Greg Palast's Blog, page 84
April 6, 2016
Wisconsin Congressman Tells Real Reason for Voter ID
Yesterday Ted Cruz won the Wisconsin Primary to the surprise of no one. While the Cruz campaign is behind in delegates, Cruz endorser and Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman was already looking forward to the November election. In an interview with WTMJ at the Cruz celebration rally, he gave two reasons why the Republicans could be confident... even though Wisconsin has been a blue state for decades.
"Why would it be any different for Ted Cruz or a Donald Trump?"
"I think Hillary Clinton is about the weakest candidate perhaps they've ever put up and now we have photo ID and I think that photo ID is going to make a bit of a difference as well."
This isn't the first time that someone let slip the real reason behind "voter fraud" prevention laws. Back during the 2012 election, Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Mike Turzai spoke to applause celebrating the accomplishments of his party. "Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania... DONE."
Whether it be voter ID, voter caging or Crosscheck - they'll always claim that it's to protect you from "voter fraud." As we well know, voter fraud, is itself a fraud. Find out how you can protect your vote by downloading our comic book - Steal Back Your Vote! And make sure that you support our film on all the ways that they're trying to steal, buy, or trash your vote - The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
***************
For 15 years, Greg Palast has been uncovering voter suppression tactics in investigative reports for BBC Television, The Guardian, Harper’s and Rolling Stone.
Later this year, Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes his award-winning investigation Jim Crow Returns.
The filming is 90% complete… but we still need help to get us over the finish line.
Donate and get your name in the film credits!!
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
- See more at: http://www.gregpalast.com/let-give-li...
The post Wisconsin Congressman Tells Real Reason for Voter ID appeared first on Greg Palast.
April 5, 2016
Voter ID Laws Strike Again This Time Wisconsin
Wisconsin's 'How to get a voter ID' Info Sheet
Arizona isn't going to be the only place with voting issues this primary season. Today, voters in Scott Walker's Wisconsin head to the polls. Due to changes in voting laws, there's a very good chance that there's going to be a problem.
Wisconsin has some of the strictest voter ID laws in the country and today will be the first time they are tried out during a primary. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites will be disenfranchised thanks to these laws. The hardest hit will be the poor, minorities and college students, i.e. black and blue voters.
Many Wisconsin college students will be out of luck and unable to feel the Bern as their college ID is not acceptable for voting. As some are from out of state - but registered at their college - this leaves them out of luck as their ID doesn't have their address on it or a signature. With the ways of getting an acceptable ID limited (one office on a campus, with limited hours) and their requests for a new Scott Walker approved college ID card denied, voting in what is likely their first election seems like a no go.
Unfortunately this isn't the first time we've seen this. In 2008 when voter ID laws came to our attention with Crawford v. Marion County Election Board - Indiana was the test case. You might have read about it in our comic book - Steal Back Your Vote or in Billionaires & Ballot Bandits. It was the silly story with the nuns.
Here's the text that inspired the comic.
Angela Hiss and Allyson Miller both students at Notre Dame were denied the right to vote because they didn’t have the right kind of ID – one that listed their dorm rooms as their residence.
Sujatha Jahagirdar said that her group, INPirg (Indiana Public Interest Research Group) had people watching just a handful of polling places and found a dozen students turned away, adding “we can only guess that this was happening all over the place.”
The Young, the old and the minorities – all are hit hard by this law and all statistically Barack Obama voters… so one must ask:
So how did we get here?
On April 28, 2008 the United States Supreme Court in their almighty wisdom blessed Indiana’s voter ID law which Terence Evans, the dissenting Court of Appeals judge called “a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election day turnout by certain folks believed to skew Democratic.” Justice Souter equated them to the poll taxes of the old south in the courts dissenting opinion.
Indiana is just one of many states that have been making it tougher to vote. Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona and Missouri have all jumped on the bandwagon introducing, or passing their own laws to prevent “vote fraud.” Voter fraud is something that former US Attorney David Iglesias after years of investigations never found one prosecutorial case. For this he was fired. In the DVD, by Greg Palast, “The Election Files” Iglesias called this the Republican “boogeyman.” It didn’t exist.
If you have voting problems please contact VoteRiders or call 866-OUR-VOTE - and always send us your stories via info@gregpalast.com
* * * * * *
For 15 years, Greg Palast has been uncovering voter suppression tactics in investigative reports for BBC Television, The Guardian, Harper’s and Rolling Stone.
Later this year, Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes his award-winning investigation Jim Crow Returns.
The filming is 90% complete… but we still need help to get us over the finish line.
Donate and get your name in the film credits!!
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Voter ID Laws Strike Again
This Time Wisconsin appeared first on Greg Palast.
