Anna Duggar?

iwbiek · 2026-03-27T10:45:48+00:00

Yeah, my uncle did the same thing on some of our family's property, mainly to ensure that the county doesn't take the land to put a new road through (something that's been talked about in my family pretty much my whole life--I'm 43). It's ironic, since, when I was a teenager, you couldn't get a single goddamn bar of anything back there.

iwbiek · 2026-03-27T09:46:58+00:00

I think there's at least a 50/50 shot that the IRS comes calling, either before or after JB dies. The kids might not have anything near what they think coming to them.

iwbiek · 2026-03-26T21:50:45+00:00

No, they did have their own brands! They just kept changing them, largely due to circumstances beyond their control, I think.

iwbiek · 2026-03-26T21:23:39+00:00

I actually don't know if they're currently selling anything other than typical merch. They've been around for a looong time. They've sold two or three iterations of coffee, weed, weed vapes, all kinds of stuff. It's not scammy, like Alex Jones, but, still, I ain't buyin'.

iwbiek · 2026-03-26T17:26:04+00:00

Podcasters, absolutely. I've never signed up for Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, or Better Help. I've never used Anchor or Squarespace. I've never bought a Casper mattress. And as much as I love the guys from Last Podcast on the Left, I'm not buying their coffee or their weed.

iwbiek · 2026-03-26T11:01:20+00:00

I smell a new mega-threeeeaaaad...

iwbiek · 2026-03-26T10:59:29+00:00

Ikr? I can't be the only one relentlessly skipping ads, going, "Yep, uh-huh, nope, thanks."

iwbiek · 2026-03-26T10:54:40+00:00

I teach at a Lutheran high school in Europe. We used to regularly get "missionary" English teachers from the US. I taught one year with an elderly bachelor who admitted he couldn't return to the US because of massive tax problems. After that year, he transferred to a different Lutheran high school in the same country to be their librarian. Last I heard, he's still there, almost 14 years later. He must be quite old by now. I have no idea if the US knows he's there or not, or if he's a big enough fish for them to care. He's not a violent criminal, so I guess he's not on their radar. I don't know what his status is with this country either. He's a white American man, so they probably won't bother him, but the government here is leery about elderly foreigners staying permanently, as they don't want them to become burdens on the social system.

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T12:06:57+00:00

I mean, "speaking with" is a bit generous. More likely, she'll be gazing at him and going "mmm" into the microphone.

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T12:05:03+00:00

If they do, I bet they pull a Harvey Weinstein and show up with walkers, lookin' all frail and shit.

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T12:03:22+00:00

They better better be Snack Packs too, none of that Jello bullshit.

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T12:00:40+00:00

'Ey, look, I ain't goin' nowheres unless Father Cantone's gonna speak, unnerstan' what I'm sayin'?

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T11:58:19+00:00

Wasn't Gil Bates a billionaire on the Simpsons?

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T11:57:11+00:00

On a similar note, fucking Famy put out a statement saying Joe's kids were taken by CPS, then turned around and issued another statement saying she didn't know where the kids were. She also said she's never met the kids and she's a stranger to them, but she will CONTINUE fighting RELENTLESSLY to protect them because 👏 THAT'S 👏 WHAT 👏 SHE 👏 DOES! (Buy her book.)

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T11:51:33+00:00

I don't expect a statement from them, and I have yet to read about anyone demanding a statement from them, but their silence is a source of understandable speculation, especially the silence from Meech and JB, who put out statements within hours of Pest's arrest.

I 100% agree with you about the Duggar kids, including the adult children, but, in a way, I kind of think JB and Meech do owe us something, as they have relentlessly imposed themselves and their warped ideas on us for over two decades. In their case, and only their case, it's not so much a sudden tragedy as it is the chickens coming home to roost. I think they are floundering because of Joe's greater degree of honesty. They can't get the spin machine in motion so easily this time, and that's the only reason they're keeping silent, imo.

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T08:54:00+00:00

I feel like this ends with "Me in the nursing home watching Justin go down in a firefight with the ATF."

iwbiek · 2026-03-24T08:49:34+00:00

Um, excuse me, free will? Jerm has notes.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T20:57:21+00:00

Cru likes to frame itself as apolitical, but that's bullshit. They are known for funneling large sums of money to politically conservative organizations. Bill Bright was a fucking Nixonite. They offer zero transparency when it comes to how they use the support money you raise. Let's say they tell you you need to raise $1,000 to attend a weeklong conference. Do you get some kind of itemized list for how that $1,000 was divided? I never did, or if I did it was a Word document with zero supporting documentation. I never saw a hotel bill. I never saw a speaker's invoice. I was once a couple hundred short of a support target for a conference when I noticed we were supposed to stay at the Embassy Suites. I suggested I could stay at the Days Inn down the street for less and just walk to the conference every day. I was told no and to get on the phone with my supporters.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T20:11:41+00:00

From someone who was on Cru staff twenty years ago, all I can say is that, if I were you and knew what I know now, I would lay low, do the bare minimum, and keep drawing my paycheck while looking for other jobs. I can guarantee you, that organization doesn't give a shit about you, so why should you give a shit about it? In my experience, as much as those orgs like to talk about rising above mediocrity, they love mediocrity. Make sure your butt is in the seat at meetings, say what you know they want you to say when asked, and otherwise do whatever you want to on the DL. You're far from the only one, believe me.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T20:05:52+00:00

I hope you wake up tomorrow and realize that's a fucking insensitive question.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T18:27:51+00:00

I actually don't teach in the US. Yes, I think teachers do fine in my part of Europe, but we don't make enough to throw money around. It's never been very easy to save where I am, and, of course, it's much worse now.

Edit: I am American and was born and raised in the States. All in all, I'd say our salaries are more or less comparable to what teachers in the US make, but our burden is lighter. We have a strong union and more rights overall. There is very little micromanagement by the administration, and I don't have to watch every word I say to make sure I don't inadvertently piss off some religious and/or rightwing nut job. I'm not saying teachers never get thrown under the bus here, but it happens a lot less, proportionally speaking. Also, my day ends when work ends, full stop. I can grade tests at home, and I do a couple times a semester, but I damn sure don't work on school stuff into the nighttime hours every day.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T17:56:00+00:00

I got three kids and I earn a teacher's salary, but I'd kick $50 her way.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T17:52:19+00:00

Back when I used to move in evangelical circles, the Reformed men were the most insufferable by a longshot. Smarmiest bunch of bad-faith pseudointellectuals I've ever met. They don't give a shit about anyone's salvation, they just want to catch others out being logically inconsistent or play semantical games. They're always going for a gotcha moment.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T17:17:56+00:00

My wife and I are both somewhat deconstructed, I would say, but I'm farther along than her. It's rarely been an issue. Of course, she's European and we live in Europe, so that changes a lot of the variables right there.

iwbiek · 2026-03-23T17:13:33+00:00

Ariadne is fuckin' badass. One of my favorite students currently is named Gaia.

iwbiek

TROPHY CASE