Elise Stefanik replaces Liz Cheney as House Republican Conference Chair

I told my readers "I'll keep following the story to see who replaces Cheney. I think it will likely be Elise Stefanik, but stay tuned to find out" at the end of House Republicans vote to remove Liz Cheney as conference chair. Sure enough, that happened. CBS News reported House GOP votes Representative Elise Stefanik into leadership.

House Republicans elected Representative Elise Stefanik of New York as the party's new conference chair Friday. The decision came after Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming was ousted from the position earlier this week. CBSN Washington reporter Caitlin Huey-Burns joined CBSN to discuss what the move means for the GOP.

I'm going to be a good environmentalist by recycling my remarks about the significance of this swap from Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at replacing Liz Cheney and Arizona audit.

That Elise Stefanik has become the leading candidate to replace Cheney strikes me as ironic if one considers this intra-party conflict is over conservatism. Voteview rates Stefanik's ideological score at 0.229, more liberal than 98% of House Republicans in the 117th Congress, while Cheney's ideological score is 0.515, exactly in the middle of the current House Republican Caucus. Replacing a mainstream conservative Republican with an ideological moderate shows this fight is not over conventional ideas of left and right. Instead, it is about loyalty to Trump, which is odd considering that major American political parties generally move away from losing presidential candidates. Not now — the GOP is sticking closer to Trump than ever.

Shifting gears from serious to silly, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah discussed the irony of replacing a conservative who no longer supports Trump with a moderate who now does in GOP Ousts Liz Cheney and Promotes Elise Stefanik.

Rep. Liz Cheney gets voted out as the House Republican Conference chair. Here’s how her replacement, Rep. Elise Stefanik, got to where she is.

Stefanik strikes me as an opportunist who felt the wind shifting and turned like a weather vane. On the one hand, she's being responsive to her constituents, which is generally a good thing in a legislator. On the other, she shows that she's following instead of leading by telling them when they're wrong. Still, it's working for her so far. Let's see how long that lasts.

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

As I promised first in Happy Birthday to the blog and Nowruz Mubarak (Happy Persian New Year)! and again in CNN's 'Dirty Water: Danger from the Tap' on World Water Day, it's time for me to report on the statistics for the eighth year of this blog.

Blogger recorded that this blog had a lifetime total of 2,168,149 page views and 3853 posts at 11:59 PM EDT March 20, 2019.  In addition, I counted 361 comments since March 21, 2018.  The equivalent numbers from the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News were 3465 entries, 1,630,513 page views, and 2,391 comments during the first six years of the blog.  The result was that the blog earned 537,636 page views while I posted 388 entries during 365 days.  Those are fewer page views and comments for more posts than during the seventh year of blogging here, 682,128 page views and 488 comments from my readers and me on 364 entries.  That's a first, and not a good one, either.  Follow over the jump for my analysis of what went "wrong."

Company Man explains Amazon's growth on Prime Day, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

When I posted the following comment on When Collapse Goes Kinetic in response to Kunstler, I should have expected the responses.

"A freeze up of short-term lending would quickly lead to empty WalMart shelves" — Debt problems are already leading to thousands of stores closing including Toys R Us and Kmart.  The latter was WalMart's chief competitor.  Now, it and its sibling Sears are likely to finally go bankrupt in the next recession.  Welcome to the Retail Apocalypse!

FallenHero replied that "They closed because of amazon. When amazon starts closing maybe something will ‘happen’."  I told him that I didn't think that was the entire picture.

Amazon and the rise of online shopping are probably a necessary but not sufficient for the current travails of brick-and-mortor retail.  The chains that are failing are also victims of poor management and predatory financing.

FallenHero was not convinced.  In addition, two other readers at Kunstler's blog mentioned Amazon with one calling it a predator and another comparing it to the Soviet department store GOOM.  Oh, my, some people really don't like the tech retail giant.

They're not alone in blaming Amazon for contributing to the demise of the victims of the Retail Apocalypse.  I brought up Amazon in a reply to Kevin Robbins' comment Part 2 of Toys R Us in the Retail Apocalypse - Company Man in which he wrote "I suppose I can't blame Trump just because they ran the business like he would've."

As for not blaming Trump, that's true, as much as we'd like to. On the other hand, we can blame two of his rivals, Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mitt Romney of Bain Capital. Bain was one of the companies that bought Toys R Us in a leveraged buyout and left it saddled with debt.

