Category Archives: videos

LDS, modern problems, narcissists, religion, social media, true crime, videos, YouTube

Monetizing kids for better living through YouTube!

Today’s featured photo is a screenshot of Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt on YouTube.

A good Thursday morning to you all… One more day before Mr. Bill comes home and tells me about his TDY days in Bavaria. I’ve been passing the time in the usual way, reading a book, watching a lot of YouTube videos, and scanning social media. One person who is all over the news this week, besides Donald Trump of course, is a Utah woman named Ruby Franke. Ruby Franke is yet another now disgraced former YouTube star.

A few years ago, I might have been all over 41 year old Ruby, who ran a now defunct channel called 8 Passengers. Ruby is a mother of six and an evidently devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Like a lot of church going folks, Ruby decided to turn her large family into YouTube (or reality TV) fame. She’s now in deep trouble, because although people had been trying to sound the alarm for years about her parenting methods, this week two of her children were discovered malnourished, with one asking neighbors for food and water. There was also evidence that at least one of the children had evidence of having been restrained with duct tape and rope. Ruby Franke, separated from her husband, Kevin, is now being charged with six felony counts of child abuse. Four of her six children have been removed from her custody.

I should mention that Ruby’s business partner, Jodi Hildebrandt, has also been arrested on suspicion of aggravated child abuse. Hildebrandt also has a rather checkered past in Utah, according to some sources who are coming out now. She and Ruby started another YouTube channel called ConneXions, which is also now defunct. However, Jodi’s ConneXions Web site is still live at this writing. Hildebrandt was a mental health therapist in Utah, but had her license suspended in 2012 after violating client confidentiality by disclosing the client’s alleged “porn addiction” to LDS church leaders. If you know anything about Mormonism, you know that looking at pornography and engaging in masturbation is a big “no no”.

Ruby talking about her daughter in diapers “stinking”… I’m really glad I never discovered this channel when it was still active. Yuck.

I’ve seen Ruby’s face all over the place this week. She’s an attractive woman, with a nice, wholesome image. She has a good figure, a pretty face, and dresses modestly. Her kids, from what I’ve seen, always look clean and are dressed well in the photos I’ve seen of them. And yet, her twelve year old son– the one who asked for help from neighbors– is malnourished. He was found with duct tape on his arms and legs. He was one of Ruby’s projects– she put him and his siblings out there on YouTube to rack up views and income as she dispensed some highly questionable parenting tips.

YouTuber kyeluh talks about how awful and disturbing Ruby’s content was before she finally got busted.

As I mentioned up post, I would have probably been all over this story a few years ago, before Bill and his younger daughter reconnected. It’s no secret that I’m no fan of Mormonism, or really most strict religions. But Mormonism happened to affect us more than the other religions did, so I specifically focused a lot on that faith. Of course, Mormons certainly don’t corner the market on abuse. But a lot of people in strict religions use God as a reason to be strict and abusive, especially toward those who have less power in those communities… that is, children, and often women.

These days, I’m somewhat less interested in upbraiding the Mormons. I still don’t like the belief system, but I find myself grateful that some people in the church were willing and able to help Bill’s daughter get away from her mother. On the other hand, Ex used Mormonism as a means of controlling her husbands and kids, and as a source of shame. I don’t respect the church for that, because the religion aided her in her parental alienation goals. She used its teachings as a means of separating her children from their fathers and other people in the family who threatened her.

I don’t know a whole lot about Ruby Franke yet, but I suspect the church had a lot to do with her bad decisions. Everything from that whitewashed, clean cut, “wholesome” image, to the decision to have six kids, to the decision to put them on YouTube as an example of people living clean, “godly” lifestyles… it can all be traced to man made religions that impress upon people that image is important, and can be monetized. People lap up their examples, which is evidenced by ratings, merchandise sales, advertising, and views. The money comes and fame grows, with everyone smiling and happy… until the truth comes out and people are exposed for being frauds.

