Greg Palast's Blog, page 73
August 27, 2017
Charlottesville Nazi Attacker Dan Borden Arrested For Brutal Assault Of School Teacher De’Andre Harris
By Greg Palast
Above: Dan Borden attacking De'Andre Harris in a Charottesville parking garage.
Neo-Nazi Dan Borden, who nearly beat Black school teacher De'Andre Harris to death in Charlottesville on August 12, has been arrested after being identified via photos taken by courageous Palast Investigative Fund photographer Zach D. Roberts. Borden also assaulted Roberts, who kept taking photos of the skinhead attackers even after the attackers’ pal pulled a gun.
Journalism saves lives—when it doesn’t lie.
Borden, 18, a former Mason High School student from Ohio, was charged with malicious wounding by Charlottesville police on Thursday, August 24 for the brutal assault of Harris. He was arrested the following day and is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center in Cincinnati, OH awaiting extradition.
Above: Borden, pictured earlier in the day, when he threw a metal-tipped baton at Roberts.
You can see more of Zach D. Roberts's images from Charlottesville here. Zach also got an exclusive interview with Harris, which you can find here.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Charlottesville Nazi Attacker Dan Borden Arrested For Brutal Assault Of School Teacher De’Andre Harris appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 24, 2017
Civil Rights Groups ChallengeIndiana’s Use of Crosscheck:Lawsuit Cites Palast’s Work On Kobach’sRacist Voter Purging Program
By Greg Palast
I am thrilled that the NAACP and the League of Women Voters are using our Crosscheck investigation evidence to stop Jim Crow in Indiana. Only 27 states left to go. Next target: Virginia, where a so-called Democrat, Terry McAuliffe needs to dump Trump's Crosscheck purges.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, August 23, challenges Indiana Senate Bill 442 which changed the way the state implemented Crosscheck. Previously, when an Indiana voter was flagged by Crosscheck, the state sent an address confirmation mailer by way of notification. (Though better than nothing, these notifications look like junk mail and are easy to ignore.) However, SB442, which went into effect on July 1, allows the state to immediately remove voters from the roll, removing the notification step.
Read the full complaint — which states "Crosscheck is unreliable and discriminatory in practice" — here:
Kris Kobach's racially-biased-by-design Crosscheck voter purging op is mentioned by name 35 times in the complaint. Below are some highlights:
"Crosscheck is unreliable and discriminatory in practice."
[image error] Crosscheck is utilized "in a manner that is not uniform, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory."
[image error] SB 442 / Crosscheck "exposes voters to removal based on a list maintenance procedure that is neither reasonable, uniform, nor nondiscriminatory."
[image error] SB 442 / Crosscheck "unlawfully provides for the immediate removal of a voter based solely on the possibility of changed residence"
[image error] SB 442 / Crosscheck requires "no inquiry, confirmation, or notice to a voter that his or her registration is being canceled"
[image error] "Crosscheck’s unreliable methodology, high error rate, and discriminatory impact violates the NVRA standard."
[image error] "In practice, Crosscheck produces inaccurate results, false positives, and leads to the discriminatory disenfranchisement of many legally registered voters."
[image error] "Crosscheck flagged one in six Latinos, one in seven Asian-Americans, and one in nine African- Americans as potential double registrants."
[image error] Crosscheck would eliminate "200 unique, legitimate voters for every one individual it identified that was registered in two jurisdictions."
[image error] Note: Even the 1 in 200 are only REGISTERED in two jurisdictions — and are NOT accused of actual double voting.
"The Crosscheck Participation Guide, itself, concedes that 'a significant number of apparent double votes are false positives and not double votes.'"
[image error] Use of Crosscheck "risks severe, discriminatory disenfranchisement of registered voters in violation of federal law."
[image error] "Moreover, not only by all accounts is rampant voter fraud in the United States a myth, but empirical evidence establishes that SB 442 and Crosscheck would not even identify such fraud if it did exist."
[image error] Crosscheck identified individuals as having moved from Virginia to another state, when in fact the opposite was true—indicating that Crosscheck’s data is inherently flawed and includes the names of individuals who are not ineligible.
[image error] "SB442's Reliance on Crosscheck violates the NVRA’s Prohibition Against Arbitrary, Unreasonable, and Discriminatory Removals of Voters from Registration Rolls"
[image error]Here's the link to my August, 2016 Rolling Stone article, "The GOP's Stealth War Against Voters", cited in the complaint.
