The Rift on the Left: The Bernie Sanders Effect

Sen. Bernie Sanders is a source of hope and disdain, depending on whom you ask (on the left). Why is that so? There are a least a few obvious reasons.

How did Bernie Sanders become a factor in the 2016 election and what were the long-term effects of his candidacy?

To be quite honest, I never really heard of Bernie Sanders until a few years ago. That should tell you how little I paid attention to politics.

Yet from 2010-2012, I could only find one person who consistently praised Sanders. I thought, “What makes this Senator so special?” without bothering to do much research on him. At the time I was preoccupied with life in general and trying to finish up school.

By the time 2016 rolled around, I began to know more about this independent Senator from Vermont. And it became clear why he had a growing following. But he was running as a Democrat and going up against the eventual Democratic nominee. The odds were stacked against him and I never really expected him to win.

However:

As the primary went on, Sanders was closing the initial gap between him and Clinton. At the same time, the race on the Democratic side was getting more contentious. Naturally, there was bickering as the Clinton and Sanders factions were getting louder.

The acrimony between the factions increased as Sanders supporters accused the DNC of collusion and vote-rigging and they were being chided for various reasons. I will get into these accusations in subsequent posts, but I address part of the anger here.

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‘Auntie’ Maxine Waters (WAW)

“Auntie” Maxine Waters is gaining attention on social media for being so vocal about Donald Trump. But some of her latest comments evoked an inappropriate response from Bill O’Reilly. I would like to share my thoughts about it, along with some background information on the California Congresswoman.

I Don’t Like It When People Bash Young Adults (WAW)

Image Credit: Jeff Djevdet at speedpropertybuyers.co.uk/.

Tonight was the night for the Third 2016 Presidential Debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. It was going on as I was writing this, but I will go back to watch the whole thing later. But right now, I want to talk about the disrespect young people face. This is a topic I have addressed before (as it pertains to Hillary Clinton twice and Bill Maher), but I want to talk more about it.

My Thoughts on Hillary Clinton’s Leaked Audio

This past week, many of us may have heard about the leaked audio from one of Hillary Clinton’s fundraisers. The fundraiser in question took place on February 16, 2016 and the speech lasted close to 50 minutes.

The Washington Free Beacon obtained the leaked audio and shared it on SoundCloud. Now, while the accompanying article from the news outlet focused on Clinton’s Nuclear concerns, many people could not ignore the comments Clinton made about her opponents in the race and specifically, the comments Clinton Bernie Sanders’ supporters.

Hillary Clinton’s Problems with Young Voters

We all know that Hillary Clinton has problems with young voters.

I have been working on a series of posts on another site, and I have been talking about the 2016 Presidential Election. So far, I have looked at the two major candidates, as well as the two candidates from the Libertarian and Green Parties, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, respectively.

3 Things I Don’t Like About Bill Maher (WAW)

It’s Thursday, but this is still a Write Anything Wednesday Post. Today, I would like to talk about some disagreements I have with comedian Bill Maher.

Let it be known that for the most part, I enjoy listening to Bill Maher. While I don’t agree with him all the time and I don’t find all of his jokes funny (it would be pretty boring if I did), I agree with him much of the time. And I like the way he speaks (in a structural sense).

However, there have been two things that have bothered me about him over the years. First I have never liked his speech whenever he broached the topic of overweight people. Secondly, I am concerned with him being pretty forceful with his view on religions.

And this year, I have to add a third gripe: The way in which he addresses Millennials. There is an angle here.

What Is My Audience?

Working on Assignment 4 for Blogging 101…

Figuring Things Out

This is a pretty hard assignment because, admittedly, I never really target a specific audience when I started writing blog posts. As I said in my first assignment, I write initially for myself. Each blog I run is a diary of sorts, albeit with curated thoughts I feel relatively comfortable sharing with the public. So, as anyone could read what I wrote, anyone with an account on the sites where I posted could respond to most of my posts.

That said, it really is important to think about my audience. Since these posts are public, my content needs to appeal to those who would follow me. And I might gain more followers by appealing to specific groups.

It probably starts by thinking about the type of reader I am and what interests me. I have so many thoughts and want to write about the many things that interest me. For starters, I like to follow sports. I’m interested in politics, anime, and manga. Of course, it doesn’t end there.