Religion can also lead people to have some pretty warped ideas about life, too. Especially when a person already has a mental illness. I look at child murderer Lori Vallow Daybell for confirmation on that notion. Lori Vallow Daybell was recently convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering two of her three children and her husband’s first wife, Tammy Daybell. Like Franke, Lori Vallow Daybell is LDS, and had some really whacked out conspiracy theories about the “end times”. Her ideas were shaped, in part, by books written by her fifth husband, Chad Daybell, who wrote about the end times, and perhaps by significant mental health issues.

My post title singles out YouTube for this “monetizing kids” phenomenon, but I really should include reality TV as well. For years, we’ve watched people like Jon and Kate Gosselin, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, and Barry and Kim Plath put their large families on TV for fun and profit. All three of these families are very large, and two of them profess to be deeply religious. Of the three families who made it big on TLC, only Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar remain “happily” married, although they certainly have some serious problems going on now. Two of their daughters have written books against the IBLP belief system they were raised in, and we all know where Josh Duggar is right now. Barry and Kim Plath announced that they were divorcing last year, and Jon and Kate Gosselin famously split up years ago.

Life is expensive, especially in the United States. It’s hard for people to make ends meet in the traditional way. Just now, for instance, I’m reading a book about a woman who graduated from Juilliard and found herself unemployable. She turned to escort work to pay her bills, also dabbling in phone sex. Her book is interesting, so far. At times it’s even funny. I’m sure there were times when she didn’t laugh, she’d have to cry. Personally, I find her decision to turn to being an escort kind of sad. I will probably be finished with the book very soon and will elaborate more when I review it. I mainly find it sad, though, because she felt the need to resort to that work to get out of debt. I didn’t get the sense that she, at least initially, really wanted to be a sex worker because it was something she enjoyed doing. She simply wanted to keep the bill collectors at bay. But at least in doing that work, she was only exploiting herself– an independently functioning adult who can consent and realize the risks. Kids on YouTube videos are often not being given a choice in whether or not they want to perform on camera.

I have no doubt that having a lot of kids– especially when your image conscious religious beliefs encourage it– is challenging on many levels. First, there’s the prospect of having that many children and raising them properly. Then there’s the prospect of being able to financially support that many children. I think in the Duggars’ case, having more children was actually a source of income. They got paid whenever anyone got pregnant and gave birth on camera! And then there’s the prospect of being arrested for doing something “wrong”.

I don’t know how today’s parents manage, to be honest. I think of my own upbringing and realize that my parents probably would have been reported to CPS a bunch of times in today’s world. We expect children to be supervised 24/7 until they’re pretty mature, but we also expect parents to support their children. Child care costs a bundle– sometimes more than a job pays. So, if you have an attractive family, and some kind of compelling “hook”, why not go on YouTube or reality TV to make some money? I’m sure Ruby Franke is now discovering why that idea may not have been a good one… Her own videos are providing a lot of evidence against her.

Yesterday, I was watching a video about Ruby Franke and someone mentioned that her case reminded them of the Turpin Family in California. I’m not sure Ruby’s case is quite that severe, at this point. She doesn’t have as many kids, and from what I understand, they weren’t living in complete filth, with no access to the outside world whatsoever. Ruby Franke’s children were seen on video, at least, and her eldest child, 20 year old Shari, is in college. She had enough freedom to be able to repeatedly call CPS on her mother, although they did nothing about her reports until just now. The Turpin kids didn’t have that much freedom, even though some of them were well into adulthood when they were finally liberated. There are some similarities, though.

Discussion about Ruby Franke and her family…

I’m sure someone will write a book about Ruby Franke and her family. And I’m sure I’ll probably read it, if I’m capable. Cases like hers are difficult, as in the United States, many people have this idea that parents should have a lot of freedom in how they raise their children. On the other hand, how child abuse cases are handled has a lot to do with the jurisdiction and local politics. Also, a lot depends on how well funded and staffed protection agencies are. In some areas, the standard for what is considered child abuse is set very high. All I know is that, at this point, it sounds like people tried to speak up about Ruby Franke, and no one took the alarms seriously… until her son was found malnourished and wearing duct tape. Malnourishment doesn’t just happen overnight, so it looks like the alleged abuse has been going on for some time now.

