Vaysh

This is such a weird attitude. What "reality" is it the leadership is out of touch with according to Dillweed? I was briefly a scout as a wee lass in the 80's and it wasn't gender segregated even back then (wikipedia tells me girl and boy scouts were joined up in 1968) and I can't imagine that anything we did would be particularly more or less suited for boys or girls. Actually we mostly sat around in a basement learning how to tie knots and that's why I quit because it was boring as fuck. The older kids (both genders) got to do more advanced stuff though, like outdoor survival, trekking and, I shit you not, building a full sized ferris wheel out of trees. Maybe Dillweed feels that ferris wheel building is unbecoming for proper ladies or something.

Is this the Duggar version of a Chinese stir-fry? Because it sounds a bit like what stir-fry would be like if you removed most of the vegetables and all of the flavours except soy. I wonder if Jill knows what ginger actually is, aside from her sister.

My wishful thinking is that Jessa and Ben took a good hard look at Jinger and her first year of childless newlywed bliss and had a quiet word with pastor Jeremy as to how prevent pregnancy in a way that wouldn't contradict their Christian beliefs. If one Duggar daughter could move away from the Quiverfull lifestyle I don't see why another couldn't be open to it as well, especially since those two were BFF's throughout their childhoods. I don't think Bin is on board with having a gazillion children either. Most Christians don't have issue with preventing pregnancy even if they're against abortion so I could see Jessa being convinced, if only to be able to keep her figure somewhat intact throughout her twenties at least. If that is what she's doing then making a post about her shrinking post partum pooch makes sense; she's not planning on getting pregnant anytime soon and she wants some validation for that choice.

Jaysus, that man is looking angry nowadays. Thinned lips, hard eyes, tense, vaguely insane smile and now the passive aggressive bird-flipping because he can't just tell people to fuck off properly, he has to be all sneaky clever about it (in his own mind at least). He looks genuinely mean. There's been such a change in his whole demeanour from when we first saw him; he essentially went from mild mannered doofus to crazed fanatic in the course of a few years. I feel truly sorry for anyone who has to share a living space with this guy.

He's a happy looking little frog. His mouth will look better when the teeth comes in, I'm sure.

No? In the last few pictures I saw of him he looked decidedly bigger than he used to. Perhaps it was just the badly fitted suit.

Both Smuggar and Joseph bloated once out of the TTH, I'm guessing because food restrictions went out the window and they could eat whatever and how much they wanted (Josh is clearly eating his feelings at this point). As did Joy though pregnancy probably contributed to her weight gain. Jill, Jessa and Jinger have stayed slim aside from some pregnancy pounds but I'm guessing they've always had a lot of pressure on them to be thin because of Gothard and his creepy creepy controlling instructions on how women should look. JD is overweight as well which IMO supports the theory that he's got a pad of his own these days. Boob is definitely overweight, sometimes more so, but he's the lord of the manor and can demand cooked meals at any time, including during his wife's labour so that's not surprising.

I think google must be wrong; if you look at old family photos, Josh is about the same height as Jim Bob, maybe an inch or so shorter. ETA: whoops, sorry nevermind. I missed a page of comments about this.

It might have something to do with their authoritarian fundamentalist culture. If, like Jill, these people were brought up in an environment of instant obedience and strict hierarchies disobeying Venessa's instructions might feel difficult or even impossible, especially in a stressful situation like this when a lot of people tend to revert back to what they know. I don't think Jill would ever question something someone in charge told her to do as long as that person belonged to her in-group. She didn't have the critical thinking skills to discard Venessa's teachings when it came to her own childbirths even when there was clearly something wrong, so I don't see her capable of doing it during another woman's labour.

IANAL but I think in this type of scenario, should it arise here, the parents could be charged as well as the midwife though they would probably be aquitted since the midwife in question would be a medical professional and thus considered an authority. Patients aren't reasonably expected to "know better" than the medical professional at hand. It is difficult to say how a scenario with only a doula present would play out. This hypothetical court case wouldn't be doula or midwife vs parents however, it wuld be doula/parents vs baby; it wouldn't matter if the parents were negligent dumbasses as well, since the baby would be considered the injured party, innocent of whatever choices the parents made.

Aren't there any kind of negligence laws in Arkansas? As in, if you cause someone physical harm and/or death by being a careless dumbass, you will be charged with a crime because you've endangered another person by your carelessness. In Sweden this includes things like leaving your stove on and causing a fire, not watching over your child at the beach/pool, careless behaviour in traffic and so on. I don't know if failure to call an ambulance during a stressful home birth would fall under this since home births are very rare around here and only done with low-risk pregnancies but I'm assuming it would, especially if the person in charge was a midwife or doula. Medical personnel, including doctors, who fail in their duty towards their patients can and do get charged with causing bodily harm/causing death, even if it wasn't intentional.

I think Bin was brought up with a very rose-coloured view of romance and marriage, very Disney old fashioned, and was acting like he thought he was supposed to do according to that rose-coloured view (hence the over the top love letters, gushing over the wonderfulness that is Jessa etc). His love letters weren't creepy imo, just very old-fashioned and cringe. Like a very sheltered fourteen year old boy copying from a Victorian "how to write a love letter to your betrothed" instruction book. I think he is (or was, Jessa might have beaten it out of him) a romantic at heart but real marriage has been quite the reality check for him and isn't even remotely what he expected it to be. However, I don't think he has any abusive tendencies at all; he seems more the type to withdraw and suffer in hurt silence. From what little I've seen of Jeremy, he seems to be more mature in this respect; there appears to be a somewhat realistic view of marriage and how it should work. I still find him an overbearing, arrogant professor Higgins wannabe oddly obessed with what other people do with their genitals, but at least he's an adult overbearing, arrogant professor Higgins wannabe oddly obessed with what other people do with their genitals.

