Unraveling a Rigged Election – Fitrakis & Wasserman

Harvey Wasserman interviews investigative reporting partner Bob Fitrakis about the rigged 2016 selection and the inside story of the attempted recount for his weekly radio program, the Solartopia Green Power and Wellness Hour. EON photo by James Heddle (Cross-posted from FreePress.org)

The Woodward and Bernstein of Election Integrity Every presidential election since 2004, we have traveled to Columbus, in key swing state of Ohio, to video document election protection efforts by Harvey Wasserman, Bob Fitrakis and the Columbus Free Press team (FreePress.org).   We made the trip again this year and have just returned from filming post-recount interviews with both of them in Columbus last week. Harvey Wasserman – an author, historian, celebrated journalist and lifelong activist, and Bob Fitrakis – a practicing attorney who holds doctorates in both political science and law – are also both popular professors in Columbus colleges. Dubbed by admirer Jesse Jackson as ‘the Woodward and Bernstein of election integrity’ – after the Washington Post reporters that famously broke the Watergate story in the Nixon era – Fitrakis and Wasserman’s research and reporting on election theft has twice won Project Censored awards. The Free Press and its sponsoring organization the Columbus Institute of Contemporary Journalism (CICJ) has been in operation since 1970 and run since the ‘90s by life-partners Bob Fitrakis and Suzanne Patzer and their colleague Harvey Wasserman. Their work has been a vital epicenter not only of local community organizing and investigative reporting, but also of the national US Election Protection movement. At the same time, they have either been consistently ignored or repeatedly denounced by mainstream media as “conspiracy theorists.” Nevertheless, their ground-breaking findings have consistently been validated by subsequent developments.   They were unfortunately right on target with their prescient analysis of the 2016 election in their book “The Strip & Flip Selection of 2016: Five Jim Crows and Electronic Election Theft,” published in early 2016, months before the Nov. 8 vote. For more than a decade, from their unique vantage point in one of the country’s main ground zero’s of vote rigging, they‘ve documented the multiple methods by which America’s elections have been stolen…and helped to galvanize grassroots awareness and resistance not only in Ohio, but across the country. EON is proud to help give their important work wider exposure.  Here are four recent video interviews done as the election saga unfolded, and links to recent articles. [ In the works: A report from inside the recount saga and post-Electoral College analysis. ] Interviews with the FreePress Team On EON’s YouTube Channel & Vimeo Losers Win, Winners Lose Bob Fritakis and Harvey Wasserman on the seriously flawed US voting and electoral college system and the outcome of the 2016 election. The FreePress,org reporting team that Jesse Jackson dubbed the Woodward and Bernstein of Election Protection comment on the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and why the American election system needs a total overhaul from top to bottom. Losers Win, Winners Lose – Fitrakis & Wasserman on Election 2016 from Ecological Options Network on Vimeo. The Illegitimate Election 2016 What are the legitimate grounds for calling the recent election awarding the Presidency to Donald Trump illegitimate? Political scientist and attorney Dr. Robert Fitrakis and investigative historian Harvey Wasserman – editors of FreePress.org – summarize the evidence in this exclusive EON interview. They are the co-authors of the book STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016 – Five Jim Crows & Electronic Election Theft, available here – http://freepress.org/store.php Greg Palast interviews Bob Fitrakis on Voter Purges How did the Ohio Republican Sec. of State purge and disenfranchise so many voters from the voter rolls? A conversation between Bob Fitrakis and Greg Palast, two of the leading investigative reporters on the many vote rigging methods at work in US elections. Palast Interviews Fitrakis on Election Theft Why before the Nov. 8, 2016 election, did Republican authorities in key swing state Ohio turn off the safety features for ballot records even though this security measure is already programmed into their electronic voting machine software? A conversation between Bob Fitrakis and Greg Palast, two of the leading investigative reporters on the many vote rigging methods at work in US elections. ““““` Free Press  is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Free Press James Heddle is a Co-Director with Mary Beth Brangan of the Ecological Options Network, a non-profit media service for progressive organizations and campaigns.]]>

How a Hillary Clinton "Profile in Courage" Moment Could Save the World From Donald Trump

  By Harvey Wasserman, (Cross-posted from Reader Supported News)

The petition asking Hillary Clinton to do this is under review at MoveOn. Please contact Harvey Wasserman at www.solartopia.org for more information.
  here are less than 24 hours to go before the Electoral College begins casting its votes.

