cereality

I think there is a girl that Trace is dating/talking to. In an earlier episode Erin and one of the sisters in college (Tori?) both said that Trace has become pretty outgoing and a ladies man on campus and they expect that he'll marry before his older brothers. Erin also said that she thinks Lawson will marry around age 30 - and her sisters were aghast. Reality is while they are more "modern" than other fundie families, they are still fundies and have been taught since birth that self worth for a woman comes from being a wife and mother. This isn't true for males; sure they should want to spread their seed and raise kids for Christ, but if they don't -- they won't be thought of as lowly as women who don't do that. To the women the greatest horror in life would be if they didn't marry or have kids. So in order to prevent this, they lock it up ASAP. I also think this particular group of sisters -- Tori; Carlin; Josie -- is REALLY savvy bc they've seen older sisters go thru this just a few yrs ago -- when they themselves were age 14+ and understood what was going on. I think they probably noticed that finding an attractive fundie guy WITH a decent job -- like Chad or John -- is a total crap shoot, as he has all the fundie girls in the world interested in him and he can marry whatever girl he happens to notice at some random valentines day dance or mission or something. I think they REALLY understood that if you're pushing 24 in that cult and not married, desperation sets in to lock it down with anyone -- bc they likely remember Michaela's tearful pining and praying for Brandon and how Brandon had to be convinced by his sisters to marry Michaela and then Kelly pretty much had to beg him to put a ring on it. As you "age" to the ripe old age of 24-25, fundie pickings get slimmer esp. since fundie males - even if they are pushing 27-30 will marry girls 4-5 yrs younger; Chad and John are both 5 yrs older than their wives. So given that there aren't many fundie men who are 30 and single, if you're 27, you're out of luck anyway since they'll be looking for a 24-25 yr old max. I think Tori/Carlin/Josie were VERY aware of these dynamics -- and decided that once they were done "high school," they were on the search to make sure they locked it down by 20-22. So off they went to find college classmates who happened to have roommates who had best friends in Florida that were also fundie or were waiters at an event and happened to be ok with patrons asking for their numbers etc. I think the 3 of them were also savvy enough to realize that if it didn't happen with a fundie male by age 22-23, they'd consider going "fundie lite" for dating purposes and looking into the southern Baptist local dating pool; yet given that this is small town Tenn,., they knew those guys marry young too so they'd have to be looking over there asap by age 24 if a fundie husband didn't show up. At least Josie got herself a plumber, who will be able to provide. Tori and Carlin -- well at least they locked it down and will have husbands and kids, but it's going to be a lifetime of "working" for Gil alternating with working for various churches, doing missions etc. since neither of their men seem to have a secular job/career.

Interesting how they claim their sisters are their BEST friends and yet a guy comes along and 2 side hugs later, HE is your bff. Screw the 8 sisters you have in tow, when you are bawling about a dress you call the new BFF who has explicitly said -- what he wants in a dress is Joy wearing it and walking down the aisle to him. Though TBH I'm pretty sure Austin is controlling and had expressed some opinions about what he wanted to see her in -- she said he didn't want poofy and also vetoed #1 bc he didn't want anything too tight. Guess he didn't want other fundie dudes seeing her ass when she was at the altar. And Austin got in trouble for TALKING past curfew. They don't live together, so I imagine this meant talking BY PHONE. I don't even understand the idea of curfews for the age 18+ crowd though I know some parents still do them mostly bc they don't condone their kid sleeping over at their boyfriend/girlfriend's house, yet they also don't want their kid driving home tired and on lonely roads at 2 am so they require them home at midnight or whatever. But I don't think I've known anyone to have a "bedtime" past middle school at the very latest. Isn't that the age where you say -- you are expected to be up and out the door to school at x time and if you stay up too late messing around and oversleep or go to school completely exhausted, you are old enough to deal with the consequences. And what exactly do Joy and Austin miss if stay up until 2 am on the phone? Joy is late for her non existent school or work? Austin is late getting to Home Depot to pick up lumber for this dumpster of a house -- bc Home Depot is open until like 11 pm.

