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“I Pray You Put This Journal Away” Podcast about the Duggar Family.

This podcast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvN3-Dl5i78&t=270s on YouTube was posted in my group yesterday and it totally blew me away. The host was a friend of the Duggars back in 2004-2006 when the molestation scandals were blowing up the Duggar family and their church. I didn't learn a lot of new information here but what was a lot of strewn about pieces of a puzzle are completely put together in these podcasts. The host, Justin, puts it all together for us in a very articulate sensitive style. I appreciate his reaching out and explaining not only what went on in the Duggar home and in their church but the entire mindset of the fundamental Christians he grew up around and their damaging beliefs. There are three podcasts so far. The first one is two hours long but that flies by due to the wonderful presentation from Justin and his wife, Julia. I've only gotten halfway through the second and haven't touched the third one yet. I will recap them over the weekend. First 30 Minutes: Introduction to Justin, his journal and past beliefs.

 30 Minute Mark: Justin starts talking about Josh working on the Jim Holt campaign. Holt was running for the US senate at the time. Josh had a big role in that campaign. Also about meeting the Duggars for the first time. 39 Minute Mark: First visit to the Duggars' home. He talks about the tiny home the Duggars lived with 15 kids at the time. That it was messy and smelled bad. How the little Duggar boys were wild and desperately wanted attention from Justin and his brothers. How the older Duggar boys built their own computers from parts Jim Bob got at auction. But Josh had an amazing new computer of his own. He had a state of the art Mac. Justin believes Jim Bob was investing in Josh's video interests. He should have invested in college instead. Justin's dad asks Josh about his computer, "What kinda filter you got on that thing?" and Josh did a visible gulp. Apparently Jim Bob didn't know about filters at that time that keep the naughty stuff out and Josh was having fun exploring. Justin mentions Josh as being very computer savvy.  

51 Minute Mark: Josh working for Jim Holt and his betrothal. He says Josh and his girl weren't romantic and didn't seem to be all that into each other. It was an arranged betrothal between dads Jim Bob and Jim Holt. The conversation turns towards racism in fundamentalism which kind of explains these people's love for Trump and his white supremacist supporters.

 1 Hour 1 Minute Mark: Justin talks about his crush on Jana Duggar. In his journal he writes that she is younger and shorter than him which were important factors for an up and coming patriarch. His monologue talking about his Jana crush is hilarious. Justin and Julia talk about how sexualized their environment was including the babies.

 1 Hour 28 Minutes: Josh and his teenage porn habit. Jim Holt loses his campaign that Josh was working on and seeks a reason for his failure and decides to take it out on Josh who was caught viewing porn. It's the old "sin in the camp" copout. Sounds like Holt. He can't deal with his failures and reality so has to blame others. Justin believes one of the Duggar kids caught Joshy looking at porn and told Michelle. Josh was brought in front of the church. The church decided to send Josh to stay with a guy who may also have had a porn issue at one time to dig a pond. Josh lived in a shack, never saw anyone, had his meals dropped off, and worked all day. This was when Josh had his head shaved as shown in the moving special. He left the pond to appear in the episode and then was sent back. Josh spent weeks shunned in the woods all by himself. Every Sunday they would give a report on Josh in the church and the Duggar girls and Michelle would bawl. Justin didn't know at the time about Josh's history of molesting his sisters which was probably why Josh got such a harsh punishment. At the same time this was happening, TLC was at the Duggars filming a special about Johannah's birth. Justin says Josh's demeanor coming back from the pond digging was weird and shameless. Josh seemed unphased about his punishment. Justin talks about the TLC crew most likely knowing something weird was going on with Josh and the Duggars but ignoring it. 

1 Hour 47 Mark: Justin talks about how men would confess their sins in church in a very weird and dark way. Most of the sins were about anger (domestic abuse) and lust and the other men would bless the sinner with canola oil. Sounds kinky. He talks about the men blaming their sins on Satan attacking them because they are important and worthy of attack. Quite a head trip. Justin talks about the tools the church members used to beat the children and how they bragged about what works best. He also talks about Anna Keller's dad visiting the church and preaching weird shit about Satan being the wizard in the Wizard of Oz. Jeez! I'm glad I was raised a boring Catholic. 

I truly hope the Duggar kids listen to this podcast and begin to see the insanity they were raised in and get themselves a good ole board certified secular therapist. You can't go through what they did and not have some damaging residual effects. End of podcast one. The second one takes place the day after Josh was released from jail and Justin is really disturbed by the details or the charges against Josh as we all were. 

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Episode Recap of “Jana’s Secret Garden” and “A Quarantine Courtship”

Last two episodes of the season! Wahoooo! 

Jana’s Secret Garden

1. The Duggar mommy gang (Kendra, Lauren, Abbie and Anna) visit Jessa’s house to snack and talk about mommyhood. Haven’t we seen this a million times before? It’s all baby girls galore in the tiny house with headbands flying everywhere. The ladies spend their afternoon making lactation cookies, since they’re all in “that nursing season of life”, and homemade baby soap because they’re also in that Jim Bob forced poverty season of life. Later Abbie and John and their baby take nanny Jana to Knoxville so they can get free childcare while other family members at home build a greenhouse for Jana as a surprise. Surprise! Now grow us some more food, wench! In Knoxville, Jana takes a woodworking class with John. She talks about starting a home décor business called Arbor Acres. That’s the name of the road the Duggars live on. Her business is registered as an LLC but the website for the business is unfinished. I don’t think she’ll put Chip and Joanna Gaines out of business just yet. The producer asks Poops and Lolli if Jana is the first Duggar girl to venture out in business and Poops has to bring up his boys. He says they ventured out by selling cars and flipping homes. That isn’t venturing out, that’s being a daddy’s boy doing the same crap daddy does. Michelle changes the subject back to Jana to make the point that Jana IS the first girl to venture out in business, though that business has yet to begin except for personal projects for her family as is expected of an IBLP girl. Jana’s business will most likely never open to the public. Not as long as she lives under Jim Bob’s authority. The guys bungle the greenhouse erection and the women folk attempt to paint flower pots with toddlers. Even though the kids ate a lot of the paint they still did a better job than the men. Jana gets her hair dyed while being interrogated by a rude and nosey hairstylist. I’m sure she was set up for this nosiness by the producers to get somewhat interesting sound bites for commercials. The guys finish the greenhouse with the help of their professional friend, Dwayne Andregg. I’m surprised the Duggars and Andreggs haven’t intermarried yet. It's bound to happen eventually. Jana’s gal pal visits to inspect. Laura approves. Jana flies home as the family decorates for the big reveal. Jana is really surprised and emotional over the greenhouse. It’s like nobody has given her any attention in decades and she’s not used to it.

 A Quarantine Courtship

1. There’s a quarantine going on and a courtship announcement at the end. That’s about it. John bakes a cake for Abbie for her birthday…fast forward. The family holds a quarantine parade to celebrate Abbie’s birthday…fast forward. Jim Bob seems to be having a midlife crisis because he’s driving a 3 wheel sports car in the parade to show off…fast forward. The Duggar girls sew masks for their family only. I guess the Christian spirit didn’t hit them as it did many others when it came to supporting first responders and our neighbors. Fast forward through Jinger and Jeremy doing nothing in LA. Ivy starts walking so the Duggars visit to peep through the window at Ivy’s new trick…fast forward. Family Fun Night is now being held over Zoom. Jinger announces she’s pregnant again but they waited three months to say anything this time. She took a blood test to find out the sex because nobody in this family has any patience to wait. Jeremy kicks a soccer ball that shoots pink powder all over LA starting a couple of forest fires. Stock up on those headbands, Vuolos.  Oh, and then Justin gets on the Zoom meeting to introduce Claire Spivey to the world as his courtship girl. I’m sure this was no surprise to the family and it wasn’t to me since stupid Justin posted a photo of him and Claire back in January and then quickly deleted it. That’s about it. Another season is over. Unfortunately, a new season will probably be back. I’m sure you can’t wait for more Duggar competitions, Duggar females getting pedicures, Duggar males acting incompetent, mommy chats, brother bonding, stupid themed parties, terrifying births and awkward courtships. Next season I would love to see Jim Bob going through a full-blown midlife crisis. Take that 3 wheel sports car and go hang out with Jerry Falwell Jr. for a while, Poops. I’m excited for that season of life.

#countingon

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Episode Recap of “From Snow to Sand”

First Aired: I don’t care anymore. Sometime September 2020.

 “Jinger and Jeremy take friends on a snow to sand adventure in California. Meanwhile, in Arkansas, the guys throw John a Dad-chelor party to welcome him to fatherhood. And later, Joy and Austin share some exciting news.

Dad-chelor party? You’ve got to be kidding me. 

