally it is critical to make sure that you receive a coupon that is still valid . Some Discount codes have validity after which they can not be utilised . Consequently, Examine the expiry day of a coupon just before you end up picking to make use of.The Coupon codes should be availed for all the advantages on the outlets that you are purchasing from. Under no circumstances forget getting a coupon and making the most of its Added benefits on line together with offline. If there are prospects furnished by the company to save your money, you shouldn't have a move backward and take advantage of from such fantastic gives.

A different and one of a kind way of promoting you and your organization is thru geocaching. For those of You aren't accustomed to the expression it can be a world positioning stash hunt. Men and women or business owners take part by hiding "caches" or hiding merchandise at various areas, and motivate Some others to uncover their caches. Inside the cache will normally be a log guide exactly where persons can signal the log and announce the day and time that the cache was observed. In the cache you might ordinarily see smaller objects that men and women may take an product then go away an product.

I lately assisted a little southern town with helping their chamber of commerce group market their local organizations with geocaching. We spoke to all the several entrepreneurs regarding their participation in geocaching and how it could entice much more prospective customers with their participation. We described that geocachers appreciate the thrill of the hunt and luxuriate in going to new destinations to find out new caches. We experienced ten community businesses be involved in our town geocache hunt. Just about every storefront strategically set geocaches within shut proximity in their retail store.

It can be vitally crucial that you know your individual demographic. This means remaining mindful of the team of folks most likely to buy your solution, and, In such a case, the kind of men and women prone to be climbing, biking or normally earning their way towards your unique stash. What will they be trying to find? What kinds of points would they require?

Settle on which products or teaser merchandise could most effective be stashed. Only your creativity can limit you at this time. Ideas incorporate Discount codes, present certificates, and modest items of value with your organization symbol on them, booklets or brochures. Tend not to place meals goods with your cache, as some food will spoil while animals, with much better noses than ours, might effortlessly seek out and damage this kind of cache. Respect regional regulations when positioning caches, and don't stash nearly anything illegal or dangerous. Geocache containers ought to be water-resistant and durable. Navy surplus ammo boxes are a favorite of numerous geocachers. Also make sure the container is suitable for the region (see recommendations). A great seal is essential, if h2o leaks while in the cache is ruined. Your geocache container must be camouflaged. This can be optional but a good suggestion, as you don't need non geocachers obtaining it. Portray it in shades to match the world, or wrapping it in camouflage duct tape are two of several ways in which may help conceal it. Other techniques consist of gluing bark towards the container or hiding it underneath phony rocks and tree stumps. In today's planet, suspicious deals can develop alarm. Evidently labeling your container as being a geocache and with Get in touch with details may perhaps aid reduce the chances of your cache getting noted as suspicious bundle.

Go with a excellent waypoint. You should not help it become as well quick, as that may ensure it is prone to anyone who could come about together. But Really don't help it become as well tricky, as you're looking for achievable buyers and shoppers, and you desire them to become properly-disposed for your item when they obtain your stash. A quality geocache will likely be concealed close to something of natural, human, historic or scenic fascination, or not less than at the end of a pleasing stroll. Try out to make it a location that men and women would love going to whether or not the cache wasn't there. Some illustrations we used were caches that were concealed in flower pots Found on The shop entrance of the business or some decorative lawn pieces.

When inserting your cache, it's essential to enter the waypoint, or area from the cache, during the structure of longitude and latitude for Other individuals to search out. To achieve this, you make use of your GPS to point the place. The condition is that you can get various readings on different times, so you'd probably need to just take not less than 3 readings or maybe more When you've got time and inclination-on 3 distinct days, coming from 3 diverse Instructions. Once you get your three (or maybe more) readings, common the latitude and longitude details to have as near the particular location as you can. The nearer you're to broadcasting the correct site, the more quickly geocaching travelers will discover Whatever you stash absent.