Because paying for rubbish will leave less money for planes and related expenses?

I think she was mostly talking about romance novels on that particular occasion because apparently romance novels are for women like porn is for men (what with our delicate lady brains being naturally geared toward fantasies about Prince Charming chastely carrying us away on a white horse rather than on us making the beast with two backs with him). However, since the Duggar kids never seem to read anything other than Gothard-approved material, "all of the above" can probably be applied to their reading in general.

But that is assuming that "escaping" is something he wants to do rather than trying to improve the family situation, or that escape is what he feels is the right thing to do whatever his own desires. The older set of twins appear to be the most responsible and duty bound of anyone in this family, including the parents. Jana has always been a parental figure and JD had to step into Josh's shoes as the oldest trustworthy brother, and they both seem to take that responsibility quite seriously. I just don't see those two leaving their younger siblings to fend for themselves and I can't say I blame them for that, all things considered. I guess I just don't understand the mindset that any Duggar offspring has to either escape completely or just accept everything and shut up. Shouldn't we be happy about any sort of baby steps in questioning Jim Bob's authority instead of dismissing them outright unless they involve burnt bridges?

To be fair no one has mentioned anything about JD complaining about planes, the articles were about other things like Boob buying a truck for a "bargain" and then having to spend almost twice the amount on repairs. One doesn't have to disapprove of everything in order to find certain things wasteful and stupid to buy. If the Duggars are set up as a family company where income is shared and everyone is dependent on the success of said company then it makes sense for anyone, not just JD, to be annoyed if the patriarch decides to squander away the money on bad deals. Perhaps JD is starting to feel like he can in fact pick and choose what he wants to do and that is the reason why Jim Bob is allegedly upset, according to the article - he's losing control.

"There are things that Jim Bob does that John doesn't think are right," the source added. "Some of his real estate transactions, some of the equipment that he buys — a lot of this stuff, Jim Bob doesn't really need, but he thinks he does." This is what makes me believe that the article has at least a grain of truth to it. It's not the first time that JB's irresponsible and stupid spending habits have been pointed out by "insiders" and while those sources obviously should be taken with heaping handfuls of salt, what we know about Boob in real life sure fits the bill; the man is the epitome of penny-wise and pound foolish. We know he's a grifting cheapskate (even Michelle said, on camera, that he's so tight that he squeaks when he walks) but we also know that he spends huge amounts of money on stupid things (like political campaigns he has no chance of winning, several planes only used for schlepping his family and friends around, etc). We also know he's got hoarding tendencies (that warehouse, those kids...). He seems like the type of person who is always looking for a great deal but is too stupid to tell a good deal from a bad one. He thinks he's a great businessman while in actuality he's a second-rate and shady one who occasionally lucks out but mostly gets stuck with a warehouse full of used chairs and vehicles that cost more to repair than to buy. "Meanwhile Jim Bob hates that he's losing control over his son. "[John David] is old enough now that he can pick and choose what he wants to do, and that just kills Jim Bob," And THIS. Boob is an insecure control freak, we all know it.

I think it's part backlash from the conservative end where sex = gender, and part social media expectations where people want things to look Pinterest perfect. Most people don't reflect too closely on gender roles and just want something nice to show off and provide likes on their Instagram/Facebook and since most people are also not terribly creative they tend to copy pretty things they see on other people's social media. And if the trend on social media is traditionally gendered reveal parties, then other people will follow that trend without putting much thought or care into its implications. Of course, the Duggars add another dimension to the whole gender reveal business because to them your sex will determine your entire life course from birth to death whatever your gender is and you better start the indoctrination as soon as you possibly can.

They based an entire episode around Boob's bad breath; took him to a doctor to check for allergies and everything.

I had my suspicions; Jessa looked so much younger in the photo than how we've seen her recently, especially around the jawline. Her facial features changed from girl to grown woman sometime during her first pregnancy or right after but she looks very girlish still in this picture.

It's ok because they make sure their kisses look thoroughly unenjoyable. Just scrunch up your mouth, pout a little and then press it against a random person doing the same and you too can achieve the perfect fundie kiss guaranteed to put every one else off snogging forever. They're doing their best to promote abstinence here, what's so hard to understand?

Did she make Izzy walk the whole way? I can't see if the stroller is a twofer so he could sit as well, but if she made a three year old walk for over an hour in the hot sun that's effing insane and she should lose her parenting license. If he was able to sit and be pushed along with his brother I have no issue really; that just sounds like a regular stroll. I walk my dog for longer than that every day and most moms I know with babies and toddlers do the same. Hats would've been nice though and I'm hoping Jill had the sense to put some sunscreen on those kids.

But exactly. Food bloggers use other people's recipes all the time but they are usually very clear about it being someone else's and they spend time and effort explaining how and why they tweaked the recipe, take pictures of their own efforts, and then link back to the original recipe. This is very common and no one really minds because they're basically giving each other little click boosts that will probably be returned at some point. Jill and Derrick are being both greedy and stupid here. Not only are they stealing someone else's work without giving anything in return, they're also making sure that no one will ever link back to them because from what understand, serious food bloggers don't much like plagiarism. It's fascinating to watch how this couple always manages to fail on several levels all at once.

Lauren has a very intriguing face. It's like all her individual features are pretty but also slightly too big for her head. Lovely eyes but they cover half her face, cute nose but extra pointy, sweet smile but very big and gummy, nice jawline but with a huge dimple in her chin. It's a face that stands out. IMO her features create a pleasant whole but in a slightly odd sort of way. Perhaps it's because we only see her near the exceptionally bland Duggars that I find her so unusual looking (but in a good way).

I wonder what material Derrick's suit is made of. The fabric looks oddly stiff like slightly crumpled paper. Looks new at least.