[image error]
For more on Crosscheck and how it helped Trump steal the White House in 2016 watch The Best Democracy Money Can Buy — available to view worldwide from just $2.99!
Or support our work and get a signed copy of the DVD and/or companion book from our store.
***
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Civil Rights Groups Challenge
Indiana’s Use of Crosscheck:
Lawsuit Cites Palast’s Work On Kobach’s
Racist Voter Purging Program appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 21, 2017
Alev Ha-Shalom, Brother Greg
Photo of Dick Gregory by Zach D Roberts.
Dick Gregory was a HUGE influence on my work and writings — that ability to take the darkest side of America and destroy the killers and Klansman with the deadly bullet of humor. Even while wilting from hunger (he would eat no solid food until the US left Vietnam). I memorized his speeches. He asked MLK III to introduce us so he could help promote The Best Democracy Money Can Buy — and I asked him to forgive me for his material that I plagiarized in our common cause. Alev ha-shalom, Brother Greg.
***
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Alev Ha-Shalom, Brother Greg appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 18, 2017
Palast Calls The FBI To ReportA Crime In Charlottesville
On August 12, 2107 a 20-year old school teacher named De'Andre Harris was brutally attacked with iron bars and pieces of wood by a group of neo-Nazis. The attack took place in a parking garage on Market Street — right next to the Charlottesville Police Station. Our photographer Zach Roberts took photos of the attack, which have since gone viral and have been reprinted online and in newspapers around the world. However, neither Roberts, Harris, or myself have been contacted by police, the FBI or Department of Justice officials. Since this is a federal crime, involving actors who conspired and crossed state lines, we decided to contact the FBI ourselves to seek justice for Harris. This video documents the seven calls we made on Friday, August 18 in a frustrating attempt to report the near-murder of Harris.
You can see more of Zach D. Roberts's images from Charlottesville here. Zach also got an exclusive interview with De'Andre Harris, which you can find here.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Palast Calls The FBI To Report
A Crime In Charlottesville appeared first on Greg Palast.
Greg Calls The FBI To ReportA Crime In Charlottesville
On August 12, 2107 a 20-year old school teacher named De'Andre Harris was brutally attacked with iron bars and pieces of wood by a group of neo-Nazis. The attack took place in a parking garage on Market Street — right next to the Charlottesville Police Station. Our photographer Zach Roberts took photos of the attack, which have since gone viral and have been reprinted online and in newspapers around the world. However, neither Zach, De’Andre, nor myself have been contacted by police, the FBI or Department of Justice officials. Since this is a federal crime, involving actors who conspired and crossed state lines, we decided to contact the FBI ourselves to seek justice for De’Andre.
You can see more of Zach D. Roberts's images from Charlottesville here. Zach also got an exclusive interview with De'Andre Harris, which you can find here.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Greg Calls The FBI To Report
A Crime In Charlottesville appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 16, 2017
Charlottesville: Our Photo Reveals The Lie Behind Trump’s Claim That “Both Sides” Are To Blame
By Greg Palast
"I think there’s blame on both sides... you also had people that were very fine people on both sides." — Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference at Trump Tower in New York on Tuesday, August 15.
The beating with iron bars and lumber of a black school teacher in Charlottesville reveals the lie behind Trump's sickening claim that "both sides" are to blame. Our photographer's camera shows that one side are the brutalizers, the other the brutalized.
You can see more of Zach D. Roberts's images from Charlottesville — as featured on the cover of the New York Daily News above — here. Zach also got an exclusive interview with the teacher who was beaten, De'Andre Harris, which you can find here.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Charlottesville: Our Photo Reveals The Lie Behind
Trump’s Claim That “Both Sides” Are To Blame appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 15, 2017
Interview with De’Andre Harris: Beaten by Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville
By Zach D. Roberts | Nation of Change
No, the terrorist attack on peaceful counter protesters Saturday in Charlottesville was not an isolated incident. Anyone who says that is lying to you.
Google Maps still lists the Charlottesville park, where I was first pepper sprayed this weekend, as “Lee Park.” The city disagrees, saying that it’s now Emancipation Park.
