Since when has logic mattered?

Critics are baffled by Mamdani’s victory message to Trump? What about being baffled by his win? Since when has logic mattered in blue states? You know, back in around 2009 when I was blogging that the Democrat party was on the road to socialism and eventually communism, I didn't think it would come to a major party so soon. I figured the country would come to it's senses. In large part it did, it just didn't come to Democrats I guess.

 

Yoda: 2009-2023

 Our Papillon, Yoda, passed today. You will be missed Yoda.

Trump recovery vs Obama recovery

The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics so far show a stark contrast between the Obama Great Recession recovery and the Trump COVID-19 shutdown recovery.

The COVID-19 impact was much more severe than the Great Recession (pictured in grey).  But what is truly stark is the 2 months of drop off in the unemployment rate after the 2020 peak from 14.7 % in April, to 13.3% in May to 11.1%. 2.5 million jobs were added in May despite an expectation of 9 to 10 million more job losses.  And in June 4.8 million jobs were added.

May the president knows what he is doing when it comes to the economy. I mean really, really knows.  Compare that to the anemic recovery that Obama put the country through from 2010 through 2016.  It was abysmal and no one should be supporting his know-nothing VP for president because he has no clue of how to handle an economy.  The contrast is stunning. 

Friday Musical Interlude - Bulletproof

So far, president Trump has been pretty much Bulletproof, so here's La Roux with the 2009 song of the same name:

Dictator Watch - Iran, All is not quiet on New Year's Day

It's a rather slow start to the new year, so it's tempting to just say I've got nothing.  But there are reports of Iran cracking down on protesters to the point of killing them.  President Trump tweeted out a missive on the people of Iran wanting, and deserving freedom.  The left in a fit of Chamberlain-ism, felt the tweet itself deserved condemnation for inflaming the situation. Not Iran - the president's tweet is the problem. Okey-dokey.

This in stark contrast to then president Obama in 2009 who ignored videotaped killings in the streets of Iran and his dismissive quiet helped ensure the ultimate failure of the Iranian Green Revolution, and the served as the seeds of the failure of his own foreign policy on Iran.

President Trump is, as in most things, attempting a new approach. Blanket, predetermined condemnation seems to be a short-sighted approach to solving the problem, but what do I, or president Trump know about foreign policy that the establishment liberalism hasn't already solved?

2009-2016 I'm glad that's over

Anyone thinking the next 4 or 8 years are going to be hell, I refer you to the last 8 years. I say that because so many people, including some of my family members feel that way and are morose over the fact that Obama is over.  Really?  Do you not realize what happened under the previous president?  I'm guessing not, so allow me yo enlighten those of you who pay attention to politics at the periphery.

Food stamps have increased exponentially over the last 8 years under Obama in a way that is entirely out of line with history.

The labor participation rate, an indicator of what percentage of the eligible work force is either actively employed or looking for work is at a multi-decade low - the worst since Jimmy Carter's malaise days of the 1970s. Addendum: This is no small factor in assessing the economy a labor force participation rate change of 1% could equate to millions of jobs.

Average economic growth also fared poorly and 2009 is no excuse:

The worst since at least the 1970's, pre-Reagan - another multi-decade worst. Just like the national debt and deficits are all-time historical worsts under president Obama. And it's not just in total dollars, it's as a percentage of GDP that proves his reckless spending has been historically abysmal.

American military strength has been set perilously low:

While “resetting” with Russia and “engaging” with Iran, Obama has presided over a tremendous down-sizing of U.S. military strength. The Army’s manpower is down 10 percent since President Obama took office. Our naval capabilities are aging and inadequate to meet our national security demands. The Air Force fields the smallest and oldest force of combat aircraft in its history. The Marines are running only about two-thirds the number of battalions they have historically needed to meet day-to-day operational demands.

