Greg Palast's Blog, page 75

Will new Jim Crow scam tip Georgia’s Ossoff-Handel Congressional Race?

GOP goons grab reporter when he asks how 40,000 minority voter registrations vanished

by Greg Palast

Catch Palast’s reports for Joy Reid, Thom Hartmann and Amy Goodman

Karen Handel took a break from beating up Democrat John Ossoff to attack a reporter: me.  In the televised debate between the two candidates vying for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, Republican Handel claimed, “a reporter supposedly representing some very liberal Democratic organization almost literally accosted me.”

In fact, is was a trio of galoots working for Handel who accosted me.

[image error]Handel's handlers trying to prevent Greg Palast from asking a tough question

But who accosted whom is less important than Handel promoting the dangerous new trend of attacking the press, sometimes physically, when questions are uncomfortable or challenging.

Handel is afraid I’ll report what I began uncovering in my investigations in Georgia’s 6th.  I first came here in 2014 for Al Jazeera, when I interviewed an enthusiastic group of Korean-Americans based in the 6th, the Asian-American Legal Advocacy Center. When I returned to cover the current race, I found the Asian-American voting rights office shuttered and empty.

[image error]Helen Ho from the Asian-American Legal Advocacy Center (photo by Zach D Roberts)

Apparently, the group which had launched a “10,000 Korean Votes” registration drive discovered that many of their registrants simply never appeared on voter rolls. Their lawyers’ query about missing voters to the Secretary of State resulted in a raid by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and a threat of criminal charges.

Voting rights attorney Nse Ufot told me what happened:

“They were doing a campaign to register 10,000 Korean-Americans to vote, and had quite a bit of success. At some point during the campaign, they noticed that many of the folks that they were registering were not showing up on the voter rolls. So, they reached out to the Secretary of State to say, "Hey, where are our folks? Why aren't they showing up on the rolls?"  They never got an official response.  What they did get was the GBI kicking in the door and requesting all of their files.”

While no charges were brought, the terrifying raid, was enough to put the Korean voter group out of business.

And Ufot’s own group, New Georgia Project has seen the registrations of new voters of color suspiciously…vanish.

Ufot told me, ‘We submitted 86,419 voter registration forms.  There are 46,000 of the folks that we've registered who have made it, and 40,000 of them are missing.’

So New Georgia Project contacted the Republican Secretary of State’s office.

“You know what they told us? ‘We don't know what you're talking about. What forms?’  They did not disappear. We intentionally registered voters on paper forms so that we could make copies. We knew who they were. They were not on the voter rolls.

When African-American activists raised a ruckus over the disappearance, they got the same treatment as the Korean-Americans: a Gestapo-style raid on their offices, threats of criminal charges and jail term.

But the African-American organizers had long faced down Jim Crow intimidation tactics.

I wanted Handel’s story—and not just as a candidate.  She herself was Secretary of State, and up to her chin in these vote suppression games.

I started out by asking if the Democrats were stealing the election, and she was pleased to say, “They’re pulling out all stops!”

But when I got to the subject of her office purging voters, one of her henchmen jumped in front of me, slammed me backwards and while two others grabbed and muscled me away.  She refused to answer to a question about the raids on voter registration groups, but the crowd answered for her, chanting “U! S! A! U! S! A!” – as if a journalist asking a question is the new enemy of America. And that’s frightening. Not the clowns who assaulted me. They were more buffoonish than threatening.

I don’t want compensation, I don’t want to press charges. I want an answer to the question: Who will decide the race in the Sixth—the voters or Jim Crow?

Please support our continuing investigation, as we move from Georgia’s 6th to follow Jim Crow’s trail into Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Florida and North Carolina. 

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.

For more on the racially-biased-by-design Crosscheck vote-purging op, which is in play in Georgia to help Karen Handel, watch The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, you can rent or buy the film from Amazon or Vimeo or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the book companion or better still - get the Book & DVD combo.

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The post Will new Jim Crow scam tip Georgia’s
Ossoff-Handel Congressional Race? appeared first on Greg Palast.

Palast on MSNBC – with Joy ReidVoter suppression accusations against GOP persist

Journalist Greg Palast tells Joy Reid that in his reporting he’s found many instances – usually driven by Republicans' initiatives – in which voters have been purged from rolls among other methods, allegedly to influence elections.

***

For more on Kobach's racially-biased-by-design Crosscheck vote-purging op, which is in play in Georgia to help Karen Handel, watch The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or, better still, get the DVD and book combo by making a tax-deductible donation to the Palast Investigative Fund.

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.

Or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive!

Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.

Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.

GregPalast.com

 

The post Palast on MSNBC – with Joy Reid
Voter suppression accusations against GOP persist appeared first on Greg Palast.

Democracy Now reporter assaulted for exposing Jim Crow tactics in Ossoff-Handel race

Greg Palast reporting for the Thom Hartmann Show and Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!