Anyway, I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for what happens in Ruby Franke’s case. Maybe I’ll write more about it, although one of the main reasons I’m just addressing it today is because so many people are already covering Ruby Franke. I was actually trying to avoid finding out about it, but YouTube is loaded with people talking about Ruby Franke, such that I keep seeing her face everywhere. So, I guess that’s a sign I should write about Ruby, too…

Well, I have to do the dreaded vacuum chore today, practice guitar, and walk Noyzi, so I guess I’ll end today’s post. I hope you have a good day… and that your weather is as perfect as Germany’s is right now. <3

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complaints, controversies, social media, videos, YouTube

I didn’t know I was a producer of dirty content…

This morning has gotten off to a very interesting start. I woke up at about 6:00 AM, because Bill decided to take today off work. He has to go on a TDY next week, starting Monday night. Since Monday is Labor Day, he decided he’d enjoy today at home with me.

I was a little hesitant to check my iPad because I was afraid of waking up to a shitstorm on Facebook. Yesterday, I shared a somewhat controversial post that appeared on George Takei’s Facebook page. A minor argument ensued, with no final resolution. I wasn’t wanting to continue arguing about it today, and I was a little worried that other people might have chimed in on that controversial post while I was sleeping. It was a relief to see that there was only one other comment on that post, and it wasn’t contentious.

Then I went to my notifications and saw that I had one from YouTube. There was also an email from them. Behold:

There’s more, but you get the gist.

Mind you… this is not the first time I’ve had content age-restricted. For some reason, the bots seem to go wild in August and September, as that is the time of year when I tend to get these notices. Two years ago, YouTube dinged a video I had posted in 2015 called “Big Pink Dildo”. It was a parody of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” that I did in response to a bunch of uptight military spouses who were upset because someone on a Facebook yard sale page had posted a joke listing for her used pink sex toy. It looked like maybe the thing had been co-opted by the family dog, though.

I thought it was crazy that YouTube age-restricted the parody, since there was no swearing in it, and only one photo of the toy, placed at the very end of the video. Most of the video is black, with my singing over it. Also, the video has been up for years and only has a few hundred hits on it. I appealed, but they declined to remove the restriction. I got over it and moved on with my life. 😉

None of the other videos I’ve posted have ever come close to being “adult content” of any kind. Most of my videos consist of vacation pictures or of me singing a song. When I saw the title of the video that was tagged, I had forgotten what it was about. I clicked the link to check it out, and was flabbergasted to see that it was a video I made in mid August 2016, when Bill and I visited a “Barefoot Park” in Dornstetten, a Black Forest hamlet in Germany.

Barefoot Parks are where people take off their shoes to experience nature and feel different things with their feet. There are a number of them in Germany. They are health promoting, fun, and absolutely kid friendly! But furthermore, I don’t think there were really any kids featured in my video. It’s not even three minutes long, and consists of four clips– Bill cranking a machine; Bill bouncing on a trampoline; Bill walking on a balance beam like log; and Bill walking through mud until he falls on his ass.

We didn’t even curse in the video, although doing so would have been perfectly understandable. So I was puzzled as to why YouTube’s bots decided to age restrict the video, especially since it has about 166 views as of today. It’s hardly a high profile performer that presents a danger to anyone. In fact, it shows what can happen at the Barefoot Park if you aren’t careful when you walk in the mud… You can end up literally hitting mud!

The only potential infraction I could come up with was “child safety”. Below is what YouTube says about that…

But this is a big stretch… Also, I never tag my videos as “made for kids”.

I clicked the child safety link, and then realized that my video is not at all like their description of one that would be dangerous to children.

Hmmm… again, there’s more, but my video isn’t at all like what they’re describing.

I thought about just ignoring the restriction and going on with my life, since no one watches it, anyway. But it’s one of my rare uploads that doesn’t have a copyright restriction, and besides, the bots just plain got it wrong this time. So I asked for an appeal. Happily, within a few minutes, I got one, and the restriction was removed.

I’m glad the appeal was quick and painless, but I’d love to know why it was hit by bots in the first place!