Now you have loaded your cache with the promotional merchandise and hidden the cache now you need to load The situation in the cache onto Geocaching web pages. The most popular web site to locate geocache's is thru Other websites incorporate , , opecaching.com and There, you are able to Observe The placement, and describe your cache with as much element as you prefer. In all, This really is very little new from The standard PR or promoting angle; this just will give you Yet another spot in which to promote your company! Take advantage of the surge in the popularity of geocaching. Many people use encryption to give practical clues to their potential geocachers. This may be One more excellent tool to promote you and your enterprise.

The example that I talked about previously mentioned to the southern city geocache hunt experienced 10 neighborhood business enterprise distributors who despatched opportunity visitors around their little city. We experienced places to eat; little collectable store operator, community pub, area real estate agent and antique retailer participate. The caches spanned in excess of a 3 sq. mile radius that developed foot visitors all throughout their city. Shop homeowners advertised their area geocache hunt in the nearby papers and obtained an incredible reaction from their common public audience. So This could certainly usher in new vacationers and but entertain even regional people.

Usually continue to locate new and distinctive approaches to advertise you and your business. Your survival depends upon it.

Jameela Jamil teases ‘unbelievable’ guest star in ‘Good Place’ finale

CLOSE

Jameela Jamil reveals both Queen Bey and Duchess Meghan have talked to her about their fictional relationships with Tahani on ‘The Good Place.’ Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY

NEW YORK — Jameela Jamil can’t tell you how “The Good Place” ends. 

But she can say that the existential NBC sitcom, now in its fourth and final season (Thursdays, 9 EDT/PDT), welcomes an “unbelievable guest star” from another NBC show in its emotional series finale: “I still can’t believe that happened – I have to keep looking at the pictures to believe it.” 

On “Good Place,” Jamil plays shallow British socialite Tahani, who works together with Kristen Bell’s cynical Eleanor and Ted Danson’s well-meaning devil to save themselves (and the universe). It’s the first major acting role for the former English teacher, who got her start hosting TV and radio shows including “T4” and “Freshly Squeezed” in her native England. 

More: Jameela Jamil, Sara Sampaio launch a war of tweets over body image, fashion and modeling

Now Jamil, 33, is returning to her roots with TBS’ “The Misery Index” (premiering Tuesday, 10 EDT/PDT), an irreverent game show. She chats with USA TODAY about the new series, “Good Place” and her self-worth movement “I Weigh,” which has nearly 1 million followers on Instagram. 

“The Good Place” actress Jameela Jamil, 33, poses for a portrait in New York. (Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY)

Question: So how does the game work? 

Jameela Jamil: “The Misery Index” is a way to make a fortune off of other people’s misfortune. So you have a scale of one to 100, and this is the “scale of misery,” basically. You’ll be given different real-life scenarios that have happened to people, and you have to decide where they land on that scale in order to win $30,000. And you have The Tenderloins (comedy troupe, better known as the Impractical Jokers) advising you on how best to make those decisions.

Q: What’s one of the grossest things you’ve seen on the show? 

Jamil: I saw a zit that had been around for 20 years finally popped. That was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I almost threw up on camera, which was terrible, but very funny. 

Jameela Jamil, center, hosts “The Misery Index,” in which two teams compete against each other to rate real-life “misery” situations involving bugs, bodily fluids and more. (Photo: Francisco Roman)

Q: On “Good Place,” Tahani is famously known for name-dropping all the celebrities she’s friends with. Has anyone mentioned on the show ever reached out to you in real life? 

Jamil: I did meet Beyoncé once at a party, and she told me she watches the show, which was mortifying because of how much Tahani pretends they are best friends. Also, Duchess Meghan of Sussex spoke to me on the phone and said that she watches the show. Obviously, it is the (fictional) rumor that she introduced (Meghan and Harry), so she thanked Tahani for that introduction. 

More: Jameela Jamil, Piers Morgan Twitter feud reignited over Duchess Meghan’s Vogue issue

Q: How would you describe Tahani’s journey in this final season? 

Jamil: She’s surprisingly name-dropping more than all three (previous) seasons combined. It’s on steroids. But she’s growing up as a person, and we go deeper into her family dynamic in a way that I think people are going to continue to find very relatable. What I love about her story so much is how many people come up to me and tell me that it’s affected the way that they feel about their sibling (relationships). 