Watch the 8-minute broadcast—and get a full blast of weird.

I was in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District to investigate strange doings in the race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel (who received an endorsement—and kiss on the lips—from President Trump).

Handel was happy as a Smurf doll when I asked her if the Democrats were stealing the election. ("They’re pulling out all the stops!!")

But when I asked about Republican Jim Crow tactics I’d uncovered, it got real ugly. First, a deep-fry-bloated goon jumped between me and the candidate then pushed me backwards. A second grabbed my arm while a third started muscling me around.

Wow! And only because I asked—quite politely—if in her prior post as Georgia’s Secretary of State, she’d cleansed the voter rolls of voters of color.

It was, honestly, more comical than threatening. Is this the new Republican method of answering uncomfortable questions?

The bigger story in the report is my hunt to answer the question: How did tens of thousands of voter registrations simply VANISH?

And why did Georgia Republican officials use Gestapo-style tactics to raid the offices of the Asian-American voter registration drive?

You’ll hear Georgia Project leader Nse Ufot explain that 40,000 voters they’d registered never got on the rolls. The Republican Secretary of State denied they’d received the forms — but the Project had the photocopies! Now, Ufot faces criminal charges similar to the threats used to destroy the Asian-American vote drive.

And behind it all is Trump’s new "Elections Integrity Commission" chieftain Kris Kobach, who created a 606,708-name voter purge list for GOP officials. You read that number right.

As Dee Hunter of the Washington DC Civil Rights Center tells us, Ossoff already won. He fell just 3,700 votes short of an outright win in the first round of voting, but was denied victory by this onslaught of New Jim Crow tactics. If these tactics steal the Sixth, they’ll roll them out nationwide.

***Watch the clip, pass it on, then help me get back on the hunt for the missing voters.

The report cost our foundation $27,000 to produce. A donor promised to cover the cost — then vanished like a Georgia voter. So my investigations team is deep in the hole. When the funding disappeared, we continued: the trail was too hot, the facts so chilling and important, we chose to continue and put the truth on credit cards.

This ain’t no foolin’ around. Can you help by making a tax-deductible contribution to our continuing investigation? It continues in Georgia, but now we move to Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio.

We are preparing an "Activist" update of our film, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—a shortened version specifically designed to open action meetings. Our first outing was right there in Georgia’s Sixth, at the Eagles Nest Church, Lee Jenkins, Pastor. You saw him in the Democracy Now! report. He screened The Best Democracy Money Can Buy then hosted a confab with the NAACP, Common Cause, ACLU, Georgia Project and many luminaries of the new voting rights movement, organized by Hunter of The Civil Rights Center.

This butt-kicking team is going on the road—to Virginia next month, then Michigan, Ohio and wherever votes and voters are at risk. We will be there with them, with the facts.

So, please, right now, make your tax-deductible contribution for any amount no matter how large or small. Or become a monthly contributor today.

For a tax-deductible donation of $1000 we’ll list you in the credits of the Activist version of our film as a Producer. For $500 become a Co-Producer.

Or, get the combo of the full-length film on DVD, with the book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, signed…and I’ll add in a link for you to stream it (in case you don’t have a DVD player). Already have the DVD and book? Well, get more, hand them out — and stir up trouble. The trouble I call "democracy."

Excuse me while I answer the door. It’s the wolf, and I want to tell him to hold off because you are coming to our rescue.

Palast Investigations Team can’t thank you enough.

* * * * *

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 book companion or better still - get the Book & DVD combo.

Palast is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Armed Madhouse and BBC Newsnight book of the Year Vultures' Picnic.

Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive!  Become a monthly contributor today.

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.

GregPalast.com

 

The post Democracy Now reporter assaulted
for exposing Jim Crow tactics
in Ossoff-Handel race appeared first on Greg Palast.

Palast On Democracy Now!GOP Jim Crow Tactics Help Steal Handel-Ossoff Race

The most expensive Congressional race in history will be decided June 20. While most polls show Democrat Jon Ossoff ahead of Republican Karen Handel, civil rights leaders fear that racial vote suppression tactics could steal this special election. Here's my report, broadcast today on Democracy Now!, from Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

***

For more on Kobach's racially-biased-by-design Crosscheck vote-purging op, which is in play in Georgia to help Karen Handel, watch The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or, better still, get the DVD and book combo by making a tax-deductible donation to the Palast Investigative Fund.

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.

Or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! 

The post Palast On Democracy Now!
GOP Jim Crow Tactics Help Steal
Handel-Ossoff Race appeared first on Greg Palast.

Catch Palast on Democracy Now! From Georgia’s 6th CD

[image error]Thursday, June 15, 8am ET – Greg Palast will be reporting on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman from the hot Georgia 6th Congressional District race.

And on Friday 7pm ET an in-depth report with Thom Hartmann on RTTV.

