Two Sisters

No stress lol I'm cool.

Well since we've gotten a puppy we haven't had many date nights. During the first big COVID wave it was mostly doing stuff at home, like putting a semi-fancy meal together at home or something. Otherwise, we live in a sparsely populated area and can go to restaurants and stuff while usually being able to maintain good distance.

Cw: Child abuse, sexual abuse, CSAM mention, Josh Duggar

I don't want to say it's wrong for you as an individual to believe one is more worthy of anger than the other since everyone's framing of right and wrong is based on their lived experiences. Some people may be more drawn to see one action as more wrong than another because they have been personally negatively affected by the "worse" one. I don't personally have the training or education to properly address the ethics or morals.

That all being said, I personally can't agree with saying Jana endangering a child is worse than Josh's CSAM charges. I do not think you are a bad person for disagreeing with me, I think we are approaching from different standards. For me, the charges against Jana could at least be blamed on negligence versus CSAM being actively seeking material that required the violation of a child to be created. It's hard to compare the two because one has a clear intent to participate in the consumption of media that will guarantee hurting a child.

As you mentioned, we don't have many details of Jana's story. Going off of confirmed details, we only know the charges and those can be broad.

If we are to believe WOACB (who appears to actually have had someone feed her accurate news about this since she was right about the charges, but previously passed off fake information as real so she's in a grey area), then Jana fell asleep and Maryella got out and wandered into the street. She's also saying that this is because Anna basically moved in with the Rebers and offloaded her kids to Jana. I emphasize that this is all unsubstantiated. I am only providing it as an option for the sake of discussing which may be worse with a more concrete example.

A gracious take could be that Jana was essentially single mom to 7 kids, and maybe she nodded off while the kids were supposed to be taking naps, but the kids woke up and went exploring (as kids do).

If it's a worse tale of Jana being asked to watch the kids for 2 hours but showing up to say "go play while I take a nap inside," that is very negligent. I personally still can't say it's worse than seeking out and viewing CSAM. The latter has a guaranteed and intended outcome of hurting a child.

To me the charges appear to be minor enough that it doesn't seem like Jana willfully endangered a child (I know some people had speculated it was like Jana letting the kids visit Josh without supervision, but that doesn't appear to be it). I understand that a child could have been grievously injured, and I do admit that if something horrible did happen to the child I would be extremely upset and angry. But for me personally, heinous levels of stupidity exists in a different realm than active malice, making it difficult to even compare the two. I respect that we may draw different conclusions.

Anon, you’re entitled to your opinion, I guess, but let me be clear: You’re wrong. 100% wrong.

Jana is charged with a minor misdemeanor. Minor. Punishable by 90 Days jail, at most. At most! Your characterization of her crime as one stumble away from manslaughter is absurd.

Also, Jana is charged with unintentionally putting a child in danger. Unintentionally means just what it sounds like… She didn’t mean to hurt the child; she had no malice. She just made a mistake while taking care of a child. (A child that isn’t even hers, by the way! One that she was likely thrust upon her by its parents, just like has been happening to Jana for her entire life!) Parents make mistakes all the time. It’s generally not criminalized, nor should it be.

Meanwhile, Josh has been convicted to viewing and apparently taking perverse sexual pleasure in images of children being raped and sadistically tortured. He has also admitted to molesting five children, one of them only 5 Years Old.

I’m sorry, but if you think accidentally falling asleep while babysitting is worse than that, you need to take a step back and examine why you feel that way.

Let’s All Chill, For A Minute.

Emotions and rumors are flying, so let’s make a few things clear:

Jana was charged with violating Arkansas Code § 5–27–207—Endangering the Welfare of A Minor, 3rd Degree.  Under the statute, it is a crime to—

“recklessly engage[] in conduct creating a substantial risk of serious harm to the physical or mental welfare of a … minor.

“Physical or mental welfare” is further–defined as essentially meaning harm that involves more–than–momentarily physical injury, illness, or emotional trauma.

Note the word “recklessly.”  Jana is not charged with purposely, maliciously, or intentionally putting a child in danger.  (If she was, she’d be facing a much more serious offense.)  She is essentially being charged with making a mistake, when she new better, and thereby putting a child in a dicey situation.  Note that this mistake can be an action (e.g., letting a young child play with fireworks), or failure to act (e.g., not locking up the Tide Pods, not putting your child in a car seat).  If WOCB is correct that Jana accidentally fell asleep while babysitting— thus, enabling a child to wander off—that’s an example of a failure to act.

So, yeah…  Jana is charged with making a stupid mistake, basically.  She’s charged with doing (or not doing) something, when she knew better.

I really, really want to stress:  Jana is charged with a very, very minor crime.  She’s facing 90 Days in jail, at the absolute worst.  She is unlikely to do actual jail time.  Probably, she will be sentenced to some community service, maybe probation, and possibly a fine.

Under Arkansas law, Jana’s alleged offense is a Class B Misdemeanor.  There are three ‘classes’ of misdemeanors—Classes A, B, or C—with Class A being the worst.  (Also, keep in mind, there’s also a whole slew of felony classes, all being significantly more severe).  A Class A Misdemeanor’s penalty is up to 1 Year in jail.  For Class B, it’s 90 Days.  For Class C, it’s 30 Days.

Thank you Derick for getting your wife out of a cult and speaking out against Jim Bob when nobody else would.

Thank you Jeremy for speaking out against Josh.

Referenced post

I can't believe I forgot to include a picture of the back of the dress! They are really a different vibe from most of the other bridesmaid dresses.

Ya’ll don’t have any idea how fucking brave and needed these plot lines were.

This was before Ellen came out.

This was before civil unions.

This was before Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.

This was when your ass could be fired, blacklisted, and shunned with no legal protections for even being hinted at being gay.

Good gravy. This kid was born six hours ago, she is already up on her feet, wearing her wedding band (mine stop fitting well around 7m and don’t fit again until about 2-3w pp), and in her way home?

1) only going to have two kids. I get severely sick while pregnant (were talking hospitalization sick) and cannot put my body through this again;

2) my husband will be getting a vasectomy when our youngest is about six months old (see #1 above);

3) I love my job (public school teacher) outside the home;

4) I don’t believe in homeschooling (see #3); and

5) I am pro-choice.

All of these are incompatible with Karissa/fundie Christianity. Oh well. I know Jesus still loves me and I love him.

2) One half of my family is Jewish.

2) I am a stay at home homeschool mom because I don’t trust the local public school curriculum to be correct (I live next door to the school district that tried to ban all those books because they taught children about non white people. A principal in my next district straight up said “black lives don’t matter” and his punishment was getting suspended with pay.