Why do these morons always have to do the -- OMG here are all the reasons we love you/will miss you (bc you're special) -- thing AT the store?? Isn't it awkward that store owners/employees are awkwardly standing around or have to scram so that some family can have their touching moment?? Joy has no personality whatsoever . . . will work well with her headship actually.

No idea why these people appear so stunted but if that was James (I only recognize the older ones), he's 16 and Jackson is 13; I would've guessed they were 13 and 10. 16 is old enough that you can grab your brother's girl's arm or put your hand near her back to steady her, and then you realize you feel uncomfortable hot and blood has rushed down below and the package suddenly feels bigger and tighter. Frankly at 16 it can happen just by looking at a girl. I'm shocked boys of this age group are allowed to chaperone -- do JB and Michelle not realize that 16 yr old boys have this "issue?"

Joy is totally dumbing herself down so Austin can be the headship. She was spunkier than that growing up and even 1-2 seasons ago. Ok so you don't care about dresses and shopping - I get that and I'm similar. But cake? Is it sooo hard to have an opinion on food without playing 20 questions (or 100 questions)? I mean at one point Austin says - do you like the lemon? And she says "it's whatever." Um - he won't leave if you you say you don't like lemon cake, just like you didn't leave when he said 4 min ago that he doesn't like red velvet!! I assume they went with vanilla cake with vanilla frosting bc Austin had to make the final call and Joy refused to give him any opinions to work with. So instead of picking an actual flavor and then hearing from her 2 yrs later that she thought their cake was gross, he went as flavorless as possible . . . .

Joseph does look younger in that video. Obviously a lot of it has to do with not being able to see his hairline and his gut. Yet the rosy cheeks and the smile/eyes showing genuine happiness and looking genuinely relaxed isn't something we see from the Duggar clan. Though to be fair, all of them have had that look in the first post-wedding/honeymoon video -- for the girls probably bc they're so relieved that they locked it down and won't be Jana and the guys bc they got laid. Kendra -- to me -- has always looked like a pudgy Barbie doll; though if Joe loves her - who am I to care about her looks. Of all the marriages, I see Joe and Kendra and Joy and Austin being the happiest. I think the 4 of them are "simple folk" who 100% believe in how they were raised and don't question whether there's more out there in the world that they're missing out. Joe and Austin will work on cars and homes their whole lives to bring home the bacon to their wives who will pop out babies early until both family ends up with 9-15 kids. Joe and Austin (and their wives) won't wonder -- is this worth it; should I have gone to college; would it be cool to live someplace etc. They'll spend their lives doing what they're supposed to do. Different from the other married siblings. Derick and Jer are college grad who had seen the world (to a certain extent) before settling down. They married bc they needed an arranged marriage to get a girl (Derick) or were a fame whore (Jer) but I think they got married thinking -- sure she's an unexperienced 20-22 yr old, but so what lots of girls are inexperienced, living with me will make her more "mainstream." And then post marriage they realized, they married a 20-22 yr old who wasn't just naïve about relationships/sex (which isn't unheard) but is also naïve about life, the world, being independent, having friends that aren't siblings, being a confident adult who doesn't need to cling to daddy or a husband etc. Both husbands took on their wives as improvement projects -- trips to NYC/Broadway; introducing them to Korean BBQ and Nepali food and hummus; taking them to museums (Jer). Clearly Derick is over that improvement project that is Jill bc he has learned that she won't change, can't change, and doesn't want to change -- she wants to live an un-curious life down the road from her siblings, and going on outings to Walmart with her 11 kids; and he's more over it bc she's holding back his "dream" of living overseas bc she can't cope. Jer -- OTOH -- is still trying and doesn't seem over it, probably bc he has a wife that's a bit brighter and didn't necessarily drink the fundie kool aid so there's a greater chance she isn't resisting change and will go fundie lite in certain aspects of life -- like having 3-4 kids instead of 11. Jessa + Bin -- I think Bin is the content one, which Jessa is the one who wants more. Except she rushed into marriage with an 18 yr old hottie bc she wanted to jump his bones, yet now she's realizing that have a kid yearly + a husband who is unemployable except for any jobs created by her father will forever hold her back from making any changes - no matter how small -- to her life.