All of this makes for an elaborate lead-up to noting that Amazon Prime Day begins today.  Company Man just happens to have the perfect video to answer the question How Did Amazon Get So Big?

Amazon famously started in someone's garage, yet today they're massive. This video details the strategy they've been using to make it happen.

Company Man mentions that Amazon has played a part in his videos about the decline of other retailers, including the one I embedded in Part 2 of Toys R Us in the Retail Apocalypse — Company Man, but otherwise doesn't allude to the disruption it has caused to brick-and-motor retailers or how it plans to take advantage of it.  Even Retail Archeology explained how Amazon was planning on takig over vacant Toys R Us locations.

I'm not done with the Retail Apocalypse.  Stay tuned for the installment about Payless Shoes that I promised in Radio Shack, a tale of the retail apocalypse from Company Man and Retail Archeology after another late celebration of World Population Day.

Stats for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

I twice promised a statistics entry, so it's time to deliver.

As of 11:59 P.M. E.D.T. on March 20, 2017, I had posted 3101 total entries, the blog had earned 948,385 page views, and the readers and I together posted 1,903 comments over the blog's first seven years.  As of that same time on March 20, 2018, those totals had reached 3465 entries, 1,630,513 page views, and 2,391 comments during the first six years of the blog.  Consequently, the seventh year of the blog saw me post 364 entries, which earned 682,128 page views and 488 comments from my readers and me.*  For comparison, the sixth year of the blog recorded 377 entries, which earned 352,764 page views and 596 comments.

Follow over the jump for my analysis of these numbers.

Kid Rock for Senate?

Kevin Robbins of Hometown U.S.A. and I had this enchange in the comments to Entertainers and sports organizations condemn Charlottesville violence and trademark infringement.

[Kevin:] I trust Senator Stabenow will chew up and spit out little bits of Kid Rock next year. The Republican primary, presuming there is one, should be a show for the ages.

[Me:] Me, too. Thanks for mentioning that. I really have been neglecting a big story in my own backyard. I'll have to remedy that in the near future.

It turns out I have been ignoring this story for longer than I thought.  Nearly six months ago, Stephen Colbert observed If 'President Trump' Is Hard To Say, Try 'Senator Kid Rock'.

Kid Rock is running for Senate in Michigan, and there's only one man standing in his way.

LOL!  Unfortunately for Kid Rock, his primary opponent won't be the fictional Shrieking Joe.  They're the very real Bloomfield Hills businesswoman Lena Epstein, who was Michigan co-chair for Trump, and retired Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bob Young.  In addition, businessman and Iraq War veteran John James of Farmington Hills has formed an exploratory committee, as The Detroit News reported.  Follow over the jump for my analysis of that field.

It's Father's Day, so here's Stephen Colbert mocking Alex Jones over his custody battle

Happy Father's Day!  Yesterday, I told my readers to "Stay tuned for a special Father's Day entry for Entertainment Sunday."  Today, I'm paying tribute to a special father, Alex Jones, who will be featured on Megyn Kelly's show tonight.  It so happens that Jones' ex-wife sued him for custody of their children in April, saying of him, “He’s not a stable person.”  That gave Stephen Colbert an opening to lampoon Jones, beginning with InfoWar's Alex Jones Has Nothing On Tuck Buckford.

Stephen opens the vault for an old clip from 'Brain Fight with Tuck Buckford,' the show that likely inspired fellow performance artist Alex Jones.

That's not all.  Follow over the jump for four more times Colbert mocked Jones and his legal issues as "Tuck Buckford."

R.I.P. Adam West

Kevin Robbins of Hometown, USA asked "What? No post on Adam West?" to conclude his comment to 'Simpsons,' 'Westworld,' 'American Horror Story' among Golden Trailer winners. That was a good question that deserved a response.

I was thinking of posting an obituary for West; he was, after all, my original Batman. Now that you've asked, I'm going to do it. Never say I don't respond to reader requests.

I've found that ABC News does a good job with celebrity obituaries, so it's to them I go for Remembering 'Batman' TV icon Adam West.

The original Batman, who appeared onscreen as the caped crusader 156 times, passed away at age 88.

What's Adam West's Batman without Burt Ward's Robin?  CNN provided the Boy Wonder's perspective in 'Robin' on Adam West: I miss him dearly.

Burt Ward, who played "Robin" on "Batman," remembers his co-star, Adam West.

I have just the image for this video.


