Stats for the 14th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on Wayback Wednesday

I closed 23andMe files for bankruptcy, fueling privacy concerns by telling my readers "stay tuned for the first retrospective of the 14th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, stats." Here goes!

As of 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2025, this blog had a lifetime total of 5,222,122 page views, 6,168 total posts, and 4180 comments. Minus the 4,463,208 page views, 5,798 total posts, and 4,057 comments as of just before March 21, 2024, that means this blog earned 758,914 page views and 123 published comments on 370 posts during the 365 days of the 14th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. My calculated page views are close to the ~757,000 page views and 133 comments Blogger's counter showed during the past twelve months. That was closer than last year, but not exact. I think that's because Blogger counts whole days, which started at 8:00 P.M. March 21, 2024, but my count starts 20 hours earlier. Blogger lost all of those ~1,900 page views from those 20 hours. I tested this hypothesis by multiplying the next day's 2,290 page views by 0.833 (20/24) and got 1,908. Close enough. I can't completely account for the ten extra comments. I deleted six and there were eight comments during the first three weeks of March 2024 that Blogger might have counted, but neither add up, literally. Maybe I'll figure it out next year.

Last year's trend of increasing page views continued. Not only did this past year's 758,914 page views on 370 posts during 365 days beat the year before's 641,234 page views on 380 posts during 366 days, it beat the year before that's 419,300 page views on 379 posts during 365 days. That means I'm working less hard for more page views, as the blog earned 2,051.12 page views per post and 2,079.22 page views per day during the blog year just ended. Both are more than the 1,687.46 page views per post and 1,752.01 page views per day the blog earned between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024 and a lot more than the 1,106.33 page views per post and 1,148.77 page views per day between March 21, 2022 and March 20, 2023. May the trend continue during this year just started.

While the published comments increased from 78 to 123, the raw number, including never released spam decreased from 199 to either 154 or 133. Still, the number of published comments increased to 123, just edging out the 122 of two years ago. Just the same, I'm getting less spam and more published comments. Since I don't have comment goals, I'm not concerned. I'd prefer fewer quality comments than a lot of spam.

As for my commenters who aren't spammers, I'd like to thank them, beginning with continuing commenters Infidel753, Nebris, the first commenter on my blog, Friend of the Court, and Steve in Manhattan. I also want to welcome back Paul W., who didn't comment last year. Keep up the good work! I also want to thank John R. Christiansen, E.A. Blair, and Steven C. Di Pietro for making their first posts here. Stick around! Unfortunately, I seem to have lost longtime commenter Narb Xorbian, the best man at my first wedding. In addition, last year's first-time commenters H-bob, tronvillain, August Johnson, Noah, Marc McKenzie, Realityhold, and my student Ecogranite didn't return. Come back, I miss you!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the analysis.

CNBC explains 'Why Traffic Can't Be Solved With More Highway Lanes,' a driving update

Snow Bear passed another milestone yesterday, so it's time for a driving update. First, the big picture from CNBC, Why Traffic Can't Be Solved With More Highway Lanes.

Traffic and congestion has been worsening in American cities for decades. What to do about it divides opinion. Some say cities need more of everything: widened roads, public transit, and better urban design and planning. Some say however that widening roads won't solve traffic. Some economists, for example, argue that congestion pricing is the only way to reduce traffic. The solution is politically controversial though. Though it is implemented in cities like London and Singapore, attempts to implement it in America cities such as New York have incurred a lot of pushback.

I've examined all these issues in previous driving updates, including congestion pricing and the return of driving as the pandemic came and is now subsiding. Still, it's good to have it all in one video.

That's the big picture. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update plus a retrospective of the top driving update during last year, which was also the most commented entry of the year.

Classified documents leak headlines 'Weekend Update' on 'SNL'

Happy Sunday! I begin the highlights of last night's "Saturday Night Live" episode with Weekend Update: Trump Claims Police Cried at His Arrest, Biden Downplays Pentagon Documents Leak.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like the suspect in the Pentagon classified document leak getting arrested.

I begin my reaction by being a good environmentalist and recycling one of my comments from Colbert's monologue examined security leaks, Justice Thomas, and Tennessee expelling two legislators.

[T]his is the kind of bad behavior that might have induced [Discord] to change its privacy policy (H/T Infidel753). The participants in 2017's Weimar moment in Charlottesville used Discord to organize as well. I should research this change, but I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that Discord made it either at the behest of law enforcement or to discourage people from using its service for criminal activity — maybe both.