Q: Has your own outlook on life changed since starting “Good Place,” which revolves around moral philosophy and human nature? 

Jamil: Yeah. Mostly I’ve just learned that, you know, Tahani went to hell in part because of her obsession with other people’s opinions, and I don’t want to go to hell. (Laughs.) She ruined her whole life worrying so much about being liked, and that was a great learning curve for me and massively helped me let go of this need I have to be liked. Especially as a woman, there’s a particular expectation that you should be likable to everyone. And it didn’t get Tahani anywhere, so I’m not doing that anymore.

Q: What was the impetus for starting the “I Weigh” movement on Instagram last year? 

Jamil: I suffered really badly from eating disorders when I was younger, and now that I’m in this industry that works hard to perpetuate that in young women, I want to do my best to undo it. I know exactly what kind of harm it causes because I was a victim of it, so I kind of also now know how to combat it. I’m able to be this whistleblower in the industry,  and it hasn’t affected my career. So I hope that will be a lesson to other young women who feel they would like to speak out about things: They make you believe it’s going to ruin your career and you’ll lose everything, but speaking out actually empowers you.

“Activism is the No. 1 priority for me,” says Jameela Jamil, founder of the “I Weigh” movement, which celebrates accomplishments rather than numbers on a scale. (Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY)

Q: You successfully lobbied for Instagram to stop targeting ads for weight-loss products and cosmetic procedures to users under 18. What would you like to accomplish next? 

Jamil: It’s not enough just to take it off social media – I want it off the internet. I want it to become illegal for minors to be able to consume these products anywhere. It’s not up to Facebook and Instagram: I’m glad they did it, I’m glad they took a stand, and it was important to have that avenue shut down. But we’re reaching epidemic levels of teenage suicide, teenage eating disorders, teenage depression, teenage self-harm and teenage cosmetic surgery, so the government has to do something. So that’s what we’re moving into next. We have the support of Harvard STRIPED (an initiative for the prevention of eating disorders) and other big universities to help us with research, which is exciting, and “I Weigh” is coming off just being an Instagram account and is going to become a full activism platform.

Q: You’ve been critical in the past of the Kardashian sisters, who have promoted appetite suppressant lollipops and meal replacement shakes on Instagram. Would you ever invite them on to your “I Weigh” interview series? 

Jamil: Yeah, of course – I have nothing against those girls. They got loads of money and power and could do so much great stuff. I love what Kim does with the justice system. More of that and I’m happy! I think that’s really cool. I just would like to see people use their power in a way that is empowering. 

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Last SlideNext Slide

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2019/10/21/jameela-jamil-teases-unbelievable-guest-star-good-place-finale/4045062002/

Sahred From Source link TV and Movies

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2MyUpQH via IFTTT

Illegal Keto diet pills being sold online in India: What you should watch out for

After food technologist Sharadha reported an illicit listing for diet pills on Amazon, the listing was removed, but numerous similar products are still sold.

Health News: Anyone who’s on social media and shops online is acquainted with targeted advertising. Search for a product and your social media timeline will be filled with its ads. However, with the plethora of options available, it often becomes difficult to tell the real from the fake or even illegal.

This is what happened with Mumbai-based food technologist Sharadha. Originally from Chennai, Sharadha had been getting ads for a Keto pill supplement under the brand ‘Simple Organics’ on Facebook for about a week. When she investigated it on Monday, she found that the product, listed on Amazon, was flouting a number of food safety regulations.

This product by Simple Organics made claims of promoting weight loss and offering to pay customers’ money back on its website, if they do not see results. On Amazon, the listing did not provide a comprehensive list of ingredients. While it does mention substances like “sodium beta-hydroxybutyrate, calcium beta-hydroxybutyrate, potassium beta-hydroxybutyrate” etc., Sharadha points out that they are required under Indian law to also clearly state things like additives, water content, the capsule material and so on.