Most neglected of all U.S. national security elements are our strategic forces. Here, President Obama has reined in development and deployment of ballistic missile defenses. The president cut all advanced missile defense programs designed to keep the United States ahead of the ballistic missile threat in the future. The president also delayed and underfunded existing programs, most notably the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. Meanwhile, to curry favor with Russia, he pulled the plug on planned missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, simultaneously alienating those allies while displaying weakness to Moscow.

So yeah, if you like your America weak and effete then Obama had a good run in that regard.

His inclusivity started with "I won" and he ran a bitterly partisan administration at the exclusion and demonization of his political opponents.  He fuelled racial divide and masked it as healing.  And all of that is just scratching the surface of his weak and ineffective and hostile presidency.

I'm glad it's over - worst president ever. Trump has nowhere to go but up.

Friday Musical Interlude - Turn On Tune In Drop Out

I suspect the message in this song is tongue in cheek, but you can never be sure.  More Cracker (aka Camper Van Beethoven) with Turn On Tune In Drop Out from 2009.

Obama trying hard not to be a lame duck

The president really wants to cement his legacy over the last part of his tenure.  Having broke bread with Cuba, he's turned his attention to Iran.  He's apparently seeking to be the president who finally put to rest decades-old fights with other nations.  It probably has never occurred to him that there was always a reason those fights existed and, he's certainly never considered the unintended consequences of unmerited generosity in negotiations or foreign policy.  He's going to end up doing more harm than good in his supposedly lame duck years.

Here's his speech, absolutely vilifying those who oppose his quest for an Iran deal. It's disgusting, but it proves Obama is all about himself and his own glorification.

He points out that everyday Iranians have incentive to push their government towards conciliation. That's the most infuriating part - where the hell was that notion when this was going on in 2009???

Face it Mr. President, you messed it up, badly. This deal will not fix that.

Friday Musical Interlude - Home

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes had a minor chart hit in 2010 with their 2009 album with the uplifting single "Home".

Friday Musical Interlude - The Baseballs

German band The Baseballs' are a German rock/swing band that have done a number of great covers of songs, many of which pull off the near-impossible in music: improving on the original.  This video is I Don't Feel Like Dancing (a cover of the Scissor Sisters) from 2009.

Flashback 2009 - I want Obama to succeed.

Back in 2009 I predicted President Obama would have to lead from the center-right or else his policies would prove ineffective and he would suffer losses in both big 2010 and 2012.  Looks like I am on track so far. Sweet.

2009-2010: A reminder for 2012.

A video entitled 'Remember November', just to remind you why 2012 is so important.  The video was made for the 2010 midterm elections, but nothing in the video is outdated nor will it be in 2012.

SOTU III - Same old same old

The mainstream media agrees - the State of the Union speech is one great PR opportunity for any sitting President. Funny, I don't recall that take last year or the year before. Nevertheless, this year's speech offered no bold new Obama vision. It offered more of the same old same old. In fact instead of analyzing the speech, it's probably worth more to compare the year over year similarities to show that the President doesn't have much to offer that you haven't heard before.

Web Poll - worst political move of 2009?

Share your opinion, what was the worst political move of 2009? Arlen Specter switch parties to stay in power, only to find the Democrats in tough for 2010? Rod Blagojevich's underhanded dealings? Ben Nelson's sellout? President Obama's managing of his poll numbers?

Share your opinion on the craziness that was 2009 politics.

Worst Political Move of 2009

What was the worst political move of 2009 Sen. Arlen Specter switching parties to win re-election in 2010 Sen. Ben Nelson selling his vote for health care reform Nancy Pelosi / Harry Reid scheming ways to pass health care reform Janet Napolitano claiming the system worked on Christmas Rod Blagojevich selling Obama's Senate seat ACORN caught supporting prostitution Republicans not being enough behind the Tea Party Movement Barack Obama's poll numbers dropping like a stone Other Current Results

New Year's Day reading

Happy New Year to one and all. Hopefully 2010 will bring a better year than 2009. We can always hope - so long as that's not all we do).

