Company Man on GameStop, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Company Man just came out with a video about a chain I've wanted to examine as part of my Tales of the Retail Apocalypse series, GameStop.  Watch as he asks and answers The Decline of GameStop...What Happened?

Everyone's favorite video game retailer has been on the decline. They're likely to continue falling at an accelerated rate and have no real plan in place on how to fight it. This video talks about how GameStop got to this point.

I've been waiting for a good GameStop video ever since I saw the following graph, which I first used in Business Insider on stores closing in the Retail Apocalypse on June 13, 2018, almost exactly a year ago.


It shows GameStop announcing that it would close 150 stores in the United States during 2017.  That got my attention.  According to the graphic below, which I captured from Company Man's video, it turned out that GameStop ended up closing a lot more than that.


That's a drop of more than 1000 stores.  Even so, GameStop has still has slightly fewer than 6,000 stores, so the situation is more like Family Dollar than Sears and KMart.  Still, it bears watching.  At least this story isn't about Tariffs from the U.S.-China trade war increasing prices!

Happy World Oceans Day 2019

A happy World Oceans Day to my readers!  Despite the joyful salutation, this is a serious day.  To that end, I'm sharing Georgia Aquarium's Happy World Oceans Day!

It's World Oceans Day 2019 and our planet needs our help. Pollution, ocean warming, and unsustainable fishing are some big reasons why the health of our ocean - and the animals inside it - is at risk. By studying and caring for the animals at Georgia Aquarium and in the wild, we can change the course of history.

This video reinforces what I wrote last year; "Climate change, plastic pollution, and overfishing make a deadly trifecta of threats to all the world's oceans, not just the coral reefs.  Here's to hoping World Oceans Day makes people more aware of their impact on the oceans."

That written, awareness is necessary but not sufficient.  Action is needed and UNESCO's video for today, Women scientists for the preservation of our marine heritage (World Oceans Day 2019) shows some of the people working to understand the problems.

This World Oceans Day, UNESCO highlights the contribution of women scientists to a healthy ocean.

Thank you all and keep up the good work.  Not just the oceans, but the entire planet needs it!

A family legend for National Donut Day plus the back catalog for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Happy Flashback Friday and Happy National Donut Day!  CBS Sacramento has the story behind the food holiday in Friday Is National Donut Day.

Americans have been happily celebrating since 1938.

That's right, the Salvation Army created this holiday, not the donut shops, although they are quite content to tag along.

It turns out I have a family connection to the creation of the donut, even if it's more legendary than historical.

I'm descended from the brother of Johnny Fry, the first Pony Express rider out of St. Joseph, Missouri.  He's connected to the origin of donuts.

Fry quickly gained a reputation for never failing to deliver the mail, regardless of weather or danger, and was a fast rider, averaging a speed of 12.5 miles per hour, including all stops. Local lore says that the donut was invented as a cake for Fry to eat while speeding by young girls homes near Troy, Kansas.

This is also family lore.  My father told me that the girls would try to give him cakes and cookies, but he rode so fast that when they tried to give them to him, they would just crumble.  The solution was a fried cake with a hole in the middle, which he could hook like a ring on a carousel.  Thus the donut was invented.

That's a really cool story.  Unfortunately, it's not the accepted one.   Smithsonian Magazine gives credit to someone else a couple of decades earlier in The history of the doughnut...Johnny Fry and his female admirers are not mentioned at all, not even to debunk the legend.  Darn.  Just the same, Happy National Donut Day!

I found just the image to illustrate this entry.


Since it's Flashback Friday, follow over the jump for the final installment of the retrospective series about the back catalog.

CBS News and CNN on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day

For Throwback Thursday, I am observing two historic anniversaries.  The first was the 100th Anniversary of passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote.  The second is the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

I begin the commemoration with Remembering D-Day on the 75th anniversary of historic invasion from CBS News.

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches in Normandy, France, with the goal of defeating Nazi Germany. Alex Kershaw is a historian and author of "The First Wave: The D-Day Warriors Who Led the Way to Victory in World War II." He joined Major Garrett for a closer look at what the iconic day means.

That was about the importance of the invasion itself through 75 years of hindsight.  To see and hear the meaning at the time, CBS News showed D-Day anniversary: Watch archival video of the iconic invasion in Normandy.

On June 6, 1944, Allied forces stormed the beaches in Normandy, France, with the goal of defeating Nazi Germany. This is one of a series of newsreel clips, which captured the iconic day live as it happened.

In retrospect, this comes off as much wartime propaganda as it does news, down to the appeal to buy war bonds, but at the time it just showed that the media were as committed to the war effort as everyone else.