Here is a petition to sign that might make a difference.

The desperate search for a successful Hail Mary to prevent Donald Trump from becoming president is down to the wire. The attempts can be easily seen by many as pollyannish. But we honor such individual acts of extreme clarity in John Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage.”

And given the specter of a Trump presidency, this could be one of them.

In the final moment, it all rests on Hillary Clinton. Given the legal strictures of the Twelfth Amendment, she may be the only one who can possibly stop a Trump presidency.

Here’s the petition to sign asking her to do just that.

It reminds her that she can instruct her delegates to vote for a moderate Republican who might attract enough Trump delegates to win the Electoral College. Possibilities might include Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) or others.

Here are the mechanics of the Twelfth Amendment that could allow this to happen:

As explained in the previously published “December Surprise“ article linked at Reader Supported News, if 37 electors abandon Donald Trump, the choice of a new president will revert to the House of Representatives. The House will choose the new president based on a state-by-state vote, with each state having one ballot. They can choose only from among the top three vote-getters in the Electoral College.

At this point, there are only two such candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. One potential defector from Trump has mentioned Republican John Kasich of Ohio. Kasich says he doesn’t want it.

But if Secretary Clinton were to choose someone (most likely a moderate Republican, perhaps such as Collins) that could carry all her delegates plus 37 Trump defectors, that person would become president.

Should enough delegates pledged to Trump or Clinton make Clinton’s choice the number three vote-getter, with Trump falling short of 270, the House would have to consider that third person (and ONLY her or him) as an alternative to Trump and Clinton.

But, as mentioned, if Clinton asks her electors to vote for a third choice in the Electoral College, and they all do, and 37 Trump electors join in, that alternative choice would be come the next president of the United States without going to the House.

The choice of a vice president then becomes critical. Should no one be elected president outright by Inauguration Day, the new vice president, as chosen by the US Senate, takes over. At the moment it would seem that could be Mike Pence. But there are a number of things that could also happen to avoid that.

In the meantime, as Steve Rosenfeld has written at Alternet, there are a range of state laws meant to bind electors to the candidate for whom they were chosen to vote. They could, of course, break those laws during the Electoral College voting. There are indications some may be willing to do so.

Their votes might then count as they cast them, but be subject to later litigation, which no doubt Donald Trump would be prepared to fund.

In any event, it is possible for a number of electors from both camps to defect to a third choice and throw the election into the House, with that choice as the third candidate.

And it’s also possible, if Clinton instructs all her delegates to vote for that alternative, and enough Trump delegates join in, to make him or her president outright.

Is it worth a try?

You can sign this petition at Moveon.org, asking Hillary to find a winning alternative. If you have a better idea, please send it to me via www.solartopia.org.

But for now, the choice – and opportunity – is Hillary Clinton’s … and yours.


 

Harvey Wasserman’s America at the Brink of Rebirth: The Organic Spiral of Us History can be had via www.solartopia.org. The Strip & Flip Selection of 2016: Five Jim Crows & Electronic Election Theft,co-written with Bob Fitrakis, is at www.freepress.org.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

]]>

WHAT DO WE DO NEXT? Or . . . Funny Things Will Happen on the Way to the Trumpocalypse

Harvey Wasserman & Honored Guests

FOUR Bay Area Talks

(Sunday & Monday – December 18 & 19)

Sunday, December 18, 2016

12 Noon San Francisco Public Library hispanic-room 100 Larkin Street San Francisco, California 94102 (Downstairs in the Latino/Hispanic Room) ““““`

Sunday, December 18, 2016

7 – 9 PM POT LUCK with Joanna Macy and Dennis Bernstein (plus Kris Welch – hopefully) Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists berkeley-uu 1606 Bonita (@Cedar) Berkeley Second Floor, Connie Barbour Room. $5 donation requested – no one turned away for lack of funds (sponsored by BFUU Social Justice Committee & Code Pink Women for Peace)

Monday, December 19, 2016

12 Noon Forest Books forest-books Japantown Peace Plaza 1748 Buchanan at Sutter San Francisco, California 94115

Monday, December 19, 2016

6 – 9 PM OCCUPY! at Global Exchange global-exchange 2017 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110 (Near 16th Street BART) ““““`
Funny things will happen on the way to the Trumpocalypse.  We will fight like hell.  We will win a few (already the TPP). And we’ll never lose, because it’s never over til it’s over. We will also take California (and then the world) to Solartopia, because we have no choice.
At this gathering we’ll discuss the 2016 Selection, including how it was REALLY rigged, how we will cope with the coming of The Donald, and how we will shut Diablo Canyon while making California the decentralized post-grid renewable energy capital of the world.
And all because of you!  Don’t miss these talks!!!
]]>