Here's a list of New Year's Day reading worth looking at. Enjoy.

Dana Loesch has a look at the most underreported stories of 2009.

National Review has compiled it's predictions for 2010. Here are mine.

Here's John Hawkins' list of the Top 20 politcal quotes of the decade.

Michelle Malkin's Cone of Shame 2009 Awards. Here's my version.

And there's always good reading here, here and here (new site, same great taste).

And in case you missed it - be afraid. Be very afraid.

One Year of Nonsensible Shoes - A blog story

Today is the one year anniversary of this blog.  Happy anniversary to me.  I started Nonsensible Shoes back in November of 2008, after writing numerous emails for my friends, explaining, and to a lesser extent interpreting, the daily happenings of the 2008 U.S. Presidential primaries and general election.  It started out as more explaining but as it went along it became more of a warning of "don't believe the (Obama) hype".  It turned out I enjoyed the interpreting as much as, or more than explaining electoral college and super-delegate details.

Nonsensible Shoes has always been about politics, from a conservative viewpoint.  It will continue to be. However, I really started blogging without any goals beyond getting my points out there for people to consider.  What I hadn't considered myself, was that getting people to notice my ramblings, was a challenging proposition.  Once I got a few visits, I wanted more.  It turns out success, however small, is kind of addictive.

Half way through my first year of blogging I started getting some pretty good (for me) traffic.  In the late spring it fell off and I decided to try to set a goal for myself of getting 20,000 visits in my first year of blogging. I don't know if that was a good goal or not because before this year, I knew nothing of blogging.  After my first year, I can report that I fell just short of my goal, having had 19,695 visits.  However, in late December of last year I added a feed to my account and have had 3,992 views from that.  So I don't feel like I really failed to reach my goal, some of it just came in another form.

However, I still have a lot to learn about blogging; blog design optimization, blog marketing and monetizing a blog.  After one year my audience is no longer growing. In fact I've been so busy with my real job and family life the last few weeks, it's contracted some as a result of neglect of the regular blogging frequency.  In one year I have posted about 800 entries - few have been from the last two weeks.  That will return to normal over the next month or so (I hope). 

The other thing that excited me as an unrepentant capitalist, was that by throwing some Google Ads on my site, I was able to make money doing something I really enjoyed.  That was what opened my eyes to the possibility of eventually making a living doing something I love - talking politics and policy.  Granted I've made less than $40 in my first year.  But it hasn't phased me.  Like I said, I'm still fairly new at this.  I've had people tell me it takes three years to really see some kind of traction on a blog.

I'm inspired in particular by Ed Morrissey who blogged at Captain's Quarters and now Hot Air.  Mr. Morrissey apparently also had a regular full time job but managed to blog on the side and grew his audience over the course of a few years, to, at one point according to Wikipedia, 400,000 per day at the height of the Canadian Adscam scandal. Ed's tireless efforts, and quality writing have been inspirational.  John Hawkins at Right Wing News has also proven for me that effort and quality mean success.  His site has been for years one of my most frequented web visits.

Others have written or told me some of the obvious blogging tips that I'm sure everyone has heard.  Most importantly that quality content is the single biggest factor in succeeding in blogging.  It's in that light that I've set more goals for my next year of blogging.  They don't involve numbers for the most part, other than writing at least as many posts as I have in the past year.

My goals are more internalized - writing ever better quality posts (which means perhaps taking a course or studying methodologies of journalism), and learning more about smart marketing tactics, and web/blog design.  Hopefully by this time next year I will have achieved all of my specific goals and seen some seeds of success as a result.  Perhaps in the following year I can then start thinking about actual numbers again.  A successful blogging year would make a wonderful 2010, especially if it's combined with a conservative Congressional landslide next November.  Of course, just like my personal goal, a landslide will take a lot of hard work and dedication.  Hopefully some conservatives in the RNC and GOP are, one year out, thinking the very same way.