1. Jinger and Jeremy have friends in town. Like-minded friends of course. Jeremy met this friend in a Bible study. They should stop going to church like me and make friends with others who aren’t their clones. They might learn more about God that way. The Vuolos, their friends, and Felicity’s babysitter head up to the mountains to play in the snow. They go snow tubing and I’m surprised to see Jinger actually looking relaxed and having some real fun. She really dropped her serious Christian woman face and looked like she was enjoying life for once. Next they’re at the beach for some sand, a picnic, and kite flying. Jeremy fails at kite flying and then he and his friend jump into the cold ocean water. Yeah, this was that exciting. I guess we can stop hoping that the Jinger and Jeremy LA scenes are going to make this show less dull. 

2. The lame Duggar manchildren are planning a datchelor party for John so he can celebrate having a baby by getting away from that baby. They pick up man meat to eat and that’s it. No sides. Not even one tater tot. All they want to eat at the party is steak because beef is the food of the manchild. I wonder how Jesus survived with no beef?  I guess His wine helped him to get through His sad cowless days. They create a manchildbaby game of diaper basketball, wear printed toddler t-shirts with adorable sayings on them, tell silly children’s jokes and do lots of giggling. John Boy eventually shows up but Jed has for some reason skipped the highly competitive diaper basketball game and beef eating contest. I think a campaign poster of him throwing diapers would certainly help him to win his election with baby voters. I might have to call children’s services on the Duggars. All the manchildren sit there eating huge-ass steaks and all little Spud says he got were “crackers in the car”. It’s a friggin party celebrating a man having a baby and they won’t even feed the baby who attended the party! Okay, I take that back. There is a quick clip of Spud eating hotdogs. I guess Spud was just trying to get the manchildren in trouble for not giving him steak. Good job, kid! The guys sit around worshiping John as an older brother who was a good example to them all. They pile the compliments on thick and try to make people forget about the oldest Duggar disappointment. You know, the adulterer and child molester. 

3. Joy has a gender reveal that involves a helicopter dropping pink paper onto Duggar property. Nobody died in this reveal. Luckily, Jeremy wasn’t flying the helicopter.

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Episode Recap of "The Best Duggar Christmas Pageant Ever" That's debatable.

First Aired August 25, 2020

"It's Christmas with the Duggars. Jana and Jessa organize a Christmas pageant, the whole family pitches in to pull it off, including Jim Bob, who has a very special role. In L.A., Jinger and Jeremy cut down their first live Christmas." Dear #facebook, I hate your new format. It only gives me a tiny box to write in. I have to keep scrolling up to see what I've written because I can only see four lines at a time. WTH were you thinking? Fix it!!! Love, Pickles

1. The Second Annual Duggar Family Ugly Christmas Sweater Party is up first. Nobody can say the title of the event without stumbling as they sit on the talking head couch but I enjoy seeing Josie wearing long dangling earrings in her pierced ears. Her older sisters weren't even allowed to wear clip-on earrings until ten years ago at about the time Josie was born. The outfits are even uglier this year and they sure do own a buttload of wigs. Of course the Duggars have to make this silliness into a vicious competition. I saw bloody unraveled wool on the stairs. Somebody died so that somebody else could win a Chick-fil-a coupon.

2. The Duggars are planning a Christmas pageant at the church they renovated. For some reason they think little Spud should have a main role as Gabriel. That didn't last. Spud turned down the role because it didn't pay in snacks. Gotta say that's how I work too. No snacks, no work!

3. The LA Vuolos are out looking for a real tree to cut down at a tree farm. Jeremy dressed for the occasion by dressing as a "lumberjack", or as someone said in my group, a Canadian. Jeremy enjoys dressing in character so I can't wait for them to tour Graceland. Would he dress as Elvis or Priscilla?  Little Lissy has no interest in the trees. She's out to play in muddy puddles ala Peppa Pig. Too bad Jeremy thwarted that plan. There's a lot of learning in sensory mud play. Later they decorate the tree and Lissy dances away without getting beaten Duggar style. Jinger is ready to cancel Christmas after finding spiders in the real tree. I'm guessing they'll go back to a fake tree next year.

4. Jessa takes photos of all the Pops and Lolli grandkids as a gift for her parents. She does a good job but for some mysterious reason, Jill's kids' photos look like ghosts in the finished shown on TV product. They were blurred out due to someone's request. They even dared to film in Josh and Anna's house which is a first since Josh was kicked off the show. They didn't show Josh but his presence was ickily felt. Josh's territory is displayed but a four and a two year old are deleted. Duggarville is odd.

5. More pageant prep. Costumes are dug up and roles are assigned. Of course Jim Bob will be the ass. He practices crawling on all fours which I am actually jealous of because my knees won't do that anymore and I'm only a little older than Ass Bob. Well, I know I got the bad knees genes which is better than Jim Bob who got the awful conservative right-wing genes. I'll take my bad knees anyday! Ivy is playing baby Jesus at this point which I'm shocked at the homophobic/transphobic Duggars being okay with her playing a "boy" role. Hannie and Jackson are playing Mary and Joseph. That pairing is more Arkansas normal. Just kidding....kind of.

6. The performance night is here. It goes as expected for a family pageant. Kids are stressed, sheep snack, Hannie pretends to sit on the ass but thankfully didn't, and newborn Addison is playing baby Jesus. Kendra explains that Addison is the newborn Jesus and Ivy is the grown up Jesus because the Wise Men didn't arrive until 18 months after His birth. What Bible are they reading? 18 months? Eh, it doesn't matter anyway. The four gospels all have different versions of the nativity and I don't tend to believe any of them. It's just a nice story to explain His beginnings. The little sheep made their appearance on stage where they followed the Nabisco star to the feeding trough and then the three wise guys appeared, Jason, James, and Justin, who clowned it up on stage and made a mockery of the Jesus story, but hey, it's their souls. After the show, Jessa presents the grandchildren photo gift to her parents with the Dillard children apparently having been raptured off for TV. It's too bad the Dillard kids weren't invited to appear in the family Christmas pageant. They could have been blurred out if their parents wanted but it would have been nice to be invited. That is unless Jill and Derick decided to pass. I guess it's hard when family is publically feuding.  God bless us all, everyone!  

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Highs and Lows"

First Aired August 18, 2020

"Jinger and Jeremy share the sad news that they have miscarried their baby. In Arkansas, Ben has second thoughts as he undergoes eye surgery. Jeremy throws Jinger a surprise party filled with some unexpected guests and a special gift."

 Can they laser my eyes out after watching this episode?

 1. In la la land, Jinger talks about having a miscarriage the night after the jingerbread building contest. She's sad and does that dainty Jingerish way of wiping tears from her eyes. Jeremy says it's been hard on him but admits it must be harder on Jinger. He's a smart one right there. 

2. Ben's getting laser eye surgery to correct his horrible eyesight. I'm guessing TLC paid for some or most of the surgery since they filmed it and possibly the business gave them a break for advertising reasons. Hey TLC! Want to fim my lasik surgery? My eyes are as crappy as Ben's and I'll be way more dramatic than him. Ben was too boring. He just laid there and took it. I'm sure a doctor will go down after they try to put a laser near my eyes. But I really do want the surgery and I'll pay for it myself. I just need someone to pay the lawyer fees. Jim Bob claims to have cured his aging poor vision somehow which confuses me. Maybe he can cure Michelle's too since we often seen her wearing reading glasses. Ben and Jessa and kids arrive at the surgery center together for the short procedure. Jessa keeps her kids calm not with electronics anymore but with constant snacking. She really needs to stop that. Placating your kids with food isn't healthy. Get a momma's bag full of special toys or activities for those times they need to wait. I'm not mom shaming! I've worked with young kids for longer than most of you have been alive, so hush! Jessa's kids only had to wait 20 or 30 minutes. They didn't need a three course meal of junk while waiting. I really want to be super nanny for some of these reality show moms. I'll straighten these parents out. How do I apply? After the procedure they ask Ben to read what time it is on an analog clock and he has no clue. I guess he missed that day of homeschooling. TLC never did come back and ask Ben how his eyesight was the next day. That storyline just stopped here.

3. Jeremy is throwing a surprise party for Jinger's 26th birthday. The party is being held at his church friends' house and a portrait of Jinger and Felicity was commissioned to be painted by another church friend and all the party goers are church friends and family. Sounds like pompous fun! Jana and her gal pal, Laura, Ben and Jessa, and Pops and Lolli make it out to la la land for the party. Jinger is distracted from the preparations by taking a photography class with Laura Norcia. I'm not sure if she is a member of the church too but the girl escorting Jinger to the class is. Can't have Jinger do something on her own. They do iPhone photography and then get to work in a darkroom. This brings back a ton of memories for me. I don't remember much about high school but I do remember spending most of my time in the darkroom. I even built my own darkroom at home. Those were the days of feeding film negatives onto spools in complete darkness and hanging photos up to dry. It's sad those days are now gone. 