Voter ID Laws Strike Again – This Time Wisconsin
Wisconsin's 'How to get a voter ID' Info Sheet
Arizona isn't going to be the only place with voting issues this primary season. Today, voters in Scott Walker's Wisconsin head to the polls. Due to changes in voting laws, there's a very good chance that there's going to be a problem.
Wisconsin has some of the strictest voter ID laws in the country and today will be the first time they are tried out during a primary. It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites will be disenfranchised thanks to these laws. The hardest hit will be the poor, minorities and college students, i.e. black and blue voters.
Many Wisconsin college students will be out of luck and unable to feel the Bern as their college ID is not acceptable for voting. As some are from out of state - but registered at their college - this leaves them out of luck as their ID doesn't have their address on it or a signature. With the ways of getting an acceptable ID limited (one office on a campus, with limited hours) and their requests for a new Scott Walker approved college ID card denied, voting in what is likely their first election seems like a no go.
Unfortunately this isn't the first time we've seen this. In 2008 when voter ID laws came to our attention with Crawford v. Marion County Election Board - Indiana was the test case. You might have read about it in our comic book - Steal Back Your Vote or in Billionaires & Ballot Bandits. It was the silly story with the nuns.
Here's the text that inspired the comic.
Angela Hiss and Allyson Miller both students at Notre Dame were denied the right to vote because they didn’t have the right kind of ID – one that listed their dorm rooms as their residence.
Sujatha Jahagirdar said that her group, INPirg (Indiana Public Interest Research Group) had people watching just a handful of polling places and found a dozen students turned away, adding “we can only guess that this was happening all over the place.”
The Young, the old and the minorities – all are hit hard by this law and all statistically Barack Obama voters… so one must ask:
So how did we get here?
On April 28, 2008 the United States Supreme Court in their almighty wisdom blessed Indiana’s voter ID law which Terence Evans, the dissenting Court of Appeals judge called “a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election day turnout by certain folks believed to skew Democratic.” Justice Souter equated them to the poll taxes of the old south in the courts dissenting opinion.
Indiana is just one of many states that have been making it tougher to vote. Georgia, Louisiana, Arizona and Missouri have all jumped on the bandwagon introducing, or passing their own laws to prevent “vote fraud.” Voter fraud is something that former US Attorney David Iglesias after years of investigations never found one prosecutorial case. For this he was fired. In the DVD, by Greg Palast, “The Election Files” Iglesias called this the Republican “boogeyman.” It didn’t exist.
If you have voting problems please contact VoteRiders or call 866-OUR-VOTE - and always send us your stories via info@gregpalast.com
* * * * * *
For 15 years, Greg Palast has been uncovering voter suppression tactics in investigative reports for BBC Television, The Guardian, Harper’s and Rolling Stone.
Later this year, Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes his award-winning investigation Jim Crow Returns.
The filming is 90% complete… but we still need help to get us over the finish line.
Donate and get your name in the film credits!!
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Voter ID Laws Strike Again – This Time Wisconsin appeared first on Greg Palast.
April 4, 2016
Keystone Leaking ‘Smart’ PIGS Fail Again
There's yet another leak on the Keystone Pipeline - it was discovered by a "passerby" - not TransCanada itself. That doesn't surprise us at all, if you've read my report on PIGS, you'd know why.
Reporting for Channel 4 News we talked to whistleblowers that told us the true story behind pipeline safety. The problem wasn't just their terrible safety record, or even people taking shots at them. The problem was a PIG, not Porky, but a Smart PIG.
The Pig in the XL Pipeline
Insider reveals concealed “error” in pipeline safety equipment that could blow away the GOP’s XL pipe dream
“They threatened me. Last night I got a call and they threatened me. If I talked.”His information: The software for the crucial piece of pipeline safety equipment, the “Smart PIG,” has a flaw known to the industry but concealed from regulators.
The flaw allows cracks, leaks and corrosion to go undetected – and that saves the industry billions of dollars in pipe replacements. But there’s a catch. Pipes with cracks and leaks can explode – and kill.
Federal law requires the oil and gas industry to run a PIG, a Pipeline Inspection Gauge, through big oil and gas pipelines. The robot porker, tethered to a GPS, beeps and boops as it rolls through, electronically squealing when it finds dangers.
But whistleblowers told us at Channel 4 Dispatches (the “60 Minutes” of Britain) that the software is deliberately calibrated to ignore or minimize deadly problems. They know because themselves worked on the software design team.
This week, President Obama refused to issue a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, but invited its owner, Trans-Canada, to re-apply. The GOP has gone wild over Obama’s hesitation, screeching that slowing the Canada-to-Houston pipe for a full safety review is a jobs killer.
But it’s the Pipeline that’s the killer. Here’s what Pig Man #2 told me, on camera, his face in shadow:
When his team found the life-threatening flaw in the program, they immediately created a software patch to fix it. But then their supervisor ordered them to bury the fix and conceal the problem.
