Hillary Wins a Landslide... of Coin Tosses

Like many political junkies, I was glued to Twitter and @TheYoungTurks's live coverage of the Iowa caucus last night - deep into the early hours of the morning. I'm an unapologetic Bernie Sanders supporter. While I do not dislike Hillary, I think Bernie has proven he has the intuition, capacity for forward-thinking, and intellect that transcends Hillary Clinton's capabilities.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton were overwhelmingly
civil during the first Democratic Debate, Oct. 13, 2015

Some examples? Hillary supported the Iraq War when Bernie knew from the beginning it was a shoddy idea. Bernie has supported civil liberties such as same-sex marriage long before it was politically expedient to do so. Long before Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama jumped on the 'I guess it's okay' bandwagon a few years ago. And of course - Hillary Clinton is bought. She works for her donors and thus her policies will pander to them. But so is just about every other Washington politician.

The entire night, Bernie and Hillary were in a dead heat with one another. Hillary had a strong early start, but hour by hour, Bernie inched closer and closer- coming within 0.2 of overtaking her. What resulted was essentially a tie between the former Secretary of State and the Senator from Vermont, with Hillary maintaining hold of a very, very slight lead. 

Iowa was supposed to be a strong state for Bernie Sanders, being so close to New Hampshire and Vermont, so a tie is not a terribly favourable result for those of us who #FeeltheBern. However, when put in perspective, what Senator Sanders has done is nothing short of remarkable. Just a few months ago, Bernie Sanders had very little name recognition outside of Vermont. He does not have a Super-PAC and relies on individual donors who give what they can. Hillary is just the opposite; she was the First Lady for eight years and the Secretary of State for President Obama for four. She makes more money in a ten-minute speaking engagement than most people will see in a year. She was the favourite to win, and months ago she was expected to win by a landslide.

She tied Bernie Sanders. And shockingly enough - six precincts were so close they were decided by a coin toss, all of which just happened to result in her favour. The odds of all six coin tosses going in Hillary's favour is around 1.34 per cent. It's a statistical improbability, but it looks like Hillary had an incredible stroke of luck on her side last night.

See the video to the right. Democracy at its finest right there. Although, I wouldn't lie to you - had they gone Bernie's way, I'd probably be thrilled. No one can tell for sure yet if a more favourable Sanders outcome in the coin flips would have resulted in a win in Iowa for Sanders, but it certainly does matter.

She only needs to win 30 coin tosses to win New Hampshire.

Why is Anti-PC 'in'?

Like most people, I have been thoroughly entertained by the electoral shenanigans south of the border. Should Bernie Sanders win the primaries against the Goliath that is Hillary Clinton, then our American friends will be presented with two very distinct, historical choices. Bernie is as left as left can be in the US, and Trump... well, I'm not quite sure he knows where he is but it is somewhere right.

What has astounded me is how can a man who has done so much to offend everybody but white men shore up so such a gargantuan amount of support. From what I've heard, people are happy to finally have a candidate who 'tells it like it is'. A candidate who isn't afraid to say what he really thinks.

My inherent problem with this argument, is that being 'anti-PC' works for an entertainer. It doesn't work for POTUS. The POTUS needs to have fine-tuned the art of diplomacy. For instance, I see people upset with President Obama because of his reluctancy to say genocide in regards to what Turkey did to the Armenians back in the early 1900s. Few people deny that that was indeed a genocide, nor did a Senator Obama. However, what President Obama says is very important. Turkey is an important ally to the US in the fight against ISIS and has been so for many years. Is the desire to be anti-PC worth jeopardizing the relationship between Turkey and the US?

I'm not trying to make a statement on the Armenian Genocide and I understand that I'm greatly simplifying the above issue - I am only making the suggestion that politics is far more nuanced than D-Trump supporters seem to believe it is. The President can't just say what he thinks. Diplomacy is a characteristic that the next President needs to have - especially in these times.

Think Like A Queen

Think like a queen. A queen is not afraid to fail. Failure is just another stepping stone to greatness.
-Oprah Winfrey

No other quote managed to pull me through the latter half of 2015 as this one did. This time last year, I was on-top of the world. I had an awesome job working in politics, I was living with in a beautiful home in safe, friendly neighbourhood in Toronto. I was meeting people.

And then I lost it. And I had no one to blame but myself. I had failed.

For the past six months, I closed into myself. For someone who put so much of her self-worth into her job title, my world crashed and burned. I thought about suicide nearly everyday. I even drove to an abandoned Fort Erie mall in the middle of the night - ready to 'put the pedal to the metal' and drive head first into the building. I didn't - perhaps because I was a coward, but also because I knew the pain I would put the three people who loved me the most through would be monumental.

2016 is my fresh start. My fresh start, and my last chance to live the life I always wanted to live. And I'll be tracking every step of it here.


So, what might you expect from this blog?
- My weight loss journey using Herbal One weight loss centres
- Book Reviews
- Political Musings
- Dating Commentary
- Game of Thrones Fangirling

Stay tuned!