4. When Jinger gets home Jeremy tells her to get dressed up and to wear heels because he's taking her on a date. Meanwhile, John and Abbie and Joy and Austin double date on a horse and carriage ride in Fayetteville. They chat about stuff and then get hot chocolate. Back to the party. Jinger is wearing a fur stole just to make sure everyone in California realizes she isn't one of them. She's an animal carcass wearing, earth beating, Trump voting Arkansas vampire. But the blindfold Jeremy forces her to wear on the "date" makes them seem more kinky than conservative.  They arrive at the house, everyone yells surprise and they drink something suspicious. See photo. Jim Bob was drinking it too so don't get your hopes up that it was beer or champagne. Then they reveal that god-awful painting which I've mentioned in a previous post. Actually, I can't blame the artist. After seeing the photo that she painted it from, it was actually a good likeness. It was the photo was horrible.  It was such a fancy birthday party for a 26 year old. When I was her age, I would have been happy with casual restaurant dinner and a concert or Broadway show. No way would I have been happy all dressed up in a room with stuffy church people. Even my aunt, the nun, would have been bopping it with me at some concert. Jinger, 26 going on 66. 

5. TLC arranges for Jinger, Jana, Laura and Michelle to go out for coffee together so they could dwell on Jinger's miscarriage. Jinger daintily dabs at her eyes the whole scene because no one will drop the topic and shut the F up. Oh, now she's wearing what looks like a real leather jacket. A very expensive one at that. Maybe they need to start thinking about themselves so much and think about those animal mamas whose babies were killed so pompous people can wear them as nonessential clothing.  Geez, I need a freaking drink after watching this crap and I don't even drink!!! How can Jesus people piss me off so badly? That's not how it's supposed to work.

#countingon

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Episode Recap of "A Baby Girl for Joe and Kendra". First aired August 4, 2020. Yes, it's still 2020.

No description was posted on TV Guide online for this episode so I see that as a bad omen for this recap. Warning! Boredom Alert!

1. In LA, Felicity is being introduced to the world of expensive toys and high-end baby fashion. Her cute outfit alone probably cost more than all the clothes bought for Jinger as a child in a five year period. Felicity's scooter scene is only used as an introduction for Jeremy to talk about his Christian skateboard given to him by a Christian skateboarder which is then used as a way for Jeremy to talk about his wild unChristian past and decision to start behaving himself after he aggressively and drunkenly grabbed a cop and got his ass arrested. Jeremy seems to be doing what Jim Bob failed to do. He's gotten his religious beliefs to be the center of the show and he'll nearly break a leg at the skatepark to do it.

2. Kendra's getting ready to pop out number 2. We've already seen the birth in a special episode so most of this is a repeat. The younger Duggar kids come over to Joe and Kendra's house to help clean but create more unChristian chaos than help. Jim Bob says with a smirk on his face that it's hard when the kids are little but when they get older they can help out with the other kids a lot. Yeah, we know. Jana is still there "helping out".

3. Hank gets a follow-up evaluation from a speech pathologist. Jessa and Ben claim to have been working with him and have taken away screen time. Hank performs well. Too much screen time, over use of pacifiers, and multiple young children can slow down speech sometimes but it was probably more of a genetic thing than anything else for Hank. Jim Bob admits to having some speech issues as a child but doesn't talk about his learning disability. Let's hope Hank doesn't pick up anything else from his grandpa. Poor kid has suffered enough.

4. Then the birth of Addison which is my favorite Duggar name ever. Too bad they seem to favor Addy over her full name. Pop those birth control pills because this one is intense. No pain meds, no doctor (late arrival), no common sense, and Kendra holding her breath until she nearly passes out. She eventually pops out the baby and all the germy relatives visit in the hospital room which makes me sad or maybe happy for Joy because her baby to come soon won't have that huge Duggar invasion at the hospital. Maybe she'll actually get some rest.

This episode has to rank up there in the top five of complete boringness. Too bad Jeremy didn't break something at the skatepark. Just a bit of his ego would do. After this episode was a birthing recap episode showing Michelle having her last five kids and then all her daughters and daughter-in-laws giving birth. If you watched that episode you are no longer fertile. Enjoy!

#countingon

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "The Duggar Dash" First Aired July 28, 2020

"It's hard to decide which Duggar is the most competitive, so they decide to put it to a test. The family splits into four teams and Michelle sends them on an exciting race around town." Guess who wins again? I want to take Jessa and Ben to Las Vegas. I'll take Anna and Josh too for a quickie divorce.

1. The Duggars took our advice on how dull their show is so they stole the plot to the Amazing Race and filmed this episode. I guess it was a good thing they did. I have never seen the Duggars act so non-robotic. They almost look like real people in this episode.

2. Michelle flashes back on to an old 19 Kids video. This time showing her embarrassing push of buddy teams raising each other instead of Michelle taking care of her reproductive choices.*Team One: Austin, Joy, James, Jennifer and Tyler who replaces disowned Jill. *Team Two: Jim Bob, Joe, Kendra and Johannah. Johannah was originally on Jinger's team so she's the orphan in this group. *Team Three: All of Jana's original group. She has Josiah, Jason, Jackson and Josie. Josiah's wife decided to stay at home and watch the kids. How did clownish Josiah marry such a fuddy duddy?*Team Four: Ben and Jessa and her original buddy team Jeremiah, Justin, Jordyn and baby Ivy. Ivy's got this! Missing are extremely nauseous Abbie, John, Jinger and Jeremy, Jinger's other buddy, Jedediah and Anna and her M crew.

3. The first challenge is one of the team members having to eat something "disgusting". The foods are haggis, escargot, cricket tacos and the worst of all....tater tot casserole. They should have served up fresh vegetables and all of them would have quit right then and there. Ben wolfs down his snails and is off for another clue. Jim Bob chokes down the cricket tacos and turns green. He's also cruel to Tyler who is trying to eat haggis by telling him what haggis actually is. This is cruel and unusual punishment towards a minor. I was hoping Tyler would projectile vomit all over Jim Bob's cricket tacos. Jim Bob takes his time eating his food. He did more talking than chewing. Maybe his dentures were loose or something. But then things get worse for the minors when Jordyn gets into the car with her team and immediately starts complaining about needing to use the bathroom. They decide to ignore her and pull out of the driveway making Jordyn scream louder. Finally they stop and Jordyn flies out of the car. Poor kid. Been there. I hope Jordyn isn't too embarrassed about them putting her desperation on TV. Jackson has a hard time finishing his tater tot casserole but does so before slow poke Jim Bob. Funny how escargot and haggis were easier to eat than tater tot casserole.

4. Next all the teams have to head to a thrift store to find something that is their team color to wear during the race. This is when Justin goes all pride on us in his rainbow wig. Salute the rainbow, Justin! Then they're all cruely forced to go the speed limit due to Michelle's rules and Jim Bob mentions being pulled over for speeding. How come I haven't seen that on the court connect records? Did he bribe his way out of a ticket? Talking about court connect, there are new documents up about Josh's attempts to sue the city of Springdale. It looks like his last attempt is now over. Josh has lost. Case is closed. Josh can now apologize to the court system he abused and all those he slandered. Loser! Back to the show, the teams all seem to be having a hard time with the speed limit. Jessa was about to burst a blood vessel going that slow. I've heard from neighbors that the Duggars seem to be speed demons. They all collect their team colors at the thrift store and then get another clue at the register. Jim Bob's team consisting of a heavily pregnant woman and his doofus old self grab are in last place but entertain me by grabbing some red women's underwear as Hannie's item. I really hope she keeps it and puts it to good use under her homemade jumper dresses.  Then it's off to rock climb for more clues.

5. After their rock climbing they have to figure out a simple math problem in order to know a shoe size for later. This is where things get crazy. The Duggars don't do math. Joy doesn't know that an X means multiply, Austin can't add half numbers, and Jessa has to google Jim Bob's age. She only has one dad, not 19. She couldn't remember that? But worst of all, Joe loses his team's clue and they have to go back to the rock climbing place to get it. The teams make it to the treehouse where they search for a shoe of the size from their math clue and Joy's team is in the lead at this point. Then they head to the big house where Michelle gives them the last clue to find their team color in a haystack. Jeer rules the day by finding the clue for his team and the always winning streak of Jessa and Ben continue. Joy and Austin come in next and the last two teams decide to quit together and be last mainly because Kendra was starting to have contractions. I can just imagine her having a haystack manger birth with Joe the carpenter/used car salesman by her side. Now that might make a good episode and possibly a best selling book. Back at the house they all get cheap awards from Michelle and promise to do this again next year minus the haystack.

