Churchhoney

This is an interesting point. I'm inclined to agree with it because, of course, it is the way the system works. But doesn't it really depend on what your highest value is? If your highest value is self-protection, which it certainly is for most of us animals-with-consciousness, then, yes, this is how you handle it.. But if your highest value truly is living the most godly and virtuous and spiritual life possible, then where should self protection -- and protection of your cash -- rank among the factors that shape your behavior? Shouldn't it rank well behind justice, honesty, true repentance, mercy and generosity toward others, willingness to shoulder the consequences of one's own actions and the desire to be the best example of the moral life that you can? It strikes me as sort of similar to civil disobedience, where your relationship to the law is quite different than it would be under ordinary circumstances. You willingly take the punishment for an illegal action because your aim is higher than the simple calculus of the law involved. Did Jesus go with the self-protection option before the legal authorities? Not that I would really expect Josh (or any Duggar) to take the highest road. But when the stated goal of someone's life is to bring a higher standard of morality to the world -- including into the civil laws of this world, and he's taken many concrete steps to do that when it comes to other people's behaviors, isn't it fair to ask whether it really is okay and fully understandable for him to then just operate in "the system" in the same old self-protective way, when it comes to his own actions? Isn't it possible that to truly heal and help those victims, some kind of serious and potentially publicly acknowledged reparations by the perpetrator actually would be required? And aren't you actually supposed to be "a fool for Christ" when it comes to your interactions with the world? I realize that this sounds terribly naive. But I do wonder whether we wouldn't be better off if even a few of us acted in accordance with the bigger picture this way. I know the Duggars' bigger picture is different -- Jesus has forgiven Josh, so the law is as nothing compared to that. But that really sounds like rationalization to me. And if Jesus really was your highest and constant example, would you rationalize this way?

I'm curious about this. How, exactly, has Amy been eating, and keeping a roof over her head, and so on through the past umpty-ump years? I understand that the Duggar horde get their food trays and a dorm bed as benefits of their imprisonment, but how could an adult niece who doesn't actually live inside the institution sustain herself for a decade on (apparently?) occasional babysitting jobs? Not to mention pay for vain attempts to launch a singing career? Surely she must have had some more substantial jobs than I've heard about? Are her parents secretly well off or something?

Well, I really doubt that Derick has been on his mom's health insurance. Since the Affordable Care Act, there have been not one but two other options for somebody in his situation -- COBRA and buying ACA coverage on the exchange, where you have a choice of policies including cheaper ones, plus subsidies depending on your current income. And his mom's coverage wouldn't cover Izzy, but COBRA and exchange coverage would, so it's kind of hard for me to imagine that he isn't using one of those options instead, since obviously covering Izzy is really important.

Don't give her any ideas.

Or it could be one of the bones in the instep. I have "knots" at that spot on my feet, and it's just a pair of bones that protrude more than they do on some people, combined with having not much muscle or fat in that area.

Sure. But he just looks kind of overtired to me in that picture. And when he adds a new country and a new job and a relocated family to his current responsibilities, I expect he'll get even busier and more pressed for time and maybe more tired. So while I don't care at all about the length of his hair and think that long is fine, I always cut my own hair short before a situation where I'm likely to be busier than normal and in which, if you're not appearance driven, you're likely to forgo cutting your hair at all -- because when you least expect it, you can find that other people think your hair needs to be neater. Which is no good if those other people are your bosses, for example. If you cut it good and short before you start, the thought of needing a cut never even has to cross your mind -- which is great for busy, non-appearance-driven people. Yeah -- probably making too much out of the analogy to myself.

I think he mainly looks tired, which is understandable. I also think he's going to regret not getting his hair cut short short short for the trip, though. It would be so much easier to deal with, in an even hotter climate and with new activities and responsibilities added to what he's already got. Who wants to bother with having it sweat-filled 24-7 and having to wonder whether it needs a trim all the time?

The list of serious issues for which the Duggars are dispensing priceless advice just keeps growing. Bulimia? Find a boyfriend like Jim Bob who'll drive it away through the force of his godly prayers. Sexual molestation of children? Require them to stand before a group of people and forgive their molester, and any and all negative consequences will vanish poof into a pile of nothing-to-worry-about. Self harm? Realize that it's a serious sin -- on the level of masturbation! -- and banish it by asking Jesus to ... banish it. Lacking that, take a lot of cold showers. (Poverty and underdevelopment in conflict-ravaged villages? Have your nails painted by someone who knows that only the King James Bible can save you.) They should start a therapy ministry.