That's an overkill. Unless you are wearing skinny pants that show every angle of the crotch -- is it really going to be obvious in regular suit pants esp. with a jacket on -- since mens suit jackets hang down quite a ways below the waist.

With Kelton on the scene and living locally? I'm thinking no. Were Alyssa and John there - I don't recall seeing them and at one point before rafting Zach goes "well at least Lawson and Nathan will be around to raise the kids from our THREE families if something happens" -- i.e. Zach/Whit; Chad/Erin; and Gil/Kelly -- no reference to Alyssa and John's kids so I think they weren't there. I feel like I've seen recent Josie pics with John and Alyssa in Fl. so I wonder if she went down to stay with them during the vacation. Wonder why that would be and wonder why John/Alyssa didn't come -- though I think they probably cannot tolerate the family for a week in the woods so it's now easier to say -- sorry our kids are bad sleepers or whatever -- to get out of it.

Am I the only one who thinks the Bates parents aren't thrilled to death about the Evan/Carlin courtship? Sure Gil always does the -- I'm not going to give another daughter away, you can wait 10 more yrs -- thing in jest, and he did that. And yet it seems like both him and Kelly went on about -- she's young, you're young; she may end up being your wife or not; if it doesn't work, we want you to walk away as friends and with no "regrets" -- i.e. still pure. It seemed like a WHOLE lot more warnings than we've ever seen before and in stark contrast to the other sons in law. Kelly basically begged Brandon to marry Michaela -- asking not so subtle questions about when they'd court; how long they needed to court; how quick could he finish school; and why did he need to wait SOOO long after school ended to marry; it was embarrassing. She's been similar with Bobby -- pushing them to finish school asap and/or advising Tori that it's not necessary to finish school. As for young -- she's 19-ish which I believe is around the same age as Alyssa and maybe Erin when they started courting. Maybe they're realizing that Carlin is beyond immature and this is a middle school crush. Sure it may materialize into marriage, but even now -- whenever Kelly or any family member talks (like Erin - who set them up) about why Evan/Carlin seem great together, they come up with nothing reasons. Kelly tonight actually said -- they like the same music and going the same places. Um -- that makes a 22 yr old whose full time career appears to be "ministry" via singing in a family fundie band to be marriage material? If you like the same music -- be friends, share music -- don't rush to the altar next year!? Maybe Gil is realizing that the string of loser sons in law is starting and he needs to slow that down bc he has already had to create a job for Bobby in his "church" and will have to dole out minimal salary to him in order for him to be able to afford a wife and Gil may not be in the position to do that again so soon with Evan. At least the next one coming down the pike is a plumber . . . .

Bc Jill would have said "um yeah totally" to Derick saying he wanted to join the circus or work at Goldman Sachs or anything else -- she was soooo invested in fulfilling her life's purpose of marriage and babies. And bc they never had a conversation alone and obv could never even have taken a weekend trip together, Derick had to take her word for it that she had a heart for missions and wanted to live overseas like him. Little did he know that she falls apart anytime she's out of her habitat.