This story reminds me that I run a Discord server for this blog and one of my New Year's resolutions was to get more users. I have to do some more work with roles and channels first. Still, if you're interested, leave a comment below or send me a message on Facebook through the Crazy Eddie's Motie News page.

Readers interested in my Discord can also follow the Crazy Eddie's Motie News account on Twitter and send me a message for an invite. I'm not opening up my messages to just anyone!

I observed that "MSNBC has been all over...a ruling reversing the FDA's approval of mifepristone, which I don't recall 'Saturday Night Live' mentioning in the clips I shared yesterday. Huh..." in James Austin Johnson's 'Trump' hijacks the Last Supper on 'SNL' for Easter. I'm glad they finally got around to making a joke about it, even if the situation isn't all that funny. I also wrote "I'll get to that story later." I will, but it's still developing.

As for The Former Guy including the detail about people, particularly, "big, strong men," crying, I consider it a tell that he's BSing or lying (there is a difference, but both involve not telling the truth) right up with with them addressing him as "Sir." Not only that, but both also mark this as a story in service to his ego and image. Don't believe any story that contains either.

Weekend Update continued with NYC Hires First-Ever "Rat Czar," Rescuers Save Lost Hikers on Mushrooms.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like the New York City Department of Sanitation releasing a new campaign.

All those stories were hilarious and nearly all the punch lines were in bad taste. SNL's writers would probably take that as a compliment.

Follow over the jump for the rest of Weekend Update, the host's monologue, and the cold open.

Comments from the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday!  I told my readers "Stay tuned for another of these retrospectives tomorrow" at the end of Alignment charts from the back catalog for Throwback Thursday with music by the Harp Twins.  Since yesterday's tomorrow is today, it's time to follow through with the three most commented on entries of the ninth year of this blog.


Wonkette reacts to its Media Bias Chart placement, an update to 'A comparison of two measures of media bias shows readers and viewers respond to both ideology and quality' from April 4, 2020 had 12 comments, the most comments on an entry posted during the blogging year.  I suspect most of the commenters came from Wonkette and Crooks and Liars.  Add that to being the fourth most read entry posted last year, as I described in Explaining the Media Bias Chart, a popular topic of the past two years of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.  Once again, thanks, Infidel!


Entertainment for the sixth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News from April 23, 2017 tied for the most comments during the posting year with 12 because of a series of persistent spammers.  I recommend it to my readers just for the comedy value of some of the most inept spammers in the history of the blog.  The entry currently has 23 comments, including nine from 2017, which placed it third for the year, so it missed being mentioned in Pins, comments, shares, and likes for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News by one comment.  Darn!


Company Man on JCPenney's decline updates tales of the Retail Apocalypse for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News from April 18, 2020 had 11 comments, the second most comments on an entry posted during the blogging year.  This continues the trend of entries about the Retail Apocalypse eliciting a lot of comments, something I noted in last year's review of the most commented entries, Shopko liquidating, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.  Here's to posts about the Retail Apocalypse continuing to engage my readers!

As I was writing this, I wondered if I should also select the best comments from my readers for this post.  That's not going to happen today.  First, I really have to get to work (working from home is still work) and that would take too much time.  Sorry.  Second, I turn interesting comments into posts anyway, so I don't need to do that here.  Instead, I'll just thank the commenters I listed in Statistics for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, Infidel753, Bukko Boomeranger, Nebris, K-Dog, Paul W., Ranch Chimp, Lady M., jkl, and even my right-wing troll, Ed.  You are better than a spammer.

I close with someone who was inspired to do something creative with her comments, Madilyn Bailey, who composed I Wrote a Song Using Only Your Comments!

I get soooooo many comments every day and you guys are quite creative so I decided to make a song out of them :) Madilyn Bailey

That was fun and I am now a fan.

I plan on posting two more of these retrospectives, one about Twitter on April 30th for Throwback Thursday and another in May about Pinterest to conclude the series.  I doubt I will post the latter next Friday, as that is May Day and I already have something planned for that, so watch for it on May 7.  In the meantime, stay tuned for something about the COVID-19 pandemic tomorrow.  Back to reality, even if I'm in an "I can't be all DOOM all the time" mood.

Previous posts in this series.