6. My plan for Duggar Dash 2021Two teams, females versus male. Let's embarrass the hell out of the guys. Challenge One: We'll start with the vegetable eating. They'll have plain cabbage or asparagus. Try that Jim Bob! Challenge Two: Selling their seldom used tour bus for the guys and a family airplane for the girls. See who can sell theirs first and donate the money to the homeless. Challenge Three: The girls find a nice home and decorate it for Jana and the guys move Josh to Siberia. Challenge Four: The guys must sign up four of their own for classes at an accredited college and the girls must find four of their own jobs that help boost their self-esteem and independence. Challenge Five: They must all listen to the points of views of others outside of their religious and political comfort zone. The team whose head explodes first wins.

#Duggars

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "A Duggar Bachelor Pad" First Aired July 21, 2☠️2☠️

"Jessa and Ben go on their first road trip with three kids, hoping they don't lose any kids along the way. Some of the Duggars go to the Bahamas to help after a hurricane. Jed and Jere show off their bachelor pad. The family competes in a corn maze race." And Jim Bob forces the producers to insert flashback clips of 19 Kids and Counting on too many occasions. He thinks he still has something to teach the world beyond how to be a hypocrite.

1. Some Duggars go to the Bahamas to help after a hurricane. They help to manage supplies and clean up. Not mentioned is the trouble they had dealing with other groups and John wearing a gun and flashing his Arkansas badge at others. It wasn't all feeding people and cleaning up for the Duggars in the Bahamas. They've got some weird stuff going on in the background. Jessa and Ben pack up the kids to drive to Kansas City to visit friends. Of course this leads to flashbacks of the old 19 Kids show. Jim Bob is working hard to get those old shows back into repeats. The Seewalds stop to go rotten apple picking with their friends and then visit the zoo where we get to watch Hank trying to make his escape. That one is a runner. More flashbacks on how Jim Bob and Michelle used the buddy system to keep their kids from escaping. Baby Felicity is learning to swim in LA. More flashbacks follow of 19 Kids showing the Duggar kids jumping into a dirty horse trough. Jinger, Jessa, Joy and Joe claim to be poor swimmers. Maybe it's because they were forced to learn in full length skirts and jeans. Felicity is not a fan of freezing cold pool water but she'll get there.

2. The twins, Jed and Jeer, have moved into a bachelor pad. What they don't tell you is they only did this so Jed could run for state rep. He had to live in the district he's running in. Jim Bob pretends that all his kids can move out after they turn 18. That's funny since none of them do unless they get married or run for office. These kids don't leave because of the spiritual abuse and financial abuse. They are tied to Jim Bob in too many sick ways. John did live at Big Sandy from time to time to teach flight training but never officially moved out of the house until Abbie. For some reason the twins are sharing a bedroom even though there is another bedroom in the house. I'm sure Jim Bob ordered this as a way to keep them accountable to each other. You know, to keep the whacking the monkey stuff to a minimum or from wanting to sneak girls or boys in. Like Jed couldn't lock Jeer in a closet for an hour or so. Anyway, this episode doesn't make Jed's run for office any more appealing to the voters. I just need to know why they have so many electrical cords running under their beds. What kind of toys are they charging under there? Joe and Josiah visit and bring dirty lawn chairs and a toy and Jed decides to cook them burgers because it's "manly". I sense a little manly insecurity here. Josiah and Joe end up taking over the cooking. The twins claim they can't cook because they don't have wives to teach them yet. Idiots! All those years of HOMEschooling and they never took HOME ec. They also say once they're married they can't split the utility bill anymore which means no wife of there's is going to work or have any of her own money. Beware girls! Run like Marjorie Jackson and all of the girls the Bates boys court.

3. The Duggars gather together to reenact the last scene of The Shining. They all break into teams and time themselves running through a corn maze. Of course Jessa and Ben won. How do they always win? Maybe it's due to all their practice from chasing a runaway Hank. Jim Bob mocks what he thinks is a Liberal attitude by saying "We're all winners." and everyone laughs, boos or thumbs down him and I think Jessa says, "We don't do that." They don't like the idea that kids get prizes for participating or get encouragement when they lose. Actually, it's not a Liberal idea, it's a humane idea when applied to children. I'm all for teaching children to compete and to win and lose gracefully. I'm also for encouraging children and awarding them for their efforts and participation. The Duggars are all about, too bad for trying, go jump in a horse trough. I really wish the Duggars could get an education beyond their conservative upbringings. They really need to try to understand other people's point of views beyond their bubble. They don't need to accept it but they should hear others out.

And then another surprise flashback episode occurs after this episode. All 19 Kids and Counting clips from back before the Duggar scandals. I won't recap it but if you want to watch it it's hilarious how they cut Josh out. They run the camera down the line of kids several times and just as they get to Josh, the shot changes. Jill is shown in the flashback episode but they own her image so she doesn't really have a choice. I guess she could do something really horrible and then get edited out Josh style. They talk about buying cheap clothes and used shoes and hypocritically taking trips in a huge very expensive tour bus. You know, all things early Duggar. I advise them to check out the YouTube channel, The Crazy Middles. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzVxzz60KHq5Bgqf1zqoocg This family has 20 children, 18 adopted through foster care. They feel it's important for the kids to get the clothes that makes them feel good. So often it's name brand new clothes. This is one of the most loving and happy families that I've ever seen and the older kids leave the house at 18, if they chose to, and are doing very well building their own lives in various types of jobs and one of their sons is gay! TLC, give these amazing people a show! But you won't. They're too normal.

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Beverly Hills Duggars" Why do I think the producers wanted to title this show Beverly Hills Hillbillies and backed out.

Aired: July 14, 2020 Jana and Jinger hit up Beverly Hills for some shopping but quickly get some sticker shock. In Arkansas, the girls enjoy a Mom's Day In. They dig deep as they answer questions about pregnancy and motherhood.

1. John/Abbie and Josiah/Lauren go on a double date to a birthing class with Teresa Fedosky. Teresa is the infamous midwife who has helped with several botched Duggar home deliveries and whose husband has had trouble keeping his medical license. Michelle once attempted to start a Go Fund Me for the Fedosky family but it flopped. No one in their community wanted to support them. But the Duggars seem to love this family for some reason. They practice different labor positions while talking about their birth plans. Lauren is all about birthing at the hospital and so is Abbie but I sense John isn't too thrilled with that choice. Abbie says, they're keeping their options open. Teresa makes the guys strap pumpkins to their guts to get the sense of how much women have to carry around and then has them do pelvic thrusts. One of the guys in the room says, "John David, don't make eye contact with me." I wonder if John understood that kinky joke. I certainly enjoyed it. The guys put on the shock labor simulator and try to woman up. It doesn't work. Josiah is the first to bail and pull the simulator off. Jim Bob pops up for some words but I just ignore him. He said something about it makes you appreciate your wife more. I've given up on Jim Bob ever saying anything original again so I just tune him out. I'm just seven minutes in and already bored. I need to watch me some more Hamilton. Have you seen it yet? If the Duggars were a Hamilton character they would be King George. I can hear Jim Bob singing and spitting to Jill, "You'll be back, soon you see. You'll remember you belong to me".

2. Jana is visiting Jinger in LA. What they don't tell you is that her supervisor Laura is also there and possibly Jim Bob. He was at some event with them in Vegas at one point and may have then escorted them to LA. This could have also been the time when all the Duggars were in LA so I really doubt Jana visited Jinger on her own. Thirty year old Duggar women aren't allowed to venture off by themselves. They go shopping at a boutique in Rodeo Drive. Jinger ends up buying herself a $300 jacket. If they have enough money to spend $300 on one jacket they should be able to pay for their own apartment instead of living off church welfare. I wonder what Jesus would say about a $300 vanity garment when that money could go to the many homeless in that crazy expensive city, but who am I to judge. They also ventured into an LA thrift store which was an extra scene that was cut and can be seen on the Counting On fb page and where Jinger spent another $160. Mmm, dinner money for the poor? Anyway, the Duggars are asked what their clothing style is and Jeer's, "need help" and Josie's, "ugly" were my favorite answers. Lauren sees herself as "elegant" and Jeremy is just pure "timeless" vanity.

