Playinghardball

Playinghardball's Journal

May 4, 2016

Burger King in Denmark vs Burger King in the United States..

Any questions?

May 3, 2016

No five star restaurant for Bernie...

Bernie starting his day off at a diner in Indiana...

You probably won't see Ms. Wall Street eating in some diner...

May 3, 2016

Indiana: 5 things you should know on Election Day...

And, VOTE FOR BERNIE!!

BERNIE!!!

May 3, 2016

Some Indiana Counties Closed Two-Thirds Of Their Polling Places Ahead Of Record Turnout Election Day

Mary Lyons hands out registration forms as voters line-up to cast their early votes at the City-County Building in Indianapolis.

Some 4 million Indiana voters are expected to head to the polls today in record numbers, as the state takes an unexpected spotlight in a primary where candidates in both parties are fighting it out until the bitter end. The state has already seen extremely high turnout in early voting; over 50 percent more people have cast early ballots than when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went head-to-head in 2008.

Yet several factors could cause chaos at the polls on Tuesday. The state is only keeping sites open until 6 p.m., which could pose difficulties for people who cannot leave work until 5 p.m. or later. Many other states keep their polls open until at least 8 p.m. And unlike some other states, Indiana has no laws requiring employers to give their workers time off in order to vote.
Indiana also has an open primary, in which registered Independents can vote for any candidate they choose, which may lead to even higher turnout and longer lines. Some counties already had lines at the door when the polls opened at 6 a.m.
Yet despite the anticipation of long waits, some counties in Indiana have also followed Arizona’s lead in slashing the number of polling places. In Wells County, which has the highest turnout rate in the state, officials cut the number of available voting sites from 15 to five.

Though most issues are expected at the end of the day, when people try to vote after work, some problems have already popped up. A polling place in South Bend, Indiana was shut down for a little over an hour during the morning rush after police received a call about a suicidal individual nearby.

More here:http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/05/03/3774740/indiana-voting-issues/

May 3, 2016

Email from Bernie: This will anger you...

Xxx -

I want to share something with you that is probably going to make you angry, but then I am going to give you an opportunity to do something about it.

For months, you've heard the Clinton campaign endlessly repeat in interviews and on social media that they have raised millions and millions of dollars for state parties through something called the "Hillary Victory Fund." They've even used it as an attack line to insinuate Bernie wasn't willing to help down-ballot Democrats.

Well, yesterday morning, thanks to a Politico investigation, we found out that less than 1 percent of the $61 million raised by the Victory Fund has stayed in state party coffers. And indeed, the majority of the money spent by the Victory Fund has gone to benefit Hillary Clinton's primary campaign against us. The piece said some state party fundraisers believe they are basically acting as "money laundering conduits."

There's more, but first let me get to the part where you can take action. In recent weeks, the Clinton campaign has expressed a lot of interest in what is important to Bernie's supporters. Here's your chance to send a message about our distaste for big-money in politics:

Sign our petition calling on the Clinton campaign to stop bending campaign finance rules to their breaking point, and immediately transfer all the money allowable to the state parties participating in the "Hillary Victory Fund."

Here's how the scheme works for the Clinton campaign:

Rich people like Alice Walton of Walmart who have already contributed the maximum amount allowable to the Clinton campaign can contribute an additional $350,000-plus to the Victory Fund.

The first $33,400 of her contribution is supposed to go the DNC, and the rest divided up between participating state parties. But that's not what's been happening. The Victory Fund has mostly been doing one of two things with Ms. Walton's money:

1. Taking that money and spending it on advertisements and small-dollar fundraising solicitations. Then they take all the small-dollar contributions and data reaped from Alice Walton's contribution and transfer it directly to the Clinton campaign. This tactic is basically a way for them to benefit from a contribution much larger than the legal limit from Alice Walton.

2. They take Alice Walton's money and transfer it to state parties, who then immediately transfer it to the DNC. Often times they do it without the state party even knowing because the Clinton campaign controls many of the bank accounts involved. So at the end of the day, most of the state parties have received exactly $0 from their Victory Fund arrangement.

So, now that we know the Clinton campaign is taking advantage of state parties to skirt fundraising limits on her presidential campaign, it's time for her to do the right thing and let the state parties keep their fair share of the cash:

Sign our petition calling on the Clinton campaign to stop bending campaign finance rules to their breaking point, and immediately transfer all the money allowable to the state parties participating in the "Hillary Victory Fund."

It's unfortunate that Hillary Clinton has benefited from tens of millions of dollars in cash transfers and advertising to campaign against us in the primary. But it's not too late for her campaign to do the right thing by the state parties we're going to need to win elections up and down the ticket this November.

I'm sure if you sign our petition, that is something they will notice.

https://go.berniesanders.com/page/s/victory-fund?source=em160503-sub-d&utm_medium=email&utm_source=jeffweaver&utm_campaign=victory-fund&utm_content=petition

In solidarity,

Jeff Weaver
Campaign Manager
Bernie 2016