CBS News summed up the anniversary ceremonies in Normandy ceremony honors D-Day heroes 75 years later.

World leaders gathered in France to honor the Allied forces who landed on Normandy beaches 75 years ago. At least 170 aging veterans who took part in the operation in 1944 returned to reflect on the turning point in World War II. "CBS This Morning" co-host Anthony Mason joined CBSN from Normandy with more on the historic ceremony.

I watched a video of those flyovers from CNN.  It was powerful, especially the preview image, which reminds me of Bastille Day.

Joined by President Emanuel Macron and Mrs. Macron, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump viewed a series of flyovers at the conclusion of events commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

That's it for this Throwback Thursday look back at two historic anniversaries.  Stay tuned for a final retrospective of the eighth year of this blog about the back catalog.

100th Anniversary of passage of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote

For Throwback Thursday, I am observing two historic anniversaries.  The first actually happened two days ago, the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing women the right to vote.  The History Channel has the story of the struggle for women's suffrage and the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment in The 19th Amendment | History.

In 1920, women in the U.S. gained the right to vote - but only after a struggle that lasted more than 70 years! Learn how suffragists fought for the 19th amendment.

The History Channel outlined the timeline of the passage of the 19th Amendment on its website.

On May 21, 1919, U.S. Representative James R. Mann, a Republican from Illinois and chairman of the Suffrage Committee, proposed the House resolution to approve the Susan Anthony Amendment granting women the right to vote. The measure passed the House 304 to 89—a full 42 votes above the required two-thirds majority.

C-SPAN broadcast Speaker Pelosi Marks 100th Anniversary of 19th Amendment to commemorate the 100th anniversary of that event.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hosted a reception to mark the 100th anniversary of the House of Representatives passing the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guaranteed women the right to vote. "Women weren't given anything. Women earned, worked for, marched, fought, starved, were starved, sacrificed everything for expanding freedom in our country. Since the birth of our democracy women have not waited for change but have worked for change."

The History Channel described the next step.

Two weeks later, on June 4, 1919, the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment by two votes over its two-thirds required majority, 56-25. The amendment was then sent to the states for ratification.

Here is Senator Mitch McConnell reciting the history of the passage in the Senate in McConnell Commemorates 100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the 100th anniversary of the Senate’s passage of the 19th Amendment, giving American women the right to vote.

There will be one more 100th anniversary to celebrate, August 26, 1920, when the 19th Amendment was certified by U.S. Secretary of State Bainbridge Colby.  I hope to remember that date as well.

Stay tuned for the next historic anniversary, the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

Carbon dioxide hits another record at 415 ppm

I last reported on carbon dioxide levels in August 2018, when I posted a graph showing CO₂ reached 411.24 ppm at Mauna Loa during April 2018.  Last month, they reached a new record of 415.26 ppm.  That prompted CBS News to report Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit record high.

NOAA says carbon dioxide levels hit a record high last month, a troubling development for the future of the climate. CBS News weather producer David Parkinson joins CBSN to explain the significance.

As for the effect of all this CO₂, Axios listed this year's temperature records.

• January: Third-warmest January, per NOAA
• February: Fifth-warmest February, per NOAA
• March: Third-warmest March
  NOAA and Europe's Copernicus Climate Service ranked March as the 2nd-warmest on record, while NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency ranked the month slightly lower as the 3rd-warmest March on record.
• April: Second-warmest April
  April saw a global temperature anomaly of 0.99ºC, or 1.8ºF, above the 20th century average, per NASA.

My prediction that 2019 would be a warmer year than 2018, which was the fourth warmest on record, looks like it will come true, although the planet is not on track for it to beat 2016 or 2017.  Instead, 2019 appears to be on track to become the third warmest year ever.  Welcome to the 400 ppm world.

All of this bad news about the climate is enough to make me share this sign from one of this year's Youth Climate Strikes.


As a Crazy Eddie, I want to offer hope that there is a solution, but I also think this problem requires more urgency.  That the youth are asking for us to panic paradoxically inspires me to be hopeful.

Experts call for high risk of recession by end of 2020 because of trade policy

Last week, I reported tariffs how Chinese goods will reduce GDP and cause inflation.  Yesterday, the alarm bells rang louder, as CNBC reported yesterday Experts warn of 'high' chance of a recession by 2020.

CNBC's Steve Liesman reports on new warnings from experts that call for a high risk of a recession by the end of 2020 and increased chances for multiple interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

CNN had more details.

"Increased trade protectionism is considered the primary downwide risk to growth by a majority of the respondents," Gregory Daco, chief US economist for Oxford Economics, said in a statement. The report found what it called a "surge" in recession fears among the economists.