Either way — the massive statue of Confederate War General Robert E. Lee still towers over the park, which today is filled with grown men wearing hockey gear and holding home made shields that a 12-year-old LARPer would be ashamed of. This is, or least was supposed to be, the “Unite the Right” rally. At my other job I cover comic book conventions, and my first impressions of this rally reminded me of those conventions just a bit too much to take seriously.
But then there’s the tear gas… And the home made weapons… And the real weapons, like AR-15’s and Glock 9mm’s… None of that would be allowed into the San Diego Comic Con.
But here I am in the middle of a park named after a guy that fought for the right of Southerners to keep human beings as slaves, and there are a couple hundred people screaming about why this statue needs to stay. They’re claiming that its removal is all part of a plan to erase the history of the white people…
I’m white, and that’s not my history. But if it was, I’d WANT it erased, or at least not memorialized. Less than three hours later I would witness something that I hoped was left in the waste bin of American history: In this ‘post-racial’ America I witnessed De’Andre Harris, a young black man, kicked and beaten nearly to death by racist goons.
No, the terrorist attack on peaceful counter protesters Saturday in Charlottesville was not an isolated incident. Anyone who says that is lying to you. They’re trying to cover for something that has been seething with hatred in the putrid shadows of America.
My skin was burning from something sprayed on me earlier in the day as I followed a march of white supremacists. After the tiki torch rally Friday night, my entire body ached from trying to keep up with fascists in comfortable shoes. As the white supremacists marched down Market Street, members of the community shared their opinions of the white men — yelling at them, “Not in our town!,” “You’re not welcome here, go home!” Those marching responded with accusations of them being the “reason” for the “death of the white race.”
De’Andre and his friends were marching too. Walking along side, they were yelling for the rally members to go home. They got racial epithets as responses. It was going fine… well as fine as something like this can go — until something out of my vision happened and everyone started running. I followed De’Andre who was clearly already hurt and getting chased by nearly a dozen white supremacists.
De’Andre Harriss, a young man who works as an assistant special education teacher in Charlottesville, was slammed with shield into the parking arm of the Market Street garage and landed hard. This is when he says he lost consciousness. Seconds later, he woke to fists, clubs and boots. Trying to get up and flee to safety, he was knocked to the ground again by the white terrorists that were attacking him for one reason and one reason only: De’Andre is black.
Getting hit time and time again with the broken pieces of the parking arm, he curled into the fetal position. Five or six men continued the assault until De’Andre’s friends came to his rescue. The nearly dozen white supremacists that were either actively attacking this young man or standing by creating cover scattered from the scene like cockroaches when the light is turned on.
As I turned to follow De’Andre to see if he was ok and to get his information — I was confronted with a handgun — a 9mm Glock to be exact. A white male with a camo hat and military style t-shirt and pants was in the ready position — ready to ‘defend’ himself. As soon as he noticed me taking photos of him, he holstered the fire arm. Virginia is an open-carry state.
The police were nowhere to be found. That was a continuing thread for a lot of the incidents that happened during this weekend of hate in Charlottesville. Police would convene in large numbers in spaces that were nowhere near the action. They would also not even attempt to make their presence seen when the fascists went on their marches about town.
This is what we call a “stand down order.” You see it usually when groups like Black Lives Matter are allowed to march through the street without getting much of a hassle. Police assume that protesters will just tire themselves out and not stick around if there are no confrontations to get riled up about. Typically in these situations, the police will immediately swoop in if they see a crime or violence happening…
…The Charlottesville PD didn’t seem to get that part of the memo. They just stood by and let pretty much anything happen.
De’Andre is still waiting for someone to contact him about the assault. Right after he started to receive help from an Antifa street medic, I walked around asking police officers if they wanted my info as I had evidence and witnessed a crime.
They just kept walking and didn’t respond. They also seemed uninterested that a man pulled a gun on me and De’Andre’s friends.
An hour or so later, the entire day would change. Potentially, America would change with it.
Five blocks away, another white man with associations to white supremacist groups rammed his car into a peaceful march, murdering one and injuring many others.
De’Andre Harris received staples in his head, stitches just above his eye, a broken wrist and a chipped tooth. His story, while not reaching the major networks, went viral.
My images posted on twitter and some other videos caught the eyes of millions, and his gofundme page reached over $100k. My guess is that he won’t have a lot left over after he pays his medical bills.
But at least he’s alive — and doing as much press as he can, getting the word out that the civil rights era of the ‘60s never should have gone away. Because the beatings haven’t.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Interview with De’Andre Harris:
Beaten by Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville appeared first on Greg Palast.
