Last week, I flew to Detroit with my team at the request of a major west coast publication. When I landed, they got cold feet; assignment cancelled. Without funding to continue, I should have (Show me more...)

By Greg Palast for Truthout

Photo of Michigan ballot with bubble. (Image courtesy of Palast Investigative Fund, 2016)

Before the Electoral College votes, they should know this.

Michigan officials declared in late November that Trump won the state's count by 10,704 votes. But hold on – a record 75,355 ballots were not counted.

The uncounted ballots came mostly from Detroit and Flint, majority-Black cities that vote Democratic.

According to the machines that read their ballots, these voters waited in line, sometimes for hours, yet did not (Show me more...)

Officially, Donald Trump won Michigan by 10,704 votes. But a record 75,335 votes were never counted. Most of these votes that went missing were in Detroit and Flint.

How do you disappear 75,335 votes? I flew to Michigan to investigate.

 

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Support the 2016 Stolen Election Investigation
After investigating the REAL story of the recount, we stopped by the Department of Justice yesterday and handed them our Crosscheck petition, signed by 50,000 people. We have a lot more work to do and thankfully, our efforts are starting to get notice. We're not done...

Join us bySupporting the Stolen Election Investigation

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Thousands of bubbles filled in next to the candidate's name couldn’t be read by the optical scanning machines in Michigan and Wisconsin but a much better machine, the (Show me more...)

After reading my report on the Kobach/Koch/Trump operation, which has removed tens of thousands of minority voters from the rolls in the swing states that surprisingly shifted to Trump, former federal judge (and now Congressman) Alcee Hastings told me Crosscheck is a criminal violation of federal law. Hastings has called for criminal indictments and written an official Congressional member letter to ask for investigation.

hastings-crosscheck-letter-to-ag-lynch

Hastings’ demand for justice is backed by a petition to expose and end Crosscheck’s racist attacks on voting rights. So far it's been signed by 50,000 people, including 29,507 members of 18 Million Rising, the Asian-American rights group. The group is joined by co-signers Rep. Keith Ellison, Bill Gallegos of Climate Justice, Martin Luther King III and others.

On Tuesday, December 13 I will join the leaders of 18 Million rising in Washington, D.C. to present the petition to Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Stopping Crosscheck is the Standing Rock of racist vote suppression.  If we don’t open the investigations now, by January 21, Kris Kobach will be Homeland Security chief and Jeff Sessions Attorney General.

Demand an investigation into Crosscheck, sign our petition — and then share it! (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast for Truthout

There's been so much complete nonsense since I first broke the news that the Green Party would file for a recount of the presidential vote, I am compelled to write a short guide to flush out the BS and get to just the facts, ma'am.

 

Nope, they’re not hunting for Russian hackers

To begin with, the main work of the recount hasn't a damn thing to do with finding out if the software programs for the voting machines have been hacked, whether by Putin’s agents or some guy in a cave flipping your vote from Hillary to The Donald.

The Green team does not yet even have the right to get into the codes. But that's just not the core of the work.

The ballots in the electoral “dumpster”

The nasty little secret of US elections, is that we don't count all the votes.

In Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania—and all over America—there were a massive number of votes that were simply (Show me more...)

by Greg Palast

UPDATE: In Michigan and North Carolina the wipe-out of Black, Hispanic and young voters was massive - especially under Crosscheck. Watch my latest segment on MSNBC's AM Joy, this Saturday morning on how the election was rigged - long before the vote even happened.

Jill Stein just called to say that I am the first one to be informed that the Green Party is formally petitioning for a recount in 3 states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Trump’s margin is less than 11,600 in Michigan, 27,200 in Wisconsin and 68,000 in Pennsylvania.

Support the 2016 Stolen Election Investigation

If just a few thousand votes are found in Wisconsin and Michigan, (Show me more...)

Being right never felt so horrid.

“This is the story of the theft of the 2016 election.
It’s a crime still in progress.”

So opens my film, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
And on Election night I waited for the returns to make a fool of me.

Instead, the returns made the fool a President.

And so, my vacation’s cancelled. My life’s cancelled; that is, a life of anything but sleuthing and exposing the details of the heist of our democracy.

What’s at stake?
No way around it, this is one frightening moment.

Decades of progress created with sweat and determination face destruction.  Within the next six months, we may see the Voting Rights Act repealed—and civil rights set back 50 years; the entirety of our environmental protection laws burnt in a coal pit; police cruelty made our urban policy; the Education Department closed to give billionaires a tax holiday; and a howling anti-Semite as White House Senior Counselor.

But the horror we face is countered by this one hard and hopeful fact:  (Show me more...)

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...)