• Happy 9th birthday to the blog and Nowruz Mubarak (Happy Persian New Year) to my readers
• Statistics for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Washington Post on whistleblowing and WHAS11 on Rand Paul testing positive for coronavirus update the top post from the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Michigan to mail ballots and $400 million for elections in coronavirus stimulus bill update the election news and views for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Record unemployment claims and coronavirus accelerating existing retail trends update tales of the Retail Apocalypse for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Explaining the Media Bias Chart, a popular topic of the past two years of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Coronavirus response reducing air pollution updates climate change and the environment for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• CNBC's 'Why Coronavirus May Change How Americans Vote' updates pandemics and outbreaks for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Roll Call and Teen Kids News update statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C., popular topics for the past three years of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Broken Peach sings to update holidays from the back catalog for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Alignment charts from the back catalog for Throwback Thursday with music by the Harp Twins

Previous retrospectives about comments and likes.

• My readers love to write comments about pets
• Comments and likes for the fourth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Comments and likes for the fifth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Comments and likes for the sixth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• Pins, comments, shares, and likes for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News
• CNN reports on Trump consulting Twitter for policy advice
• Shopko liquidating, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Washington Post on whistleblowing and WHAS11 on Rand Paul testing positive for coronavirus update the top post from the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Happy Throwback Thursday!  For today's look back at the most popular posts from the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, I begin with the program note I used to conclude Vox and FiveThirtyEight explain social distancing.

I might take a break from the pandemic tomorrow, as I plan on posting a retrospective of the blogging year just ended, which I mentioned in the conclusion of The Washington Post and Full Frontal explain FOIA for Freedom of Information Day.

One of the episodes is "Whistleblowing 101," which I plan on using to update Rand Paul calling for publication of whistleblower's name illustrates how America fails its whistleblowers, the most read entry posted during the current blogging year.  Watch for that on January 26, the first Throwback Thursday of the tenth year of this blog — that is, if I'm not critically ill or dead from coronavirus by then.  I hope not.

So far, I'm fine.  I still plan on using the video I mentioned, but it turns out that Paul has tested positive for the virus.  That's definitely a pandemic angle, so I might use it, too.  Stay tuned.

Yes, the most read entry posted during the ninth year of this blog according to the default counter was Rand Paul calling for publication of whistleblower's name illustrates how America fails its whistleblowers, which earned ~1,990 default views and 2,023 raw views between being posted on January 31, 2020 and March 20, 2020.*  I'll explain how the entry got its views over the jump, but first I am updating both the topic of whistleblowing and the subject of Senator Paul.  I begin with The Washington Post's video Whistleblowing 101 | How to be a journalist.

Daniel Ellsberg risked his career and his safety to expose the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret study of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The Washington Post’s Libby Casey explains what it means to be a whistleblower, what legal protections are and are not available, and what someone risks by speaking up.

I've written about both examples of whistleblowers on this blog.  The conflict over publishing the Pentagon Papers was the central conflict in "The Post," which won Best Drama or Comedy about Politics or Government of 2017 (Best Political Scripted Movie for short).  The "60 Minutes" segment, "The Whistleblower," won Outstanding Investigative report in a Newsmagazine at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards.  Not only were these important moments in whistleblowing and journalism, they made for award-winning media.

That's the update for whistleblowing.  For the update on Senator Rand Paul, I am sharing WHAS11 of Kentucky's report Sen. Rand Paul defends lack of quarantine.

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is defending himself after coming under criticism for not quarantining himself after he was tested for the coronavirus.

Michele Travis had the following to say in a comment to the video on YouTube: "Bad thing, is he knew, he might have the Coronavirus, but he still interacted, with other members of congress and the house.  He should have put himself in Isolation, instead of interacting with others" (sic).  I agree.  He should have been a good example by practicing social distancing.  Instead, he was a bad example, not only on this issue, but others related to the pandemic.

Follow over the jump for the story on how this entry and others about impeachment earned their page views.

Statistics for the ninth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

As I promised in Happy 9th birthday to the blog and Nowruz Mubarak (Happy Persian New Year) to my readers, it's time to review the statistics for the ninth year of this blog.

As of 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2020, this blog had a lifetime total of 2,484,920 page views, 4274 posts, and 3211 comments.  Minus the lifetime total of 2,168,149 page views and 3853 posts at 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2019, 366 days earlier, the ninth year of the blog saw 316,771 page views on 421 posts during the ninth year of my writing it.  In addition, both the blog and I counted 464 comments during the past year.  While those are fewer page views on more posts than the 537,636 page views and 361 comments on 388 entries during 365 days for the eighth year of the blog, I set a monthly page view goal of 25,000, which means 300,000 total page views for the ninth year of the blog.  I surpassed my monthly page view goal by 1397.6 and my annual page view goal by 16,771, so I consider the past year a success in terms of readership.  Yay for realistic goals!

Follow over the jump for my analysis of the past year.