Photographing A Neo-Nazi Attack ABC7’s Elex Michaelson Interviews Zach Roberts
By Greg Palast
ABC7's Elex Michaelson interviews our photographer Zach D Roberts about the image he took of four neo-Nazis attacking black school teacher De’Andre Harris with iron bars and lumber in a parking garage in Charlottesville on Saturday, Aug 12.
I don't want no damn healing words from Donald Trump. I want the Justice Department to hunt down the white terrorists. Neither the FBI nor the Charlottesville police have asked for the hi-res photos of this attack taken by our photographer Zach D Roberts. And there's been no contact at all with the victim, De'Andre Harris. Justice, not tears.
Get the full story behind this powerful image here.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
***Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Photographing A Neo-Nazi Attack
ABC7’s Elex Michaelson Interviews Zach Roberts appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 14, 2017
Charlottesville: A Gun In His Face, But He Got The Photo
By Greg Palast
Previously unreleased photos of four neo-Nazis attacking black school teacher De’Andre Harris with iron bars and lumber in a parking garage in Charlottesville on Saturday, Aug 12. © Zach D Roberts, 2017.
Don’t look away. Four white neo-Nazis are beating a Black man, crawling on the ground, with their metal poles and a yellow hunk of lumber. The beating continues — there’s blood on the pavement.
Our photographer, Zach D. Roberts, continues to shoot — even as a white militant raises a 9mm pistol to his face.
Zach got a shot of the gun and gunman, too. Luckily, the gunman didn’t shoot back.
One photo has gone viral internationally. These others we bring you here because they must be seen. Including, for the first time, the gunman.
Welcome to Charlottesville, USA. Trump’s America, month eight.
The young victim is De’Andre Harris, a special education teacher in Charlottesville.
According to the President, the violence was perpetrated on “many sides.” The only sides I see are the beaters and the beaten; De’Andre on the ground with the alt-Right storm troopers with weapons.
Zach D. Roberts is an investigative photojournalist who has been with the Palast Investigations team for eleven years.
Here is Zach’s report:
De’Andre Harris, the school teacher, was walking down the street with friends, trading taunts with the white supremacist demonstrators.
Harris’ jibes were hardly fighting words. “Go home! Leave town!” Locals like Harris resented the jack-ass invasion.
That’s when fists flew and Harris was slammed by one of the white guys straight into a parking lot barrier so hard the yellow wooden arm broke.
De’Andre fell to the ground, alone, surrounded by all these white guys — and they started beating him with the poles that almost all the white supremacists were carrying.
In the photos, you can see one white guy picking up the yellow barrier arm and raising the three foot hunk of lumber high over his head before he brings it down on De’Andre — who is being kicked by another white man’s boots while two others bring down metal rods on the prone man.
And no, that’s not a cop on the left in the photo — that’s a neo-Nazi in full riot gear. (Where were the cops? Good question: this parking garage is next to the Charlottesville Police Station.)
De’Andre was saved when some gutsy young Black men — with no weapons — ran into the underground garage, which promted the white posse to scatter.
Except for one. The gunman.
A white militant with a 9mm pistol, then aimed at rescuers. © Zach D Roberts, 2017
He pulled out what looks to be a 9mm pistol, maybe a Glock semi-automatic, and positioned himself to fire on the rescue squad. But then he heard the click of Zach’s camera, just three feet away, and realized he was getting photographed.
Simultaneously, Zach realized he’d left his bullet-proof vest in his car. (I’ll have that discussion with him later.)
In this strange stand-off, the camera proved mightier than the bullet. In his tiny little brain, the would-be shooter figured it would be wiser to quickly conceal the weapon and flee.
De’Andre “ran into the garage’s staircase and collapsed bleeding profusely from the face.” Zach waited with him and his protectors for half an hour but no ambulance arrived for him or the other people who were injured.
So, that’s the news from Trump’s USA. Nazis marching in the street, nuclear war with Korea, the “military option” for Venezuela. And it’s only Monday.
I was going to write about Korea, then Venezuela, but then the Armed Alt-Righteous exposed themselves to Zach’s lens.