Further, the product marketed itself on BHB or beta-Hydroxybutyric, a ketone that is produced from the fat in the body when you are fasting, or when the body does not have glucose. The body can use ketones as an… continue reading full story

How Start Off Your Hemp Seeds

Each time you all of them experiment while flavors if you do not find individual favorite. Be generous by using your seasoning considering that the flax seeds make everything very insipid. Besides just having these crackers accessible for Calm CBD Oil Review munching and include some texture and fun to your meals, Plant Tonics Calm CBD Oil CBD Oil Reviews it is possible to break up one or two and toss inside your salad as croutons, a person can top a cracker with slices of cucumber, tomato and onion bits for a tasty meal or eating. Make a subscriber base of all of the reasons in order to to stop Cannabis and whenever you're ready of giving in investigate the list, position it somewhere totally . see it all the time, or make certain on you if you must to, might constantly can remind yourself of an individual are doing the in purchasers place. "The policy of drug prohibition and also strategy of 'War on Drugs/War on American People' proves a spectacular failure," Officer Howard Wooldridge said. "If we to help shoot every drug user, every Willie Nelson, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Clemens as well as other pro baseball players, Cannabis Study as well as the other 30 odd million Americans who use illegal drugs, would we be a success? If we eliminated the Bill of Rights in conjunction with "shoot-on-sight" anyone the police suspect has utilized or is selling drugs, I believe we will achieve a 'Drug Free America.' How many are prepared to pay that price? However, for anybody who is feeling anxious frequently, even with so-called 'normal' situations, then might be suffering from anxiety disorder. Symptoms include a constant sense of edginess or tension, irrational fears, sudden attacks of panic plus an avoidance of daily situations, duties and often contact with others because they've created you commited. You may receive an unscheduled visit requesting you do a mobile phone Interview. Some clients are randomly selected for this and some are selected in order clarify critical info. It's advised to simply answer the questions truthfully as you did with your agent. Interviews usually last about a quarter-hour. But now the times have changed. The corrupt imbalance seeping right out the laws and walls belonging to the white house, along with nearly ever state capital, has become so obvious that even those each morning highest varieties of denial, cannot deny that real change is needed. Up to one omega 3 source ought to added to the everyday weight loss program. This can be fish or fish-oil in its raw form, flax seeds or flaxseed oil, Calm CBD Oil Review Oil Benefits, walnuts, shrimps, navy beans or soy beans. Corn oil and coconut oil also provide some volumes of these fatty acids and. Enriched eggs are 1 source which can be placed in the everyday diet. This is not an easy question to reply. They both contain omega 3, that is what you require. The most pertinant question is, 1 you should prefer?

