Academy Award nominee Josh Fox has seen The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and says that it's "brilliant - not just as a piece of reporting but as cinema." Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges, says Palast's film is "wonderful, really humorous and brilliant..." And TeleSur's Abby Martin says that Palast "calls these mother-f***ers out."

The Best Democracy Money Can Buy is now playing in Los Angeles and soon moving to theaters across the country.

Coming soon: San Francisco (Oct 14-20), Seattle (Oct 21-27 and Washington, DC (Oct 28 - Nov 3). We also have one day Gathr screenings in Oak Creek, WI (Oct 24), Smyrna, TN (Oct 26), Denver, CO (Oct 31), Houston, TX (Nov 1), Chicago, IL (Nov 2), Teaneck, NJ (Nov 4). You can sign up your own town to get a screening of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy here.

As Gasland's Josh Fox says:  Once you have this information, you know, you have to pass it on. There's a specific kind of outrage that I think only the work of Greg Palast can evoke. And it is the outrage that when we realize that our democracy is being taken away from us. And that there isn't anyone in the mainstream media aside from Greg Palast reporting on this with any reliability or accuracy or passion or intelligence - and that is itself a crime.

Gasland's Josh Fox Praises Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy from Greg Palast on Vimeo.

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We're so proud that The Best Democracy Money Can Buy opened in theatres yesterday starting in New York at the Cinepolis Chelsea and hitting Los Angeles next Friday, September 30 at the Laemmle Noho 7 with more key cities to follow and is being distributed by Cinema Libre Studio. The film will also be released on DVD and On Demand on October 18.

To bring Greg Palast's The Best Democracy Money Can Buy to as many places as possible before the election, we need your help!

Together with Cinema Libre, we’ve partnered up with a Theatrical-On-Demand© program called GATHR to enable activists and organizations to set up one night screening events across the country at no cost to you! – Note: GATHR is USA only.

Go to HOST A SCREENING and get all the info you need.Without your help this film could never have been made, now we need all hands on deck to get it out all across this country.To all those of you who have generously donated for a signed DVD a long, long time ago (Show me more...)

Opens in New York - Cinépolis Chelsea

Follow gonzo investigative reporter Greg Palast (BBC, Rolling Stone) as he busts the new Ku Klux Klan – the billionaire bandits that are behind a scheme to purge one million voters of color in November.

This real life detective story is told in a film noir style with cartoon animations, secret documents, hidden cameras, and a little help from Law & Order detectives Ice-T and Richard Belzer, plus Divergent spirit Shailene Woodley, Rosario Dawson, Santa Claus (Ed Asner), and Willie Nelson as a stoner musician (can you imagine?).

Palast and his posse expose the darkest plans of the uber-rich to steal America’s democracy.  Donald Trump plays a billionaire on TV.  Palast jumps the real billionaire behind the "billionaire."

Audiences from California to Madison have laughed, cheered and given every performance a standing ovation.  (Show me more...)

We are thrilled to announce that Cinema Libre will distribute our new film, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: A Tale of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, in the US and select foreign territories. The movie will open in New York and Los Angeles, on September 23 and 30 respectively, before being released as widely as possible before the November 8th election.

In addition to the traditional cinema release, groups, organizations and grassroots activists will be able to arrange theatrical-on-demand® screenings via Gathr. The film is set to roll out on DVD/SVOD on October 18, 2016.
READ THE FULL PRESS RELEASE

This real life detective story is told in a film noir style with cartoon animations, secret documents, hidden cameras, and a little help from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit detectives, Ice-T and Richard Belzer, Shailene Woodley, Rosario Dawson, Willie Nelson and Ed Asner, Palast and his associates expose the darkest plans of the uber-rich to steal America’s democracy.

Music by Mario Grigorov, additional music by Graham Nash.

***** (Show me more...)

Greg Palast explains how it's done

A petition demanding the release of the names of voters
on the Interstate Crosscheck purge list.