Photojournalist Zach D. Roberts is Associate Producer and stake-out videographer for Greg Palast’s film, “ The Best Democracy Money Can Buy .” We are now making the post-election update. You can add your name as a producer for a minimum tax deductible contribution of $1,000 ($500 for Co-Producer) or get a screen credit as a supporter for $100 minimum donation. And you’ll get a signed copy of your film on DVD. Or help us fund our continued investigation of 'their' vote-swiping schemes for any amount no matter how large or small.
The Virginia story is not over. We will be going back to Virginia on September 9, to the capital, Richmond, to fight for the right for Black folk to arm themselves with the one weapon these white punks fear most: the vote.
Between snapping photos of America gone mad, Zach has been working these past four years with me on a story of how Trump’s henchman, one Kris Kobach, now head of Trump’s so-called, “Election Integrity Commission,” conceived of a secretive program to remove hundreds of thousands of Black Americans from the voter rolls.
Virginia removed an astonishing 41,637 voters based on Kobach’s accusation they could have voted twice. Not one of the accused was arrested — but, you won’t be surprised to hear, the list of the “scrubbed” was filled with African-American names. And Virginia is removing tens of thousands more with this Jim Crow tactic — despite a nominally Democratic Governor, Terry McAuliffe.
Virginia refused us their “scrub” lists. But Zach Roberts, by stellar investigative work, obtained a copy — half a million names in all — much to the state’s dismay. And those lists are every bit as obscenely racist and, in the long run, far more wounding, than the iron rods of the neo-Nazis.
So, thank you, Zach, for the photos that bear witness and inside documents that reveal their secret schemes.
For the rest of us, our job is simpler: not to look away.
***Greg Palast is the Director and Zach D. Roberts the Associate Producer of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, a film about racial vote suppression and billionaires behind it.
***Before turning to journalism as an investigative reporter for The Guardian and BBC Television, Greg Palast was an investigator of fraud and racketeering for governments and labor unions worldwide. His investigations have appeared in Rolling Stone, Harper's and New Statesman. Known as the reporter who exposed how Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush purged thousands of Black voters from Florida rolls to steal the 2000 election for George Bush. Palast has written four New York Times bestsellers, including Armed Madhouse, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, and The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, now a non-fiction movie about how Donald Trump, racist vote suppression tactics and the billionaires behind it all.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
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The post Charlottesville: A Gun In His Face,
But He Got The Photo appeared first on Greg Palast.
August 9, 2017
Palast Honored with Eleanor Roosevelt Award For Superlative Investigative Reporting
By Nicole Powers
On August 6, 2017, investigative journalist Greg Palast was presented with the Eleanor Roosevelt Award by the Southern California branch of Americans for Democratic Action, an organization which the former First Lady co-founded in 1947.
The award was given to Greg for his: “Superlative investigative reporting and media coverage in the areas of human and democratic rights.”
"What an honor to get the Eleanor Roosevelt Award, because in my house she was our goddess," said Palast at the awards ceremony, which was held in the grounds of a private home in Santa Monica.
"I always think of Adlai Stevenson’s words at her memorial," Palast continued. "He said, Eleanor Roosevelt would rather light a candle than curse the darkness. And I think that all I do is curse the darkness. That’s my business. I’d be out of a job if it wasn’t for cursing the darkness. ”
Jan Goodman of ADA SoCal, who opened her home for the ceremony, presented Palast with the award, which she said was given to Palast for “reporting on human and democratic rights.”
“It’s become your life’s work, and we are joining you in your life’s work, because this is what ADA is all about also,” said Goodman as she handed a bronze statue of Roosevelt to Palast.
The award was presented with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition from Congressmen Ted W. Lieu honoring Palast, which stated: “Long may he snoop.”
Palast would like to dedicate this award to Tundu Lissu, who helped him expose the Barrick Gold scandal, and all the other whistleblowers who have put themselves on the line to help journalists curse the darkness.
***Greg Palast (Rolling Stone, Guardian, BBC) is the author of The New York Times bestsellers, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, now out as major motion non-fiction movie.
Stay informed, rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or better still, get the Book & DVD combo.
Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! Alternatively, become a monthly contributor and automatically receive Palast's new films and books when they're released!
Or support the The Palast Investigative Fund (a project of The Sustainable Markets Foundation) by shopping with Amazon Smile. AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your purchases to the Palast Fund and you get a tax-deduction! More info.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter. Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Palast Honored with
Eleanor Roosevelt Award
For Superlative Investigative Reporting appeared first on Greg Palast.
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