Don't be SCAMMED this is important

Don't be SCAMMED this is important Have you ever received an email like this: "Dear Traders, Beware of . When you buy from them and send them money, you’ll never get your products and then suddenly can’t contact them anymore. Then they won't answer your emails or take your calls. Soon, you lose all your money. Please share this information with your customers." Or this: "It has been brought to our attention that there may be individuals operating in the marketplace impersonating in order to perpetuate fraud." You’d be surprised how often I get these emails. This next one is especially tricky because it could be legit, depending on your business. “The customer is willing to place a big order but needs sample units first and is not willing to pay for the samples upfront. This is going to be an issue because the sample units are going to be quite expensive.” Whatever your business and wherever you live, scam artists are out there, waiting to take advantage and siphon away your hard-earned revenue. They regularly change their alleged business names, aliases and even their scamming methods to avoid getting caught. But I’ve learned a few tricks in my years about spotting scam artists and I want to provide you with the knowledge and confidence you’ll need to remain scam-free. Below are some tools, tips and resources to help you curtail any future losses. Here are a few more common scams: You pay someone and then don’t receive anything. You buy AC adapters or batteries that turn out to be counterfeit. A product’s condition turns out to be misrepresented. For instance, you were promised Grade A or B, but what you got was junk. The deal you signed up for turns out to be significantly not-as-described. You try to remedy it with the seller but they stop answering your phone calls and responding to emails. Scammers often purchase a domain name similar to yours. They might even take your exact same name but use a .net, .org, or .us, instead of .com. A scam site might link its reviews to your site to make it seem legit. Then when customers Google your company, your reviews will come up. The customer feels comfortable even if the deals seem too good to be true, so they start placing orders on the fraudulent site. The scam site takes the order, but nothing ships out. Soon you start getting calls for order statuses you can’t locate. Read more details of the scam here. This next scam is the most popular one. You order all “Grade A,” “New,” or “Refurbished” products, but when they show up at your dock, they’re all wrong, or it’s all junk. I won’t say you should have gone out and inspected the products yourself, because I‘ve hand-tested each product in an order, then had the boxes swapped during shipping. I probably missed a few but if you come across any other scams, let me know so we can protect other traders. You might not have come across these issues yourself, but it could be worth your while to have some contacts and tools at your disposal when scoping out new customers and vendors. I also have more tricks in my E-book to help you circumvent cheating and get inspections performed on the cheap. The evolving scam Scam deals typically start with a phone call or email. Look closely at the email and the associated domains to get a sense of how serious the request is. Keep in mind, scam artists are going to be slippery. They love to use tricky domain names and fake social media accounts. They’ll even build websites to try to convince you they’re legit. When you talk on the phone with a possible scammer, it’s a good idea to jot down the number they called from. Reverse phone lookups and simple Google searches can help fill in missing information to verify a company. When determining if a buyer is safe or a scam, consider if their reviews are real or fake. Scamadviser.com is a good tool for assessing the risk of third-party websites. This tool saves you time authenticating domains. Scamadviser uses an algorithm to authenticate reviews, as well as determine if a website is legit or a front for phishing, and if a seller is peddling fake products. Two important things to consider here are 1) was the domain name registered recently? 2)how long until the domain name expires? Scammers are not going to register a domain name years in advance. Scam domains are usually registered recently. Next, look closer at the email. Does it have a signature, address, phone number, fax? Try to verify some of those details on your own. If they have Skype, WhatsApp or social media contacts, check them out and connect with them. Do those accounts look legit? When did the user last write a post? Use Google Maps to verify addresses, and zoom in using Street View to check out the building. Another verification hack I’ve found useful is calling neighboring businesses and asking about a business I’m suspicious of. How long have they been there? What type of unit are they in? Ask if trucks roll in and out of the location. You’d be surprised how much info people give out to strangers. Counterfeit products are another big problem in our industry — everything from batteries to AC adapters. Some of you probably know this a big problem and don't care because counterfeiting means cheap products. But counterfeit products can cause an end-user’s computer to fail, catch fire or worse, explode. Needless to say, this can lead to very high return rates for you and your resellers. Detecting counterfeit products or fakes can be difficult. RAM modules, hard drives, power adapters and batteries can be verified with the manufacturer, though it’s a time-consuming process. And checking with a manufacturer is really only feasible if you have a very specific need and must be 100% sure an item is legit. So here’s a quick hack to find out if your adapter or battery is legit. Get out a scale and weigh the original and the potential fake. The fake will always weigh less than the original. Here’s a video showing the obvious difference in weight. Payment time So you’re ready to pay and you’re feeling good about the deal. Now comes time to pay. I know what you’re going to say: wire transfer only. But I want to tell