Bye-bye Bill as de Blasio drops out

It's been three weeks since Kirsten  Gillibrand dropped out, so I've been quiet about the presidential campaign here other than updating Democratic candidates' Voteview scores and posting drinks for candidates at the September and October Democratic debates; the Emmy Awards have been more interesting.  All that changed yesterday as Bill de Blasio dropped out.  CBS News reports.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday morning that he's ending his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination after making no headway in the polls and failing to qualify for the last debate. CBSN political reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns has more on the latest shakeup in the race.

Oddly enough, I had just mentioned Mayor de Blasio in a comment to Turning on the Light at Kunstler's blog.

I've been following the ideological progress of Mayor De Blasio according to On The Issues since he announced his candidacy.  For such a notorious liberal, he started off near the right end of the spectrum.  Since then, he has moved to the left and is now the median candidate ideologically in the remaining field.  That means he's just an average Democrat.

And now he's gone, so it's time to quote FiveThirtyEight in their first 2020 drop out draft and then retire some memes and recipes.  Follow over the jump for those.

WUSA and CNN report on likely Russian election interference and the Administration's conflicted response

It's a new month, so it's time for a new installment of Putin's hackers and agents.  June's episode had Vox explain how Russian trolls weaponized social media.  The advice for July again featured Vox, who explained how not to get phished (like the DNC).  This month, I have videos from WUSA 9 in Washington, D.C. and CNN on the latest developments.

I begin with WUSA, which summarized the situation in Election interference is happening now on August 2, 2018.



Foreign agents are interfering in our country's elections.
For more detail, follow over the jump for five videos from CNN outlining the nature of the threat and how the adminstration is responding inconsistently to it with the intelligence community taking it seriously while Donald Trump discounts it.*

Conyers resigns, setting up scramble for his seat

Original at Detroit Free Press.

I think John Conyers should retire.  He's had his term as the longest serving Representative.  Let someone else have the honor.  He doesn't deserve it anymore.

That was the opening paragraph of a comment I left in an open thread at We Hunted The Mammoth last month.  Well, I got my wish.  WXYZ reported yesterday Rep. John Conyers officially announces retirement, read resignation letter.

Rep. John Conyers, who has been battling sexual harassment allegations by former female staffers, says he is retiring. Conyers told "The Mildred Gaddis Show" on WPZR-FM Tuesday that this will be his final two-year term. The 88-year-old Democrat says he is endorsing his son to take his seat in Congress. Ian Conyers, the grandson of John Conyers' brother, earlier said his great-uncle would not run for re-election and that he would run for his seat in Washington, D.C. Conyers, who was first elected in 1964, easily won re-election last year in the heavily Democratic 13th District. The House Ethics Committee has been reviewing multiple harassment allegations against Conyers.

The man did a lot of good over the years, but it was time for him to go.  I that is not a new thought of mine, as I stated it in 2015.

Conyers almost didn't qualify for the ballot last year, as too many of his signatures were collected by paid petition circulators, which was illegal at the time (that provision of Michigan's election law was overturned in the process of getting Conyers back on the ballot).  That's a sign that Conyers has been losing control of his operation.  Along with other rumors about his age getting to him, it indicates that it might be time for Conyers to retire.

Now that Conyers has not just retired, but resigned, who will replace him and when will that happen?  WXYZ reported on that as well in Gov. Snyder reviewing dates for special election to replace John Conyers.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is reviewing possible dates for a special election in Michigan's 13th Congressional district to replace John Conyers. Rep. John Conyers officially announces retirement, read resignation letter The 88-year-old congressman announced Tuesday he is retiring amid sexual harassment allegations. Ari Adler, a spokesman for the governor's office, said they received his resignation letter and are reviewing potential dates for the special election. Conyers was scheduled to serve out his two-year term, which ends on Jan. 3, 2019, but because his retirement is effective immediately, there will now be a special election for his seat.

In addition to the two younger Conyers, Coleman Young II, who just lost to Mike Duggan for Detroit mayor, the Detroit News listed a long roster of potential candidates.

Democratic activist Michael Gilmore is running for Conyers’ seat. Other names circulating Tuesday as potential candidates included state Sens. David Knezek of Dearborn Heights and Coleman Young II of Detroit, former state Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit, Westland Mayor Bill Wild, Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones and Councilwoman Mary Sheffield.

Counting both Conyers cousins, Young, and Gilmore, four candidates have already declared their intent to run for this now vacant seat in a safe Democratic district.  I fully expect more to throw their hats into the ring.  The one I would root for is Tlaib, who organized protests against Trump last year.  Those got my attention and respect.