King Jim Bob to Jinger and Jeremy; Oceans rise Empires fall, It's much harder when it's all your call All alone, across the country When your people say they hate you Don't come crawling back to me Da da da da daaaaaaa, da da da da dayyyyyyyy ya da Da da da-da day ya daa...You're on your own…

3. The Duggar brothers are setting up a mommy party for the Schuyler sisters...I mean the Duggar women, but no Peggy, I mean, Jill. Jana was also not invited even though she's done the most parenting out of anyone. I'm not impressed with the guys. I'm sure the producers bought all the crap. The guys just showed up and performed for the show. Joe doesn't even understand simple measurements. But it was amusing to see the mud masks they made that ended up burning the skin off Kendra's mom's face. Lauren didn't participate in the face masking. She blamed her nausea. Yeah, right. Michelle also chickened out. I guess she didn't want to ruin her 1980s makeup. They talk about birthing babies which caused the look on Abbie's face in the photo and shared parenting tips which also cause that look on Abbie's face. Michelle thinks a regression in potty training could be disobedience. I wonder how many potty training kids she beat. Some of the guys babysit their own children at Ben and Jessa's house during the mommy party. The kids all start singing, "Who lives who dies who tells our story?" as fumbling dads attempt to keep them alive. I don't know, kids, but I'm turning you off to go watch Hamilton for the 25th time. I'm not throwing away my shot because I have to go to work tomorrow and be a real person not a reality person.

#Duggars

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of " Duggars in Quarantine" and "La La Land"

Aired July 7, 2020

1. The Duggars are in quarantine with the rest of us schlubs and are finding it difficult to adjust. They are bored, having a hard time ordering groceries, and are stuck inside with those children they insisted on having in a freakin' rush. I bet there were some regrets in the early days of the pandemic from the young women concerning shunning birth control and college for motherhood.

2. If Ben and Jessa say "season" one more time!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeremy and Ben are trying to study from home with their little blessings but are struggling. Michelle can't remember how many people are living at the tin mansion but it's definitely over the ten people maximum. Jeer is seen in the tin mansion and then later hunkering down with Jed in their house so I don't believe they even know where their kids live from moment to moment. Jana lost track of them years ago. Michelle sympathizes with the fact that most of the world is now homeschooling and admits it's a struggle. Ben is still tutoring the kids over video chat but Johannah admits it's hard to pay attention. Josie and Michelle make disinfecting wipes and clean the nasty kitchen. Jim Bob does nothing.

3. John and Abbie are just hanging around their ugly trailer house planting a survivalist garden. I know these kids like to start small and save up and hopefully buy a bigger place with cash but John had years to save up. Why is he shacking up with Abby and his baby in that tornado target rust bucket?

4. Jana and her gal pal, Laura, attempt to teach the younger sisters how to watercolor paint. Josie has a hard time following Jana's directions on how to use the paints. She has her own ideas. She is eventually kicked out of the painting session for poor behavior. I talked to my source about Josie's behavior and she said she was surprised Josie behaved as well as she did for Jana. That she must have been bribed because Josie is typically very "rude and disrespectful much of the time." I guess even more so than seen on TV. My source isn't aware of any cognitive issues with Josie. Maybe it's just youngest child syndrome. The Duggars use this scene to discuss patience during quarantine. I had tons of patience. My class got to spend all day with their parents while I stayed home and lowered my blood pressure.

5. Family Fun Night is now being held via zoom. They play a Duggar trivia game and of course Ben and Jessa win. They're the killer competitive ones. Jinger looks like she didn't want to participate. She can barely crack a smile. And Jed and Jeer announce they're not courting or expecting. Thank goodness! Derick would be tweeting up a storm if they were.

6. Rewind to eight months earlier. Jinger and Jeremy are moving to California...STILL! In this episode they finally arrive. But first they make some weird stops. Ben shaves his beard and then plays a trick on his kids to see if they recognize him. They don't which shows how easily Ben can be replaced.

7. The Vuolos stop in Roswell to see an alien museum. The Duggars think the producer is ridiculous to ask them if they believe in aliens. They might want to read up on the Founding Fathers' beliefs in alien life. Especially George Washington. I'm always amazed that so-called religious people put God in such a small box. Anyway, John thinks aliens have only been spotted in New Mexico and Abbie says she feels like an alien sometimes. Please tell, Abbie. Spill some tea.

8. Joy goes into the specifics of her stillbirth and shows her baby's burial site at the Forsyth camp. Joe and Kendra buy a new stroller. Jeremy jumps off a building in Las Vegas. Most of the Duggar kidults don't know who Elvis was which is sad beyond belief. Somebody post some Elvis videos on the Duggars' facebook pages.The Vuolos make it to LA and move into their free church owned million dollar house. Abbie and John have a gender reveal party which includes a plane of course. It's a girl but she'll decide later if that is her real identity or not. Maybe she'll happily end up being an alien Elvis impersonator. God works in mysterious ways.

#Duggars #Countingon #Plzstop #Duggarfamily

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Kendra's Got a Secret"

Season 10, Episode 4 November 5, 2019

"Kendra surprises Joe when she finds out she's expecting baby #2; Jessa recruits her brothers to build a deck for her house before the new baby's arrival." It appears that the new baby will be sleeping on the deck.

I'm gonna shorthand this recrap. Crap is the theme of this episode. Let's pull off this band aid quickly and get back to real life.

1. Kendra is cooking and Garrett is pooping. He leaked josh all out of his diaper while sitting in a bouncy seat on the kitchen counter. Kendra changes him but leaves the soiled bouncy seat sitting near her cooking area. So that's the secret ingredient in tater tot casserole! She calls Joe who is barely working at the family's car lot. It's 2:00 pm and she wants him home for dinner. This is the car lot that Jed claims to own and which sits on land where Pastor Caldwell or Josiah live. Both their names show up in the address search. Anyhoo, it's basically a job supplied by Jim Bob to keep his sons away from the general public. He doesn't want his kids to be working for anyone other than himself…that is unless it's a hate group based in Washington, DC. Kendra has prepared a bowl that has a sticker on the bottom that says she's expecting. She fills that bowl with ice cream and waits for him to read the "surprise" message while I hope for Joe to choke on it. Joe is the most boring vanilla guy around so him eating plain vanilla ice cream was perfection. He only breaks out of his grumpy looking monotone after he finally reads the message. He seems happy and Kendra tells him she's five weeks along. Poor Garrett seems sick as a dog with a horrible cough and glassy eyes but he's ignored as they continue eating ice cream and piling on the children.

2. Ben and Jessa hire some of the other Duggar boys to build a deck onto their house. This is the other Duggar family business owned and managed by Jim Bob. They volunteer to watch Spud as Ben and Jessa take Hank to the doctor. Spud is as overwhelmed by his big family as most people are. He says his daddy is his favorite uncle and can't remember the names of his real uncles. Hank is headed to the ENT due to his lack of speech. It's nice to see the Duggars show concern about a child's development and actually go to a professional for advice. It's also nice to hear they fixed his tongue tie when he was an infant. These people actually do see doctors!!! Hank just turned two when this was filmed and doesn't have much to say yet. He's probably fine. I had a friend whose two year old wasn't talking and she was all worried and a few years later he was singing on Broadway. He was also a second child like Hank. Actually, I have seen this a lot with second children. I'm sure Hank will be reciting Bible verses and retelling hero Trump stories to the kids at the park in no time but in the meantime he will be seeing a speech pathologist.

3. Jinger and Felicity exercise. They drove all the way to San Antonio from Laredo to participate in a Stroller Strive class? Jinger is the only mom there who is exercising in thick leggings and a skirt. Felicity seemed embarrassed. What was the purpose of this short scene? To convince women that they need to remain in shape for their husbands? Total crap!

4. Spud was able to sneak away from the daddy's boys long enough to eat two ice cream sandwiches in the house. Thank God he was eating junk and not sitting in the middle of the nearby highway when they found him. Then Jed decides to bring Spud outside in order to keep a better eye on him. Great idea, idiot! Spud safely stands near the table saw blade and announces he has a poopy josh filled diaper. None of the daddy's boys want to help out this little kid so they end up calling Jessa to find out where she is. I'm guessing if Jessa wasn't available they would have called 911. Jessa gets home and defends her lame brothers, but coming from her family where sexual abuse has occurred, I can see her being happy that her brothers didn't change him. Ben gets joshed on by a bird and heads in for a shower leaving heavily pregnant Jessa with the sugared up poopy toddler. Men! Later they have a weird gender guessing party at Jessa's house. Lots of Duggars squeeze into the little house to play a game and try to guess the sex of Jessa's next baby. After the game Jessa opens the floor to anyone who has an announcement to make. I was hoping Jana had something to announce, like getting her own apartment, but instead Joe announces they're expecting again. They had baby Addison last week. These episodes are getting so far behind that by the time we see Spud finally potty trained he'll be graduating from homeschool in real time.

