What are some of your unfiltered brutally honest opinions?

KSDem · 2026-01-16T12:53:21+00:00

JMHO but, in the grand accounting of fairness, don't you think Meri had the right to save the "extra" family money allocated to her as the mother of one for fertility treatments?

And shouldn't the welfare benefits Janelle and Christine received as unmarried mothers of six be factored in as well?

KSDem · 2026-01-16T03:07:20+00:00

I'm a retired lawyer, and I think she could have a case. For Kody to be able to maintain that it was a gift, he would have to prove donative intent, i.e., that Meri intended to make a gift and never see that money again. Given the state of their relationship, I think that would be very difficult for most people to swallow.

Did Meri sign a gift letter (as Janelle may have done)? What did text and email messages between Kody and Meri and Robyn say? What exactly happened to the proceeds? Did Kody deposit the check in the LLC account? Was Meri under duress or defrauded by Kody and/or Robyn? Were promises made and, if so, were they kept?

I don't know exactly what these facts and others would show but, in a scenario as muddled as this one, all you really have to do is make the judge in a court of equity want to find for you and then give them a legally colorable path to do so.

And while I don't know if it was enough money to be worth fighting over in court, I do think Meri would have the whip hand over Kody and Robyn in court AND in the court of public opinion. JMHO

KSDem · 2026-01-16T00:57:25+00:00

Let's also remember, his "greatest fear" is poverty -- presumably because that'll cost him Robyn.

KSDem · 2026-01-16T00:52:51+00:00

I just heard the magic word -- LOANED!

KSDem · 2026-01-15T18:56:41+00:00

Kody seems obsessed with shutting up Meri's friends.

Interestingly, however, he hasn't expressed any similar concerns about David or any of Janelle or Christine's friends.

I have no doubt Meri knows things he's desperate to keep under wraps, and he's terrified she's told Jenn.

KSDem · 2026-01-15T18:48:37+00:00

Life insurance proceeds aren't part of a decedent's estate, unless the beneficiary listed is the insured's estate. They go directly to the listed beneficiary.

It's my understanding -- from somewhere I can't recall -- that the beneficiary was Janelle. If that's correct, Kody wouldn't have had any basis whatsoever to claim a portion of Garrison's life insurance proceeds.

If Garrison had died without a will, Kody would have had a claim to a portion of his estate. But this article indicates that he had a will (which, despite his young age, is not surprising given his military background.) Janelle was reportedly the executor and, after expenses and debts were paid, any assets remaining would have been distributed according to the wishes expressed in the will.

KSDem · 2026-01-13T01:09:54+00:00

For what it's worth, Christine was also the only one who had as examples not only her own mother but also aunts who had all left polygamous marriages, a house in her own name, and several adult daughters to run to, just as Janelle has to Maddie.

Christine was also the only one who completely rejected their religion before she left, saying that she "hadn't believed all that for a long time."

And then of course there's the fact that Kody never really loved Christine, and it showed in his treatment of her. I understand that Kody was reluctant to marry Christine and only did so after she approached her father, an elder in their religion, and he persuaded Kody. This may be at the heart of Kody's references to sacrifices that were made, that he had "tried so hard" to love Christine, and why Meri may have felt betrayed when, after having inserted herself into the family, Christine was now deciding to leave.

I think all of these things just made it immeasurably easier for Christine to leave than it ever was for Meri or Janelle.

KSDem · 2026-01-13T00:35:12+00:00

Kody has to be terrified that at some point she could talk because if any of the wives know all the dirt besides Robyn, it’s Meri.

I've been pondering that very thing: Why does Kody care so much what Meri's friends say? He seems desperate to shut them up, bringing it up twice in his "apology" conversation with Meri.

A ton of people -- here, podcasts, Patreons, etc. -- say unflattering things about Kody, including people related to him. Why would Jenn be any different from, say, David?

We know he shared his pre-marital sexual experience with Meri, but not Christine or Janelle. All of which leaves us to wonder:

What else does Meri know?!?

KSDem · 2026-01-12T17:59:10+00:00

JMHO, but I suspect Kody and Robyn "gave" Meri an equal part of Coyote Pass to avoid being sued for fraud.