The stuff I put on YouTube is nothing like what I write in this blog. Likewise, my travel blog is mostly not the same kind of content this blog is. I’d say this blog is more “mature themed” and potentially R rated. My YouTube channel is mostly PG rated, at most. And certainly, aside from my “Big Pink Dildo” parody, there’s nothing there there that would make anyone blush.

Ironically, the other day I considered doing a cover of Red Peters’ “The Spelling Song”, which is a bit profane. But I decided not to do that, precisely because I didn’t want to get an email like the one above. If you don’t know the magic of “The Spelling Song”, here’s a link. I warn you, though… it’s kind of raunchy, especially if you know how to spell.

I see it’s not age-restricted here…

Anyway… I do try to be a good YouTube citizen. If you’re curious, below is the now non age-restricted video that prompted today’s blog post… It’s really dirty stuff, alright… LITERALLY!

Me and my “dirty” content! It’s a danger to children, only if their parents are cleanliness obsessed.

The best part about the above video was the round of German laughter when Bill hit the mud with a resounding splat. Maybe that could be considered a form of bullying… I don’t know. Fortunately, we all had the fortitude to recover from that incident without any lasting psychological ill effects.

By the way, after I got my video unrestricted, I visited YouTube, where I was immediately confronted by a video about a 17 year old girl, one month from turning 18, being arrested for running away from a group home. There’s a lot of swearing, screaming, and manhandling into handcuffs and police cars. As of today, that video is not age-restricted. I wonder if it ever will be. Surely that content is more frightening to children than Bill’s spill in German mud…

Or how about the scary news content about Donald Trump, wanting to get rid of the Constitution so he can run the United States his way? I watched a news video about a Georgia legislator who warns of another “Civil War” this morning. He literally speaks of getting out his rifle to “defend” the country from Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis, who is a threat to our country, as he sees it. But that video was unrestricted, as far as I can tell. My seven year old video, on the other hand… much too dirty for kids to see. 😉

Ah well… all’s well that ends well. I’ll try to clean up my act, going forward.

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complaints, music, videos, YouTube

Why do “user friendly” applications have to be so unfriendly?

I swear, I’m not a “boomer”, nor am I a member of the “greatest generation”… I’m sitting here having flashbacks to the late 1990s, when my dad struggled to send emails and would call the local computer wizard to help him with that basic task. So many of us tried and failed to teach him that skill. It got so bad that the local computer wizard quit answering my dad’s calls!

No… I’m not THERE yet… But I do seem to be having some issues with iMovie that I didn’t used to have.

On my travel blog today, I wrote a post about how I made a new music video starring our dog, Noyzi. This is something I’ve done dozens of times over the years. I bought my first iMac in 2011, and although no one ever taught me how to use iMovie, I quickly figured out how it operated. I made a whole bunch of YouTube videos, most of which didn’t feature my visage at all.

It wasn’t until some months ago that I finally decided to make music videos that show my face. Surprisingly enough, the videos that show me tend to do better, even if I think pretty scenery and pictures of my dogs are much more beautiful than I am. But, as I explained in my travel blog a few days ago, I had a really nasty looking “bloody eyeball” bruise over the weekend that was kind of disturbing to look at. It was mostly healed yesterday, when I decided to make a new video, but the song I recorded just really lent itself to using clips of Noyzi, insteading of my homely mug. So I recorded the audio portion of the video, then went off to iMovie, to make the visual part.

I tried to drag photos and clips from my photos into the editor. None of them would import. I got one of those circles with the diagonal lines through them when I tried. I went looking for an explanation and a solution. I found a few suggestions, most of which involved granting permissions, moving media into the application, rebooting my computer, updating software, and changing security settings. I did all of that, but today, I still can’t make videos the way I used to.

Another hindrance is the fact that everything help related seems to be made in a video, rather in a written article, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. Yesterday, I was finding that I had to keep stopping and starting the videos I tried to watch in order to help myself, flipping back and forth to try to fix the issue. Ultimately, my efforts failed, anyway.

I created yesterday’s video using my trusty laptop. I don’t like to make videos on that, because I don’t have a mouse for it. I did have one for my old laptop, but I so seldom used it that I didn’t bother to get one for my newer one. Consequently, it’s a real pain to try to maneuver things on my laptop, and it makes creating videos all the more annoying. I did manage to succeed yesterday, though. I thought maybe I could just make the visual part on the laptop and send it to my desktop, but no dice… the video would NOT load into my iMovie app. I got the infuriating circle with a line through it and the message that I “didn’t have permission”. Grrr… it’s my computer and MY photos, dammit!

