[Requesting help to change titles for locked threads.]

On 3/4/2024 at 10:09 AM, Dr Spengler said:

I started a new Josh and Anna topic. I think somebody can start new topics for the other ones, where we take a step back and think about how going forward we can be mindful of being respectful, kind and inclusive.  I suggest putting in the same link I included in the Josh and Anna topic, so that everybody can get up to speed.

I'm confused by what's going on here. The notice said that the issue was people being unkind and disrespectful of each other, but locking down the threads and changing the names suggest that the issue is people being unkind and disrespectful to the Duggars. Can anyone clarify this for me?

[The Other Duggars: The Lost Girls and Amy]

On 1/20/2024 at 4:00 PM, floridamom said:

....peed in the floor on accident? What a mess of a post. 

Yeah, and he "hid candy in the shower." Why does this tiny kid have access to candy to hide in the shower? Why was he running around unsupervised so that he could "accidentally" pee on the floor and Amy would slip on it later?

She seems to thing (like Jessa) that all these examples of her terrible parenting are just normal -- kids, right? -- moments, when they're so awful. At least she only has one . . .

[JD and Abbie: Captured Before the Rapture]

On 11/27/2023 at 2:41 PM, YupItsMe said:

Cute kids. Happy family with smiles that reach their eyes.

I think that they're the "cutest" of the kids because their smiles reach their eyes.

 

[The Lonely Js Club: Jana, Jason, James, Jackson & Johannah]

On 1/3/2024 at 2:48 PM, quarks said:

I didn't watch the reel, but someone on Reddit posted this picture, reportedly from James' Instagram:

 

To be completely honest I can't identify anyone in this picture, but people on Reddit seem to think that Josiah is in it?

It's nice that this crew of unemployed assholes can take some "time off" for a trip to the beach.

[Jill, Derick & the Kids: Moving On!!]

40 minutes ago, Meow Mix said:

As much as I can't stand Derick for purposely misgendering Jazz (among other things) I want to correct the assumption that he got fired.  The book is very clear that they told the producers sometime in the spring of 2017 that they no longer wanted to do the show and would not be signing up for any more of it.  Joy was married in May of 2017 and Jill was visible as her matron of honor.  Derick's first offensive tweet came out in August of that year when TLC was advertising the latest season of I Am Jazz.  TLC at that time put out a wimpy statement that Derick's opinions were his own, but nothing more.  Then he doubled down in November including the purposeful misgendering and also picked on Nate and Jeremiah.  At that point TLC made it public that he was no longer associated with the show.

According to Jill, producers had recorded an exit interview with them that was supposed to air at some point, but I'll bet Derick's tweets put an end to that.

The whole "Derick was fired" narrative was based on the idea that TLC does anything to protect their "talent." There is simply no indication that they do that at all -- just the opposite.

The entirety of the TLC line up is what would have been called a "freak show" in days gone by. Some of them may get a more sympathetic edit than others, but TLC is no friend to anyone. Jazz was 100% being used by TLC and, as they've shown in the past, they never cared that she's was child.

[Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House]

9 hours ago, CalicoKitty said:

That filthy towel hanging on the door doesn't add anything to the picture.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  If she thinks a mountain of dirty diapers on the dresser is a great thing to post, I'm guessing laundry is not a priority, either.  She probably burnt on laundry years ago.  That whole house must be filthy.

It really is filthy, too. She's just so oblivious to it all. It's not beyond the realm of comprehension that I might have a filthy towel somewhere in my house. If I was going to take a picture, though, I'd stash it somewhere. If I had taken a picture of myself and noticed later that there was some filthy towel in the frame, I'd take another picture and not post that one to SM. 

[Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House]

52 minutes ago, Zella said:

If The Sun is to be believed, all Duggar boys who aren't Josh are named Jed!. 😂

In all honesty, I'm surprised they aren't all named after JB like George Foreman's kids: Jim Bob Jr., JB, JR, Jimmy, Bobby, Jamie, Robbie, Bertie, James and Robert.

[JD and Abbie: Captured Before the Rapture]

20 minutes ago, AstridM said:

But didn’t Jana once train as a doula?

I think she did for a very short time. I still think it's possible (probable?) that Joy doesn't know the difference between a nurse and a doula. The family really doesn't value education and I can see her being unable to understand the difference between "taking a class" and "getting a certification" and "getting a degree." I also don't think she really understands or cares about different areas of expertise.

[JD and Abbie: Captured Before the Rapture]

2 hours ago, AstridM said:

Joy doesn’t know the difference between a doula and a nurse?

Probably not.

I think that even those of us who actually spend time thinking about them and the poor education they received would be surprised by how many really common, ordinary things they haven't seen and don't understand.

[Jill, Derick & the Kids: Moving On!!]