This episode wasn't nearly as boring as I expected. Had a bunch of thoughts. Jessa & Ben: color me shocked that she said "we won't necessarily stay in Arkansas forever, if we were called to go someplace else, we'd go." At first I figured it was just something to say, but the more I think of it the more I think she may mean it. She is savvy. She realizes that by being in Laredo, Jinger and Jer are the "interesting ones" for the show bc their lives are different from the rest -- so she may want that too to keep the TLC income flowing. Plus she notices that Jinger and Jer don't live under JB's thumb -- they aren't dying to have kids asap so they're obviously using birth control and waiting; they wanted a house so they bought one with a mortgage - instead of being stuck in JB's mold house; they travel; Jinger wears pants; Jer has his own job having nothing to do with JB and thus JB can't ask him to scrub his toilets. Jessa may find all these things attractive and wants to get some for herself too. I think she wears the pants in her marriage so she is probably convincing Ben that the Lord is calling them in a different direction -- while in her mind thinking, if we move out of here, and Ben gets a job, we buy our own house, we stop at 2 or 3 kids (regardless of whether Anna, Kendra, Joy and Jill stay here and have 11 more each) and be done with it and live a "regular" life like Jinger. I don't think Jer's church is big enough to require a second minister -- nor would Jer want to share the attention with Ben -- but they may need another "minister" for another church plant in some other city in Texas. Though keep in mind that Jer only needs to provide for him and Jinger right now and all they need is the tiny 1 bedroom apartment. Ben has 2 kids and needs more income. Though I don't necessarily see why Ben MUST do ministry for money. It's not like he went to school for it or anything. Plus his dad worked secular jobs and kept his status as a nutcase so Ben can too -- his dad did construction for most of his career but then switched over cars when the recession hit. If I were Jessa, I'd be plotting to get Ben working with Austin for 6 months-1 yr -- get him some construction experience, move down to Tx where there is a TON of construction work and a shortage of employees, tell JB the Lord called you so you gotta go -- and then go raise your family as you wish. Joe and Kendra: I don't understand taking her to the old house site which is now a slab of concrete to ask her to court. Plus couldn't her dad, sister, and his chaperones back the HELL up?? They knew that's why they were at the site -- for his proposal -- so why not lag a few steps behind so they're at least next to each other when he asks?? Was the site soooo fascinating that they were all vying to get in the front of the tour of a vacant lot?? When he asked, there were so many people around that she wasn't even looking at him?? Literally he starts saying "so do you want to take the next step" and THEN she looks at him as she realizes he's speaking to her and he says "do you want to court?" And uh Joseph if you're SOOO into this dumb idea of proposing where you were born, couldn't you string 2 sentences together about it? Couldn't you say "so I brought you here bc this is where it all started for me -- this is where I was born and lived as a kid -- so now I want to take the next step in my life here, will you court me?" How hard was it to put the two thoughts together and make it obvious why you're walking around a vacant lot? Derick and Jill: he was totally mocking her. She went on about safety and how there was so much to be concerned about for the 100000th time and he goes "yeah like all the loud noises." And she suddenly "covers" and says "yes there are things that sound like gun shots, sometimes there at actual gun shots." We get it Jill Central America is soooooooo unsafe. Reality is 41 million people live in the 7 Central American countries combined and somehow they ARE surviving the danger AND most of them are NOT living in compounds surrounded by fencing and razor wire. I guess their fans are so dumb that they don't realize that even in developing countries, once you're inside a compound protected by 3 stories of fencing + razor wire, you're pretty safe bc criminals don't view those houses and people as easy targets . . . .

JB never cooks. He pretty much wants a gold medal when he "cooks" when Mama is out of town with the older j-slaves and in that case "cooking" consists of tuna right out of the can with a side of peas served cold and out of the can. He far to manly to cook. Didn't Michelle have to stop and make JB an omlette or something when she had started laboring with one of the 19 blessings and needed to get to the hospital before the baby fell out? But Derick -- he was raised by different parents. He said in their wedding episode that his dad made the best brisket and that's why they served his recipe at the rehearsal, so he had a dad who at least cooked once in a while. And it's also possible that he saw his dad cook more regularly too -- his dad was a cop and his mom was a senior exec at Walmart; cops work shift work and I think it's been said that his dad worked nights a lot in order to spend some time with his sons. So it's very likely Derick and Dan got home from school and DAD was the one whipping up dinner to feed them before he left for his night shift.

Plus some guys get off on banging a virgin. And are the types who want to make every decision/be in charge of the household. No better way to do that than to marry a 22 yr old who has the maturity and life experience of your average 7th grade girl -- she'll fawn all over you and you'll get to tell her what to do/how you like everything in life done bc afterall you're just offering your "wisdom" and you'll blow her mind sexually considering she's never even held a guy's hand before or seen a d!ck past toddler/diaper age.