With the PIG calibrated to the danger sensitivity required by law, oil and gas companies would have to dig up, inspect and replace pipe at a cost of millions per mile. That’s not what the oil companies wanted from their contractor that designed the PIG program.
The programmers’ bosses took no chances. “We had to sign nondisclosure agreements.” They were required to conceal “any problems of this sort or the nature of the software we worked.” It could not “be made public at all. Under threat of lawsuit.” Nice.
With the error left in place, he said, “People die.”
Pig Man #2 was shaking a bit when he said it. On September 9, 2010, a gas pipeline exploded, incinerating 13-year-old Janessa Greig, her mom and six others.
A PIG – an honest PIG – would have caught the bad welds in the old pipe.
Trans-Canada says that Keystone XL won’t contaminate the Ogallala Aquifer, the Plains states’ crucial water source. Keystone’s permit application boasts that we can rely on XL’s “full pigging capability.”
Sure. Last summer, an ExxonMobil pipeline burst and poisoned parts of the Yellowstone River - only months after it had been “pigged.”
The danger of a muzzled PIG goes beyond Keystone XL. New gas fields opened by hydraulic fracking will require over 100,000 miles of new transmission pipe.
This week, Newt Gingrich called Obama’s temporary block on the XL Pipeline, “stunningly stupid”; and Mitt Romney said Obama’s decision threatened America’s “energy independence.” (Mitt, the oil is from, uh, Canada.)
But the real question is, can we trust these pigs? And not just the ones in the pipeline.
“Pig Man #2,” a pipeline industry insider, had a good reason to be afraid. He was about to blow the whistle on a fraud, information that could blow away the XL Keystone Pipeline project.
----------------------------
Later this year, Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes his award-winning investigation Jim Crow Returns.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Keystone Leaking
‘Smart’ PIGS Fail Again appeared first on Greg Palast.
Keystone Leaking – ‘Smart’ PIGS Fail Again
There's yet another leak on the Keystone Pipeline - it was discovered by a "passerby" - not TransCanada itself. That doesn't surprise us at all, if you've read my report on PIGS, you'd know why.
Reporting for Channel 4 News we talked to whistleblowers that told us the true story behind pipeline safety. The problem wasn't just their terrible safety record, or even people taking shots at them. The problem was a PIG, not Porky, but a Smart PIG.
The Pig in the XL Pipeline
Insider reveals concealed “error” in pipeline safety equipment that could blow away the GOP’s XL pipe dream
“They threatened me. Last night I got a call and they threatened me. If I talked.”His information: The software for the crucial piece of pipeline safety equipment, the “Smart PIG,” has a flaw known to the industry but concealed from regulators.
The flaw allows cracks, leaks and corrosion to go undetected – and that saves the industry billions of dollars in pipe replacements. But there’s a catch. Pipes with cracks and leaks can explode – and kill.
Federal law requires the oil and gas industry to run a PIG, a Pipeline Inspection Gauge, through big oil and gas pipelines. The robot porker, tethered to a GPS, beeps and boops as it rolls through, electronically squealing when it finds dangers.
But whistleblowers told us at Channel 4 Dispatches (the “60 Minutes” of Britain) that the software is deliberately calibrated to ignore or minimize deadly problems. They know because themselves worked on the software design team.
This week, President Obama refused to issue a permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline, but invited its owner, Trans-Canada, to re-apply. The GOP has gone wild over Obama’s hesitation, screeching that slowing the Canada-to-Houston pipe for a full safety review is a jobs killer.
But it’s the Pipeline that’s the killer. Here’s what Pig Man #2 told me, on camera, his face in shadow:
When his team found the life-threatening flaw in the program, they immediately created a software patch to fix it. But then their supervisor ordered them to bury the fix and conceal the problem.
With the PIG calibrated to the danger sensitivity required by law, oil and gas companies would have to dig up, inspect and replace pipe at a cost of millions per mile. That’s not what the oil companies wanted from their contractor that designed the PIG program.
The programmers’ bosses took no chances. “We had to sign nondisclosure agreements.” They were required to conceal “any problems of this sort or the nature of the software we worked.” It could not “be made public at all. Under threat of lawsuit.” Nice.
With the error left in place, he said, “People die.”
Pig Man #2 was shaking a bit when he said it. On September 9, 2010, a gas pipeline exploded, incinerating 13-year-old Janessa Greig, her mom and six others.
A PIG – an honest PIG – would have caught the bad welds in the old pipe.
Trans-Canada says that Keystone XL won’t contaminate the Ogallala Aquifer, the Plains states’ crucial water source. Keystone’s permit application boasts that we can rely on XL’s “full pigging capability.”
Sure. Last summer, an ExxonMobil pipeline burst and poisoned parts of the Yellowstone River - only months after it had been “pigged.”