On 10/5/2023 at 6:07 PM, AgathaC said:

Or if you’ve been trained to rely on it and never encouraged to be independent. There’s money in my family and my husband’s family, but we were both raised to work hard and support ourselves without counting on inheritance. Our retirement plan doesn’t include anything we might inherit so if we do get anything, it’ll just be a nice bonus. You never know what will happen to that family money you’re depending on. For instance, thousands upon thousands being thrown into the black hole that is your brother’s defense fund. On the other hand, I know a teen who’s being brought up in an environment of endless indulgence and not a lot of responsibility. He’s going to have a rude awakening when he realizes all those gifts his grandparents lavished on him were his inheritance and maybe he should have studied in school instead of constantly flirting with flunking out.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if they have no idea what reality will look like. I may very well be wrong, but it’s always seemed to me they’re trained to rely on ol’ Jim Boob. Do they really know what money there is? How to manage it? How to prop up their shady businesses? Maybe he has trained the boys in how to follow in his footsteps. But it all has the potential to crumble into a full-on shit show when JB and Meech shuffle on out.

This is my feeling, too. They have no concept of money: earning a salary, paying bills, taxes, saving, etc.

I'm pretty sure that most of them (all the sons, and Jessa and Ben) have a place to live, and a car to drive, and phone service through Duggar Enterprises. They get pocket money, and some additional perks (trips, etc.) doled out in drips and drabs by JB. 

I don't think any of them could conceptualize what an inheritance would really look like, and I think JB keeps very ight control over the reality of the books. I doubt any of them really knows anything about his web of financial shenanigans.

[Jill, Derick & the Kids: Moving On!!]

1 hour ago, lianau said:

I've  just seen Derick described as a slightly nicer version of JB and I think  it really pointed out my problems with the  current Jill and Derick dynamic . How much of this is Jill driving it  and how much of it  is Derick trying to get one over JB , knowing that Free Jinger  Jill is a thing and would get him support? The guy went to law school just to one up his wife's father and most of his beef seems to be centered around money, not religious teachings.  He's on the book cover , sitting in interviews of what's supposed to be Jill's story. I just  hope Jill isn't exchanging one  personal cult leader for another one. 

I think it's a stretch to say that Derick went to law school to one-up JB, but I know nothing of his motivations, so this could be the case.

Personally, I think that Derick was a vulnerable young man who was looking for purpose and meaning in his life when he met JB (that's what cults are looking for, after all, is vulnerable young people who can be molded into compliant cult members).

I think that Derick got a rude awakening after he returned to the US and married Jill. He thought that the Duggars were a big, warm, loving family who devoted themselves to Jesus. Instead, he found that JB and J'chelle were completely disengaged, the children in the family were largely feral, and their "religion" was largely devoted to legalism and control and had very little to do with Jesus.

I think that they largely drifted for a couple of years, but they seem to have gotten back on track a few years ago. My guess is that there was someone in the program that Derick took part in when they returned from DA that got him straightened out. Someone was able to make him see that missionary work wasn't right for him, and got him pointed toward law school. That's just a guess, though. I do think it's a lot of work and money to spend three years in law school and take the bar twice tow own JB.

[Jill, Derick & the Kids: Moving On!!]

On 9/29/2023 at 10:50 AM, crazy8s said:

JB wanted the kids uneducated and dependent on the headship and always to work only toward JB's desire to make money.

I think that this is the most important point. If JB and J'chelle had valued education, they would have found a way to make it happen -- with or without the show. they don't, and it shows.

JB doesn't want his kids to know things he doesn't know, and he absolutely doesn't want them to have employment opportunities outside of his "Umbrella of Authority."

I don't think J'chelle cares, or thinks about it at all. She's told us over and over that she likes babies and "doesn't have a heart for children," and I believe her.

I think Derick's assessment of seventh grade is generous.

[Joy and Austin: This One Time At Family Camp]

On 9/16/2023 at 8:20 AM, BetyBee said:

Sounds like they definitely wanted their new son to have a weapons related name...for some reason!

I think that as time goes on, there will be more an more fractures among the kidults, and I wonder if guns/weapons will be one of them.

I don't think that Derick, Ben, and Jeremy are interested in guns. Josiah is the only one of the Duggar males who I can think of who might not be interested in guns -- maybe Joe? I don't know that they have any real aversion, but as parents of young children they might.

[Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events]

23 hours ago, Zella said:

I understand all the perfectly logical reasons people give for having some sympathy for Anna, but I really don't give a shit. She sat through that trial and heard all that evidence and still somehow concluded her husband was the victim and not those poor children who were victimized in the filth he downloaded. She can go fuck off as far as I'm concerned. 

I don't have any sympathy for her, but I feel like I should.