Just watched JinJer's half assed congrats video for Joy and Austin. Jer seems -- and looks -- like he's thinking so another one of your siblings is having a baby, so what?? Jinger OTOH I bet is more conflicted. On one hand I do think she's glad it's not her. She has said she's scared of birth and not looking forward to it. She appears to be enjoying coffee dates with her man and going to NYC, Philly, LA -- even if just for family/friend/fundie church purposes. I bet she's liking owning her own house with a mortgage holder that isn't daddy -- so he doesn't own her and her husband. She looks very comfortable wearing pants and other appropriate clothing. And how can she not be liking having someone around who believes and tells her -- you ARE smart, don't under estimate yourself. I mean where else has she ever heard that in life?? Yet she grew up being told that a female's ONLY job is to marry and produce as many babies as possible. First part of that -- marriage -- check. 2nd part -- kids -- um no dice. I don't think they have been trying (or maybe they are now but I don't think they did for a while after the wedding). So I have to imagine some small part of her is thinking -- OMG he's charming me but he doesn't want babies with me, why else would he want to wait/pull out/NPF/condoms (probably not condoms though since he's fundie but I can see him pulling and praying or NFP) -- there MUST be something wrong with me. I'm not fulfilling my wifely duty to him. Why is he/would he be ok way that - what if he leaves me. These girls have been raised with nearly 0 real friends and 0 self confidence and have only been in/seen relationships where the courting couple just flatters each other but never has deep or hard conversations bc obviously God leads them to agreement on everything. So they've never seen that you can differ in opinions/not want the same things at the same time and it doesn't mean that anything is wrong. In some part of her brain she's got to be thinking -- glad I don't have to scream through childbirth in the bedroom with no doctors or pain relief, good luck to my sisters on that -- but why oh why do my sisters husbands want babies with them and mine doesn't with me!?

Wow. How sad. They married at the end of May, so assuming they waited 3 months to announce, it's a honeymoon baby. Well guess at 19 and 23 (24?) they've experienced all the life they need to experience. I mean life should be about pushing out 10 lb babies with no medical care and changing diapers 24-7. And Austin will be fine -- I mean his dad made him flip 5 (or 6 or 10 - can't remember now) houses to get himself ready for the next stage of life. And he flipped houses like a fiend bc as his groomsman said at the wedding, all Austin wants in life is marriage and raising Christian babies. So the fact that he got a girl to marry him and got it up on his honeymoon means life is now accomplished. Hope he stays content with his life choices unlike say Derick and Bin who can't even feign happiness despite their gushing 2 yrs prior that this is also the only thing they wanted in life.

Why does he need $6500 for missions opportunities he'll have in Northwest Arkansas this yr? Don't they live in NWA? So like normal people he could drive up to wherever there is preaching going on or a school being painted or whatever it is he does and then drive back at night. $6500 covers what then - gas and lunch money on the site?

I'm not defending Jerick bc I can't stand them -- but coming from a family where many members are of an orthodox, old school faith -- annoyingly I know people like Jerick whose #1 concern in raising their kid is about morality and faith starting when the kid turns about 18 months. So they lecture about lying. They'll be out in public reciting scripture to a kid -- who has no idea what is going on and just thought it would be funny to say no repeatedly or saying "I love you" to "manipulate" you into an extra cookie or whatever. They are SO fearful of their child turning out non-religious that they view EVERYTHING their kid does as a sign that the kid is not going to be faithful and then punishing/lecturing etc. They're so fearful they lose all rationality and can't recognize that a 2 yr old doesn't even understand that he's defying you -- he's not 16 . . . . So I view Jerick the same way. I don't get it or agree. My view is if you're strong enough in your faith and raise your kid in that faith, then your kid will follow it bc they will see the virtues of that faith. If you need to beat them over the head with the faith -- guess what -- they don't believe, they aren't strong in the faith, and they're only following so as not to get screamed at or disowned by you --and that's how I view Jerick. But then that's how JB raised his family -- with fear. There are a million rules bc he doesn't trust that his kids will believe in the faith enough not to hop into bed with the next guy/gal they see -- thus chaperones and no private conversations etc. None of these morons is really faithful. It's just perpetuated based on the fear of what'll happen in the family if they were bold enough to say -- I don't believe in x part or y part of what we believe so I won't abide by those things.