The danger of a muzzled PIG goes beyond Keystone XL. New gas fields opened by hydraulic fracking will require over 100,000 miles of new transmission pipe.
This week, Newt Gingrich called Obama’s temporary block on the XL Pipeline, “stunningly stupid”; and Mitt Romney said Obama’s decision threatened America’s “energy independence.” (Mitt, the oil is from, uh, Canada.)
But the real question is, can we trust these pigs? And not just the ones in the pipeline.
“Pig Man #2,” a pipeline industry insider, had a good reason to be afraid. He was about to blow the whistle on a fraud, information that could blow away the XL Keystone Pipeline project.
----------------------------
Later this year, Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes his award-winning investigation Jim Crow Returns.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Keystone Leaking – ‘Smart’ PIGS Fail Again appeared first on Greg Palast.
March 30, 2016
“Let Me Give You A Little History”
If you were looking for a primer on election theft, here's the video for you.
Investigative journalist Greg Palast, gave a talk at actor and activist Mimi Kennedy's home, where he laid out 16 years of vote theft history. From his first investigation into voter suppression during the 2000 election, Palast moves election by election explaining the evolution of how the vote is stolen.
It's an excellent set-up for the upcoming release of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: A Tale of Billionaires & Ballot Bandits.
You can also watch Mimi Kennedy and Harvey Wasserman's talks.
* * * * * *
For 15 years, Greg Palast has been uncovering voter suppression tactics in investigative reports for BBC Television, The Guardian, Harper’s and Rolling Stone.
Later this year, Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes his award-winning investigation Jim Crow Returns.
The filming is 90% complete… but we still need help to get us over the finish line.
Donate and get your name in the film credits!!
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post “Let Me Give You A Little History” appeared first on Greg Palast.
March 23, 2016
Obama Lands in Argentina –Palast on Loud & Clear Radio
Today, President Barack Obama travelled to Argentina to speak with the country's new President Mauricio Macri.
Marci just concluded a deal paying off US vulture fund operator Paul Singer, a $2.5 billion pay-out which the Argentine government described as "extortion."
The story of Argentina versus Singer, aka The Vulture, looms hugely over the US Presidential election. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton attempted to prevent Singer from collecting this "extortion" pay-off from Argentina. Singer, the top donor to the Republican Party, is fuming.
To get the story, listen to Greg Palast on Loud & Clear, where Palast explains to host Brian Becker the intricacies of the vulture fund deal and the little known effect on the US elections.
For more info on vulture funds and Argentina be sure to read these stories:
The Vulture: Chewing Argentina’s Living Corpse
Palast On Democracy Now! - Vultures Nest in GOP
* * * * *
In 2016 Greg Palast will be releasing his new feature length documentary The Best Democracy Money Can Buy—A Tale of Billionaires and Ballot Bandits, which includes Paul The Vulture Singer.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our work.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Obama Lands in Argentina –Palast on Loud & Clear Radio appeared first on Greg Palast.
March 14, 2016
Palast on Lee Camp’s Redacted Tonight Is the Investigative Journalist Going Extinct?
RT's Lee Camp and Greg Palast discuss the importance of investigative journalism on Redacted Tonight VIP.
Support the film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy that tells the full story behind who's stealing this election.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into the Billionaires that fund voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
Support the film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy that tells the full story behind who's stealing this election.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into the Billionaires that fund voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
The post Palast on Lee Camp’s Redacted Tonight Is the Investigative Journalist Going Extinct? appeared first on Greg Palast.
Palast on Lee Camp's Redacted Tonight Is the Investigative Journalist Going Extinct?
RT's Lee Camp and Greg Palast discuss the importance of investigative journalism on Redacted Tonight VIP.
Support the film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy that tells the full story behind who's stealing this election.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into the Billionaires that fund voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
Support the film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy that tells the full story behind who's stealing this election.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into the Billionaires that fund voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
March 11, 2016
Palast On Democracy Now!Vultures Nest in GOP
Greg Palast on with Amy Goodman's Democracy Now!
[Greg Palast has investigated Paul "The Vulture" Singer for BBC TV and The Guardian for the last 9 years.]
Paul Singer, known as The Vulture, won a $4.65 billion payment from Argentina — nearly ONE HUNDRED TIMES his "investment" of $50 million in old Argentina bonds. It was, in finance speak, the most successful "vulture attack" ever.
Read more about the vultures here:
Rubio's Billionaire wins ransom from Argentina
Support the film The Best Democracy Money Can Buy that tells the full story behind who's stealing this election.
Greg Palast is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, Armed Madhouse and the highly acclaimed Vultures' Picnic.
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our ongoing investigation into the Billionaires that fund voter suppression.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
Greg Palast's Blog
- Greg Palast's profile
- 138 followers
