By Ben Gelblum | The London Economic

Throughout the US election campaign one of The Donald’s main refrains was “this election is rigged.”

Turns out this particular Trump election rallying cry wasn’t a lie… Well, not entirely.

Veteran election investigator Greg Palast has uncovered the sickening truth. I spoke to Palast about evidence of widespread systemic election rigging, robbing black, hispanic and asian American voters of their right to vote in crucial states. – Enough votes to swing the election away from the Hillary Clinton victory predicted in polls – explaining suspicious exit polls inconsistencies – and towards a shock result for Trump and Republican victory in the Senate.

“Before a single vote was even cast, the election was already fixed by Trump operatives,” explains Palast.

“This country is violently divided. There simply aren’t enough white guys to elect Trump nor a Republican Senate. The only way they could win was to (Show me more...)

Before a single vote was cast, the election was fixed by GOP and Trump operatives.

Starting in 2013 – just as the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act – a coterie of Trump operatives, under the direction of Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, created a system to purge 1.1 million Americans of color from the voter rolls of GOP–controlled states.

The system, called Crosscheck, is detailed in my Rolling Stone report,
“The GOP’s Stealth War on Voters,” 8/24/2016.

Crosscheck in action:  
Trump victory margin in Michigan:                    13,107
Michigan Crosscheck purge list:                       449,922

Trump victory margin in Arizona:                       85,257
Arizona Crosscheck purge list:                           270,824

Trump victory margin in North Carolina:        177,008
North Carolina Crosscheck purge list:              589,393

On Tuesday, we saw Crosscheck elect a Republican Senate and as President, Donald Trump.  The electoral putsch was aided by nine other methods of attacking the right to vote of Black, Latino and Asian-American voters, methods detailed in my book and film, including “Caging,” “purging,” blocking legitimate registrations, and wrongly shunting millions to “provisional” ballots that will never be counted.

Trump signaled the use of “Crosscheck” when he claimed the election is “rigged” because “people are voting many, many times.”  His operative Kobach, who also advised Trump on building a wall on the southern border, devised (Show me more...)

Greg Palast on the ground in the battleground state of Ohio: where he finds three ways the vote is, indeed, “rigged” – but FOR the GOP.

 

 [Election Day, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio] For two decades, computer touch-screen voting machines have been derided as “push and pray” voting. You had to take it on faith that the machine records your vote as you intend. The machines lacked a “paper record” to audit and recount.

So, voting rights attorney Robert Fitrakis was thrilled to learn that many of Ohio’s voting machines would, for this election, have a brand-new anti-hacking capability. The computers could now take a photo of every voter card loaded in, time stamp each marking, and keep the images in an order that allows an audit and recount.

But there’s one thing wrong with the new tamper-proof voting machines. “They’ve decided to (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast
Investigative reporter Palast wrote Rolling Stone’s recent exposé,
“The GOP's Stealth War Against Voters.”

While the rest of the press is shocked that white North Carolina vigilantes are using racially-poisonous trickery to knock more than 6,700 Black citizens off the voter rolls, we already have the ringleader of the scheme on camera boasting of his election-snatching tactics.

The NAACP has identified the Voter Integrity Project of Raleigh, North Carolina, as the organization directing the mass mailings to voters in minority communities.  When the letters marked “Do Not Forward” were returned to vigilante citizens guided by VIP, the group’s frontmen then challenged the Black citizens' right to vote.   Republican officials then quickly removed these voters from the rolls despite the lack of any evidence that any are fraudulent voters.

“Colonel” DeLancy’s caging operation

VIP is headed by "Colonel" Jay DeLancy. DeLancy admitted to this reporter, on camera, that (Show me more...)

Right now, this minute, you can watch The Best Democracy Money Can Buy on Amazon from $2.99, or if you prefer get a lifetime stream from Vimeo.

See the Film that Jesse Jackson is bringing to 200 churches before election day.

Follow me as I bust the New Klux Klan – the billionaire bandits that are behind a scheme to purge one million voters of color on election day.

Boo!!! The Hysteria Factory is in full effect. Trump says a million "aliens" are swimming the Rio Grande to vote for Hillary. Fox News —even NPR— are peddling stories about dead voters, ghost voters, double voters and other berserk claims of fraudulent voting. But it’s just the cover to STEAL THIS ELECTION, to swipe the Senate.

Watch the Hysteria Factory Clip from the Movie 
With the help of Willie Nelson, Rosario Dawson, and detectives Ice-T and Richard Belzer, I track down the secret billionaires behind Donald Trump and the guys who are gaming our voter rolls and funding this voter fraud Hysteria Factory.

Don't want to watch the movie on your own?

Want to throw a house party? (Show me more...)

Are we crazy?  Yes.  We’re flat broke, but we are sending you this link to the free 60-page comic book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy drawn by Roger Rabbit Comics artist extraordinaire, Keith Tucker—and there’s no charge whatsoever.
But we hope a few of you will have the heart to donate for something more important than food:  getting our film into the churches, schools, union halls and activist centers in Ohio and Pennsylvania, the states targeted with the latest sick racial purge techniques I’ve uncovered for Rolling Stone.

The comic book features Rosario Dawson, “Detectives” Ice-T and Richard Belzer, Willie Nelson and Agent Orange himself, Donald Trump.

And a detective with no “off” button – Greg Palast.

It’s the first installment of our “tele-novella” comic series—by me and the genius artist who drew the comic book Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
It’s as crazy and informative and shocking and heartbreaking as the movie and book on which it based.

If you dig it, share the free download link – and get the rest of the story, the movie and book on which the comic book is based.

“…a wild and woolly ride, peppered with moments of wry sardonic humor that would make Dashiell Hammett smile. There’s so much more I’d love to tell you about what Palast dug up. But then I’d have to kill you. So you’ll just have to see “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” for yourself.”
– Paul Rosenberg – Salon | READ THE FULL REVIEW

The film’s out and playing to packed houses — and now the sequel, after a decade’s wait, to the book that rode the top of the Times list for nearly a year and Howard Zinn called, "The most important political tome of the century."

Get the book (signed) that busts the theft of the 2016 election BEFORE IT HAPPENS.  Trump says the election’s rigged.  He should know:  his buddies are rigging it.

And I rip back the curtain that’s hiding the money behind the Donald.  Trump only PLAYS a billionaire on TV — I name and get in the faces of the big bucks behind the big blond. And — cover the children's ears — the billionaire bandits behind Hillary, too.

And the new Best Democracy comes complete with a 44-page comic book by gonzo cartoonist-journalist Ted Rall.  (Rall joins us from the LA Times from which he was fired for committing journalism.)

Or get the all-new "Best Democracy" sequel right now from the usual suspects (Amazon, B&N, Indiebound).

Here’s a better idea:  Get the new book AND the new film on DVD—not yet available in stores—for a tax deductible donation of $85.  Donate NOW — and if you do it by Monday, I’ll sign’m and send’m within 48-hours.

About that film—based on my reports for Rolling Stone, BBC and Democracy Now!   As in the book, I hunt down the glove-puppet politicians who are mucking with the voter rolls, the NEW Klux Klan—and expose the billionaires whose fingers are in the gloves.

But in the film I’ve got a little help.  When I’m stumped on the investigation, Detectives Tutola and Munch (Ice T and Richard Belzer) jump out of the (Show me more...)

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.

Tickets available now for San Francisco (Oct 14-20) - Get them while they last!

Coming soon: 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.

(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

(Show me more...)

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.
(Show me more...)

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.

(Show me more...)

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...)