Was I the only one who thought the entire episode was a personal ad for Nathan? His siblings and mother exclaiming about him seemed fake after a while. Oh it's soooo impressive my brother can fly a plane, I can barely drive a car. Oh and he's made flying into a paying JOB bc he's teaching now, so fear not fundie fathers, you won't get another son in law that you need to support. And here we were all us dumb idiots sitting around in a home (where a child had previously started a fire) with no smoke detectors and then in came Nathan to save the day and install them -- you don't see initiative like that everywhere. And what a peach -- 24 yr old grown man played a rainy day game with his 7 yr old siblings and didn't even complain when he got stuck with the chore of washing dishes. Ladies - move fast, this fella won't be available forever. And as to the post above that Carlin and Josie aren't looking to marry, Evan and Kelvin (Keilien?) are just first boyfriends and they're just enjoying doodling their boyfriends last names. Yeah that's how it should be -- an 8th grade style crush. Except even though the Bates aren't as crazy as the Duggars, a first crush IS expected to turn into a husband in the next 12-18months absent some irreconcilable differences and I'm not sure what those would even be for a Bates girl. I suppose someone could pull an Ashley (Nathan's ex) -- I love you but can't leave NYC to live in Rocky Top for you, sorry. But given Kelly's absolute desperation to get the girls married (i.e. her begging Bobby and Brandon to marry Tori and Michaela asap, forget school), I can imagine if she was sensing that one of her daughters was having a decent get to know you but was going to break it off pre courtship bc she'd have to move to Nashville or even another state to marry the guy, I'm fairly sure Kelly would cajole them into thinking a move was no big deal and no reason to break up, all while cajoling the beau to see the error of his ways and realize that Rocky Top is where the Lord wants him to build a home.

Josie may be on the Alyssa track -- getting to know you until age 18; courtship for a yr, engaged before turning 19; married at 19. And if she's anything like Alyssa, she'll have no problem dropping out of school/doing online school so she can marry ASAP. Even at Bobby's house, Kelly was going on about how much she'd missed Josie and how she must've been so busy with online classes and they needed to catch up -- as Josie kept looking at Kelton saying -- yeah we need to catch up [about how soon I can marry, Mom]. Didn't quite understand that -- surely she hasn't been spending the summer at Bobby's -- she probably came down with Tori a few days or maybe a week before graduation likely so she could spend time with Kelton. How much could mother and daughter possibly need to catch up on?? Unless Kelly really wants to grill her on -- he's the one, right?! The Bates aren't nearly as strict as the Duggars about hugging etc. I'm not suggesting that Gil loves it -- but I think Gil/Kelly do see their 18+ yr old kids as adults and won't call them out publicly for hugging their boyfriend/girlfriend. Before Nathan and Ashley were even courting, she was in Tenn. and he was hugging her; at one point he was pointing out the view and his body was practically on hers as he reached across her chest to point to something. We've also seen Evan and Carlin hugging front to front and even cheek to cheek at something that was a family function - not off in a separate room like Bobby and Tori were.

These Bates girls are marrying like it's going out of style. I'm sensing a real -- I'm 18, need to grab me a fundie man before the good ones are taken bc I don't want to be like Chad's sister or Jana Bates -- complex. Tori is desperate to marry Bobby, as is her family who keeps going on about how it's SOOO much longer until she graduates that why wait, she can just marry now and graduate later. Kelly wasn't even subtle in saying to Bobby -- now that you've graduated, when are you proposing. They need to relax -- she's only one year behind him in school. She's demanded that he propose this October - bc they met in Oct 2015, started courting in Oct 2016. So he'll propose Oct 2017 and they can marry the weekend after her graduation in May 2018 -- 7 months is a long time for fundies to plan weddings, but they'll survive. And now 18 yr old Josie is courting (getting to know you/whatever they're calling it)? At least he got a finance degree at Christian college and more importantly according to his LinkedIn has been a licensed plumber for the last 3 yrs. He said on the show that post graduation, he goes back to being a plumber at his uncle's business in Tenn. but now will be spending more time in the office/managing the books too. Great. Load of Gil's mind bc he's a tradesmen -- at least he'll be able to provide like John. If I was Gil I'd be sweating more over Bobby and Evan -- both "ministry" types with Bobby working for Gil's "church" and who knows what Evan will do -- sing at the church?? Looks like Gil will have to be inventing jobs for those sons in law, whereas Chad, John, and Kelton as well as his one married son Zach won't have to financially rely on him.