And since for the Duggars and their hangers-on, sexual sins are just about the only sins, anyway.

Actually I think it's two direct lines -- one is a direct line from him to his crazy and the other is a direct line from him to his crazy-like-a-fox. It's nuts. But it's made his family rich and (after a fashion) powerful.

There's a brain region called the right supramarginal gyrus that apparently plays a big role in recognizing the needs and interests of others? The Duggars? Don't think theirs are functioning. Their "servants' hearts" to the contrary.

They got this from Gothard, mostly, I think. He redefines words for his flock in the same cracked and autocratic way that L. Ron Hubbard did it for Scientologists. It's apparently a crazy-old-con-artist specialty. Not sure why it's so attractive to the followers, but I guess it's the separation, the sense of identity, the sense of being in the know while others aren't. So stupid.

Felon?! Surely you jest. He's another martyr for Christ. They were probably discussing martyrdom all day. That, and exchanging tips on tax fraud.

I agree that stress may have a lot to do with Derick's messy unhealthy look. I've been under stress for a while and this is exactly the way I look, too. I was going to say "except for the beard," but I just felt my chin and, yeah, I've got that, too. It can't be easy to be Derick (or Bin-jermin) right now. I doubt that either of them is sleeping very well. It does seem like weird word choice. But then I remember that the things the Duggars call missions are actually just visiting, too. The idea of actually working for someone else's welfare -- you know, because you have such a great servant's heart -- doesn't seem to be on JB's radar.

Maybe the Dunning-Kruger effect was at work. I'm not sure Jim Bob is ever aware than anything he does is less than fabulous.

I agree. Of course, there may be something out there that they don't have or don't have nailed down yet, and I have a feeling that some fed-up Arkansans or others are still feeding them tips. The Duggars seem to inspire both hardcore humpers and hardcore haters, not just on the Internet but in real life as well.

Didn't you know? Gothard has a direct line to Jesus. Just like L. Ron Hubbard had a direct line to Xenu. They get the inside scoop.

Well, he definitely inherited his parents' lack of judgment and zero sense of appropriateness.

I think he just likes to use words out of the King James. I've read a lot of "encounters with Gothard" stories, and in them he seems to be constantly quoting bible verses that had that word in them, along with "sorcerers" and words for other KJV-style evil-doers. I'm guessing he really likes fancy-sounding words and he figures that calling people for the Renaissance names for sins will be a good intimidation tactic to make them think that their own sins are maybe worse than they actually are. I don't see how they would or even can, since the whole thing is predicated on their being familyfamilyfamilyJimBobheadshipJimBobheadshipJimBobDaddyWhoHasTheirHeartJoshieIsForgivenAndMeMeMEMEchelleGaveBirthToEveryOneOfThem. I mean, that's the whole story in their minds, that's the hook -- what a great godly patriarchal family they are. Excising the parents and the oldest brother -- born to "be the leader" of his family, as Derick said of Izzy -- would be a big flashing sign saying that the Duggar brand ain't what it's widely been supposed to be.

Oh, c'mon, we gotta get with the Duggar morality-ethics program. Here it is: The only sins and faults that count are sexual. And they don't count either, if the other person is unconscious or too young to fully understand what sex is, or if you checked with Jesus and he says that he's already forgiven you. Have you got it now? See -- it's plain and simple!

Also interesting to me is that In Touch found out about this. Somebody must be pissed off enough at the Duggar shenanigans to have tipped them off about what to request via FOIA. IIRC, there were some sleazy goings on with DHS involving the Arkansas rep who informally rehomed his adoptees into a rapist's house, too. I suppose it's not unusual for the prominent and well-heeled to get a much sweeter deal from child protection agencies, of course.

Wow. Having your PR firm go shmooze with DHS while you're being investigated. There's a concept. Does Jim Bob know where Huckabee buried a body or something?

Gee. I wonder what non-Christian deity that country is named for.

No question that the visible oldest young Duggars represent a perfect storm of bad influences. Gothard, Jim Bob and Michelle, the perpetual selfie generation -- and, the icing on the cake, they're "reality tv stars," which would be a completely warping experience even without all the rest of it.

Hey, seven-year engagement anniversaries are now a thing (in the Duggar clan, at least). Why not first-year wedding annis?