you that if the funds were obtained and transferred illegally, they can be reversed by your bank or the originating bank for up to one year. Wire transfers seem to be the favorite method for scammers these days. Good companies take credit cards and charge fees to do so. If a seller insists on wire-only, further investigation on your part is needed. There is too much material to go over in one blog post, but I go over ACH payments, Paypal and credit card payments scams in detail in my E-book (which I highly recommend reading because there is a lot to learn about ACH and the capabilities of reversals and chargebacks). Who can help me? Depending on the type of scam and the legalities of your county, state or country, I would contact a few agencies along with your local police. But first, I recommend consulting with your attorney to see what your options are. You must find a good attorney. If you need help finding an attorney anywhere in the globe, download my E-book. I’ll show you where to find them and how to keep them accountable as you track down buyers and sellers. Here are some other tools and processes you should put in place to avoid becoming a victim yourself. According to the Better Business Bureau’s investigative project Scam Studies, millions of people fall victim to scams each year. Take some time to check out the content there, which is very informative and should keep you updated on the latest scamming techniques. Also, check out the BBB’s Scam Tracker, where you can see all its reports. There are some methods to slow down a scam, but it will take hard work and it’s best to get ahead of the problem. So here are two tips to help make your online presence a little more bulletproof: Register all variations of your domain name — .net .org, .us, with dashes and without. Trademark your domain name. That way you can get the domain’s registrar to take down any infringing domains. I’m sure I missed a scam or two but I’ll leave you with a starting point and some additional links and search tools. Come back often because I’ll be updating this list and adding some content to make sure you’re aware of future cons. MANTA Company Lookup Hoovers Company Search California Secretary Of State Delaware State Divisions of Corporations Florida Department Of Division of Corporations Georgia Corporations Division Iowa Secretary Of State Kansas Business Center Massachusetts Michigan Corporations Division Business Entity Missouri Nebraska Secretary Of State New Hampshire Corporation Division New Jersey New York Corporation and Business Entity Database Ohio Secretary Of State Oklahoma State Corporation Entities Pennslyvania Department Of State Rhode Island Texas Secretary Of State Canadian Govt Corporate Records Search. Duedil.com: UK/Ireland Company Background Search Companies House UK Company Check UK CD Rex Check Website and Email Domain Owners Guidestar.org - US non-profit look up tool Arizona Corporation Commission Glassdoor Company Reviews (UK) North Carolina Department Of The Secretary Maryland Department Of Assessments & Taxation Virginia State Corporation Commission Illinois Secretary Of State Minnesota Secretary Of State Utah Divisions Of Corporations European Commission VAT verification Danish Business Authority Database British Columbia Registry Services Nevada Secretary Of State Charitable Organizations within Quebec Hong Kong Washington State Corporation Ministry of Corporate Affairs India Microsoft Refurbisher Directory Dun & Bradstreet State of Colorado B2B Yellow Pages Merchant Circle UK Company List kompany Tennessee Business Entity Search Hong Kong DIR Hong Kong Company List New Zealand Companies Office New Mexico Secretary of State Bizfile Kentucky Secretary of State Online Resources Bizearch Connecticut Secretary of the State FBR Pakistan ESC Corporate Services SERI Washington DC Business Verification Belgium Business Database Maine Department of the Secretary of the State e-information of Hungary Companies System for Award Management Shenzhen Credit Org Oregon Business Directory California Board of Equalization Idaho State Business Directory Mississippi Secretary of State United Arab Emirates Government of Pakistan - Federal Board of Revenue Registraire des entreprises Quebec Find the Company | A Company Research Engine Kyckr EU Business Lookup Open Corporates Netherlands Business Directory NY State Tax Vendor Lookup UAE TRN Number Verification IRS - Exempt Organizations Check Tool Texas TaxPayer Search Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions Ireland - Companies Registration Office Italian Business Register Vietnam Business Registration Portal Malaysia Registration Search Nigeria Corporate Affairs Commission Arkansas Secretary of State Germany - Unternehmensregister Bloomberg San Jose Business License Lookup Wyoming Secretary of State Kenya Revenue Authority Zoominfo Argentina - CUIT (Tax Lookup) e-Information on Hungarian Companies France - sirene.fr Social Media Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Alibaba eBay Seller Profile Google + Amazon Foursquare Pinterest Newegg Seller Profile Panjiva - Global Trade Insights Other Company Directory Listing Online Review Sites Ripoffreport.com Reseller Ratings Scambook Better Business Bureau Yelp Google Reviews Yahoo Local eBay Feedback Profile Angie''s List HomeAdvisor Environmental, Health, and Safety Compliance EPA - Enforcement & Compliance History Online US Dept. of Labor - OSHA enforcement inspections ISRI SREA Reasonable Care Compliance Program NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection CA.gov Envirostor Texas Commission on Environmental Quality SERI e-Stewards Directory   There is a lot here and if you think I missed one leave a comment below and we can add it. At Filmar.com I Buy Sell End of Life Corporate IT Assets is an expert on the secondary market of IT products. Specialties include used and off-lease refurbished computer products, laptops, computers, LED LCD TVs, digital cameras, electronics, unlocked phones, tablets and enterprise IT equipment. These are my observations and my opinions but I would love to hear more about your frustrations Read the full article