#Duggars countingon Poop

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Count Your Blessings" Season 10, Episode 3 October 29, 2019 "John and Abbie finish their winter honeymoon in Finland. Jinger flies to Arkansas after Grandma Duggar's health declines. Meanwhile, Lauren opens up about her struggles with grief and depression. Later, Jessa and Ben find out the gender of Baby #3." TV Guide Online I won't be using the couple's nicknames much anymore because there are so many of them now that some people are getting confused as to who I'm talking about. Sad day. But I will keep Turdanna. I'm pretty sure most of us know who the turd in the family is. 1. The show opens up with some sort of intervention. Michelle and Lauren's mom have come over to Lauren's house to discuss her short-lived pregnancy. Lauren miscarried at four or five weeks. Lauren and Michelle both gave their unknown gender miscarriages boy names. It makes me wonder why they both decided the babies should be thought of as boys. Does it bring them more honor to think they lost a son instead of a daughter? I wonder. I won't go into Lauren's grieving too much here. There is a lot of emotion around it from those who think her grieving is totally ridiculous to those who have grieved just as much as she has. Since this was filmed, Lauren fell pregnant again and is due any day now and Joy lost her baby at 20 weeks. Joy doesn't seem to be publicly dwelling in grief as Lauren has. I guess we all do grieve differently. But Lauren's comments about being so depressed she didn't know how she was going to go on with life are concerning. A little grief therapy may be good for her even now. 2. John and Abbie take an overnight train to Lapland and discover that the Duggar prayer closet was larger than their sleeping compartment. Faced with cramped bunk beds John just stares at the bottom bunk and thinks it fine for two people. I'm sure he had fun that night. I'm not sure the passengers next door did. 3. Jinger and Felicity are in Arkansas, she says, to visit with grandma who has had a couple of strokes. First she stops at Jessa's house to catch up and Kendra and Garrett joins them. They talk babies and acne and not much else. 4. Back to John and Abbie. They survived their cramped train ride and ended up at a glass blowing place. We get blessed with a repeat clip of Jim Bob and Michelle on their glass blowing expedition when they accidentally made a sex toy. At the end of the segment they show off their glass souvenirs and Abby says they'll enjoy them until their kids break them. She is a realist. 5. Jinger meets up with grandma at Kendra's home. Grandma had a stroke just after Christmas last year and then another two weeks later. They say her blood pressure is now being regulated with medicine and she has gotten most of her speech back. Jim Bob calls his mom a good role model in business and in the Lord. It makes me wish he'd allow his own daughters the freedom to work and start their own businesses. Grandma talks about life being like vapor, here today, gone tomorrow. She looks very frail and it still makes me wonder why she was at the pool by herself that fateful day when she drowned. When asked to describe their grandma in one word most of the kids had nice answers but Josiah went way past one word and gave a narcissistic answer about how grandma made him the man he is today. Who is Josiah today? I'm not sure. Why does Josiah remind me of a junior Josh? 6. Abbie and John again. They are now staying at an ice hotel. They are shown the ice dining area which gives them the excuse to tell some foreign dude about mama and pops having 19 kids. This same scene happens in all the kids' honeymoons. Jim Bob must remind each kid that in exchange for the all paid trip they have to tell innocent strangers about pop's favorite hobby and mama's fertility. The honeymooners are shown their bed inside the igloo and I wonder how sex sounds reverberate off of ice. Can high pitched squealing break the ice like a wine glass? Some things I just need to know. They survive the night and then head out to snowmobile the next day. Right off they run into an accident and go to check out the scene. A snowmobiler ran into a tree. Nurse Abbie and first responder John weren't needed to help so they moved on. Later they smooch on a hill and say it's time to head back home. Time to warm up the nuts. 7. Jessa and Ben are heading to another ultrasound store, not a doctor, to learn the sex of her baby. Jinger, Jana and Anna are going too. They say they want to learn the sex but keep it secret from most of the family. The secret is out. She had a girl five months ago. Why can't these people ever find out the sex from a doctor during a typical prenatal appointment? Do these people get any prenatal care at all? We have yet to see proof of this yet. Spud looks at the ultrasound and sadly says, "I wanted to see a movie." Me too, Spud. Me too. They announce the sex secretly but Spud does hear even though they were just talking about him not knowing because he's a blabbermouth. I hope he used this knowledge to bribe his parents in some way. Spud,"Let me watch the Superman movie or I'll tell Meredith you're having a girl and then I'll bite her!"

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "The Vuolos Take LA" Season 10, Episode 2 October 22, 2019 "Jinger and Jeremy explore L.A. with new friends. While hiking, Jinger discusses her decision to wear pants, which is unusual for Duggar women. The Duggar boys' road trip could be the last time they're all together before one of them starts a new courtship." TV Guide Online This will be a review in three parts; 1. The Gospel of Jinger: Thou Shalt Not Follow Your Parents' Pants Shunning Legalistic Ways 2. The Gospel of John and Abbie: Conservatives Visit Reindeer and Socialism and Survive 3. The Gospel of The J Boys: Thou Shalt Not Buy Lemons & Try To Pass It Off As Lemonade 1. JinJer and Lissy are visiting LA and decide to take a hike up to the Hollywood sign. Why two conservative evangelicals want to see the sign is beyond me. My suspicion is that they plan to stake out the location with the hope of one day altering the sign. If the HOLLYWOOD sign changes to JESUSWOOD overnight we'll know who is responsible. They somehow got special permission to actually walk down to the big letters. I guess the city saw this opportunity as good advertising. If they didn't get permission JinJer may want to lay low for awhile. If the city doesn't bust them child welfare might after watching Jeremy stumbling down the mountain with a baby strapped to his chest. Jinger explains she decided to wear pants for the hike due to the steep terrain. What? That didn't stop her before when hiking mountains in a skirt and flip flops. One of the Duggars most often used phrases is a Duggar girl can do anything in a skirt. Jinger explains about her pants wearing that her parents taught her "To honor Christ in everything that we do and that is where the Lord has led me, as of now." Sooooo, the Lord told her she could wear pants? I'm confused. She also says, with Michelle sitting by her side, that her parents instilled in them the importance of modesty and she appreciates that training…yet Lissy wears pants. She doesn't find that foundation important for her own daughter? Michelle is asked by the producer why she decided to wear only skirts and dresses. She goes right to blaming herself which isn't the true reason. The real reason is that she fell in with hardcore legalistic church people who put false biblical beliefs into her head. Beliefs that blame women for the actions of others. She said she had a lot of baggage in her life like wearing a bikini while mowing the lawn as a teen which she feels may have caused some men to have bad thoughts. Michelle, you aren't responsible for others thoughts. Wearing a bikini while mowing the lawn is bad for so many reasons but not because your body is shameful or hurting others. It's bad because rocks and sticks and dog poop may fly into places you wouldn't want them flying. Oh, and she also claims the Bible says for women to not wear what men wear. As I've said before, why would God give a darn what people are wearing? That passage seems more men sponsored than spiritually inspired. You really need to learn to read between the lines to find true inspiration in the Bible. You'd think they would have figured that out by now. Jinger says she discussed with her parents about wearing pants before she decided to rebel against her mother's convictions. Michelle says she's okay with it as long as they walk with God and continue to be modest. So I guess short shorts might be a cause for shunning? Anyway, as they talk about walking with God, scenes of Jeremy with baby and jeans wearing Jinger are being shown as they walk/fall with God down the side of a mountain to the Hollywood sign. Michelle seems a little resigned that she can't keep dressing Jinger in prairie dresses anymore and is just glad that her kids will at least walk in truth which does her mama's heart good. In other words, "Wear your stinkin' jeans! Just don't become an atheist or a Catholic!!!" Later, JinJer meet up with that Cade hair guy and his future wife to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I discover from Jeremy that Alice Cooper is now a Christian and Jeremy fan boys all over the Backstreet Boys. The producers ask various Duggars on the couch who their favorite Backstreet Boy is and most of them don't know and just laugh about it. They've learned to take these questions that exploit their ignorance lightly. But I can't blame them for being ignorant on this one. I couldn't name a Backstreet Boy or any of their songs either. Boy bands were never my thing. After a hedonistic walk through Venice Beach, (They walked passed a tattoo parlor. Gasp!) Lissy gets to see the ocean for the first time and then is proselytized to by the hair guy who sings Amazing Grace. Why the heck didn't he sing a Backstreet Boys song? 2. John and Abbie decide to flee the winter in Arkansas and fly to the even more winter of Finland for their honeymoon. John says the typical Duggar line of saying that marriage is great because there are no more chaperones watching your every move. Ummm, I recall that they didn't use chaperones during their courtship. They said they were too mature for that hence the photo of them alone in Walmart where John allegedly smacked unmarried Abbie in the arse. These people are raised on so many family talking points that they can't remember what their reality is. John and Abbie play with reindeer in the snow. Smart Abbie decided to wear snow pants instead of following Michelle's lead of snow skirts. Abbie is a walk in truth pants wearer and thankfully John is okay with that. Later they visit a Greek Orthodox church where they take selfies on the steps but don't go inside. They were there either to try to show the world that they don't hate other types of Christians or they passed out tracts on the steps that announced Greek Orthodox believers were hellbound. Probably a bit of both, I guess. 3. Jed, Jeer, James, Justin and Jason are in Philly to pick up three used limo lemons to sell at their car lot. Jed is wearing a dress shirt with large pictures of cars all over it. They seriously make those in men's sizes? They need to drive the cars 20 hours back home and they leave without test driving the vehicles. Smrt! These five goofy guys with walkie talkies drive out onto the highway announcing, "Jed is president, Jeer is vice and I'm (Jason) is speaker of the house." That must be a little peek into the conversations being held around the Duggar dining room table these days about their future. (giggle) Of course the five daddy owned stooges run into car problems pretty quickly. As they stand along the side of the highway with a camera crew the boys discuss their car problems and their decision to wear skirts. As long as you walk in truth, boys. After driving way too long they decided to stop in an RV park without an RV. They plan on sleeping in the limos though they don't show that and I bet they actually found a nice motel nearby. The boys talk about someday settling down and for some reason they think if they get married they won't be able to hang out and go on road trips anymore. It's all just blah, blah, blah talk just so they can bring up personal beliefs again as is their mission for the show of which none of them are paid. They need to spread the word of DugGod in each episode because saying it once isn't enough. All the family on the holy couch chime in with their views, I mean, Duggar views, on courtship and marriage in this very long boring segment that we've seen way too often. Why is TLC allowing them to proselytize without giving equal time to other beliefs? Jana is again put in that uncomfortable hot seat of having to defend her singleness. She says at least she can still go on family trips which her married siblings can't…except Josh. Josh and his clan go on most of those family trips for some reason. Jana claims to never have been in a courtship before despite reports of her mentioning relationships. I guess technically she can call her one relationship that I know about a "promise". She was promised to a guy named Andrew but he broke off that relationship because he just wasn't ready to settle down. Since her family is probably looking for someone within their cult to marry Jana, somebody her age and financially stable, Jana may be waiting for a very long time. That is a very limited pool of guys unless they want to take a chance and go outside the cult again and then all of a sudden BOOM! Jana is sporting jeans and is living in a city. How much more can Michelle's mama's heart take. Next week, John and Abbie head to Lapland in an attempt to use natural birth control to freeze their reproductive systems limiting the size of their family. Science, you know.