Gregory Daco is the same economist CNBC had on its panel last week.  At least this time he's not alone, as he was one of 53 business economists surveyed.

Back to CNN.

The risk of recession happening soon remains low but will "rise rapidly" next year. The survey's respondents said the risk of recession starting in 2019 is only 15% but 60% by the end of 2020. About a third of respondents forecast a recession will begin halfway through next year.

According to the survey, the median forecast for gross domestic product growth in the last quarter of 2020 was 1.9%. That would be a big drop from the most recent estimate of current US economic growth — 3.1% in the first three months of 2019.

I'm going to repeat two points.  One, "when I wrote 'trade, which I haven't written enough about, is likely to be straw that breaks the camel's back of the economic expansion and that a recession is inevitable,' first in I wrote about the yield curve inverting and sending another recession signal and again in MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' and CNBC's 'Fast Money' expound on the U.S.-China trade war and its fallout, that's the kind of effect I was expecting."  Two, "I've been bearish and on recession watch since December 2017 and still stand behind the prediction I made in Ten years ago, we were partying like it was 1929. Are we about to do it again?...'I'm moving my recession call to between July and December 2019.'"  If that happens, it will be closer to December than July, which is only a month away, but I will not revise my forecast until October at the earliest.  I'm even more confident that a recession is coming, even if it takes a bit longer than I expect.

Toledo's Lake Erie Bill of Rights faces legal jeopardy from state and corporate interests

At the end of April, Vox reported on something that sounds extraordinary, This lake now has legal rights, just like you, Toledo's Lake Erie Bill of Rights.

Why the “rights of nature” could be the next frontier for environmentalism.
...
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is the first law of its kind in the United States. In February of 2019, the residents of Toledo, Ohio voted to give Lake Erie's entire ecosystem legal rights. That means any citizen of Toledo, if they have credible evidence that a corporation or government is harming the lake, can file a lawsuit on behalf of Lake Erie in court.

The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is part of a larger movement to give legal rights to mountains, rivers, forests, and other natural objects. The citizens of these communities -- from Pennsylvania, to Ecuador, to New Zealand -- argue that because their long-term survival is dependent on the health of their natural surroundings, anything that harms the lakes, rivers, or forests they depend on should be considered a legal harm.

It’s a totally new way of approaching the law, and it could change the very nature of our relationship with the natural world. This is how one community in Ohio started what they hope will be a nationwide movement.

Of course, this attracted significant opposition.  Follow over the jump to read the rest of the story.

Congratulations to the 2019 EMA Awards winners!

At the end of Democratic presidential candidates from left to center from Voteview, I told my readers to "Stay tuned for an entry reporting the winners of the 2019 Environmental Media Association Awards as a Sunday entertainment feature."  Since I finally covered the nominees in a timely fashion, it's time for me to follow through with reporting on the winners on the first Sunday in June, which is today.  Here are the nominees and my predictions, which I will compare with the winners from The Hollywood Reporter.

As the Environmental Media Association Awards page states, "The EMA Awards honor film and television productions and individuals that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire personal action on these issues."  Here are the nominees along with my comments on them.

Feature Film

Aquaman (Warner Bros.)

Isle of Dogs (Twentieth Century Fox)

This reminds me of the 2017 field of "Moana" and "Okja."  The first just showed the beauty of nature, while the second actually explored an environmental issue.  "Okja," the more serious nominee, won.  I think the same will happen here with "Isle of Dogs" beating "Aquaman."  Just the same, "Aquaman" is getting surprising recognition for its themes, as it was also one of the Coffee Party Entertainment Awards movie nominees for 2018 for examining politics in film.

As I predicted, "Isle of Dogs" beat "Aquaman."  Congratulations!

Documentary Film

Above and Beyond: NASA's Journey to Tomorrow (Discovery Channel)

Eating Animals (IFC Films)

Living in the Future's Past (Vision Films)

Unlike the past two years, when “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” and "Jane" were clear leaders, I don't see a prohibitive favorite in this field.  I'd root for "Above and Beyond: NASA's Journey to Tomorrow" but I suspect "Eating Animals" has the edge.

I called that one, as "Eating Animals" narrated by Natalie Portman won.  Congratulations!

Television Episodic Drama

The Blacklist "General Shiro" (Sony Pictures Television)

"The Blacklist" was nominated two years ago and won last year, so I'm not surprised that it repeated.  I am surprised that it was the only television drama nominated, so of course it has already won.  Maybe I should start watching "The Blacklist."

Yeah, no surprise there.  Maybe next year, "The Blacklist" will be nominated against "Chernobyl" and have a shot at losing instead of winning unopposed.  Just the same, congratulations!