So then I airdropped my audio track to the laptop and created the video that way. It’s now on YouTube, doing fairly decently in terms of engagement. And today, I’m looking into seeing what I can do to fix the settings on my newest computer, so I don’t have to use the laptop the next time I don’t want to video directly from my desktop machine.

I’m sure there are better video editing software programs out there, but as I’m not a technogeek, I have no desire to try to find a new program and figure it out. In the past, I’ve bought new software, only to never use it, because I couldn’t quickly and easily figure out how it worked. I just want the Apple software to work easily. Is that too much to ask?

Some people are fascinated by techie stuff. Figuring things out is exciting and fun for them. I am fascinated by figuring certain things out, too… but mastering computers isn’t among my passions. I wish it was. It might make me more employable. Some people really have a real gift for mastering any and all gadgets, but I am definitely not one of them. I could probably make videos on my old desktop, but I relegated it to light duty for good reason. It’s kind of on its last legs.

Anyway… I’m sure the issue plaguing me is a minor thing. It’s just annoying, is all. But it’s not as annoying as the prospect of vacuuming the house, which is today’s dreaded chore. Guess I’d better get on that.

By the way… I’m dealing with a petty annoyance on my travel blog, too. For some reason, it won’t let me use certain category tags on my posts. For instance, if I try to tag a post with “Germany” or “dogs” or certain other categories, it will automatically revert to “uncategorized”. It doesn’t do that for all categories, just certain ones. It’s very annoying, but not as annoying as contacting tech support. I just wish things would WORK properly!

Edited to add… I ended up deleting iMovie and reinstalling it, and Final Cut. Final Cut, which I hadn’t even had on this computer (I bought it for my old one), was giving me the same weird error. It finally let me move a clip, but presented it as a still photo instead of a video. But then I tried iMovie again, and that time it worked. Why it suddenly worked is a mystery, but for now, my issue is resolved. All’s well that ends well… for now, anyway. 😀

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rants, scams, technology, true crime, videos, YouTube

Trust me– nobody really cares if I’m looking at porn!

Today’s post has a lot more profanity in it than usual. Proceed with caution.

It’s an unusually happy Monday morning for me. You see, in just a few days, Bill and I will be taking our first flight together since November 2019. We will be jetting off to Oslo to start our long awaited and much needed vacation. I love Germany, but sometimes I long for a change of scenery. And while Scandinavia is probably not the prettiest place I’ve ever seen so far, I do know that there will be parts of this upcoming trip that will probably stun the daylights out of me. I look forward to capturing new images for my photo stream, at the very least.

But that all starts on Friday, and I still have to get through the rest of the week. Bill is teleworking for a couple of hours this morning, because he has to go see our dentist in Stuttgart and get a new crown placed. I’ve spent the first hours of my day eating breakfast, laughing about a CNN story about the war in Ukraine (not because of the actual news story, but because of the delivery of the translator), and putting together a new “cocktail” playlist, inspired by Saturday night’s dinner at a charming restaurant in a nearby wine town.

Just before I started writing today’s blog post, I had a look at the spam filter in my Outlook mailbox. And there it was… yet another “hacker” claiming that they’d targeted and infected my computer, and caught me looking at porn. I’ve seen variations of this scam many times before. I’ve even written about it.

The scam emails that have me inspired this morning aren’t the same as the one I wrote about on my original blog, nor are they just like the one that I wrote about in 2019. The first email I got from “Elton” several years ago actually got my attention because the subject line included an old password of mine that I hadn’t used in many years. None of the spammy scam emails I’ve been getting lately have included any passwords, old or otherwise.

Still, I can’t help but shake my head at the audacity of these low life scumbags who think they can extort money by threatening to expose my masturbation habits to friends, family, and colleagues. Because folks, I know that none of those people care if I look at porn. And even if they did care about that, I wouldn’t care. I’m just a housewife. I’m sure some people might even expect me to be looking at porn during my boring afternoons. That’s if they think about me for more than ten seconds at a time. Hell, if there were any videos, I might even make some money.

