Poll: Sanders Opens A Small National Lead As Democratic Divisions Harden

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has a lead of two percentage points over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton among Democrats nationwide, while one in four of his supporters do not plan on supporting Clinton if she wins the nomination, according to a McClatchy-Marist poll released Wednesday.

The poll showed support for Sanders at 49 percent while Clinton stood at 47 percent. Furthermore, 25 percent of Sanders supporters said they would not support Clinton as the Democratic nominee in the general election, while only 14 percent of Clinton supporters said the same of Sanders.

This is the first McClatchy-Marist poll of Democrats nationwide, and it contrasts sharply with recent polling, nearly all of which shows Clinton enjoying a comfortable lead. TPM’s PollTracker Average shows Clinton at 47.4 percent, and Sanders at 42.5 percent.

The McClatchy-Marist poll was carried out from March 29-31 using live phone interviews. Pollsters surveyed 444 people likely to vote in the Democratic primary, with a margin of error of 4.7 percentage points.

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/sanders-leads-recalcitrant-supporters-mcclatchy-april#

‘Young Turks’ Reveals How DNC and 33 States Used Loopholes to Funnel Millions Into ‘Hillary Fund’

According to Counterpunch and Cenk Uygur, the host of Young Turks, the DNC and different states’ Democratic parties have long been funneling money into Hillary Clinton’s campaign, otherwise known as “laundering by the millions.” Counterpunch explains:

In August 2015, at the Democratic Party convention in Minneapolis, 33 democratic state parties made deals with the Hillary Clinton campaign and a joint fundraising entity called the Hillary Victory Fund. The deal allowed many of her core billionaire and inner circle individual donors to run the maximum amounts of money allowed through those state parties to the Hillary Victory Fund in New York and the DNC in Washington.

No one had cast a single vote yet in the Democratic primary. “Not only had we not decided who the Democratic nominee was in August of 2015, we still haven’t decided,” Cenk Uygur pointed out on Monday. “But back then, the DNC already made their decision.”

The DNC was so positive Hillary was going to be the nominee that it began a process of actively funneling money to her campaign. At the same time, it convinced 33 Democratic state parties to go along with the plan. Counterpunch states:The idea was to increase how much one could personally donate to Hillary by taking advantage of the Supreme Court ruling 2014, McCutcheon v FEC, that knocked down a cap on aggregate limits as to how much a donor could give to a federal campaign in a year. It thus eliminated the ceiling on amounts spent by a single donor to a presidential candidate.
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more: http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/young_turks_reveals_how_dnc_and_33_states_used_loopholes_hillary_20160406

Real Delegate Count:

FEC questions Duncan Hunter's video game charges

The Federal Election Commission is questioning Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, for his use of campaign funds to pay for video games on 68 separate occasions — something the congressman is attributing to a mistake by his son, followed by several unauthorized charges.

Hunter listed the $1,302 of Steam Games expenses on his campaign finance disclosure for 2015 year-end, with the notation “personal expense — to be paid back.”

The expenses run from Oct. 13 through Dec. 16, and no payback is listed during the time period of the report.

Hunter’s spokesman, Joe Kasper, said the congressman’s teenage son used his father’s credit card for one game, and then several unauthorized charges resulted after the father tried to close access to the website. Kasper said that Hunter is trying to have the unauthorized charges reversed before repaying his campaign account

More: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/apr/05/hunter-video-games/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

(too late for LBN)

I came across this story. It is a sadly perfect illustration, in real life terms, what money is

doing to our very culture, heritage, and history, if just left unchecked to do what money wants to do and where ultimately money wants to flow. It is kind of built in to the system, hard-wired I guess in all of us. Maybe we don't actually have a collective responsibility to save every last remnant (such as the old way of life, or the citrus industry in a particular county), but we DO have a collective responsibility to save our national protected sites, parks, preserves, etc.

I realize the two situations don't seem exactly related, but they kind of are. Money is ultimately changing us. :/

Interesting article:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/with-development-looming-17-overgrown-acres-are-all-thats-left-of-pinellas/2271953

With development looming, 17 overgrown acres are all that's left of Pinellas County's citrus industry

Kathryn Varn, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 5, 2016 11:37am

LARGO — In the days when the Pinellas County air smelled of sweet orange blossoms, Bobbie Smith would weave barefoot through her family's maze of citrus trees to the pond where her grandmother fished from her perch on an empty fruit box.

Back through the grove, where a Buick and GMC dealership now showcases its shiny cars, workers employed by Smith's uncle, Al Repetto, sold fresh-squeezed juice and orange ice cream to regular customers and tourists from up north.

It was Orange Blossom Groves in its prime, thriving in a county where branches weighed down by juicy citrus ruled the landscape. Now, an overgrown patch home to coyotes and mangled trees are the last vestiges of the roughly 13,500 acres of large commercial groves in Pinellas County 60 years ago that made it one of the top citrus-producing counties in Florida. But it won't stay that way for long.

Fittingly for the state's most densely populated county, a developer wants to clear the 17-acre property at U.S. 19 and Belleair Road and build 136 townhouses.

more at link: http://www.tampabay.com/news/growth/with-development-looming-17-overgrown-acres-are-all-thats-left-of-pinellas/2271953

Early voting numbers soar in Milwaukee, up 600% from last two presidential primaries

MILWAUKEE -- The numbers are in...8,000 people voted during Milwaukee's early voting period -- a much larger number than anticipated -- which many believe could lead to record-breaking turnout on Election Day -- Tuesday, April 5th.

The 8,000 people who cast their ballots over the last two weeks in Milwaukee is an increase of 600% from the presidential primaries in 2008 and 2012.

Neil Albrecht
Neil Albrecht
"We knew it was going to go up, we just didn't think it would go up from 1,200 to 8,000," said Neil Albrecht, Milwaukee election commissioner.

Voters with business schedules, child care concerns and out-of-town trips were some of the reasons given for the early in-person voting.

more: http://fox6now.com/2016/04/04/early-voting-numbers-soar-in-milwaukee-up-600-from-last-two-presidential-primaries/

Early voting starts today in Indiana! Why wait? Get'r done, and maybe you can

volunteer for a position on Election Day? Got team!

Early voting starts today in Indiana! Why wait? Get'r done, and maybe you can

volunteer for a position on Election Day? Go team!

I don't know where else to put this, so I'm parking it here.

After watching it with amazement and horror, I need a drink anyway. LOL

Voter registration deadline is today, Mon. Apr. 4, for Indiana primary.

Do it online, and definitely check yours if already registered:

http://m.indianavoters.com

ON EDIT: Check right away, sometimes the cutoff time for this sort of thing is NOON. ??