To paraphrase what I wrote at the end of R.I.P. Roger Moore, Batman lives on, but his funniest actor has passed.*  R.I.P.

*Yes, I'm including Michael Keaton.  He could have played a funnier Batman, but he didn't.

Unicorn drinks and music for my readers' Sunday entertainment

Thanks to Kevin Robbins of Hometown, U.S.A., unicorns had a cameo in the comments to Trump's border wall is an environmental disaster, too, when he wrote "It's looking like the chances of the wall being built are about the same as unicorns making a comeback."

I changed the subject slightly with "Well, there are unicorn frappuccinos at Starbucks, but you're right. They aren't real unicorns."

Kevin played along.  "I saw a story about those. Baristas are distinctly not happy happy joy joy about making them."

I agreed. "So I've heard and read. Not only is it a lot of work, it's pretty sour."

We weren't kidding.  Business Insider reported Exhausted Starbucks baristas 'hate' the complicated-to-make unicorn drink that's taking over Instagram.  The article shows that making the drink is a lot of work, just as I gathered.  As for the customer reaction, The Capital Times on Madison.com headline read Yeah, I Ate That: The Unicorn Frappuccino is made for Instagram, not taste buds and said of the reaction, "It’s a lot of fuss over a drink that looks like a My Little Pony fell in a tank of battery acid. In fact, one can’t help but wonder if the Unicorn Frappuccino was ever meant to be consumed, but rather photographed, posted on Instagram and then tossed away."  ZING!

Speaking of zingers, Jimmy Kimmel lampooned the whole phenomenon in NEW Starbucks F**k-it-Ccino .

Starbucks has released their latest caffeinated drink called the “Unicorn Frappuccino.” It has pink powder, mango syrup, sour blue drizzle and all sorts of other stuff. But if the Unicorn Frappuccino doesn’t strike your fancy, Starbucks has another new item specifically to suit our troubled times.

As George Takei would say, "Oh my."

That's not all.  Stephen Colbert had even more to say in Stephen Hate-Tastes Starbucks' Unicorn Frappuccino.

In the perfect world, unicorns would exist and Starbucks' unicorn frappuccinos would cease to.

Sorry, but this is not a perfect world.

Follow over the jump for more recycled comments along with the recipe for another unicorn drink recipe and some appropriate music.

Trump and Putin, a bad bromance

Hat/tip to Kevin Robbins at Hometown USA.
In the wake of the release of Democratic National Committee emails by Wikileaks and the strongly suspected Russian involvement in the hacking that exposed them, Trump held a press conference in which he addressed his relationship with Putin and Russia.  Near the end, he asked Russia to find Clinton's missing emails.  Watch it for yourself, along with the reaction.

Key figures in the Republican Party addressed Donald Trump's comments urging Russia to find Hillary Clinton's missing emails. CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

For the third time in the history of this blog, it's time to run the Nate Silver scandal checklist (original here).

"1. Can the scandal be reduced to a one-sentence soundbyte (but not easily refuted/denied with a one-sentence soundbyte)?"

Yes.  Trump is asking a hostile foreign power to intervene in American elections to his benefit.  As for "easily refuted," Trump tried that (he was being sarcastic) but it didn't work.

"2. Does the scandal cut against a core element of the candidate’s brand?"

Yes.  Trump's slogan is "America First," but this request is not a patriotic one; in fact, some have called it treasonous.

"3. Does the scandal reify/reinforce/”prove” a core negative perception about the candidate, particularly one that had henceforth been difficult to articulate (but not one that has become so entrenched that little further damage can be done)?"

Yes.  It reinforces the perception that Trump is an authoritarian who admires other authoritarians, especially Putin.

"4. Can the scandal readily be employed by the opposition, without their looking hypocritical/petty/politically incorrect, risking retribution, or giving life to a damaging narrative?"

So far, yes. Democrats in general and Hillary Clinton’s people in particular are already doing so.  About the worst thing it could do is remind people about the Wikileaks release of the DNC's emails.

"5. Is the media bored, and/or does the story have enough tabloid/shock value to crowd out all other stories?"

I thought the answer would be no, as there are lots of other news, but apparently it's yes. Surprise!

That's five yes answers.  Trump is now ahead of Janice Daniels, former Mayor of Troy, who was recalled, and right up there with Chris Christie, whose presidential campaign flopped after New Hampshire.  That's yet another reason why Trump and Christie make a good pair.

Follow over the jump for more from CNN and the New York Daily News.