Vaysh

Another fail of the SOTDRT. I bet if any of the Duggar kids were asked to explain what a "source" was and why it's important to credit it, they'd just give you a blank stare. From what I understand the fundie crowd is taught that things like source criticism and critical thinking skills are the work of the devil. Can't imagine why...

Not necessarily. Bulimia means binge eating followed by attempts to compensate by purging (trying to get rid of the food). This can be done by throwing it all up or heavy excercise or laxatives etc. People don't necessarily lose weight when bulimic like people with anorexia do, not to mention that even when they do lose weight they won't go from healthy to emaciated in a month. You can have a severe eating disorder for a very long time before people start to notice, if they ever do. I think I've ranted a bit about this before and I'm sorry for being tedious but there seems to be a misconception that people aren't "truly" bulimic or anorexic unless they look like a skeleton and that simply isn't true. Bulimia especially is insidious in this way because people can actually be overweight and have it (anorexia too actually; the emaciated stage is the last one). Sorry for going off on a rant, it's just a pet peeve of mine, this idea that only rail thin people can have eating disorders and everyone else is just pretending. It's perfectly possible that Michelle is lying through her teeth for attention about having bulimia because gods know that woman loves attention, but if she did binge on food and then purged it on a regular basis she does fit the criteria, whether she ended up losing weight or not. /rant And now back to our regularly scheduled snark. ;)

This is pretty hilarious in a tragic sort of way.

So assuming they didn't just pop down to the lobby in their PJ's, they would've gone to sleep at what, 10:30 at the latest? Woo Derrick, really burning the midnight oil there. And I'm also assuming they took some time getting back to the hotel and prepare for bed, which is another hour or so perhaps? So, their "relaxed Mexican culture" late night would just essentially be a normal dinner with friends by the standards of... everywhere else. I don't get it, do they usually go to bed at 9 pm every night or why would this be something worth commenting on? Derick seems to be the type of person who always has to exaggerate everything and blow perfectly normal life situations out of proportion in a passive aggressive sort of way to make himself look hard done by. It's like he's constantly padding his martyr CV.

Ok, I've got to ask. Is canned chicken a cheap/affordable food in the US? I'd never even seen it in Sweden until last year when it showed up in my local shop. In tiny little cans, smaller than a tuna can, and even with coupons they cost literally twice as much per pound as frozen chicken fillets. Even fresh chicken fillets are way cheaper than this canned version. So I'm guessing either canned chicken is very cheap in the US or Jill is an idiot? Or have they completely abandoned their frugality image in favour of laziness?

Not that I know of, but her friends do. I've only seen pictures from them on this forum, so I don't know their handles but there's been photos of Jana hanging out with friends, eating cheese, climbing bathtubs and whatnot mined from those IG's (though I suppose they could be FB accounts come to think of it). She's not what I'd call a social butterfly, but unlike the other Duggar girls she does appear to be hanging out with friends somewhat regularly.

True, but to be fair Jana seems to be the only Duggar sister with actual real female friends who seem to genuinely know and like her, at least judging by their birthday messages and Instagram posts. Jill and Jessa doesn't appear to have any real friends at all outside the family and neither does Jinger as far as I can tell. So Jana 's obviously not an evil ogre, but perhaps there's something about her that doesn't ping for fundie guys. I'm guessing that all those years of being a mother and disciplinarian have made her somewhat no-nonsense and less prone to be that simpering gaze-at-my-headship-like-an-incontinent-cocker-spaniel type of girl that male fundies seem to like so much.

Eh. Looks to me she's just calling him out. There's no way Derrick would actually do it and she knows it.

Ugh. I'm having such mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, go Joe! for looking out for your baby sister, you seem like the one brother that everyone genuinely likes. But on the other hand, maybe without his friendship and encouragement Joy would've been able to shed the Gothard/Quiverfull beliefs and find her own path. Instead she ended up married and pregnant before she even hit her twenties, yoked to another religious nut who'll most likely keep her barefoot and pregnant for the next thirty years. I guess this explains how she got her nickname Joyless Anna back in the day - the Duggar lifestyle and beliefs really were chafing at her through the years and it showed, but now she's back in the fold happily popping out babies for Jesus. Damn you Joe...