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Who's the Most Romantic?" Season 10, Episode 1 October 15, 2019 "Jinger and Jeremy go house hunting in L.A. but real estate is pricey and with small square footage. (They did not show them house hunting) Meanwhile in Arkansas, the family is going camping. (Nobody went camping) Later at dinner, one couple makes a special announcement. (There was no special announcement)." Looks like this description was written by Trump. All lies! They're back! Who wants romance and life lessons from the Duggars? Well, this is the show for you if you do. If not, you may want to just watch a movie instead. Cujo was on today. Now the theme of that movie would be a hot date for one of the Duggars. Trapped in a hot car for hours, steaming up the windows and writhing in agony. I can see them all enjoying that scenario. 1. The Duggar couples arrive at the big house to drop off their kids for Grandma and Grandpa Babysitting Services, LLC. Spud wants "mollypops" from grandma and Hank seems scared of grandpa. He must be afraid Jim Bob is going to steal his piggy bank. Joe and Kendra arrive with Garrett and then Josiah and his sad sack wife arrive. I'm sorry but to hear Lauren again go into her sad swan song about losing a fetus at only 5 or 6 weeks is really really getting old. TLC needs to edit her out until she can get help. Unfortunately, the description for episode three seems to focus on her depression and grief yet again. Why TLC, why?! Is exploiting a depressed woman worth the money? 2. A stupid romance competition has Abbie and John, Ben and Jessa, Joe and Kendra and Josiah and Sad Sack Lauren, competing. They can only spend $60 and Jim Banks and Michelle gave the couples some prepared questions to chat about on their dates. I'm guessing Skim Bob thought of this adventure as a way to get him and Michelle some air time. I hope one of the babies pooped on him. 3. Joe and Kendra take off in their car for a flip the penny date. They flip a penny to see which way to go and they first end up on a dead end dirt road and then conveniently to a gazebo in town. Ben and Jessa end up on my dream date at a chocolate factory. Lucy and Ethel fill bon bons as the producer does one of his dumb talking head questions. He asks each couple, "If your spouse was a bon bon, what flavor would they be?" Ha! I still love Abbie! Her flavor for John is "Fruity". Who invited Jail Bob and Michelle to the couch?! Anyway, he called Michelle "Cream" flavored. Barf! Si and Sad Sack head to Austin's parents' place to start a fire and ride horses because they're cheap. John and Abbie claim to be thinking outside the box by hopping onto one of the Duggars' planes for their date. I'm pretty sure 99% of us figured their date would have something to do with a plane. No outside the box thinking happening here. 4. Meanwhile, Jinger and Jeremy are in LA exploring the city. They are planning to move there but the traffic seems to be annoying them. Good luck with that. 5. Back at the penitentiary, the grandkids are keeping Scrooge and Michelle busy. The producer asks them to name all their grandkids in birth order but they get several wrong in the birth order and completely forget about Felicity for awhile. Michelle, who again seems high on something, admits, "I don't know their names very well but I know their faces." I think she just failed grandma status. "Fun grandpa" Jim Crook is running around outside with the kids which includes his homeless grandchildren, Josh and Anna's kids. The five Turdanna kids are living at the big house again with their parents. It seems things aren't going too well for them. Fun grandpa looks less fun after Spud and Meredith start biting the crap out of each other. After breaking up the zombie attack the kids go inside to cry it out and blame each other. Jim Rod says if it was his kids he would have tried to resolve it and from the look on his face I think he was talking about resolving it with a rod or those hot glue sticks they use for beating kids. But since they're not his kids, thank God, he's just going to tell their parents. Maybe their parents will just have them sit quietly on a blanket for a few hours. 6. Josiah and Lauren are having a hard time with their horses. Just like life, horses can be unpredictable. They must have tried to "save" the white horse because she was giving Josiah a piece of her mind by nearly bucking him off. Jessa and Ben and John and Abbie talk about finances in response to one of the prepared questions. They all seem to worry a bit about money but if they got Scrooge McDick to cut them in on the TLC contracts I'm sure there would be more nice steak dinner date nights and less Tacos from a truck. On the question about showing affection, Jessa and Ben and Josiah and Lauren seem to have little spark for each other. Jessa and Ben seem to need some marriage counseling. Their affection seems forced. Josiah and Lauren seem confused on what to do with each other. John and Abbie and Joe and Kendra seem pretty comfortable with each other and hopefully do enjoy their marriage. It must suck to be in an incompatible marriage with no way out. 7. Back at the big house the couples reunite to get some inane awards for their unremarkable dating adventures. Somehow Joe and Kendra and their rainy gazebo date won the most romantic award. They all also won a marriage retreat from Michelle and Miser Jim which I'm sure was held at Fort Rock, Austin's parents' place. They often go on retreats there. I bet the retreat's speaker will be some hypocritical closeted gay dude who spends way too much time with his pool boy. Typical conservative speaker. I hope Stingy Bob gets to ride the opinionated white horse during the retreat because you know he isn't going to stay home and babysit the little zombies again. At least not when the cameras aren't on.

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Episode Recap of "A Baby Girl for Jessa"

First Aired: June 25, 2019

1. Jessa and Ben are chatting on the couch recalling how Jessa's water broke when her supposed midwife had just gone out of town. Jessa wasn't due for another 10 days. She claims to have planned on a birth center birth within the hospital with her midwife. I don't believe one bit of that story. She says their backup plan was to deliver at home with another midwife. The same midwife she has used before. I totally believe she was planning on using her midwife friend at  home again all along and made up the birth center bit to squelch the inevitable criticism. I'm sure a birth center midwife would have had a backup midwife available if needed. Jessa and Ben are just careless, stubborn numbskulls. Jessa did bleed out again and had to be rushed to the hospital. Since Jessa bled out before doesn't that make her pregnancy high risk? Isn't it illegal for a midwife to deliver a high risk pregnancy in the home? This whole birth stinks as usual.

2. Two hours after her water broke Jessa's labor isn't kicking in so under the advice of her questionable midwife and Jill she decided to make a castor oil smoothie and to do stair climbing at the Big House. TLC then puts up a warning about the castor oil saying you should contact a medical professional before using which Jessa did not. Jill and her very controversial midwife can not be considered professionals. Yes, Jill is back. After Derick has said many times he pulled his family off the show Jill is back. Jessa couldn't have called another friend or even Anna to come over to film her on their iPhone instead of Jill? Apparently the stair crunches and castor oil worked because now Jessa is having contractions or she's at least ready to poop.