Sign the Petition

Signed, 

Hon. Alcee Hastings, US Congressman

Hon. Keith Ellison, US Congressman

Martin Luther King III

Santiago Juárez, Voting Rights Attorney

Dr. Wilmer Leon, Sirius FM

Bill Gallegos, Climate Justice

Taz Ahmed, 18 Million Rising

Mimi Kennedy, People Demanding Action

Medea Benjamin, Code Pink

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Rolling Stone reports on a Republican-orchestrated effort to compile lists of voters who they allege are registered to vote in multiple states. Reporter Greg Palast and Dale Ho of the ACLU's Voting Rights Project join to discuss. (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein

If you believe the Republican hysteria machine, there’s an unprecedented election crime wave sweeping America involving a staggering 7.2 million suspected double voters. Thousands of these supposed criminals — who, if found guilty, have committed a felony punishable by 5-years in the slammer — have already lost their right to vote, with 41,000 people in Virginia alone being struck off voter roles. Statistical analysis of the evidence uncovered by investigative reporter Greg Palast shows that one million Americans may lose their vote by November. It also shows that a high proportion of these black, white, and brown voters have one thing in common: they tend to vote blue. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, Palast gives Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein the skinny on this election crime wave, which in reality is little more than a GOP-generated racist sham designed to filter the blue out of the votes at the polls.

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on Aug 25, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: Greg Palast has got an article that just went up on Rolling Stone. Will an anti-voter fraud program designed by one of Trump’s advisors deny tens of thousands their right to vote in November? 

Greg Palast: This week Rolling Stone has a tremendous investigative report, “The GOP’s Secret War Against Voters.” I know about it because I wrote it. This is an investigation I’ve now been on — I say one year in the article, but it’s really been two and a half years — uncovering a system by which the GOP has already removed tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of voters from the voter rolls — and it’s probably going to hit a million by November.

DB: The 21st century version of Jim Crow, the electronic Jim Crow. Talk a little bit about it…

Palast: Here’s the deal: 29 Republican Secretaries of State have given their voter rolls over to (Show me more...)

Donald Trump is right—the election IS rigged. And it’s his buddies who are rigging it. Rolling Stone has unearthed a confidential list of MILLIONS of voters who are marked to be purged, up to a million at risk by November. Who? Mostly, voters of color, i.e. Democrats.

On Friday, Rolling Stone will release on newsstands, “The GOP’s Secret War on Voters,” a year’s-long investigation by Greg Palast and a team of experts exposing a scheme by 29 Republican state voting officials to remove voters, a program directed by ultra-right Trump operative Kris Kobach Secretary of State of Kansas.

Taking off from Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that "people are voting many, many times," GOP officials are targeting voters who are allegedly voting or registered in two states and can therefore vote a second time in November. While voting twice is a felony crime, and less than 6 voters have been convicted of this crime, the GOP purge operation is removing tens of thousands of innocent voters as you read this.

Palast obtained the lists—kept (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein

With Trump being an unpredictable wild card in this year’s election race, his cabal of new billionaire hedge fund buddies are hedging their bets by buying Congress and the Senate, so no matter which blonde gets into office, they can be sure that their interests are taken care of. To do this, in some key swing states, they’re spending millions betting against a Trump White House. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein and investigative reporter Greg Palast discuss the special needs of these mega-rich vote-manipulating vultures and the specifics of what they hope to get in return for their election-rigging investments.

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on Aug 17, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: It looks like Big Don is in trouble, but now the billionaires are turning their attention to Congress. They’re going to need to buy Congress and the Senate for a number of reasons. And that's what we're going to talk about today… Let’s start with carried interest. What's that?

Greg Palast: Carried interest. Where do you carry your interest?

DB: I don't have any.

