Vaysh

I wonder if the fact that Muffy isn't pregnant yet has something to do with her slip of "my" room in an earlier episode. Maybe they are actually sane enough to follow doctor's orders about no immediate pregnancy after a c-section. Or at least Derrick is. And maybe having separate rooms and abstaining from sex is their choice of contraception. If so there must be quite a war of ideologies here: always joyfully available to create an army for the lord vs. all contraception is evil vs. you actually want your child to grow up with a living mother.

I don't understand why he is bragging about his special snowflake covenant marriage to Catholics. Like, doesn't the Church already have that and just call it "Marriage"?

So Jeremiah is back from Alert? Or was it the other twin that went?

From what we've seen on the show the boys don't even have sheets.

The original rumour from way back when was about touching while the girl was asleep which would fit Josh's MO to a tee, but who knows. Could just be girl/boyfriend stuff that got mixed up with the molestation rumours.

I really don't think Jinger could be considered "big boned" by anyone's standards, not even Hollywood's. Girl is getting scary thin. She's starting to get that lollipop head look that was so in in the mid 00's.

This comment by dischuch was interesting: Since they dont allow editing and you cant even see what you write let me try this again without typos I reported this two years ago long before the whole mess came to light. It was senator jim holts daughter. If you watch the videos pf the duggars all boohoohooing about the whole affair you will hear the repeated lies. First jim bob and michelle say they got him help all those years ago. Then jill and jessa say he was finally getting help for the first time. Then when Josh returned from rehab they said. He made his first attempt at rehab. Its like they think no one will remember what they said. Its crazy. This is a rumour that's been floating around for about as long as the molestation rumours. And for a good long while this is what the "sin in the camp" was believed to be about. It was a rumour "debunked" at about the same time as the molestation rumours were as well and was never really resurrected but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was true. I do find it a bit ridiculous that InTouch plays into the idea that a grown woman leaving her childhood home is an act of rebellion, but it does give a hint that this other family is as patriarchal as the Duggars.

What got to me was that the pastured poultry was specifically Amish pastured poultry because now I've got this image in my head of a bunch of ducks walking around in little hats and beards, refusing to be butchered by any modern means. Does poultry taste better if it was raised Amish? That said, count me in among those who don't have a problem believing that the Duggars would be confused by this menu. I remember when they went to England and had a meal in a traditional English restaurant/pub and they were so very confused by the food and drink. Which was just stupid because 1) British food isn't all that exotic to begin with and 2) hello, you are homeschoolers going on a world trip, why haven't you discussed beforehand what people eat in the countries you'll be visiting?!

They do have a live-in tutor/nanny, I'm sure she was picking up the slack. Wouldn't surprise me if they brought in a few fundie friends as well, isn't that what unmarried fundie girls are for?

"your man, Ben" *draws tiny little hearts around flowery curlicue purple prose* Mmmkay. (I normally try to avoid gender stereotyping and using words like girly or effeminate in a negative sense because it's kind of misogynist and just factually wrong because girls are awesome, but BIN IS WRITING LIKE A NINE-YEAR OLD GIRL and no offense to nine-year old girls but unless you are one yourself why would you find this attractive or bragworthy? I'd have been be curled up in a ball of laughing embarrassment if my boyfriend had written something like this to me, not posting it online).

Yes I agree. It really would be so much more neat and orderly if history could just be consistent and stick to one thing instead of confusing us with all these exceptions and local irregularities throughout the centuries. ;P I would love to be a fly on the wall whenever Jim Bob explains to his adult kids how really, it's his money, not theirs despite it being them doing the work. I guess it is made easier by him being their employer as well as parent and landlord. And minister. And marriage counsellor... Ugh, seriously is there any part of their lives where Jim Boob hasn't firmly placed himself as a figure of authority?

Evil liberal pinko commies, atheists who worship Satan, Catholics who worship statues, uppity wimmenfolk, godless scientists, abortionistas, teh gays and uh.. I don't know, anyone not exactly like themselves?

Ehem. *dons history minor hat* Depending of course on where you lived, in what century and to what social class you belonged, early marriage wasn't all that common in the past, at least in the Western world*. Unless you were very rich (or truly dirt poor without any hope of social advancement) you would most likely marry in your early to mid-twenties if you were a woman and your mid- to late twenties if you were a man. The reason being that unless you had rich parents who could pay for a home, furniture, linen and so on, and support you until you became self-sufficient enough to provide for a family (by career advancement or finishing an apprenticeship for example) you would need some time to save up for those things yourself. I actually just read an article mentioning how bank employees in the 19th century could be fired from their jobs if they married too early in their careers, because it was thought that someone so irresponsible as to start their own household before making a certain wage would be far too irresponsible to work in a bank. I think I've made this point before, but fundies (Duggars included) seem to want to live in an idealised golden oldie world that never truly existed except for a privileged few. Working class sons and daughters didn't live at home until marriage, they went out and got a job or apprenticeship for several years, often moving away from home. As did middle class sons and quite a few middle class daughters. *doffs hat* *see Western European Marriage Pattern

I remember an old episode when everyone was so surprised that Hannie could read because no one had taught her, she had to teach herself. And I was just baffled because how can you not know that your child can read? And if you have a child that is old enough to teach herself to read, shouldn't you as a homeschooling parent already be actively teaching her?