I'm probably a bit weird but I actually like the name Wilberforce; I think it's way nicer than Henry and better for nicknames. The name Spurgeon will never be anything but an abomination.

They have an entire basketball court behind the house IIRC. I haven't watched any whole episodes either but I think I remember seeing the boys playing at some point but don't quote me on that.

I thought Joe was John David at first but then I spotted the real one. This picture really showcases how badly the Duggar boys are aging. And for heaven's sake Duggars, get your suits fitted. I can't even with that clunky monstrosity Joe is wearing. How can a suit be too tight and too big at the same time?

I'm always puzzled by people like Cathy who equate "no/small government" with "freedom". Like, have you studied history at all Cathy? Or current affairs? No strong central government equals Somalia. Or Afghanistan. Or Early Medieval Europe. None of which I would particularly like to live in unless I was a very rich person with a private army at my disposal and even then life would be pretty shit. I mean, I agree that governments should stay out of private affairs like what people do with their own bodies or in the privacy of their homes as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult but then your particular brand of freedom lover seems to think that those are the areas where government should step in and regulate people's lives so I'm a little confused as to what you mean by freedom here Cathy.

I have to admit I always thought she was a cute but odd looking child and teen, but she's looking quite nice now. Not beautiful exactly but she has a distinct and attractive look, especially compared to her wonderbread siblings, and she's got a good sense of style.

My guess is that anyone not a Duggar would be asked to "volunteer" to be filmed and that most people would agree, because 15 minutes of fame yay, and the ones that don't agree simply won't be filmed. Possible exceptions would be semi-regulars like Amy and Sierra but tbh both of them are fame hungry enough to do it for free. I doubt Derrick was payed anything before he actually became a Duggar, he was likely too famestruck and flattered about being filmed at all to even ask. Still doesn't explain his tweet though, because by the time of Izzy's birth he was a Duggar. I guess it could be that he was expecting payment for filming bits of Jill's delivery on his phone and handing it over to TLC, and then getting peevish because that wasn't considered enough for TLC to foot his medical expenses. Or he was expecting monies for the segments that TLC did film in the hospital. By the looks of it the Dillards weren't planning on letting TLC film the birth at all but then, for whatever reason, they called them about the emergency C-section and a crew showed up. But that would probably not have been negotiated beforehand and I can definitely see TLC using that as an excuse to call it volunteering, which would explain Derrick's whinging about being all hard done by when it really was about him being naive, arrogant and bad at planning.

Hee! You would go absolutely bonkers in Sweden, everything is white! Not just the kitchens but entire houses and flats. Has been for almost two decades and it's not going away; if anything it is getting more pronounced. I'm used to it and rather like it even though it can get a bit boring at times, but then I prefer lighter interiors in general and can't stand the Duggars' usual design choices of dark ornate wood and leather, drab walls and busy patterns on countertops and the like. I just find their style depressing. Jinger's kitchen is by far the most aesthetically pleasing to me compared to the other Duggarling homes.

I always thought Derrick leaving Walmart had more to do with him taking leaves of absence all the time for the purpose of his wedding and honeymoon, then filming, other people's weddings, more filming etc. I remember it being discussed that new employees would normally not be able to take so much time off in their first year and that his collegues and supervisors might have had to pick up his slack quite a bit because of it. It might also have kept him from developing the skills needed for the job, if he wasn't there as much as he should have, Also, there was a post elsewhere supposedly made by a fellow Walmart employee, claiming that Derrick apparently had some issues working with female collegues and supervisors (no idea if this was legit, but as a newly incorporated Duggar I think Derrick enthusiastically adopted a lot of their beliefs in the beginning, so I don't find it unlikely) which would also make him a problematic employee. Add an over-enthusiastic wife keeping him from bonding with his fellow workers and I could see how Derrick could have been both unpopular enough and unproductive to the point where management figured he wasn't worth the hassle and just dropped him.