‘It’s terrible’: Fears grow that Trump is kneecapping the Pentagon

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/its-terrible-fears-grow-that-trump-is-kneecapping-the-pentagon/

‘It’s terrible’: Fears grow that Trump is kneecapping the Pentagon

Questions about the Pentagon’s credibility carry a host of real-world implications, from allies not trusting America’s word, to worries that more troops will commit war crimes, to growing skepticism over intelligence the Pentagon uses to justify military action.

“It’s terrible,” Eric Edelman, who served as undersecretary of Defense for President George W. Bush, said of the impact Trump is having on the Pentagon’s ability to make its case. “Trump is basically essentially doing things that make the Russians and Chinese happy. They can say, ‘They are just like us. They do what’s in their interest. The notion that America is different is all bullshit.’”

As the military conflict with Iran deepens, the president’s behavior is hamstringing the U.S. military, warned nearly a dozen current and former officials. In particular, Trump’s threats to commit violations of international law are fueling perceptions in the Muslim world that the U.S. military is little more than an imperial occupying force.

And the Pentagon’s credibility faces its next big test Wednesday, when senior military leaders brief skeptical lawmakers in the House and Senate on the decision to conduct a drone strike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, a move that sparked the missile attack that struck Iraqi bases that house U.S. troops.

Lawmakers, mostly Democrats, have made it clear they’re in no mood to accept the administration’s claims that Soleimani was prepared to attack U.S. forces, especially since there’s no guarantee that the military tit-for-tat in the Middle East will die down anytime soon.

Trump’s defenders dismiss claims the president’s shoot-from-the-hip style is harming the military’s reputation. And the Pentagon says it’s still credible because it doesn’t get political.

“There’s a reason the U.S. Department of Defense remains the most trusted institution in American government — we stay out of politics,” the Pentagon said in a written response to POLITICO. “DoD also maintains a strong relationship with our allies through our [military-to-military] relationships with countries around the globe, where we do joint training, exercises, and serve together on the battlefield.”

But current and former administration officials worry the president’s growing pattern of breaking faith with some of those allies, ignoring the chain of command, and forcing Pentagon leaders to publicly defend his actions mean that the military’s word does not carry the same weight it once did — just as it tries to head off a major war in the Middle East.

“The institution is losing its credibility because it is continually being politicized, it’s politically being antagonized and it’s seen … as a Defense Department that’s either out of touch, that’s rogue, that’s partisan, [or] that’s lawless,” said a former senior military officer who served in the Trump administration and requested anonymity to speak freely.

“You don’t know what’s solid and what’s reliable,” added a former senior Pentagon official who served in the Trump administration.

The Defense Department’s credibility gap has been on display time and again, most recently this week when a draft letter from a U.S. general to an Iraqi counterpart laying out plans for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq was leaked to the media.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley quickly declared the U.S. wasn’t leaving Iraq and said the communication should never have been sent. But it made little difference; Iraq’s prime minister brushed off Esper’s and Milley’s statements and said he was treating the draft letter as official policy.

Even some of the Pentagon’s biggest supporters said they don’t know what to believe about the episode.

“I do think Esper and Milley have to explain what the hell happened with this unsigned letter that may or may not have gotten sent,” Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin who served as a Marine Corps officer in Iraq, said in an interview. “Was this just pure incompetence or was this part of some deliberate messaging strategy?”

“We can’t be playing games like that, especially at times like this,” Gallagher added, saying he hopes to get clarity from the closed-door briefing Wednesday. “They seemed genuinely surprised. I’m struggling to make sense of it now. I hope they will take advantage of that opportunity … to tell us what exactly happened.”

Trump seems oblivious to how his words and actions forced Pentagon leaders to constantly scramble to explain away his comments.