Below is a screenshot that is very similar to the emails I’ve been getting lately…

This email irritates the hell out of me, but it doesn’t scare me in the least. However, I will concede that maybe people in my address book might be scared by seeing me jerk off.

Just the tone of this scam email pisses me off. When I read “let me break it down for you”, I want to respond, “let me break your face with a swift kick to your nostrils!” The way that email is written is offensive, obnoxious, condescending, and just plain stupid. What’s especially sad, though, is that some people actually believe that bullshit and fall for the scam. Otherwise, why would they be doing this?

I’ve probably gotten a half dozen of those emails in the past week or so, all of which are written in pretty much the same way, and coming from different email addresses. They all end up in my spam folder and, no, I don’t take them seriously. BUT– seeing the subject line, I must admit, really annoys me. Because who do those fuckers think they are?!

Somebody had to come up with that email. Some lowlife had to come up with the idea to blackmail people, compose the text of the extortion email, and procure email addresses of people, before they sent out this missive to millions of people around the world. Why doesn’t that person, and his or her dishonest ilk, get a real job instead of trying to rip off people?

As I write about this phenomenon today, I’m reminded of the YouTube videos I’ve seen about porch pirates. Mark Rober has an excellent channel in which he shows how he designs special boxes designed to teach package thieves a valuable lesson. It’s VERY satisfying to watch as these fuckers steal boxes they think contain expensive and valuable electronics, only to open the packages and get assaulted by glitter and fart spray, all of which is recorded on the phones in the package! It’s even better when they get busted by the cops! FUCK THEM!!!!

One of the most recent videos about Mark Rober’s exploding glitter bombs…

However, even these very satisfying and entertaining videos ultimately piss me off, because the thieves often have the nerve to be angry when they get glitterbombed after committing theft! In one video, there were even kids involved. In one scene, I could tell that a boy’s parents were raising him to be a thieving little shit. I could hear the kid encouraging his folks to steal what he thought was an expensive gaming system. When they opened the box and the bomb exploded, he started cursing Mark Rober, calling him a scammer! Cuz how dare Mark Rober come up with an ingenious idea to thwart criminals like him and his parents! The audacious little shit!

At both the 8 and 9 minute marks, you can hear kids complaining about being glitterbombed and saying they were “scammed.” The whole thing would have been avoided if their parents weren’t thieves! One kid even says, “Fuck you, YouTubers!” Obviously, he’s being raised to be just as “classy” as his lowlife parents are.

And the videos capture the thieves smashing people’s car windows just so they can steal the bogus boxes. Back in 2003, some thieving shithead broke into my car, when we lived in a scuzzy apartment complex. Someone broke my window in an attempt to steal my CD player– which I bought at a big box store. They couldn’t steal the CD player, because I drove a Toyota, and it was impossible to pull out the CD player without completely fucking up the dashboard… which they proceeded to do. And they STILL didn’t manage to steal anything, so all they ended up doing was vandalizing my car.

It’s great that Mark Rober has come up with these cool glitter bombs to get back at bottom feeding criminals. However, it’s also very disheartening to see how dishonest people are, and how so few of them have any shame whatsoever. The fact that they are pissed off that they got “scammed”, when they are actually STEALING from people, just shows how completely devoid of scruples some people are. And they’re raising their kids to be just as reprehensible.

Even as I write this, though, I realize that I write from a place of privilege. I have pretty much everything I need, or could ever want, so I don’t need to steal. I guess what makes me especially sad is that these people have no remorse and, in fact, some of them feel entitled to steal, and think of it as their “job”. So many of these people– kids even– are taking advantage of vulnerable people, like the elderly. What a world we live in!

This video makes you want to abandon your phone!

Here’s another channel called Scammer Payback. Below is a video the Scammer Payback guy, Pierogi, being screamed at by a scammer, who thinks he’s owed the right to steal from innocent people! What’s especially gross is when the scammer is screaming at someone he thinks is an elderly woman.