She was raised in a bizarro-world where right is wrong and up is down. Thinking for yourself is bad and wrong. Reading and learning have to be closely monitored and are completely unacceptable outside of a small set of approved material.  Art, music. literature, and science are evil and must be avoided at all costs.

In her world, she has absolutely no value except as Josh's wife. Her children are supposed to be secondary to caring for her husband. He is everything and without him, she's really, literally, nothing. I think she 100% believes that "the government" hates Christians and is actively out to persecute good people. I think that she 100% believes that "the government" would make up all sorts of "evidence" that they would use in their persecution of Jesus-loving Josh.

I don't think Anna is very smart (and, hey, she's smarter than Priscilla! is a low bar), and she has had much less exposure to the outside world than her in-laws. so I'm not convinced by the "she's an adult and she should know" arguments.

All that being said, I just find her completely unsympathetic. I find her really unpleasant as a person. I find her voice cloying and unpleasant; her "countenance" is pinched and smug. She never comes across as being simply nice, or pleasant, or helpful -- she just seems like someone who is making a show of being "good."

 

[Jed! and Katey: Biblically Bunking Together]

57 minutes ago, AstridM said:

IDK, I’ve been self employed in the past and made only 10-15K a year and still owed self employment taxes. But while I took all the deductions I could, I didn’t have a fancy accountant to help me scam out of all of it 

Obviously, I have no way of knowing, and I'm not an accountant, but the way I think this works is that all of these LLCs funnel all of their profits to Duggar Enterprises, and any taxes are paid by that entity.

Most of the sons live on property owned by some version of Duggar Enterprises in some sort of trailer, or little rehabbed house, so there is no rent or mortgage payment. I think that they all drive cars owned and insured by Duggar Enterprises and are probably all on some sort of shared phone plan. I think JB gives them all some sort of allowance for food and clothes depending on their level of obedience and the number of "blessings" they have produced. I don't think that any of them have health insurance (which may be why Abbie is working -- she may want it, and a job will allow her to get it).

Again, this is all 100% speculation on my part based on what we have seen of their living arrangements, and JB's "philosophy" and his personality.

[The Duggalos: Jinger and the Holy Goalie]

I don't know if he'd cheat on her -- cheating would require him finding a willing partner. Where would he meet such a person, and what would he have to offer?

He runs in all-male circles. There are no women in the MacArthur seminary or in his Bible-study group, etc. He's not particularly good looking, and he's not particularly charming or agreeable. He doesn't present as someone who shows interest in the things women have to say, or the ideas they might share. He has no financial resources, and I could be very wrong, but I think his plan to coast along in MacArthur's shadow indefinitely isn't really a long-term strategy for a successful career.

Jinger's still young, thin, and attractive. I'm sure he gets positive feedback from other men about how attractive she is (that's all that matters, right?).

 

[Jed! and Katey: Biblically Bunking Together]

On 5/28/2023 at 8:22 PM, quarks said:

(nods)

I get all this - and I read what you posted above. But, and I say this with genuine respect, since I completely understand how frustrating/wrong this whole tax-write off sounds: I think you and that post are asking/answering the wrong tax question.

Yes, Jed! isn't a travel blogger, or claiming to be one. But he's also not producing a travel blog - he's producing a video, aka a short film. So this wouldn't be a write-off for expenses incurred as an influencer, but for expenses incurred from producing a short film. He is legally allowed to expense the costs of producing/creating that video/film as long as that video/film earned income for himself or a business that he owns.

So the questions are:

1. Did the video make taxable income for Jed!  (Given the 61K following, yes.)

2. Did Jed! have to travel to make that video?  (Since he doesn't live in Hawai'i, yes.)

3. Did Jed! participate in activities that earned taxable income during this vacation?  (Again, since he filmed a video that currently has 42K views on YouTube, yes.)

So they wouldn't be writing off vacation travel expenses. They would be writing off travel expenses incurred as a result of producing a video that earned reportable taxable income from YouTube - the same way a singer/songwriter who headed to Hawai'i to film/record a song to put up on YouTube for taxable income could, or, for that matter, the same way Universal did - on a much larger scale - when they headed to Hawai'i to film Jurassic Park. 

It's a subtle difference, but a very real one. 

I do think that the IRS might ask a few questions if Jed! constantly reports the YouTube income as a loss, but as long as he reports some sort of income/profit, I think he'll be fine. Especially since any tax savings wouldn't cover the cost of these trips - just make them more affordable.

YMMV, but I 100% think that none of the Duggars pays income taxes. Jill and Jinger may because Derick and RFP may not be in the habit of avoiding taxes, and they may make enough money on SM to be taxable.

