Scandal Fallout - MEGA MERGE

[DGayle]

If Amy reads this blog and knew about what Josh did, she should have freed Jinger (and Jana and Jessa, and Jill, and soon to be 18 Joy) long ago.

She couldn't do anything if they wouldn't go, and if she was the 5th victim, she might have been in denial herself.

[DGayle]

2. Letter writer - who was compelled enough to write a letter and stick it in the book. Did they know it would eventually leave the house that way? Why were they unable to tell the authorities themselves? Was it really a "family friend" who wrote it, or did one of the kids write it?

I understand is at a family friend borrowed a book, and lent it to someone else, and that other person found a piece of paper with notes, like the kind somebody might take when listening to somebody else listing off the stuff they did. It was probably JB or M, and that paper was forgotten.

I don't care to know specifically who they are, but I hope the universe rains happiness and joy on the person who alerted Harpo and the person at Harpo who made that call to make the report.

We had a member here, Blisterine, who had info. An old friend worked at the show, and told her about this. At the time, other members here called her out for flaming rumors and insisting she couldn't be telling the truth. Only now, everything she said has been proven true in the last few days. I've messaged her, and hope she'll come back now.

[DuggaredOut]

It would be interesting to know who in their circle was aware of this. If Boob really did talk to the church elders (whoever they are) about this, then you can expect that lots of people knew about it. Same goes for Joshs trips to Gothards camps. We don't know what really goes on behind to scenes, since they are always forced to "keep sweet" for the public, but there is probably lots of bad blood and conflict potential.

Indeed. From the letter to Oprah: "They [the Duggars] are not what they seem to be. [Redacted] has molested [redacted] while [redacted] were sleeping and the parents have been hiding this secret for a long time. Jim Bob lies to his church and his friends to make him look good. At this moment he is in trouble with the church for lying about [redacted] and things that concern the way the church members reacted...They have been on TV before and come across as a perfect family, which couldn't be further from the truth. They jump from show to show to receive gifts for their family and to make them look really good to [sic]."

So if the letter writer is to be believed, then yes, lots of people knew and were upset. I wonder if that's why the Duggars withdrew to their own home church. (I don't know too much about the history of how and when their home church started.)

[Kak]

I was wondering that too. Are the TLC cameras still there? At what point did they leave? If there was a plan to whitewash this somehow the cameras could have been at the house throughout. The fact that the show hasn't yet been formally cancelled makes me go hmmm.

[VictoriaLucas]

I understand is at a family friend borrowed a book, and lent it to someone else, and that other person found a piece of paper with notes, like the kind somebody might take when listening to somebody else listing off the stuff they did. It was probably JB or M, and that paper was forgotten.

We had a member here, Blisterine, who had info. An old friend worked at the show, and told her about this. At the time, other members here called her out for flaming rumors and insisting she couldn't be telling the truth. Only now, everything she said has been proven true in the last few days. I've messaged her, and hope she'll come back now.

Well, that certainly is interesting. Any links to those posts? I'd love to read that.

ETA: OR I could just get off my lazy ass and just look a little myself. I'm ridiculous.

Here's the original post: viewtopic.php?f=87&t=18442&p=591617&hilit=harpo#p591617

Interesting indeed.

[mfch]

I think Derick is much more likely to split from the Duggars- and better equipped- than Bin and Jessa.

I really hope he does. I think he's been a gullible idiot, but I can also see why he's tried to latch himself on to this huge 'happy' family, after losing his dad and his mum being sick. I think this will be his wake up call, because despite being gullible, I think he's not a bad guy. He loves Jill, he's a dad now and he's not 20, he's older and has an education and a qualification, he can move away from it all.

I hope like hell he does.

[SPHASH]

After all the revelations the past few days, will the Duggars be more humbled and less judgemental or will they clamp down and have an even bigger chip on their shoulder? I'm talking about Boob, Mullet. Josh, Anna, Jill, Jessa, Derick, and Ben.

[Sundaymorning]

The problem with such a big family is that they can't just "take a vacation" somewhere where they won't get noticed.

But I could see Josh and Anna trying to sneak away to an undisclosed location for a while.

Boob is probably doing damage control and trying to get his buddies to support him (and since I think that he has quite a lot of dirt on them, they might comply).

[Jessa's Side Eye]

I've been reading that the one who wrote the letter (I've been reading it was more like notes of what happened, like a diary entry rather than a letter to someone and that she hid those pages in her book because she didn't want her parents finding it) was the one Josh was in a courtship with before Anna. She leant the book out to someone and forgot the pages were in there.(presumably the 61 year old woman who informed Harpo).