Television Episodic Comedy

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)

The Good Place "Don't Let the Good Life Pass You By" (NBCUniversal)

Saturday Night Live "Season 44, Episode 3" (NBCUniversal)

Of all these, only my favorite fantasy television series "The Good Place" is really an episodic comedy.  The others are variety shows, talk in the case of "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" and sketch in the case of "SNL."  I think the variety shows have an edge, as "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" won two years ago for Coal, which got him sued, and "Adam Ruins Everything" won last year, but that won't stop me from rooting for "The Good Place."

I half called it, as "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee," a variety series, won.  I don't know which episode earned the show's nomination, but I guess Bee's segment about the Green New Deal would be a good candidate.  Congratulations!

Reality Television

Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Bhutan" (CNN)

Jimmy Kimmel Live! "Kids Explain Climate Change" (ABC Studios)

One Strange Rock (Nutopia Ltd for National Geographic)

VICE "Engineering Earth" (HBO)

None of these are really reality television except for Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and even the Television Academy considers it an Informational Series, not reality TV.  Just the same, a conventional entertainment electorate would vote for the late chef's show, but this isn't a conventional electorate.  They might vote for "Kids Explain Climate Change," which I included in Noah, Colbert, and Kimmel find the humor in the polar vortex and Trump's 'Global Waming' (sic) tweet.  It was both hilarious and effective.

I missed that one entirely, as the "VICE" episode "Engineering Earth" won.  Just the same, congratulations!

Children's Television

Cousins for Life "Hot Dog Day Afternoon" (Nickelodeon)

Mission Force One "Sea Change" (Disney Junior)

Peg + Cat "The Compost Problem" (PBS Kids)

No Sesame Street?  I'm surprised.  Other than that, I don't have a dog (or a hot dog) in this fight, but my gut says to root for "The Compost Problem."

That was a complete guess based entirely on the title and it being on PBS, but it ended up being right.  "The Compost Problem" episode of "Peg + Cat" won.  Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than to be good.  Just the same, congratulations!

Overall, I called 4.5 out of 6 or 75% of the winners.  That's pretty good.  But enough of me.

I wish one final congratulations and good job to the creators of "Isle of Dogs," "Eating Animals," "The Blacklist," "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," "VICE," and "Peg + Cat."  You all deserved your awards.  May your shows inspire people to take action about the environment.

That's it for this week's Sunday entertainment feature.  See you all tomorrow!

Democratic presidential candidates from left to center from Voteview

Full-sized original at In These Times.
This past April, I read a tweet describing Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders as "being objectively further left then the rest of the Dem primary field."  I thought "Really?  I don't think the data supports that claim" and decided to test it with the DW-NOMINATE scores and relative placements from Voteview.com of all the declared candidates for the Democratic nomination who had scores at the time.  Well, it's two months later, more candidates have declared, and the first two Democratic candidate debates are happening at the end of the month, so it's time to convert the scores into a post.

First, what's Voteview?

Voteview allows users to view every congressional roll call vote in American history on a map of the United States and on a liberal-conservative ideological map including information about the ideological positions of voting Senators and Representatives.
...
Ideological positions are calculated using the DW-NOMINATE (Dynamic Weighted NOMINAl Three-step Estimation). This procedure was developed by Poole and Rosenthal in the 1980s and is a "scaling procedure", representing legislators on a spatial map. In this sense, a spatial map is much like a road map--the closeness of two legislators on the map shows how similar their voting records are. Using this measure of distance, DW-NOMINATE is able to recover the "dimensions" that inform congressional voting behavior.

The primary dimension through most of American history has been "liberal" vs. "conservative" (also referred to as "left" vs. "right"). A second dimension picks up differences within the major political parties over slavery, currency, nativism, civil rights, and lifestyle issues during periods of American history.

In other words, liberal-conservative scores are calculated in two dimensions using DW-NOMINATE.  The votes are fed into the program and the program assigns scores and maps them out.  There is no human judgment involved so it's about as objective a measure of ideology as I can find.

The maps themselves have been animated to show changes in partisanship over time.  Watch This 60-second animation shows how divided Congress has become over the last 60 years, which is based on a study that used DW-NOMINATE data from Voteview.

It's news to no one that Congress has had a hard time passing legislation in recent years. Some have even asserted that partisanship in Washington has reached historic levels. But how do we put the current divide in perspective? A group of researchers recently tried to quantify and visualize House partisanship in a paper published in PLoS ONE.

That was fascinating, but enough about Voteview and its methods.  Follow over the jump for the ranking from liberal to moderate for the Democratic candidates running for President who are current or former members of Congress.