Palast: What are you interested in? Carried interest is simply known as the billionaires’ hedge fund loophole. It's really complex, but it has to do with the rate at which hedge fund guys pay taxes — or don't pay taxes. If you and I go to work and (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein for Nation of Change
Donald Trump announced the formation of his Economic Advisory Council. Aside from a token academic that he’d never actually bothered to meet prior to the announcement, the all-male panel read like a rogues list ripped straight from the pages of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits by investigative reporter Greg Palast. Trump’s inner circle, which after an outcry over the glaring gender bias was supplemented by eight women, features some of the worst offenders when it comes to political powerbrokering for personal gain. But that’s just pay-to-play politics, and is therefore not so surprising. What did raise some eyebrows was Trump’s decision to embrace a group of guys he’d previously lambasted for “getting away with murder” due to their super-sized tax breaks: hedge fund managers, whom he’d also said half the time had “luck more than talent.” But The Donald can no longer afford to be picky, since the billionaire on “reality” TV only needs some actual real cash to fund his floundering campaign. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein gets the lowdown from Palast on Trump’s new hedge fund BFFs and the hidden payoff that’s facilitating their cosy relationship.

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on Aug 10, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: Welcome back to the Elections Crimes Bulletin with bestselling author and noted BBC investigative reporter, Greg Palast, now reporting for Rolling Stone on these crazy elections as we try and figure out if your vote will count, or if it doesn’t really matter because the NRA might put a bullet behind Hillary’s ear — as per Donald Trump’s strong, strong suggestion. Greg, welcome!

Greg Palast: You don’t have much of a sense of humor, Dennis. Don’t you ever tell assassination jokes?

DB: Am I not subtle enough?

Palast: Well, you know, I figured that was a loaded question — bang!

DB: So Trump manages to keep the headlines, but maybe that’s better for him because if people really start delving behind the scenes, look into who supports him, what he’s been up to, this is where his real trouble is. 

Palast: I’d like to think so. I’d like to think that instead of parsing his seventh grade sense of humor that we would be looking at the billionaires behind him. It’s fascinating because it was Donald Trump who told us, when billionaires like me write checks, we expect something back from the politicians, and a lot more than we put in. Now that he’s been exposed as not a billionaire — he just plays one on TV — he’s gone to the very guys that he’s attacked.
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I'm on with Paul Jay of the Real News Network breaking down Trump's latest bid to be recognized as a more thoughtful candidate - his economic team. Well, outside of the usual Cipriani brunch bunch, there's a name that I recognize - and you might too if you've been reading my work. That name is John Paulson - he made billions off of making millions of Americans homeless.

Paulson is the guy who crashed the mortgage market in the U.S., he brought the Royal Bank of Scotland to its knees, where it went bankrupt. And the Times of London, hardly a Marxist rag, it's owned by Murdoch and very right-wing, the Times of London said that JP, John Paulson, should be paraded through the streets of London naked while people throw rotten fruit at him for what he's done. Just in England. And that was nothing compared to what he's done in the U.S.

Watch and learn about who might be running your economy in 6 months.

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by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein

During an interview on Faux News, Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that the November 8th presidential election was going to be rigged. However, he conveniently forgot to mention the inconvenient truth that almost all of the rigging that’s going on is in his favor — and that much of it is being perpetrated by Republican lawmakers, who are taking advantage of a much-weakened Voting Rights Act.

While striking down one particularly onerous piece of legislation in the GOP state of North Carolina — which in addition to requiring voter ID, cut early voting, and eliminated same day registration, out of precinct voting, and pre-registration for those under 18 — the Fourth Circuit Appeals Court judge noted that the measures “targeted African Americans with almost surgical precision.”

It comes as no surprise that these GOP laws target people of color, who tend to vote overwhelmingly blue. Indeed, recent polls in Pennsylvania and Ohio have found that Trump is getting absolutely no support — zero, zip, zilch, nada — from Black Americans!

