Bringing Down the House and Iraq

Bringing Down the House, the 2003 film starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, was #1 at the box office for three straight weekends.  Its final domestic gross was $132,716,677.  It was a definite hit, and I've always wondered how much of its success was attributable to that random joke in the trailer where the kid goes, "Dad, what's a rack?" and Steve Martin's character responds, "It's a country."

No, I'm being serious.  The movie was released on March 7th, about a week before the invasion of Iraq.  So the joke was weirdly topical, but not political.  If you wanted an escape from the stresses of the world, you could rest assured Bringing Down the House would ONLY mention Iraq in the context of a sexual pun.

Tomorrow, I'm going to investigate how much of the success of Bad Teacher was attributable to that joke in the trailer about LeBron James.

Fuck you, Karen123!

Nobody writes like that when they leave an online review!

PenielAgency.com

PenielAgency.com is a random plagiarism site.

Here's an article from April 14, 2020, titled: "Man expecting to get stimulus check finds millions in bank account"

https://web.archive.org/save/https://penielagency.com/man-expecting-to-get-stimulus-check-finds-millions-in-bank-account/

It was copied from an April 14, 2020 New York Post article titled Man expecting to get $1,700 stimulus check finds millions in bank account"

https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/man-expecting-to-get-stimulus-check-finds-millions-in-bank-account/

TrumpNation20

Have you ever taken the time to browse these pro-Trump meme accounts on Instagram?

I'm looking at one now called @TrumpNation20.  It has a total of 1,200 posts and 42.8k followers. Some of the posts are pandering, with messages like 'If you're pro-life, give a follow.'  But then you have stuff like this:

That's bordering on out-right fakeness.  The quote isn't real. (If it were, there would be 10,000 Google results for it.)  And there's no real humor to it, either.  They're just claiming that a Congresswoman wants to do harm to Trump.  And then you've got responses from people like briannk3, who said:  "Threatening the President is a felony, I believe!" and marycrockettsleezer, who says "Isn't that a threat against the President? Thought you got thrown in JAIL for that."

The @TrumpNation20 account contains a discount link in its bio to the website LibertatumApparel.com, which apparently is a company in Raleigh, North Carolina that makes American hats.  I don't necessarily think the two are connected.  I mean, look at the rest of the bio for @TrumpNation20:

⚠️AOC doesn’t want you to follow us⚠️
Conservative 🐘
America First 🇺🇸
Pro-Life 👶
Pro-Gun 🔫
R.I.P @trumpnation2020 1-3 💔
🚨 DM ME FOR ADS 💴

A person from Raleigh wouldn't write something as janky as "America First US".

DailyAmericanBuzz.com

Here's another plagiarism website:  DailyAmericanBuzz.com

A few days ago it published an article titled "There's Only One Surviving Blockbuster Left on Planet Earth"

http://archive.is/zuPJO

The text was copied from a Gizmodo article from March 5, 2019, titled "There's Only One Surviving Blockbuster Left on Planet Earth"

https://gizmodo.com/theres-only-one-surviving-blockbuster-left-on-planet-ea-1833075071

I didn't see any ads on the DailyAmericanBuzz article, but there was this annoying "Mailchimp" pop-up:

When I tried clicking the "x", a new tab opened up.  The tab went to this URL...

https://deloplen.com/1/1407888/?var=2224709

Then it redirected here...

http://homepros.zone/service/flooring/index.html?traffic_source=pro&campaign=floor305&keyword=186960768124597127&group=2224709

After I'd closed the new tab, I was able to click the "x" and close the Mailchimp pop-up.

I wonder if that's a genuine Mailchimp pop-up?  It seems kind of strange that Mailchimp would have a feature that makes a new tab open in your browser when you trying clicking the "x."