As for who was the person who tipped off In Touch? I have seen many people say Radar Online was digging here, saw the thread about the rumours of Josh and posted it, hoping for a tip off or someone to say they knew more. In Touch Weekly got wind of it, and dug further.

A friend told me it's not hard to grease some wheels and ask for a specific police report if you know the report number. Once you have he report number they can request it and they can get a redacted version of it, of it contains info about minors. The only stipulation is that th parents or guardians must be notified if there is still a minor the report is about (Joy). They have 24 hours of notice to warn/help/ whatever the minors before the article can go to print.

You can not publish anything about a minor without warning, because the minor might not have been aware it ever even happened to them, and they should not find out through a tabloid article for the first time.

[Jessa's Side Eye]

I have a feeling they won't. As much as Jill loves Derrick, I truly don't feel like she views him as her headship. I think her Daddy still has that place in her heart for some weird, stupid reason. I think she would listen to Jim Bob over Derrick any day.

Derrick is lovely, but I don't think he has that "authority" in him that Jill craves. She has only ever known that, and respects that.

[DuggaredOut]

Maybe I'm just being overly pessimistic, but even though I can see the Dillards distancing themselves somewhat from the rest of the Duggar clan, I don't think they're going to make a big break. I think the whole family is going to circle the wagons, and if the girls release any statements at all, it will be to say that they're sorry all this has been dredged up, they worked through it and forgave Josh for his "mistakes" a long time ago, etc., etc. But I think they're going to continue living their lives pretty much just as they have been, only more quietly.

[miffy]

I think Derick is much more likely to split from the Duggars- and better equipped- than Bin and Jessa.

I really hope he does. I think he's been a gullible idiot, but I can also see why he's tried to latch himself on to this huge 'happy' family, after losing his dad and his mum being sick. I think this will be his wake up call, because despite being gullible, I think he's not a bad guy. He loves Jill, he's a dad now and he's not 20, he's older and has an education and a qualification, he can move away from it all.

I hope like hell he does.

I thought the same thing about latching onto the huge 'happy' family. You can't really blame him for it. I'm sure i'd do the same thing too if I was in his situation. However I think he might be appreciating his kind & stoic mother right now. :D

Ben & Jessa might not be so well equipped, but Ben seems like the kind of guy who will work his hands to the bone to show (off) that he can provide for this family. So I don't think it will be an issue.

[lookinggoodforjesus]

The Dillards and the Seewalds seem to genuinely like their daughters in law. I don't see why they wouldn't support them.

And about Jill not respecting her "headship" - honestly, I don't even think Derick would want her to think of him that way. Derick does not force her to submit to anything. I think the distance that Jill has kept Izzy from her family speaks volumes. I think Jessa's sudden amplification of tension towards them does too.

[DuggaredOut]

I think most of them are staying close to home and family, praying with and encouraging each other, spouting catchphrases about how the world will hate them because of Christ, so they just have to give this situation up to God because, no matter what, He's in control of everything, and He'll never leave them or forsake them, etc., etc., etc.

Except for JimBob. He's probably running around calling every contact in his address book to try to make this go away.

[Feberin]

I think Cathy will also play a role in making sure Jill gets seen by a licensed therapist. I could see Derrick turning towards her for advice especially if he's just finding out. I also could see the Sewalds letting Ben and Jessa move in with them to get out from under Jim Bob's thumb.

[texpatriategames]

I've been reading that the one who wrote the letter (I've been reading it was more like notes of what happened, like a diary entry rather than a letter to someone and that she hid those pages in her book because she didn't want her parents finding it) was the one Josh was in a courtship with before Anna. She leant the book out to someone and forgot the pages were in there.(presumably the 61 year old woman who informed Harpo).

As for who was the person who tipped off In Touch? I have seen many people say Radar Online was digging here, saw the thread about the rumours of Josh and posted it, hoping for a tip off or someone to say they knew more. In Touch Weekly got wind of it, and dug further.

A friend told me it's not hard to grease some wheels and ask for a specific police report if you know the report number. Once you have he report number they can request it and they can get a redacted version of it, of it contains info about minors. The only stipulation is that the parents or guardians must be notified if there is still a minor the report is about (Joy). They have 24 hours of notice to warn/help/ whatever the minors before the article can go to print.

You can not publish anything about a minor without warning, because the minor might not have been aware it ever even happened to them, and they should not find out through a tabloid article for the first time.

Yes to the report number stuff. Or even if you just know the right names and dates to ask for.

As for the minor situation, it varies a lot by state, as well as by the news entity asking for the information. In my reporter days, I got some redacted incident reports, but I was never told that I had to wait before publishing it. I worked at papers in two states, including Arkansas. If we can't identify the minor, we would just say something like "A man was arrested for assaulting a (age and sex of victim)."