When Palast confronts GOP candidate Karen Handel with evidence that her party is using Jim Crow vote-suppression tactics, her thugs muscle reporter Palast.

In the report Palast will expose the latest tricks to wipe out the voter registrations of African-American and Asian-American voters.

Watch this space for the full report…

[image error]

* * * * *

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 book companion or better still - get the Book & DVD combo.

Palast is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Armed Madhouse and BBC Newsnight book of the Year Vultures' Picnic.

Visit the Palast Investigative Fund store or simply make a tax-deductible contribution to keep our work alive! 

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.

GregPalast.com

 

The post Catch Palast on Democracy Now!
From Georgia’s 6th CD appeared first on Greg Palast.

Trump’s Chief Vote Suppressor KobachRuns For Governor Of Kansas

By Zach D. Roberts for Nation of Change

The man that well-coiffed racist, Richard Spencer, calls a “draconian illegal immigration enforcer” is now running for Governor of Kansas.

That enforcer made his announcement just hours after the euthanasia of Governor Brownback’s “Kansas Experiment” by the state legislature. Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, stepping over the corpse of Brownback’s political career, took to the stage and announced that he would be starting his campaign for Kansas’ highest office.

The Kansas Experiment, as coined by many, was a failed low-to-no business tax trickle down economics test that didn’t just not work, it nearly took the state's economy with it. Brownback, who got advice from the same right wing economists as Trump, in 2015 had “$44.5 million cut from public education” according to Vox.com.

Kansas is, of course home to three things: yellow brick roads, the Koch Brothers and voter suppression laws. Here's a reminder of who Kris Kobach — a.k.a. "The Wizard of Crosscheck" — is:

See full story on Nation of Change.

For more on Kobach and his racially-biased-by-design Crosscheck vote-purging op, which helped Trump steal the White House in 2016, watch The Best Democracy Money Can Buy. Rent or buy the film on Amazon or get the signed DVD, a signed copy of the companion book — or, better still, get the DVD and book combo by making a tax-deductible donation to the Palast Investigative Fund.

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.

The post Trump’s Chief Vote Suppressor Kobach
Runs For Governor Of Kansas appeared first on Greg Palast.

Signed Kelly Slater Surfboard for Auction

[image error]

Contact us with your bid

Surfer Superstar Kelly Slater is offering a signed surfboard for auction to support

The Palast Investigative Fund.

Pick your choice of board and Kelly Slater will personally sign it and dedicate it to you.

Opening Bid starts at $2,000  – or donate $5,000 and it's yours.

Check out your choice of boards: Banana  |  Omni  |  Sci-fi

The post Signed Kelly Slater Surfboard for Auction appeared first on Greg Palast.

Handel’s Handlers Manhandle ReporterTo Duck Questions On Her Blocking Black Voters

GOP Congressional candidate Karen Handel will do anything to duck questions about her role in purging Black and Asian voters in the Georgia run-off race against Jon Ossoff. Stay tuned for the full story of the Stealing of the Sixth CD — reports this week by Greg Palast for Thom Hartmann and Democracy Now!

* * * * *

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 book companion 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! 

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.

The post Handel’s Handlers Manhandle Reporter
To Duck Questions On Her Blocking Black Voters appeared first on Greg Palast.

Handel’s handlers manhandle reporterto duck questions of her blocking Black voters

GOP Congressional candidate Karen Handel will do anything to duck questions about her role in purging Black and Asian voters in the Georgia run-off race against Jon Ossoff. Stay tuned for the full story of the Stealing of the Sixth CD — reports this week by Greg Palast for Thom Hartmann and Democracy Now!

* * * * *

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 book companion 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! 

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.

The post Handel’s handlers manhandle reporter
to duck questions of her blocking Black voters appeared first on Greg Palast.

Behind The Black Vote Drop:Jim Crow in CyberspaceGreg Palast with Joy Reid on MSNBC

 

Reports claim black voter turnout fell for first time in 20 years. But it’s not that black voters are too lazy to come out to vote, it’s that they’re trying to vote and their names have disappeared from voter rolls.

We estimate that before the last election, 1.1 million voters were removed from voter rolls in sates where Crosscheck was being used. Crosscheck is the flawed-by-design, racist vote purging system instigated by Trump’s Vote Suppressor in Chief, Kris Kobach, who this past week was appointed as the Vice Chair of the Presidential Commission for Election Integrity — see story.

The intent is clear: The GOP are using the fake claims about millions of illegal alien and double voters as an excuse to take Crosscheck nationwide so they can whitewash voter rolls before 2018 and 2020.

 

* * * * *

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 book companion 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! 

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.

GregPalast.com

The post Behind The Black Vote Drop:
Jim Crow in Cyberspace
Greg Palast with Joy Reid on MSNBC appeared first on Greg Palast.