I don’t know if you knew this but people say dumb things in comment sections on the internet. Not here at Balloon-Juice of course. All comments here are magical and sent by some sort of higher power for the betterment of society–but other comment sections are just horrendous–especially if you discuss race or the effects of the drug war and penal system on people of color. The organization known as Beyond Bars reached out to me to…um…well…mock the shit out of the folks leaving said dumb comments. Being the patriot I am, I obviously agreed. Check out the video and think of it as a teaser for the relaunch of TWiB! – The Web Series coming Soon!
FYI: For those of you who listen to our radio shows you may already have heard that we’ve relocated our headquarters to Berkeley, Ca and are building a full fledge radio/tv studio in partnership with Daily Kos. We’re fundraising to cover the cost (we got the real estate for covered but still need to build the damn thing) and can use all the help we can get. In exchange for support we’re giving away t-shirts, mugs, engraving names on our donor wall and even raffling a trip to the Bay area to brunch hard with the TWiB! crew plus check out the new space! A lot of folks complain about how mainstream media spin stories and portray underrepresented communities. We’re trying to create a space that challenges and changes how media works as a whole. We could use your help.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
So handsome..
skooter
wow didn’t know about your growing media empire.
Congrats and good luck!
tom
Your link says Behind Bars.. the organization is called Beyond Bars, was this satire/sarcasm that went over my head or a mistake?
Elon James White
@tom: My Mistake. FIXED. Thanks.
Elon James White
@skooter: Thank you kindly. We’ve been incredibly lucky to be accepted in spaces like Balloon-Juice and others. With folks supporting what we do and orgs respecting the work we’re really going to the next level. And the audience has already raised 5K towards our 15K goal. 2014 is going to be crazy.
Villago Delenda Est
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:
I was about to say, that is one good looking dude.
He’s got a brain, too. Ladies, get busy.
the Conster
Those NewsMax headlines alone could you keep you busy for an eternity – “Obama Paves Way for Second Holocaust”. And that’s not even Michelle Bachmann.
BGinCHI
You are spot on about BJ comments and commenters, EJW.
Smart, tasteful, good-looking, and most of all, humble.
Villago Delenda Est
@the Conster:
If all Jews were like Ben Stein, a second holocaust would be perfectly justified.
However, Ben Stein is in a distinct minority of Jews. So, so much for a second holocaust.
srv
Orange Satan?
I suggest a Cole and Marcotte weekly panel.
Yatsuno
@Villago Delenda Est: Hate to break your hearts and all, but Elon is hitched. He’s mentioned his other half in comments before.
Villago Delenda Est
@Yatsuno:
Damn, Elon is off the market. Sorry about that Elon fans.
Ms. Elon is one lucky lady, methinks
the Conster
@Villago Delenda Est:
I could support a holocaust of Villagers and the Tea Party politicians they enable. Throw in Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Pete Peterson and Sheldon Adelson and I’d bring the marshmallows.
Yatsuno
@Elon James White: Waitaminute…don’t you have like a rich lady lawyer type on staff or something?
(Say hi to Imani for me!)
BGinCHI
@the Conster: Plus the Miami Dolphins and the Dallas suburbs.
ThatPirateGuy
He also has a lovely wife.
ThatPirateGuy
Oh btw I was the one with the iTunes review that mentioned my dad and the Christmas racial slur.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@the Conster: When you stop for a moment and realize that the failed rollout of PPACA is like 10 holocausts all happening simultaneously on all 10 continents, it makes you understand the enormity of one single holocaust.
geg6
Done. Can’t manage enough to get any goodies, but I’ll be happy to see you guys get new digs.
Baud
Really? Hadn’t noticed.
ranchandsyrup
Donnie Wahlberg @DonnieWahlberg 2h
Why dump 600,000,000 taxpayer dollars into healthcare website? Why not dump $2,000,000 in the pockets of 300,000,000 U.S. taxpayers instead?
Mcmeagan lent her calculator to him.
catclub
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: I larfed.
Like a holocaust every day.
Can Peter Jennings put a up a banner: “America Held Hostage to Inadequate Healthcare.gov! Day 43!”
on the newscasts?
geg6
@ranchandsyrup:
Oh my. I guess pretending to be a cop on the teevee and being a has-been teen idol don’t take any math skills. Think he’d hire me as his accountant? I could be retired on Eleuthera in a couple of years.
Baud
@ranchandsyrup:
That’s a fine example of Bush-era budgeting right there.
schrodinger's cat
@catclub: Isn’t he dead?
ranchandsyrup
@geg6: his follow up:
That is not a bash on our president. I respect and admire him. Just doing the math.
then:
I know my math is f***ed. Ha Ha Ha! Thats why I stick to acting!
No Donnie. Also, shut the fuck up, Donnie. Where’s Walter Sobchak when we need him?
The amount of people unironically telling him to “PREACH IT” is staggering.
catclub
@schrodinger’s cat: So is Bob Schieffer, but that doesn’t stop him from appearing every week.
WereBear
How wonderful! Congratulations on the expanded gig!
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@ranchandsyrup: Anyone yelling “Proof it!”?
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@catclub:
Peter Jennings is dead.
ranchandsyrup
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: LOL. Well played. It’s ok, he’s dating Jenny McCarthy and she is one of the most effective killers of our time so his time may be short.