In Texas, a 17-year-old is considered an adult, so we could publish their name if they were arrested. In Arkansas, it was 18. I would write about things like car accidents or fires, and the police would tell us if a victim was, say, 45-year-old Bob Smith, but if there were minors involved, it varied. If a child died in a car accident, their name would often, but not always, be released to the media. If they were charged with a crime, we pretty much never got their name unless it was some serious shit, like murder.

As far as sexual abuse, we did not ever identify adult victims unless the victim wanted to be identified to tell his or her story. We never identified child victims. This got really tricky if, say, a prominent figure was arrested for sexually assaulting his child, because if you say "Senator White is accused of abusing his child," well, crap, that child has just been outed. The Duggar situation is unique because they are all public figures.

In general, we went out of our way to avoid identifying details in cases like that. Even if the public could easily put two and two together. So I appreciate outlets like People that are trying to be discreet, even if it's easy to figure out.

It does seem like one or more people had been trying to get this story out for a while. I bet a lot of reporters in NW Arkansas had gotten calls about this, but just didn't have enough to go on.

I've heard some people (MRA types) complain about not releasing the names of possible rape victims. I have absolutely no problem with it. Yes, it sucks if someone is falsely accused, but I still don't think we fix that by releasing the names of sexual assault victims.

[texpatriategames]

I think Cathy will also play a role in making sure Jill gets seen by a licensed therapist. I could see Derrick turning towards her for advice especially if he's just finding out. I also could see the Sewalds letting Ben and Jessa move in with them to get out from under Jim Bob's thumb.

I like Cathy, probably because she reminds me a bit of my mom. My mom is very religious, but also sensitive and thoughtful. I hope Cathy is the same way.

Derick is in a tough spot, and I hope he has the guts to tell Jill none of this was her or any other sister's fault. I don't know if those next season promos about a "big decision" they were making meant they were moving away or what, but I hope so. Jill has never really had room to breathe and figure out who she is as a person.

Duggar women can only be two things: virgin or mother. Anna doesn't have many options if she wants to leave Josh, and that's very purposeful. That complete reliance on a man is a feature, not a bug.

[mycatismyheadship]

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I just don't understand why/how this whole thing a) came out now, and b) didn't come out years ago (aside from internet posts so few and far between that they were able to be dismissed as rumors).

So, many years ago, someone wrote a letter. A few years later, someone found it and wrote to the Oprah show. Episode was not aired. But nothing else until now, aside from the stray post. How does this happen? This person wrote to the OPRAH team. Oprah! How did it stay basically under wraps for years after that? The only thing I can think of is that Oprah and/or her "people" had a feeling of sensitivity/respect towards the victims and thus chose not to make it public without their consent, just quietly didn't air the show and notified authorities in a private manner. So then..... How/why did this surface now? Beyond the "original" whistleblower, how did it just now come up?

[FabulousBakergirl]

Could it be John David? As a constable he might have access to those reports and I think he still wants to protect his twin, Jana.

Yeah, I was thinking this too, John David always comes across as less brainwashed and I guess he thought that it's not oke for josh to get away with this. John David also wouldn't care if the show got canceled.

[gustava]

Yeah, I was thinking this too, John David always comes across as less brainwashed and I guess he thought that it's not oke for josh to get away with this. John David also wouldn't care if the show got canceled.

Ironic that on other threads, JD is considered a dullard backwater hick and now, suddenly, he's the knight in shining armor.

[jinseng]

I personally think JD comes across like a complete sleaze bag. He is just as fat and sweaty as Josh, and often says things that makes me feel uncomfortable, like he is on some sort of smug power trip over his younger siblings.

[nomoxian]

I think JD is "simple" but that doesn't make him someone who would condone sexual abuse, incest and pedophilia. Josh really hit the shitbag trifecta.

[Clutched Pearls]

I was thinking about all of the people who work on the show, and I can't help but wonder if one of them blew the whistle. There have been a few episodes where Jim Bob & Michelle have talked about how close the kids are to some of the production staff.

Maybe one of the kids told one of the production staff members, that person told the TLC bigwigs and nothing happend, and then the staff member tipped the media out of frustration.

[nomoxian]

Yesterday someone posted video on Twitter of them driving along the road outside the Duggar house. There was a police car sitting outside by the gate. I'm assuming the Duggar clan is thanking God they have a grocery store full of food in the pantry so they can lie low for a while.

twitter.com/ItsSuperRyan/status/601830677726638080/video/1

[SPHASH]

JD and Smuggar don't seem real close so yeah I could see him doing it. I lost respect for him years ago when he suggested they name Jubilee after Jefferson Davis (more than likely he learned Jeff Davis was a hero at SOTDRT) but I think he has some sense of right and wrong.