All of the Duggar sons have LLCs, and I'm sure that they have an accountant who pays any taxes on those, but my guess is that if they draw any "salary" at all from those companies, it's all very small. If their SM income is taxable, the total that they are earning is not -- I doubt they earn more than 10K per year from SM, and I doubt that they pay any taxes on that income.

 

[Michelle and JimBob aka J'Chelle and Boob]

23 hours ago, Zella said:

How about Hilaria as creepy text message writer?

Disclaimer: I don't actually think she wrote it, but I could see someone in their circle like her deciding to compose such a missive. 

I don't think it was a woman, and if it was a woman, she was regurgitating something she had been told. This sort of "logic" as it pertains to scripture is 100% the province of men in their world.

[Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House]

37 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

So they've already baptized him?  I thought the IFB folks didn't do baptisms under like 12. Spurge is 7. 

I'm sure it's because Spurgeon is "so advanced for his age."

[Jill, Derick & the Kids: Moving On!!]

7 hours ago, Zella said:

My impression is that the additional comments clarify she's not saying public school automatically leads to brainwashing. Or that essentially as a parent you have the ability to counteract any potential brainwashing. 

That being said, I really do believe that Izzy has been pulled from public school and that they're homeschooling now. If so, I think the reasoning for why is laced in that language about discernment. 

I didn't read this as having anything to do with home schooling. I thought she was talking about Gothardism and IBLP.

[Michelle and JimBob aka J'Chelle and Boob]

They've set up at least one house on the property, and they're out in the country and probably not on city sewer lines, so they probably have some experience either installing septic tanks or composting toilets.

I think they're a lot less rigid than they were even a few years ago, but unless Laura is still living there, I can't see them allowing Jana to live outside of the TTH -- with a television no less.

[Jill, Derick & the Kids: Moving On!!]

On 5/31/2023 at 7:03 AM, GeeGolly said:

This blurb implies the book is about Jill and Derick.

"For as long as they could, Jill and Derick tried to be obedient family members—they weren’t willing to rock the boat. But now they’re raising a family of their own, and they’re done with the secrets. Thanks to time, tears, therapy, and blessings from God, they have the strength to share their journey. Theirs is a remarkable story of the power of the truth and is a moving example of how to find healing through honesty."

Whatever the book is, I hope all this brings Jill to a happier place, but for some reason I have a nagging feeling it won't.

I think the book is about the money. That was the focus of their interviews in the special. "We were tricked into signing contracts." "The older kids were offered a payout of they signed new contracts." "We were in El Salvadore and they knew we were in El Salvadore, and we were forced to come back and film."

This is what Derick's cryptic nonsense has been about for years, and it seems like Jill is very much on board with this. 

In all three episodes of SHP, this is what they talk about. They don't talk about the parentification of the older girls. They don't talk about the social isolation and the emotional and physical abuse. Jill doesn't mention her own lack of education. She offers no insight into creepy Gothard behavior, and there was no trash talking of ATI, JTTH, ALERT, etc.

I hope that someone writes the scorched Earth book about blanket training, beatings, lack of ducation, parentification of the older girls, etc., but I don't think that person will be Jill (and Derick!).

[The Duggalos: Jinger and the Holy Goalie]

On 4/7/2023 at 10:17 AM, zenme said:

They all appear slovenly. All. I realize no one has control over what they are born with, but proper grooming  goes a long way. Say what you will about the Bates girls, but they all attempt to pull themselves together. The Duggar adult women have opted to be public personalities of sorts, so unfortunately, grooming, etc is part of what’s getting put out there. They know the game by now.

I agree with this 100%. The all always look just one step above "just got out of bed." I also think they look dirty because they probably are dirty. They grew up bathing very rarely (once or twice a week?) and never wearing clothes that actually fit.

That having been said, they simply take awful pictures. In part, that's because the purpose of every photo is to demonstrate JUST HOW VERY MANY OF THEM THERE ARE.

There is simply no reason for them all to be spread out in a long line; and there is no reason to show each of them from the tips of their toes, to the tops of their heads. A shot of them grouped together more tightly, and just showcasing their "countenances" would be much more flattering.

[Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events]

26 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I was thinking they would let the inmates with lower level infractions out first.

Perhaps they did? 

He was in for quite a while, wasn't he? I was kind of surprised by that. I thought being put in the "hole" was an extremem sort of punishment for 1-2 days -- of course my knowledge of this comes from movies where the "hole" was an actual, literal, hole, so I'm just guessing.

Perhaps they have some sort of formula where in the case of overcrowding, everyone serves 80% of their time instead of  something over-complicated like serious offenses serve 100% of their time and lesser offenses get 60%.

[Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events]

7 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Who all is in this jail and what rules are they breaking? If the FF's infraction was up there as one of the worst why would he be let out of "the hole" early?

It's my understanding that it was "overcrowding" which I find believable.