Most recently, it was his threat over the weekend to bomb cultural sites if Iran retaliated for the Soleimani attack. If carried out, such an attack would violate both a United Nations-backed treaty calling for the protection of cultural sites in wartime as well as the Geneva Conventions.

After Trump’s comments, Esper hopped into damage control mode. “We will follow the laws of armed conflict,” he insisted to reporters on Tuesday, not directly commenting on the fact that the president had threatened to do something illegal.

Later on Tuesday Trump backed off, telling reporters, “I like to obey the law.”

But even some of the most hawkish voices winced at the episode.

“I don’t think we should be targeting cultural sites,” Gallagher said. “I do think we should avoid anything that would drive a wedge between us and our allies in the region.

“There is no decision more serious and consequential for presidents and commanders in chief than to order military action,” added Michael Rubin, a former adviser on Iraq and Iran at the Pentagon from 2002 to 2004 and resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. “Trump’s off-handed remarks about targeting cultural sites — an illegal order should he try which the Pentagon could never obey — highlights what happens when Trump’s political style clashes with the legal and planning processes developed by the Pentagon over decades.”

The threat came just weeks after the president took the extraordinary step of granting clemency to a trio of accused or convicted war criminals in the Army and Navy. It set off an outcry in the ranks and on Capitol Hill that Trump was meddling in the military justice system and was encouraging lawlessness and damaging good order and discipline.

After Navy Secretary Richard Spencer was forced out over his handling of Navy Chief Petty Officer Eddie Gallagher’s case, Esper followed Trump’s order and canceled an administrative board that could have removed Gallagher’s SEAL trident pin. In issuing the order, Trump ignored his military advisers in favor of a campaign in conservative media to restore Gallagher’s pin.

“There’s a sense of dejection by senior leaders in the Pentagon, that the president and the secretary of Defense are going to side with the loudmouths at Fox News against the reasoned opposition of senior military professionals,” a senior Pentagon official with direct knowledge of high-level discussions told POLITICO at the time. “That’s the sense in a nutshell.”

In another recent example, Trump gave voice to what many critics of U.S. military operations in the Middle East have been saying for decades: It’s all about the oil.

After abruptly ordering most U.S. troops out of Syria, the president told reporters that “We’re keeping the oil, we have the oil, the oil is secure, we left troops behind only for the oil.”

“It can help us because we should be able to take some also,” he told reporters on Oct. 27. “And what I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an Exxon Mobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly.”

The Pentagon quickly pushed back. “The revenue from this is not going to the U.S.,” Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said, insisting local Kurds will be “the sole beneficiary of the sale of the oil from the facilities they control.”

Esper weighed in, saying Trump meant that he wants to keep the oil from benefiting ISIS.

“It’s — it’s, you know, half dozen, six. I interpret that as deny ISIS access to the oil fields; secure them so that they are denied access to the oil fields,” he told reporters on Oct. 31.

The Pentagon and State Department have long sought to combat the public perception that the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 was designed to seize Mideast oil.

The former Trump Pentagon official said the president’s statements about the oil is particularly damaging to the Pentagon’s credibility at home and abroad.

“It’s is a pretty serious concern among the senior uniformed military,” said the former official, who declined to be identified discussing recent conversations with former colleagues. “The taking of the oil fields is exactly what the criticism was of almost every one of our activities in Middle East. It plays right into critics and skeptics and even conspiracy theorists and is against U.S. values.”

The oil field controversy sprang up weeks after Trump ordered troops out of parts of Syria after Turkey threatened to invade northern areas. The withdrawal left American’s Kurdish allies in the lurch, sparking outrage in the military and Congress who said the U.S. was betraying a partner that was instrumental in crushing ISIS.

“We are not abandoning the Kurds,” Esper insisted, even as Trump’s allies in Congress said the president was doing exactly that.

Edelman, the former Bush Pentagon official, said he’s worried about how the department can stop the loss of trust.

“We didn’t take anything over and establish puppet regimes in Europe after World War II,” he said. “The sense that the United States has acted more often than not in a disinterested way by creating some semblance of world order has given us enormous ability to do stuff around the world. Trump is undermining that.”

Read More