Baud
@ranchandsyrup:
They should name their first kid Patient Zero.
BGinCHI
@ranchandsyrup: And he’s the smarter Wahlberg.
ranchandsyrup
@Baud: IQ Zero.
schrodinger's cat
@ranchandsyrup: Absolute Zero!
ranchandsyrup
@BGinCHI: For a second I wondered if he was trolling. But the thought quickly passed.
Tommy
@ranchandsyrup: It is more like $57M.
Now with that said I do web sites for a living. I like to think I am good at my job. I also know when I don’t know something and often I have to contact a third party to develop some software for me. Like for a client that does around $50,000 a day through the site I did for them. But they deliver stuff, and needed an app that would calculate mileage. They deliver in 57 locations and mileage charges were different. So were the locations they shipped from.
This cost thousands of dollars. Not hundreds of thousands much less millions. Sure health care is more technical, but looking at it, I don’t get where the money went.
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
Elon, awesome that TWIB is growing and can’t wait to see more “making fun of stupid comments” videos. Here’s one you’ll enjoy. Over at another blog we were discussing the four women in TX who walked out of a restaurant to find 40 armed gun nuts waiting for them. An idjit had this to say:
“Folks used to believe four women should be able to have a lunch and talk about their group without having to go outside and see about 20 darkies waiting for them.”
I believe my response contained “you racist fuck”.
catclub
Where is Betty Cracker? She might want to see this.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/wild_things/2013/11/15/green_anacondas_in_the_everglades_the_largest_snake_in_the_world_has_invaded.html
Betty Cracker
@catclub: I saw that; it has haunted my fever dreams since this morning. I’ve got a horrible cold, which landed simultaneously with a gigantic pile of work, so not much time for blogging. But I’m reading! And thank you for reminding me of GIANT SNAKES!
BGinCHI
@ranchandsyrup: He’s too mad that he didn’t get to play himself in Entourage to do anything so subtle.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
No need to worry. Obamacare covers getting eaten by large snakes.
Tommy
@Ms. D. Ranged in AZ: Comments are stunning are they not. I mean how didn’t I think up the idea of mocking them?
My little local newspaper, not close to a liberal pub, stopped taking comments.My golf coach died. Somebody that shaped my life. He was also the AD at the highschool. There was a story in said paper and a Memorial was going to be held for him at the school.
His daughter went into the comments to convey information.
Things went sideways. People saying some of the meanest things I’ve ever heard, and you have to work hard to offend me.
moderateindy
I would send money, but I heard a rumor that there were Blah’s at the TWIB website, and I wouldn’t want to have them develop a culture of dependency. So I will use that money at Wal-Mart, which, like all of our job creators, never gets any type of support from our government.
Villago Delenda Est
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader:
Well, call Ted Koppel out of retirement, then.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@moderateindy: You should just mail your money right to Alice Walton and skip the cheap Chinese imports. She can always use the money for this gaudy museum or that DUI charge.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@Villago Delenda Est:
Regrettably, Ted Koppel isn’t going to survive Obama’s Second Holocaust.
LanceThruster
I once said I don’t like Chicago-style pizza here on BJ.
Enjoy!
xD
http://greatideas.people.com/2013/11/14/jon-stewart-daily-show-chicago-pizza-rant-video/
gogol's wife
@the Conster:
I saw that one earlier and it stopped me in my tracks for half the morning.
I enjoyed the video!
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
@Tommy: Indeed! I grew up in a very racially divided town in the South and have been exposed to a lot of that kind of ugliness. And still I find it shocking that, in 2013, people say such things much less have the nerve to put them in writing. But anonymity is like catnip to bigots I suppose. I know the guy was probably a troll and I shouldn’t have fed him/her. Unfortunately for me, to let it go unchallenged is not within my nature. I’ve seen what happens far too up close and personal when racism goes unchallenged. For me as a kid to watch bad stuff be said and its repercussions and not be able to stand up and say ‘this is wrong’ was soul crushing. Now, I never sit down and shut up when it comes to bigotry.
LanceThruster
@BGinCHI:
Hey! I resemble that remark!
xD
ruemara
How can you guys talk about dumb people when there’s BatKid!?
And allll of this awesome. http://www.justice.gov/usao/can/news/2013/2013_11_15_riddler.penguin.charged.press.html
jnfr
I’ve really missed your webisodes, since I don’t do podcasts much. Very excited about the new studio and the partnership w/GOS. Please continue the great, creative, important work.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Just dumped my shitty employer based insurance. Now I’m on my wife’s plan. Unfortunately, her contract is being negotiated, and the world famous clinic we have always attended is on the chopping block as far as her insurer is concerned.
Fortunately, I just found out that because of Obamacare, if your plan changes structure in this way (among other things) you are able to sign up for your employer’s insurance at any time (used to be your spouse had to lose their coverage) Winning.
Violet
Like the video, Elon. Glad to hear TWIB is expanding.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
only unicorns and ponies are allowed to comment here. good luck with the multimedia empire.
Omnes Omnibus
How many of the comments Elon quoted were actually by DougJ?
Ripley
Ironically, it’s the paving that bothers them.
Darkrose
I’m going to donate when I get paid, but instead of the raffle, can I just stalk you next time I’m in Berkeley?