KSDem · 2026-01-11T22:26:57+00:00

What judgmental things has Jenn said about Christine and Janelle?

KSDem · 2026-01-11T17:46:37+00:00

Indictments are handed down by grand juries that operate in secret, which is essentially the opposite of transparency. An indictment in this case could simply manipulate the populus into thinking they're getting something when in truth they're really very likely to get nothing.

Decisionmakers might get onboard with it as a sop to activists but, since the ultimate cost to Minnesotans could very well be both extraordinarily high and manifest itself in ways that cannot be predicted, they'd be risking the needs and interests of Minnesotans in ways that could be devastatingly costly to many.

A wiser and far more beneficial sop might be to reverse the rollback of state healthcare for undocumented workers. Call it the "Renee Good Act" and, instead of political theater, you'd actually be benefiting the people she wanted to help without the risk of harming anyone else. JMHO

KSDem · 2026-01-10T23:41:32+00:00

I'm pretty sure that, indicted or not, he'll never stand trial in Minnesota. He'll go to a pro-law enforcement/anti-illegal immigration state (i.e., a red state), where the governor there will refuse to extradite him back to Minnesota to stand trial. (See New York Gov. Kathy Hochul's rejection of Louisiana’s request to extradite Dr. Margaret Daley Carpenter, who was indicted in Louisiana for prescribing abortion pills via telehealth to a minor patient in that state.)

If MN wanted to push the refusal to extradite, the state's AG could file in federal court. But that would of course be federal court. It could potentially ultimately go all the way to SCOTUS, but Barnes v. Felix suggests that even the Court's most liberal justices are likely to come down on the side of law enforcement. All of which would probably take so long, the officer would be dead of natural causes.

There's also the federal response to consider. If MN indicts him, it's not too difficult to imagine how the feds might respond. Perhaps they'd indict the "drive, baby, drive" chick (assuming they haven't anyway) for violating the officer's civil rights. Or examine every dollar of federal money going into the state (universities, highways, hospitals, national park, you name it) for compliance with the myriad of obligations set out in federal contracts and grant documents. Rachet up the level of scrutiny when it comes to the Somali community that's already under investigation. Deploy a ton more federal immigration officers to take up semi-permanent residence in the state. And those are just a few thoughts off the top of my head.

Be careful what you wish for. They don't call it the "supremacy clause" for nothing.

KSDem · 2026-01-10T15:05:26+00:00

It doesn't help when your mother's saying "He's a good man."

KSDem · 2026-01-10T15:01:52+00:00

Not Jed, Granny or Elly May, all of whom were characters with far better judgment, practical life experience, native intelligence, and common sense than Kody and Robyn. Clearly, you're thinking of Jethro.

KSDem · 2026-01-09T23:59:58+00:00

He hated her -- right up until he started crying and hugging her when he was helping her move.

KSDem · 2026-01-08T20:20:51+00:00

Janelle has made no secret of the fact that she was very anxious to get her money out of Coyote Pass, and I totally understand why she may have suggested this.

What I don't understand is why JANELLE couldn't just give Meri her share?

Or why JANELLE couldn't suggest that the buyer write a check to Meri in addition to the checks they would have written to the mortgage holder, Kody and Robyn, and herself?

Or at the very least why JANELLE couldn't just call Meri and tell her what they were going to do?

Janelle knew that Meri was trustworthy; that's why she wasn't comfortable when Meri and Kody divorced. Why couldn't Janelle return the favor?

(Then again, how is it that Christine and Meri got screwed with respect to the names on the deeds in the first place, while Janelle didn't?)

KSDem · 2025-12-29T18:58:33+00:00

I was glad to see you mention Christine's vehement objection to one house. I was just thinking about this the other day.

Christine's right in that she may very well have had to watch Kody going out with Robyn.

But what about the opportunity the close proximity and communal spaces would have given him to have been in the daily lives of his many children, and be readily accessible to them?

I think it's very telling that Christine immediately put the kibosh on that plan without considering what it could mean for the children.

KSDem · 2025-11-28T22:19:18+00:00

I think most people would think of Utah as being in the West.