That dress looks like something I used to wear to bed when I was a kid. I want to say 'nightgown' but that sounds vaguely Victorian and I'm not sure if the word is used anymore but uh, whatever the modern stretch cotton version of nightgown is called. That's what the dress looks like. Looks very comfortable though and I'm sure it is very practical for a pregnant woman.

Possible, but... that's a rather odd expectation to have for anyone ever isn't it? Your wife bringing you lunch doesn't make much sense in any context. Even if you want to live by traditional gender roles where the wife does all the cooking, historically this would involve either the husband bringing a meal cooked by the wife to work, or in some places going back home mid-day to eat a lunch cooked by the wife. A traditional housewife wouldn't be able to leave her household duties every day for hours and nevermind I'm talking about the Duggars go back to your regular scheduling and just forget I said anything. How about them Yankees, eh?

So what does Austin actually do with his time when he's not flipping the occasional house? Does he work for his parents at their camp? Everything all these husbands do is so vague; I never get an idea about what they actually do to support themselves and their families aside from appearing on Counting on. Bin - studies a bit online sometimes, appears to work for Boob in some unknown capacity but probably something to do with maintenance. Austin - flips houses, once in a while. Derrick - ... something something missionary something Cross Church classes. Joe - selling used cars at the roadside? Josh - ?? Helping Joe? Jeremy - pastor at som rinky-dink church with a about a dozen congregants.

Oh yes. Toe- and fingernails from the dead. The ship's name is Naglfar, its captain is Loki, and in the end days it will bring the armies of Muspell to the shores of Oskopne where the final battle will be fought on the field of Vigrid. This is why you should take care not to die with uncut nails because if you do you'll provide material for the ship and thus hasten the end of the world.

They did add that pink brocade faux Victorian armchair last year. Kind of nice on its own but didn't really match anything else in the house.

I wonder if Cathy has ever read anything about any kind of mythology other than Christianity. Because as a Scandinavian I really wish she'd get exposed to some Norse mythology; it is way more awesome than the Judeo-Christian one. Your god sacrificed his son Jesus, who hanged on a cross for a day? Pffft. Odin Allfather sacrificed himself and hanged from the world tree Yggdrasil for NINE days. You think Christmas is about the birth of Christ? Yeah, maybe google jólfaðr (Father Christmas, or Odin if you will). And there are all sorts of stories about gods and giants and trolls and then there's this huge battle at the end of the world with an enormous snake who will poison the sky, wolves eating the sun and the moon, and a giant ship of death made out of toenails. Who could possibly have made all this stuff up? It clearly must be true. I'll see you at Ragnarök Cathy.

Jana getting flowers from her brothers is indeed both creepy and sad. And yet kind of sweet in a slightly clueless sort of way I never thought any Duggar male could ever be. (The sweet part, not the clueless). Like, I'm trying to understand the thought process behind this. Are they convinced that Jana will never get any Valentine flowers from other men? Are they trying to comfort her? Are they taking the piss? Are they showing their appreciation for her role as sister mom? Support for her single status? Because by the looks of it they actually got together and planned this, so there's got to be some kind of thought behind it. And Jana looks as ambivalent as I feel about the whole thing. Because that is one massive bouquet of roses. That she just got. From her brothers. These people are weird.

Sleeping with a 15 year old wouldn't make Josh a pedophile; it would make hime a creepy, opportunistic predator which I have no problem believing. I have no idea if it is true or not but it is actually more believable to me that he would be able to convince a teenager to sleep with him than a grown woman because sane adults would take one look at him and his history and nope the hell out of there. Teenagers are far easier to manipulate and impress. Josh Duggar was a minor celebrity for years, belongs to a prominent family in their circles and, based on how the Duggars have handled all thing Josh and how they love keeping kids ignorant, I don't think teenagers in that subculture knows all that much about the scandals or understand what they implicate about Josh. I could see a teenage girl being impressed by Josh's fame, and having a very dim idea about what he actually did (he's just being being persecuted by those ebil liberals, really), combined with a complete lack of knowledge about sex or consent. I've read enough about these fundies (and heard it from Jill's own mouth) to realise that sexual abuse appears to be fairly rampant. Again, I have no idea if this actually happened or not, but I have no problem believing it could happen.