Great CPAC 2009 Quotes

A few highlights from this weeks CPAC Convention, here's some great quotes;

“I am a recovering McCain surrogate.” Michael C. Burgess.

“America’s challenges are different from year to year, but our defining principles remain the same. Conservatives don’t enter each new political era trying to figure out what we believe.” Mitt Romney.

"Margaret Thatcher used to say it well. She said, 'First you win the argument, then you win the vote.'" Mike Pence.

"If we get our act together, he is a one-termer." Josh Bolton.

Stimulus Spending Categories, Obfuscated.

Here are the words from the Mountain, on the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.



Unfortunately, I think it's Mount Doom. It's so hard not to throw in a sidekick Sam Blagojevich joke here. However, the Doom part of the equation is unfortunately all to real to be Merry.

And here is the page with the "details". The page gives the following spread of details of the spending. Note, it's too early to judge the 'openness' because the details haven't been worked out yet (just ask any of the Senators who read the Bill...1...2...3..), so it's not fair to be too cynical just yet on that score. However, there's some lack of transparency that should be pointed out. On the page the following expenditure breakdowns are listed.

Category//Amount ($ Billions)

*Tax Relief// $288
*State and Local Fiscal Relief//$144
Infrastructure and science//$111
Protecting the Vulnerable//$81
Health Care//$59
Education and Training//$53
Energy//$43
Other//$8

On the surface, it would seem that 36.6% of the package is spending cuts. But wait, there's some small print on the page. Notice the asterisks? Here's what the Tax Relief asterisk states;

* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

So after the adjustments, include tax relief for pet projects, or else the dollars are simply misclassified. In either case the real tax relief is only $165 billion, which represents 21.0% of the package, State and Local fiscal relief (presumably the money to keep in need governments alive and running), accounts for 18.3%, Protecting the Vulnerable (a great euphamism if ever there was one) 18.0%, Infrastructure and Science 16.0%, Education and Training 9.9%, Energy 8.3% and Health Care 7.5%.

Right off the bat the 1/3 tax relief number you've been hearing has pet project tax relief in it and real tax relief - what puts money back in the hands of the American public only accounts for 21% of the package.

Yes, it's transparent, but you have to read the fine print. So far, it's even worse than advertised.

RNC Candidates in their own words

Just a little fodder for the RNC popularity contest;

Saul Anuzis;



Ken Blackwell;



Katon Dawson;



Mike Duncan;



Chip Saltsman;



Michael Steele;

New Year's Predictions

My prognostication skills, beyond being adequate for NFL football, are notoriously flawed. Even my ability to predict election winners in the past has now faltered. With that in mind below are a list of predictions for 2009 - some tongue-in-cheek, some hopefully optimistic and some completely dispassionate and serious. I'll leave it to you to ferret out which is which.

1. The recession will continue throughout the year - unemployment will rise to 8.8%.


2. The credit crisis will continue and as a result the economy (as measured by GDP) will continue to contract throughout the year by 0.3%.


3. The price of oil, despite production cuts by OPEC will remain low - around $35 per barrel.


4. Obama's approval rating will remain above 62% for the entire year, but will drop from the current levels.


5. The Big 3 bailout will proceed as if nobody cares or is paying attention.


6. Norm Coleman will retain his Senate seat.


7. The Back Street Boys will be #1 again.


8. Gov. Blagojevich will name some names and a couple of others will be indited. If the names are high enough up the food chain, a special election may be 'imposed' on Illinois voters.


9. Captain Jack Sparrow will be named as the next CEO of Fannie Mae.


10. The Steelers will make it to the Superbowl (gulp).

That's probably enough rope to hang myself 10 times over. Maybe I should throw out there a few crazier ones for the sake of interest. If you've got any, feel free to post them in the comments section, comments are always most welcome - provided they aren't crude or racist wtc.

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!