What dinner was that? Any pics? I do think she looks bigger in that pic with Jer's mom. But honestly I think most people look bigger after they're married -- prob bc so many people diet before their weddings and in Jinger's case she was competing with 19 siblings for food.

No one from OSU or WMT is going to come out and talk about Derick. He graduated OSU what 4-5 yrs ago now? I'm betting his classmates and dorm mates have long forgotten him bc he was average Joe studying accounting and blending in with the rest. It's very clear that his crazy preaching about faith etc. came out after he hooked up with the Duggar family and realized that if they can make a living thru ministry and TV, so can he. Plus even if he had expressed these views in college -- we're talking a big state U in the Bible belt. By no means was he the only guy who thought his faith was the only one and everyone else is going to hell; nor was he the only guy opposing abortion, LGBT rights etc. These things aren't uncommon in the bible belt schools even now. As for WMT -- he was a junior level staff accountant, presumably working with colleagues who were also junior level staff accountants aged 22-30. Difference is -- none of his ex coworkers have TV money paying their bills. They are likely trying to build a long career with the biggest Fortune 500 company in the area bc they need to pay down student loans, save for down payments, pay for weddings etc.; neither TLC nor their eventual fathers in law will take care of it for them. So they are unlikely to jeopardize their futures with a huge company by talking trash about a former colleague who they knew for 3 min bc they are at will employees who don't want to risk running afoul of some obscure HR policy or just pissing off WMT generally by linking the company with Derick Dillard in the media. The only way anyone will do it is if they have such a huge scoop that National Enquirer or People or someone would pay them 500k -- then they'd risk their job bc of the huge payout. I'm fairly sure that telling the tabloids that he was an ok guy who took time off constantly in the 1 yr he worked there and whose clingy wife was always in the parking lot and cafeteria and then he just up and quit and apparently lives in Central American now -- is not the kind of thing that garners the kind of payday that you risk your job over.

Honestly his views are shared by a LOT of people -- many/most religious conservatives that I know; I'm betting all fundies; and certainly every one of his siblings-inlaw/inlaws etc. And while he's picking on a "child" -- that child is 16, not 6 and has put themselves on TV for this issue and is saying themselves that cyber bullying is common for this issue. This is nowhere near as big a deal as molestation or cheating on your wife; it is the expression of an opinion that many agree with (and many don't). I am guessing Jessa/Ben and even Jinger/Jer (bc they ARE relying on the money -- see the new house) are worried not about what he said but about whether there will be enough reaction to drop the show altogether bc if they get dropped again, they aren't coming back even sans Derick/Jill. But since it's an opinion held by many -- if it looks like they're getting dropped, one of the more media savvy siblings can come out supporting Derick, talking about how they are being persecuted for their religious views etc. to keep this in the news and use the spotlight to negotiate for a show with UPTV, Christian Broadcasting or one of the other Christian stations on cable who would LOVE to have them. I'm not thinking TLC's contracts are so air tight as to keep the Duggars off TV forever -- I mean TLC couldn't get it done after molestation . . . .

What was Jeremy's rant? Didn't see the last few episodes so I'm curious.

Man Samuel is an unfortunate looking kid. Don't know or care if it's Jessa or Spurgeon or what but those lips on a boy!? Hopefully he's in that stage where lots of babies just aren't cute yet and he grows out of it.