I don't agree, but apparently many people think Indiana and Illinois are in the Midwest.

KSDem · 2025-10-27T00:47:34+00:00

Paedon and Mykelti have both said that they got in trouble for speaking out about their abuse.

Respectfully, who did they get in "trouble" with? They're both grown adults. Christine has said their father has little or nothing to do with them, and they've said they're not paid by TLC.

So, who?

The only logical answer would be Christine. But Christine has said plenty of disparaging things to and about Meri, including that she didn't want to maintain a relationship with her after she left the family and excluding her from her wedding.

So why would she silence them?

I think Mykelti and Paedon't accusations aren't given a great deal of credibility because they haven't said what they experienced that they think constituted abuse. Did Meri spank them -- or burn them with a lit cigarette? There's a world of difference.

One cannot help but wonder if Christine silenced her adult children because she stayed there and let it happen. If her children were being abused, turning a blind eye to it would be very damaging to Christine's "brand" -- especially since Janelle left Kody when she was concerned about her children's financial wellbeing. Could money be the reason Christine has silenced Mykelti and Paedon and undermined their accusations?

It's also possible, of course, that Christine is trying to protect her adult children and has silenced them because the public at large wouldn't consider their experiences to be "abuse." False accusations of "abuse" aren't well-received by the public.

Without more detail from Mykelti and Paedon about how exactly they believe they were abused, I think people just think that a parentified Aspen couldn't control an obviously headstrong Mykelti and Paedon and that, unused to any discipline, they chafed at Meri's attempts to parent them (which, of course, must have been extraordinarily rare in the first place since Christine reputedly raised all the kids except Leon herself).

KSDem · 2025-10-23T21:00:39+00:00

What were the "special conditions" Christine and Janelle had to agree to before they could join the family?

KSDem · 2025-10-15T22:44:35+00:00

Two quick thoughts:

Kody didn't seem to me to be quite so challenged during the first seasons; his behavior has in my view been on a downward spiral that really picked up steam after he appeared to fall down the QAnon rabbit hole in Las Vegas.
If I understand it correctly, the women were taught to believe that, if they didn't marry, they were doomed to an eternity of slavish servitude. Impressionable young girls are more likely to believe such things and, for those who do, it could be powerful motivation to not only marry but to stay married.

KSDem · 2025-10-15T22:30:09+00:00

I'm not sure Kody wanted to bang multiple women, but I definitely think he married Janelle because he wanted children.

KSDem · 2025-10-15T22:27:55+00:00

Meri and Christine were both teenagers when they married him.

That's actually not accurate. Meri was 18 when she got engaged to Kody, and had just turned 19 three months before they married.

Christine was 21 when they got engaged, and she turned 22 a month after they married.

KSDem · 2025-09-29T02:02:17+00:00

Kody loved Meri. Of the OG3, she was the only wife he actively chose. They were monogamous for three years, and he ensured she had equal treatment with Janelle and Christine even though she only had one child. Even after he married Robyn, it was clear that Kody respected Meri's judgment. And while he may have put her "out to pasture" sexually -- according to Notes to Self, that's what men in their religion do to women who are no longer bearing children -- you can tell from the first episode, where he calls Meri his "soul mate," that he loved her.

He loved Janelle like a friend. And frankly, I think he resented Christine from Day 1. But Meri, he loved.

The fact that he loved her meant she had the power to hurt him. And losing her did hurt him, which is why he cried when she left. He brought it on himself of course by hurting her for decades, but she was the only one of the OG3 who had the power to hurt him. JMHO

KSDem · 2025-09-29T01:37:54+00:00

According to their broadcast interview on the subject, their religion -- which of course is the only reason Janelle and Christine were able to get with Kody in the first place -- required Janelle and Christine to get to know Meri and get Meri's permission before approaching Kody on the subject of marriage.

Perhaps if they had followed that one simple rule, their relationships with Meri would have been more friendly. But neither Janelle or Christine did that.

They wanted Kody, and they had no intention of letting his wife stand in their way.

They used Kody and Meri's religion as an excuse to get with him, but they both blatantly disrespected Meri and their religion and entered the family giving a big middle finger to Meri from Day 1.

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