What Would Constitute an Electoral College "December Surprise"?

  by Harvey Wasserman   As millions of Americans desperately seek an alternative to Donald Trump, the 2016 presidential election now faces the volatile possibility of a “December Surprise”. Here are some Constitutional realities: The Electoral College is set to vote Monday, December 19. Of 538 electors, Donald Trump apparently has 306 committed to him.  Exactly 270 are needed to win.  Hillary Clinton apparently has 232.  There do not seem to be any other candidates with confirmed committed electors at this point. The Twelfth Amendment stipulates that if no one gets 270 votes, the decision reverts to the House of Representatives. But the House would vote state by state, with each delegation getting one vote.  A strong majority of the delegations are controlled by Republicans. The House can only choose among the top three candidates with actual electoral votes. So if Trump fails to get 270 votes, but no one else has electoral votes besides Hillary Clinton, the House will still choose between Trump and Clinton.  If 37 electors abandon Trump, but don’t give their votes to Clinton, the only other choice would be whoever has the next highest number of electoral votes. In other words, the House can’t anoint a candidate that does not have at least one electoral vote. (There are also complex circumstances whereby the Senate might choose the new vice president, who would become president if no new one is chosen.  At this point, the likeliest nominee might be Mike Pence). Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig is offering legal advice to Electors who may want to vote for candidates other than those to whom they are apparently committed.  He has estimated 20 or more electors may jump from voting for Trump. But so far, the only other candidate named by a possible “faithless elector” from a Trump state is Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich. That elector is Chris Suprun, a Texas-based paramedic who penned an op ed in the New York Times saying Trump is unfit to be president, and mentioning Kasich as someone he might support. Kasich was one of Trump’s most vehement opponents during the primaries.  He now says he does not want the Electoral College to consider him as an alternative candidate. Nonetheless, Colorado elector Michael Baca,  who is committed to Hillary Clinton, has told Brad Friedman on his BradBlog radio show that he would consider voting for Kasich if that would help rally Republican electors around a candidate other than Trump. He cites a Hamilton Electors website  aimed at informing the public about the possibility of an Electoral College not voting for the candidate with the apparent majority of electoral votes. Given the fluidity of the situation, things may have changed between the time I am writing this and the time you are reading it. But this much seems firm: Hillary Clinton still stands to become the sixth presidential candidate to win the majority of eligible voters but lose the White House.  At nearly 3 million votes, hers is by far the largest margin of any popular vote victory to frame an Electoral College defeat. Despite his claims that three million Americans voted fraudulently, the Trump campaign brutally stonewalled Jill Stein’s attempts to get meaningful recounts in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Greg Palast has shown that this year hundreds of thousands of mostly black and Hispanic citizens were systematically stripped from the voter rolls. Numerous statisticians have also warned that vote counts could have been flipped in many states by “black box” electronic machines. Until we have a transparent system based on universal automatic voter registration, hand counted paper ballots, mandatory audited recounts, and more, we have nothing resembling a democracy. What we DO have in 2016 is this:  Donald Trump lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes but is apparently leading in the Electoral College with official victories in five states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida) where he lost in the exit polls.  Those vote counts were not contested by Hillary Clinton, and green recount attempts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were stymied. Those wanting someone other than Donald Trump to become president must now persuade some 37 electors from states officially won by Trump to not vote for him.  They must either switch those votes to Hillary Clinton or produce at least one electoral vote for a third candidate who would then be selected in the House of Representatives by a majority of the state delegations. Such a “December Surprise” has never happened in US history.  It would appear to be a Constitutional possibility.  But the only certainty at this point seems to be that the clock is ticking. Stay tuned. ======================== Harvey Wasserman co-wrote (with Bob Fitrakis) THE STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016: FIVE JIM CROWS & ELECTRONIC ELECTION THEFT, at freepress.org and solartopia.org, where his SOLARTOPIA!  OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH also appears.  He is Secretary of Energy in Jill Stein’s Green Party shadow cabinet.    ]]>