There are a handful of Reddit accounts posting links to DailyAmericanBuzz.com:

https://www.reddit.com/user/ingeniousmind 

https://www.reddit.com/user/debate2

https://www.reddit.com/user/stuffymind

You can tell something is "off" with these accounts.  They'll post a bunch of links to legitimate news sites like Reuters.com and TheGuardian.com and Today.com, but then they'll sneak in a submission to a URL such as DailyAmericanBuzz.com and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

The Maddux Mystery

I went to YouTube to look for footage of Greg Maddux's 76-pitch game against the Cubs from July 22, 1997.  Here's what I found, courtesy of the official MLB YouTube account:

What is this abbreviated garbage?  The clips shows you just nine pitches.  NINE!  I want to see all 76 pitches.  Also, the description for the YouTube video says:

7/22/97: Greg Maddux throws a complete game with just 76 pitches against the Cubs, leading the Braves to a 3-2 victory

The final score of the game was 4-1.  So whoever wrote the description wasn't paying attention.

Curiously, the TV announcer says Maddux threw 78 pitches.  I would guess the TV announcer lost track of the number of pitches, but I can't be sure without watching the full game.  (And why does the announcer say "one hit, no runs."  That's not correct.)

ESPN.com has a clip of the game, but the description says Maddux threw 77 pitches:

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/24114199

Baseball-Reference.com also says Maddux threw 77 pitches during the game:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN199707221.shtml

And an AP write-up of the game says Maddux threw 78 pitches:

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-23-sp-15312-story.html

Will we every TRULY know how many pitches Greg Maddux threw during that game?  No, not until someone posts footage of the full game.

RapidRationale.com

RapidRationale.com is another site that steals content. 

Here is an article from a few days ago titled "Disney CEO Confirms X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool Are Now All Part of Marvel Studios"

https://web.archive.org/web/20190817011447/https://www.rapidrationale.com/2019/08/disney-ceo-confirms-x-men-fantastic.html

The text is copied from an MCUCosmic.com article:

https://mcucosmic.com/2019/08/06/disney-ceo-confirms-x-men-fantastic-four-and-deadpool-are-now-all-part-of-marvel-studios/

Oddly enough, I didn't see any ads on RapidRationale.com when I opened the article in an incognito window.  Although I did get a MailChimp pop-up saying "Subscribe to our mailing list."  That's unusual.

/u/AwkwardTheTurtle suspended permanently

[UPDATE 8/19:  AwkwardTheTurtle's account was later un-suspended.]

Reddit powermod /u/AwkwardTheTurtle has been permanently suspended from Reddit:

Life Pro Tip: Dont be rude to Nazis on reddit. I was suspended permanently for this exchange lmao pic.twitter.com/TmO51tXUSf

— awkward the turtle (@awkwardtheturtl) August 7, 2019

Here's a larger version of the exchange that led to the suspension:

As you can see, a Reddit user named /u/42turds was acting like a sea lion and complaining about the incivility found in one of Turtle's subreddits.  Turtle got pissed and called 42turds a "deranged fascist nazi piece of shit."  And that led to the suspension. 

AwkwardTheTurtle is a moderator for 2,000+ subreddits, including /r/Art, /r/LifeProTips, and /r/TwoXChromosomes.  He also moderates /r/AgainstHateSubreddits and /r/StopAdvertising—both of which were created with the goal of eliminating "hate speech" on Reddit.  And of course, the AHS crew have had their sights set on /r/The_Donald for a long time.

I once wrote in the DefaultMods Slack that, if the far-right wants to win the 2020 election, they need to drive AwkwardTheTurtle off of Reddit.  It was a joke, obviously, but it was one of those jokes with an element of truth.  We've all read that Politico article about "The Great Meme War."  If Trump's followers want him to win reelection, they need to control the tone of the internet.  And how do you control the tone of the internet?  With memes, of course!  You can find Trump supporters on most social media platforms, but /r/The_Donald is where many of the popular Trump memes are incubated.

THE_DONALD'S MASTER PLAN:

Step 1:  Drive /u/AwkwardTheTurtle off of Reddit. 

Step 2:  Secure the safety of The_Donald.

Step 3:  Post spicy memes.

Step 4:  Win reelection.

Is this truly the end of AwkwardTheTurtle?  There was already one false alarm a few weeks ago, when Reddit administrators accidentally banned AwkwardTheTurtle's account.  (Apparently an admin pressed a wrong button.)  And the term "suspension" seems to leave open the possibility that the decision could be overturned down the line.

In the meantime, Reddit user /u/Awkward_The_Turtle has already been added as a moderator for /r/AgainstHateSubreddits.