In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Election Crimes Bulletin, the Sherlock Holmes of voting shenanigans, Greg Palast, and Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein discuss the North Carolina decision that struck down the state’s anti-voting law, alongside similar recent rulings in Texas, Wisconsin, and North Dakota. (A more temporary decision, which came down on July 29, also reversed vote suppression measures enacted by Kansas Secretary of State, and Vote-Rigger-In-Chief, Kris Kobach.) But first, Palast and Bernstein address Trump’s “concerns”.

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on Aug 3, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: Let’s start with Trump and his claims of potential voter fraud. Here’s what Trump said about his fears:

“I’m telling you, November 8th, we better be careful because that election is going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely, or it’s going to be taken away from us.”

He went on to promise “a bloodbath” if the Democrats attempted to “steal the election.” Well, Greg, it looks like we’re back right in the middle of your hysteria factory.

Greg Palast: Every con man does the same thing. They tell you, (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast for Reader Supported News

Shailene Woodley and Greg Palast in Palast's new film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

[July 26, Philadelphia]

Bernie's campaign is just beginning. No kidding. The real campaign. The one he was chosen for.

I got this idea of what Bernie and Berners should do from Satan, from the Anti-Christ. Or, as you might know him from television, the Reverend Pat Robertson. That’s correct: the berzerko right wing televangelist – and one of the most brilliant men I've ever met.

Years ago, the Guardian asked me to investigate Rev. Pat’s diabolical plan to create the first web-only bank. (The goofy bank caper was foiled when The Guardian reported on his less-than-savory financial dealings that would likely disqualify him from getting a bank charter.)

When I visited The Reverend at his TV studio in Virginia Beach, I reminded him that, when he ran for President in 1988, he claimed that God himself had told him to run. My question: With a campaign manager like that, how come he lost?

Robertson’s answer: “The Lord (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein for Reader Supported News

Mike Pence is the poster boy for voter ID laws. No one has benefited more from this legalized form of vote theft than the Republican nominee for VP. In his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last Wednesday, Pence said he “wants every American to succeed and prosper” — however he certainly doesn’t want every American to vote. Indeed it was thanks to Indiana’s voter ID laws — the first of their kind in the nation — that he squeaked into the governor’s office. These seemingly benign laws, requiring voters to show approved photo ID, have a sinister and very deliberate effect: they suppress black, brown, young, old, poor — and, above all, blue votes. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Election Crimes Bulletin, Flashpoints’ Dennis J. Bernstein gets the lowdown on the sleazy practice of vote-rigging-by-ID-law from political hanky-panky expert Greg Palast. They also discuss how these racist-by-design laws tap dance around voting rights and discrimination protections, and could ultimately help Pence and Trump waltz into the White House.

 

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on July 20, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: Today Mike Pence is front and center. He’s out there on his proverbial knees to (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein for Nation of Change

Bernie Sanders may have conceded the nomination, but he can still win control of the Democratic Party. By harnessing the power of his people, Bernie could ensure Hillary keeps the promises she made to him in exchange for his endorsement. And with 13 million supporters in his pocket, Bernie has the chance to create something far stronger than the Christian Coalition, which has shaped GOP policy for over two decades. He could lead a mighty Un-Christian Coalition, if you will, that moving forward could force Hillary’s hand so she has little choice but to serve the people as opposed to her corporate paymasters. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Election Crimes Bulletin, Dennis J. Bernstein and Greg Palast explain how Bernie can take a tip from Satan’s playbook and seize this moment to create one hell of a powerful a movement!

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on July 13, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: Today we’ve seen Bernie came out strong in support of Hillary Clinton. Many people are troubled, some are supporting it, some aren’t. Let’s talk a little bit about what this moment means. Is this the end of a moment or the beginning of a movement?