This idiot needs to be arrested and sent to PRISON.
This one, too… PayPal scammers are the worst.

Anyway… I hadn’t meant to write such a lengthy rant about scammers, especially since I haven’t yet been a victim myself. I just can’t believe the nerve of some people. The guy in the above video is hilarious, as he tries to lecture Scammer Payback/Pierogi about his “manners” as he believes he’s ripping off the elderly! He reasons that stealing from vulnerable people is his way of making a living, as he shames the channel owner for monetizing his videos on YouTube. All I can do is shake my damned head.

Well… I suppose it’s time to close this post and walk Noyzi. I’m expecting a package today, so I want to be home when it arrives. Here in Germany, the delivery drivers don’t typically leave people’s boxes on their porches without permission, so porch pirating is pretty rare here. And just as I wrote this, my package arrived… So, hope you have a good Monday, devoid of thieving creeps!

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Duggars, religion, videos, YouTube

Fundie Fridays dishes on Shiny Happy People…

Happy Saturday, y’all. I started today off by writing a new post for the travel blog, washing a load of laundry, and watching Jen on Fundie Fridays’ latest video on YouTube. For those who don’t know, Jen is a great YouTuber who makes videos about Christian fundamentalists while she does her makeup. She’s hilarious, adorable, smart, and compassionate, even when the fundies clap back at her for snarking on them with her boyfriend, James.

Jen was featured on the Amazon docuseries Shiny, Happy People, so she is in a unique position to add some insight into the making of that very popular program. I enjoyed listening to her talk about it… and yes, I was just listening this time, because I was also writing a blog post at the same time. I think you should watch too, if you’re interested. Apparently, Jen found being involved in that series very special and fulfilling. She even comes to tears in her latest video, as she talks about how happy she was that she got to be part of making Shiny Happy People.

Worth watching, if you have the time and inclination!

I’ve been watching old episodes of the Duggars’ defunct reality show this week. I always thought it was kind of a boring show when it was still airing, and now it’s so obvious that Jim Bob was cashing in on his huge family. Like, for instance, there are some obvious product placements in the old episodes. Swiffer products were quite obviously and prominently displayed in one episode about cleaning the house.

I watched one episode yesterday that featured Jim Bob and his older sons making what they called a “redneck water slide/Slip n’ Slide”. They ran a huge piece of sheeting down a hillside, dug a hole, and ran water and dish soap on the sheeting to make it slick. Then, the gaggle of younger boys in rash guards and Joy Anna in her Wholesome Wear burka slide down the hill. I have to admit, it did look like a lot of fun, even when Jim Bob slid down fully clothed. But it also seemed like a waste of water. Oh well… at least they didn’t swim in a water drainage ditch, like the Duggar wannabe family, the Rodrigues family, did. On the redneck slide episode, the Duggars announced that they were expecting “tiny, precious Josie”, who barely survived her birth, due to her being born very prematurely. Otherwise, Ma Duggar, Michelle, would have been sliding down the hill with each of the children she delivered (excepting the smallest ones).

Jen has extensively covered the Rodrigues family, too… Yes, I’ve written about that, too, but just because she’s so funny, I’ll also share those posts.

I wish I were this entertaining…
Cue the crazy!
This video includes the Rodrigues performance of the infamous anti-gay song, “Come On Down the Farm”… At the 20 minute mark, you can see the kids play in the water drainage ditch.
And finally, part four, which is even more about how weird this family is… and more water drainage ditch swimming at about the 27 minute mark.

So yeah, I am a devoted fan of Jen’s channel, Fundie Fridays, and I’m happy to plug it. If you have some time to kill and want to laugh a lot as you learn new things about the bizarre world of Christian fundamentalism, I recommend tuning in. I think it’s awesome that Jen and James have been able to parlay their creativity into careers on YouTube, and I’m happy to help them out by plugging their channel. I don’t know how much help I’ll be… but then, sometimes my posts take off, too.

I suppose I could also write more about what’s been going on in the horrifying world of American politics, but I don’t really feel like it, today. It’s Saturday; Bill’s home; and we have plans for the evening. So, I think I’ll keep today’s post short and sweet.

Catch you later…

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