MM 3133 - Jonah Rathburn

       Let's talk a bit about this election shall we. We have one candidate that's painfully out of touch with anyone who isn't a straight white male and another who can't seem to remember what day it is. I'm sure you can establish who's who in this scenario, with choices like these how is it that we were even able to reach a decision? This year social media was a huge part of it. I counted 34 separate posts by various individuals on my personal Instagram account within one hour three days before the election that had something to do with voting one way or the other. This seems like a high number at first glace but in reality that was just the tip of the iceberg.       Over half of these posts from this time frame were some sort of celebrity endorsement. I follow people from all walks of life so it would make sense that I would see support for both sides. For example a demographic skewing group of young celebrities called the Nelk Boys supports T...

  With the Two Party system in the U.S. you sometimes have to pick and choose which values you prioritize. While this seems like a bit of a cop out it is unfortunately the norm. For the sake of getting votes politicians have been known to adopt aspects of other parties calling it "equal representation" for the people who may be less naturally inclined to vote for them. This is were interest groups come into play. Essentially an interest group is exactly what it sounds like, an organization that advocates for a group of interests or in some cases one "special interest". To give an example of a special interest group everyone has surely heard of  look towards the NRA ( National Rifle Association ) who advocates for the freedom of unrestricted ownership of firearms. While this group has characteristically right leaning traits let's take a look at something more middle ground that's all to relevant.      Common Cause . You may not have heard of this particular g...

   Fair warning: talking politics is like pulling teeth for me so please excuse any sports or pop culture references that I am sure to make.    Predictive journalism has been a around essentially as long as modern journalism itself. People take it upon themselves to create predictions about numerous things from technology, to sports, to the economy. There seems to be one that comes into full swing during certain times every four years. Yes, I'm referring to the political side of predictive journalism. Honestly I would rather pull my own teeth than try to make election predications especially for the current situation or even last election. I would have been able to predict the Miami Heat potentially going to the finals this year before I'd have guessed we'd be stuck with such inept candidates. Never the less some people get their kicks out of making either wild claims or running algorithms on computers to try to tell the future. Let's take a look at implications of t...