Greg Palast: Well, that’s up to the people, and Senator Sanders. When you saw him on stage, he looked like those guys who are reading those confessions from a (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein for Reader Supported News

It’s been an action-packed week in politics. Hillary Clinton has been given the official all-clear by the FBI, who have said she won’t have to face charges for the Clorox cleaning job she did on her email server. And with her path to power given the personal red carpet treatment by FBI director James Comey, the fact that a hundred thousand votes or so have yet to be counted in California has been swept under the high thread count rug — where a lot of inconvenient votes end up these days! But the missing emails and votes haven’t been forgotten by our resident sleuth, Greg Palast. In this week’s Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin he gives Dennis J. Bernstein the skinny on Sanders’ stolen California win, Clinton’s bleached communications — and a multi-million dollar Kazakhstan bribery and corruption scandal that got Cloroxed with them!

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on July 6, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: There has been a lot going on. We’ve got the announcement today that Hillary Clinton will not be indicted, after a little visit that Bill had with the Attorney General. There is still some left over results that we’re trying to figure out in terms of what happened in California. And you’ve got a big event coming up. So there’s a lot to talk about. Why don’t we start back in California?

Greg Palast: Well, I was reading something called The Washington Post, which is like the American Izvestia, and it said, “Greg Palast made a mistake.” Because I had announced on your show — we’re infamous now — that 2 million ballots were (Show me more...)

We're about to go into post-production, so this is your LAST CHANCE to get your name in the screen credits of “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Movie.”

Show you’re with me for something truly exceptional: a major cinema release of one of the most important investigative documentaries in decades:
The Theft of the 2016 – before (Show me more...)

By Greg Palast and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Some pinheads think that if they get a "provisional," "affidavit" or "placebo" ballot, they should just walk away and not vote. NO NO NO NO NO. Read what voting rights attorney Bobby Kennedy and I have posted again and again. Fight, but don’t bite. But if you’ve exhausted your options, vote it and track it, if possible. In 2008, EAC records indicate 767,023 provisional ballots were cast and thrown in the garbage out of 2.1 million cast. That is, the chance your provisional vote gets tossed out is roughly 36.5%. So, follow our advice below on how to Vote Unconditionally, not Provisionally. This is #4 of the 7 Ways to Beat the Ballot Bandits. Download and get the whole set—Protect Your Vote with this no-cost ballot condom. Note: If you’re white, you’ve probably never seen a provisional ballot. But don’t take chances.

You can find out all the other ways to Steal Back Your Vote by getting a copy of our FREE comic book at the link - http://bit.ly/SBYVComic.

It's not about a candidate, it's about counting the votes. Whether you're #withher or #StillSanders - you damn well should care if they count every last ballot. Hundreds of thousands of Americans received provisional ballots this primary season and chances are they won't be counted. So you're going to need to Steal Back Your Vote. Watch this short video of my speech at the Still Sanders March, introduced by Cary Harrison in Los Angeles earlier this week.

by Greg Palast with Dennis J Bernstein for Nation of Change

Trump desperately needs to get his tiny hands on some cash to fund his presidential campaign. On TV, Trump may play the role of a gazillionaire, but the reality of his reality TV persona is that it’s all paid for with other people’s money. His self-funding pledge is going the way of all Trump’s promises — down the gilded crapper. This week on The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: Election Crimes Bulletin, we focus on where and how Trump is going to get his campaign funds — and the deal he’s made with Wall Street’s devils in order to get it.

TRANSCRIPT (Originally broadcast on June 22, 2016)

Dennis J. Bernstein: All the news is about how Hillary has raised zillions and Donald has a mere one or two million dollars… I thought Donald Trump was a billionaire — he could pay for anything!

Greg Palast: Yeah, that’s the TV show, isn’t it? As he says, he loves debt. So, yes, he has a lot of money, OPM, other people’s money. He’s an OPM addict, an other peoples’ money addict. But as far as using it for himself, there’s very good reason he doesn’t have close to what he’s talking about. So just like bank robbers, he’s going where the money is.

DB: He’s got some cagey friends?

Palast: Yes. The guy who is now raising money for the guy who doesn’t supposedly need it and who said he will self-finance his own campaign. Where would you go if you needed to suddenly get bazillions and millions of dollars as a politician? It’s a quiz. What’s your answer?

Three, two, one… (Show me more...)