Whoever did the photoshopping on those pictures ought to be fired, they managed to make even tiny Jinger look dumpy and she's like 90 pounds soaking wet. Is it the angle?

I have to admit I'm a bit confused about the point of using cake mix. They're not very common around here so I always thought it was something you... I don't know, added water and stirred or something. But if you have to whisk in both eggs and oil to the mix, why just not bake a cake from scratch? Cake mix: mix powder, eggs, oil Cake: flour, eggs, sugar, butter, baking powder (+ whatever flavouring you want) Wouldn't those two extra ingredients be worth it for better taste and less preservatives?

I'm not sure I see what the big deal is about this picture or why it makes Jill a slattern. They are clearly in the middle of decorating for Izzies birthday; what are they supposed to do, put the tape and balloons back in a drawer rather than on the counter every second their hands aren't touching them? As for the rest: I see normal counter stuff: coffee maker, knife block, a scented candle, a couple of decorative items, dishes drying, bread? And the floor looks clean.

But the Willis family still have proper advertisers, right? I always thought that programming was more dependent on how many advertisers were willing to pay for a commercial spot on a show and how much, rather than the actual number of viewers. I mean, they correlate of course; more viewers usually mean more interested advertisers but in this case we've got companies fleeing and publically stating they DO NOT WANT ad spots on any Duggar shows. Will viewership numbers matter at all if TLC can't get companies to pony up?

As unbelievable as it may sound, Sierra is in her mid-twenties. Still a strange friend for an immature 18-year old, but it's not as if Joy has that many people to choose from and Sierra is probably glomping on to any Duggar she can get her Oreo-sticky little mitts on.

Do they have communion? I've never really thought about this, but if they home church how would that even work? Does someone just bake some wafers and Boob hands them out along with the grape juice?

Well said Oh Margeaux, those are my exact sentiments.

IIRC, when Jana and Jessa were kids they shared a bunkbed with Jana in the top bunk. Jessa was being a little shit and kept kicking at Jana's bunk at bedtime and refusing to stop. Jana made the mistake of asking Mechelle to step in and make Jessa stop acting like a brat, which she did. Sort of. However, instead of telling Jessa off, Mechelle told Jana to give her annoying sister her most prized possession which was her jewelery box. So basically Jana was punished for asking for help and Jessa rewarded for being a bully. I'm guessing this was Mechelle's twisted way of making sure Jana was turning the other cheek or some other Jesus-y thing and she probably felt very proud of herself for instilling such great Christian values in Jana. Jana on the other hand couldn't even talk about the incident without crying, even as an adult years and years later. And Jessa is still a selfish bullying bitch. But that's ok because Jesus.

So now there are two blind items hinting at a Duggar in-law cheating, both coming from crazydaysandnights . How reliable is this gossip site? I keep hearing different opinions; some say it's no more reliable than your average tabloid, others say it has revealed some incredibly juicy stories that did turn out to be perfectly true. Does anyone know the ratio of true/false blind items from the site?

I just don't see why anyone having an on-going affair with a married person would run around blabbing about it. Isn't that something you'd want to keep mum about, at least during the affair? Especially if you belong to the same church.

I don't believe the show was cancelled because the girls were molested; it was cancelled because Josh (a prominent cast member) molested girls and his parents covered it up while pretending to be this wholesome, moral Christian family. Semantics perhaps but important ones. If the girls had been molested by a stranger or someone not a family member appearing on the show, the show would not have been cancelled. I'm actually quite conflicted about this. On one hand I agree with you that knee-jerk reactions are never a good thing and can lead to all sorts of bad decisions; on the other hand I am a big fan of consumers voting with their feet because it is basically the only way citizens have any say over what these very powerful companies do. In this particular case I'm not sure I would call it a knee-jerk reaction though. The scandals are almost a year old by now and if the advertisers are still pulling out, I'm thinking it's more of a calculated plan based on a year's worth of negative public reactions. They have literally nothing to gain by being connected to the Duggars. The Duggars appear to elicit almost universally negative reactions right now so any brand connected to them risks getting tainted.