Harvey Wasserman | Ask the Electoral College to Not Vote Until Russian Hacks of Our Election are Fully Investigated

(photo: AP)

By Harvey Wasserman A petition asking the Electoral College not to vote on the next president until a full investigation is done of Russian interference in the 2016 US election can be signed here. Why? Because according to the New York Times and the Washington Post and other mainstream media sources, the Central Intelligence Agency has confirmed substantial evidence that the government of Russia may have hacked this election. But at least one top-ranked Republican leader—-US Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC)—-agrees. The Agency says it has “high confidence” the Russians meant to help make Donald Trump president. Trump is now attacking the Agency, The hacking, he told Time Magazine, ““could be Russia, it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.” As the CIA has reported it, such foreign meddling in an American election is unprecedented—-and illegal. If Trump or any of his staff or associates conspired with the Russians to thus win the US Presidency, it would clearly be an impeachable offense. The legal ramifications would ignite a Constitutional crisis even before Trump could take office. Meanwhile, preliminary citizen-funded attempts to require recounts in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are under continual attack from well-funded Trump interventions. The recounts have been spearheaded by Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Support can be contributed here. Trump claims three million people illegally voted in 2016. But he’s relentlessly sabotaged recounts in three states that could decide the Electoral vote. In those and many other states, massive disenfranchisement, inconsistencies, irregularities, targeted machine breakdowns and more have already been uncovered. More than enough 2016 votes were cast on hackable black box electronic voting machines to flip the outcome of the Electoral College vote. As has been widely reported, those machines could have been hacked by computer experts from Russia. Until that possibility is also fully investigated, no Electoral College vote should proceed. The Clinton campaign and Democratic party have sent legal observers but no tangible support for these recounts, These new revelations about Russian intervention make them more critical than ever. A petition asking Clinton’s tangible support for the recounts can be signed here: www.solartopia.org.
The CIA’s evidence indicates Russia hacked internal Democratic National Committee Party emails indicating party leaders conspired to deny the nomination to US Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT). The revelations led to the resignation of DNC Chair Deborah Wasserman (no relation) Schultz. Trump has repeatedly urged the Russians to hack and release Clinton’s own emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing” from Clinton’s email servers, he has said. But he’s denied conspiring with the Russians. Clinton was also slammed by FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that the Bureau was investigating an aide’s emails. As the Times reports, an October report issued by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr., and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson says the DNC hack “had to have been approved at the highest levels of the Russian government.” But the Times says that “until now, intelligence findings have been scattered in fragmentary reports”. On Friday, December 9, White House aide Lisa Monaco said “we may have crossed into a new threshold here.” President Obama wants the investigation done before he’s slated to leave office on January 20. The Electoral College is currently scheduled to vote on December 19. But the Electors should not certify anyone implicated in an impeachable offense. Nor should it entrust him, once president, to act on or make public a report that might indict him of one. President Obama should require the CIA to complete and release this report before December 19. The Electoral College should not vote until it can be fully examined. Nor should the Electoral College certify an outcome prior to a full recount of an election in which more than enough votes were cast on hackable electronic machines to flip the outcome, and where the presumptive winner still claims more than three million were fraudulent.
—————
Harvey Wasserman co-wrote (with Bob Fitrakis) THE STRIP & FLIP SELECTION OF 2016: FIVE JIM CROWS & ELECTRONIC ELECTION THEFT, at freepress.org and solartopia.org, where his SOLARTOPIA!  OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH also appears.  He is Secretary of Energy in Jill Stein’s Green Party shadow cabinet.
]]>

DAPL Halted! Huge Win!

According to Dallas Goldtooth:   The Obama Administration has announced that the US Army Corps will NOT grant DAPL the easement to drill under the Missouri River! It is not a straight DENIAL but rather a MAJOR suspension on a decision pending a limited EIS. The US Army Corps will conduct a limited Environmental Impact Statement on the river crossing and explore possibilities for alternative routes. This is a win! A huge win! #NoDAPL This EIS process will take months. https://youtu.be/Aa5xF-l6NYM Oceti Sakowin Standing Rock Youth Runner Daniel Grassrope Recorded November 21, 2016 in Santa Monica, California. https://youtu.be/ahKbnMfpVFs Oceti Sakowin Standing Rock Youth Runner Joseph White eyes Recorded November 21, 2016 in Santa Monica, California.   [This post was added by Solartopia contributor Myla Reson] ######]]>