I have one last item to note about this entire affair.  While it was past time for Conyers to retire and this scandal got him to do the right thing, I found the catalyst for it to be tainted, as I noted in the rest of my comment at We Hunted The Mammoth.

That written, the Wonkette article noted that a recurring subject of this blog, Mike Cernovich, was the one who broke the story and pointed out that it was reminiscent of how Roger Stone knew that Al Franken was going to be exposed before the news broke.  Josh Marshall noticed this and asked "Why Cernovich?"

This doesn't mean [Cernovich] and Stone are wrong -- even a stopped clock is right twice a day -- it just means that they're motives aren't pure and they are still not friends of women.  As Wonkette wrote, "beware of ratf*cking."

It also raises the question of "Why Conyers?"  Yes, the allegations were backed up by evidence and later accounts by other women and I think that Conyers needed to retire before the scandal, but why Conyers and not some other Representative who misbehaved?  I noted two years ago that "According to Voteview, he's the most liberal member of the Michigan Congressional delegation, as well as one of the oldest."  I suspect that may be part of the answer to Marshall's question, "Why Cernovich?"

Conyers isn't the only member of Michigan's Congressional delegation to announce his retirement.  Stay tuned for news about another U.S. Representative leaving under more ordinary circumstances.

Best November ever and other monthly meta

November 2015 was the best November in the history of the blog.  The month's 13,649 page views exceeded the previous year's count by more than 3,000.  As I wrote in Record page views, comments, and 100th follower: Monthly meta for October 2015, all but one of November's page view goals had been achieved by the 23rd.  The blog managed to get the last goal, 13,000 page views, with two days to spare.  That performance finally dispelled my opinion of November as being a poor month for readership on the blog, after two disappointing performances.

The 45 comments were also a high for November, beating last year's 31.  While they didn't set a record, it was also higher than the high water mark for last year, 42 during February 2014, which I mentioned in Monthly Meta for June 2015.  To celebrate both achievements, I'm sharing the most liked, commented on, and read entries of the last month.

I begin with a new category, the most liked and shared on Pinterest.  That honor goes to "Final 'Star Wars VII' trailer and reaction" posted on October 25, 2015.  Over the past five weeks, it was liked 13 times and shared 88 times on Pinterest.  During that span, it earned 140 page views and received two comments.

Two entries tied for the most commented on for the month with seven comments.  The first was "NABLOPOMO for November 2015: HUGE" posted November 2, 2015.  Its comments came from conversations with Paul W. and Ashley Nguyn Newell.  It had more page views than the other entry, with 77 according to the raw counter.  The second entry was "Record page views, comments, and 100th follower: Monthly meta for October 2015" posted November 23, 2015.  It also garnered 7 comments thanks to conversations with Robin and Bukko Boomeranger.  It had fewer page views than the first entry, with 65.

Follow over the jump for the most read entries of November 2015.

The smart money is on Rubio to beat Trump

I opened Bye, Bobby! Jindal drops out with dueling observations on the state of the GOP field.

Kunstler remarked on the state of the campaign at his blog yesterday.

The cowardice in the college executive suites is mirrored in our national politics, where no persons of real standing will dare step forward to oppose the juggernaut of Hillery-the-Grifter, or take on the clowning Donald Trump on the grounds of his sheer mental unfittedness to lead a government.

I disagreed with him about the Republicans being unwilling to take on Trump.*

There are plenty of people with stature in the Republican Party trying to dislodge Trump and Carson from the top two spots.   Off the top of my head, I count four current senators, three current governors, a former senator, and four former governors, along with a former CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation, all trying to beat that "immigrant-bashing carnival barker" and his competitor Doctor Pyramid.  They're just not succeeding at it.

That was only half of what I had to say on the topic of Republicans taking on Trump.  Here's the rest, which I promised to use in the comments to Record page views, comments, and 100th follower: Monthly meta for October 2015.

Right now, the smart money is on Rubio, as PredictWise's aggregate of betting markets gives him a 47% chance of winning the nomination.  Trump may be in second, but he's well behind at 19%.  Then comes Cruz at 13% and Bush at 10%.  The rest of the field, including Carson, is in single digits.  Let's see if the people putting their money where their mouths are end up being right or losing their shirts.

Since last Monday, those odds have moved.  Rubio is still at 47%, while Trump and Cruz have both gone up to 22% and 16% respectively.  Bush is still at 10%, while Christie is hanging on at 4% and Carson has fallen to 2%.  The "smart money" among gamblers may think that Rubio is the most likely to win the nomination, but they are taking both Trump and Cruz more seriously.  That last is not good news.

Follow over the jump for more.