3. Jessa drove a few miles to the big house to climb stairs and then back to her house to birth a baby. Why didn't they just keep driving to the hospital or at least to Walmart to deliver this baby? Walmart has a good history of delivering babies in the check out line. A better history than in a Duggar home. Jessa moans and groans as I down my traditional fistful of birth control pills and again has another couch baby. Little Ivy comes out screaming her head off. I just know she's a reincarnated feminist who just saw her doofus parents for the first time and realized what she was in for in this life. An image of big hairbows and an empty mind flashed before her angry little eyes.

4. Baby is born, Ben holds her without cracking a smile, and then it's decided that 911 needs to visit the Seewald home again for Jessa's excessive bleeding. At the hospital Jessa is given Pitocin but doesn't need a blood transfusion this time. Jana and Michelle were being flown from Tennessee by Josiah and Lauren but didn't make it in time. But Spud and Hank made it to the hospital to pick their noses over the spanking new baby. Michelle, Jana, Lauren and Josiah finally make it to the hospital room to see Jessa and all of them stand far back as if birthing a baby is some contagious disease or something.  Oh, it is for the Duggars. It's almost 10pm when they arrive. They could have driven faster than fly. Jana says it took them about 9 hours. Michelle doesn't even offer up a hug to her daughter. If the TLC crew were there I bet she would have been all huggy huggy. Later they facetime with Jessa's old buddies who she raised, Jeer and Jordyn, and tells them the sex and name of the baby. Where was Justin? He was a buddy too. Jeer and Jordyn go and break the news to everyone else on the plague bus.

5. I guess the only way Jessa will ever see a doctor is to have an emergency. She spends a night in the hospital and then is released the next day after a doctor gives the okay. She is still wearing the same dress she birthed in though Ben did get the chance to change his clothes. A couple of days later the hoard of Duggars arrives to fracture the foundation of the Seewald's tiny home. Grandma Duggar arrives which of course is sad because this will be her last living appearance on the show. She died two weeks later. Of course Jim Bob has to make everything about himself with his usual odd self-centered style of speech. Jordyn makes a joke about Ivy's name saying James won't hold her because he's allergic. Poor kid is going to be hearing that one forever because most of the Duggars are allergic to poison ivy. Maybe the next Seewald will be named Nausea Road due to the Duggars penchant for car sickness. That's about it. Another day another Duggar. I guess the regular series will start back in August. I'm sure you're all sitting on the edge of your couch expelling something in your excitement.

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Reposted here from my fb page in case John deletes his post and takes my response with it.

Anna's brother-in-law seems to be struggling in Zambia. What the heck does John want with this "righteousness of God" rhetoric? He seems to think that one idea is the only way to God. Are those the passages that make you walk on water and fly without a plane?

He's not happy with the work of the Southern Baptists or "baptists" as he puts it. He's also not  happy with the Independent Baptists and there seems to be a slam towards Catholics. Why blame others for the failings of a very divisive and confusing religion such as Christianity. Why pick one idea to focus on and ignore thousands of others.

If we truly want a unified worldwide Christian community how should we lay out that framework? My idea is that the main focus must be on the belief that Jesus was sent to spread the new good news. That the lessons Jesus taught are the foundations of Christianity and the OT is for historical/mythological reference only. No offense to Jews.  The lessons Jesus taught were to beware the false prophet, condemn the death penalty, the greedy, the liars and abusers. To serve (do good works for) the poor, the orphaned, the imprisoned, the sick. To tell others about God/Jesus but not in a loud boastful way but by leading through good example with patience and compassion. Those points are all a Christian needs in my opinion. They unite us all. They can bring peace.

Now if others choose to follow those core beliefs but also have ancient traditions or ceremonies or symbols or music or anything else to help with their worship then so be it. Those are secondary to the main purpose. As long as those secondary rituals don't hurt anyone, go for it.  

John's narrow view of what makes a Christian is a losing mission. It is so biased in putting down others and controlling what should be people's personal relationship with God that many will never fit into that tiny opening he's trying to create. Think big and inclusive, John. Not small and restrictive. God is big, man is small. We need to try and meet Him somewhere in the middle in order to progress.  

[dfnews]

A late episode recap of "A Bachelor No More"

Season 9, Episode 12  March 29, 2019

"John and Abbie's wedding is finally here and everyone is in full wedding-mode as they get ready for the big day. At the altar, the bride and groom share their first kiss in an unexpected way. Later, a family member has a very special announcement."

I'm going to go full Jill Rodrigues on this recap and ALL CAPS random words for your utter confusion. ENJOY!

1. John and Abbie are making UNITY candles in the Duggar guest house that Turdanna now live in. They recall how they met, the engagement, and how they are marrying after only SIX months after they met. And somehow this all led up to them making their own unity candle. Jenni brings old crayons to melt and suggests they use the fragrance of "laundry" in the candles. Would that be the smell of Tide or STAINED tighty whities? The producers give Duggar couples a SMELL challenge. I love how Ben just repeats everything Jessa says and Jed doesn't know what anchovies are and none of them recognizes cinnamon. Now why didn't they DO a pickle scent? They all would have gotten that one. That would also be the perfect smell for Jobbie's unity candle. John uses a BLOW torch to clean crayons out of a pot and Abbie sarcastically refers to John as her "genius fiance" and hopes he doesn't lose his eye BROWS.

2. Jana and Laura, Janaura, lead the packing of the tour bus for the wedding. They are determined to NOT forget anything probably because they fear being fired from the family if they do...hmmmm, good plan. They even packed two scissor lifts. I guess just in case one decides to not lift they have another GASSED up with VIAGRA to go. Jana feels a little in over her DIY head with such a huge hangar to decorate but they all enjoy talking about redneck ENGINEERING. Basically redneck engineering is fixing things with duct tape OR barbed wire or chewing gum, y'all. It's also what drives everyone's medical insurance premiums up.  

3. Lauriah practice singing a song for the wedding at home and then AGAIN talk about the miscarriage. Jessa chimes in as well about the miscarriage and grief. Tears ARE shed again. Are they going to recap this loss on every episode next season? We know it happened. What's the point of bringing it UP repeatedly?

4. At the Ada Baptist Church venue Janaura's cast of REDNECK engineers begin work on the stage. It's wedding rehearsal day. After some bickering about how to assemble the arbor...on stage...Jobbie arrive to check things out. They decide to go through with the wedding anyway.

5. People start arriving at the church. It's go day! Abbie doesn't want a first look THINGY. She wants JOHN to wait until she's walking the aisle til he sees her. Rebel! Jana is still working and looking stressed. Now she's trying to organize the FLOWERS and how to successfully hide Jill and Derick and Josh and Anna from the CAMERAS. This woman needs a vacation after this insanity. Jeremy offers to help and Laura gives him the job of vacuuming the processional aisle carpet. The vacuum leaves grease stains and Jinger tells Jeremy Laura is going to have him on his knees scrubbing that mess. How about Josh LICKS the grease stains off?

6. Renee Bleached Blonde Bridal is there to...I don't know why she's there, but the girls GET ready for photos. The guys have their photos done as well with the TURD kept on the far end so the camera could cut him out. I guess the sun glare effect costs too much to do it again. The photographer tells John to use his best Zoolander look and of course all the Duggars are BAFFLED by that pop culture reference. Jeremy is aware of the movie and Ben Stiller though. I hope he's catching Jinger up on pop culture. Her form of POP "dad" culture has made her ignorant in so many ways.  Some of the guys are preparing the DRONE to fly in during the ceremony as a PRANK. The drone will deliver the ring to best man Joe. They better HOPE God has a sense of humor with all the disrespect they show in a house of God.

7. The wedding begins and you know what happens here. There are songs, lame speeches, candles lit, a drone trying not to DECAPITATE anyone and a very creepy first kiss. The personally written vows were sweet and Abbie ended hers by calling John "SUGAR MUFFIN". The producer asks the other married couple to reenact Jobbie's first multiple kiss and they all seem very embarrassed. Benessa was fun to watch though as Jessa tried to BEAT Ben off of her.

8. The hangar recepTION is next up. They ate cake and breakfast foods and fought off the wind and FALLING decorations. Abbie thanks Jana before they get in the plane to fly away to wherever. Jana BEGS to go with them. That might have only happened in a dream though.

9. Now for the big SURPRISE in which the show has been teasing since the new season started. Actually, it isn't a surprise. Jessa's pregnant again. Wow. Who'd a THUNK. Maybe some people didn't read the headlines about this weeks ago. Anyway, Jessa told Jinger and Jeremy but the producers told the rest of the family. Now that is a surprise to see the announcement done for the family through a PRODUCER. Things are getting impersonal in Duggarland.

10. The Duggar couples are asked what they are looking forward to in the coming year. Joken says building a house and having NUMBER two. I guess they want to get AWAY from Duggarland. Lauriah also wants to expand their family. Joystin wants another one soon and see Gideon start walking. JinJer just wants to watch their current baby grow. In other words, pretty much the same OLD SHIT.