May, 30 2020, 12:00am EDT
Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Condemns Mark Zuckerberg's Decision to Continue Publishing President Trump's Tweets Glorifying Violence
Lawyers’ Committee Applauds Twitter’s Action in Response to President Trump’s Racist and Violent Tweets, Condemns Facebook’s Business As Usual Arrogance
WASHINGTON
The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law responds to a statement issued on Friday night by Mark Zuckerberg outlining Facebook's decision to continue publishing President Trump's statements calling for for violence against Minneapolis protesters in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police officers. In matching posts on Twitter and Facebook this morning, President Trump referred to protesters as thugs, threatened to send in the military and concluded by stating that, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
"Social media companies have a responsibility to ensure that their platforms are not used to incite violence against people of color, even when such threats come from the White House," said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "In no uncertain terms, we condemn Mark Zuckerberg's decision to continue publishing President Trump's statements inciting and glorifying violence in ways that could prove harmful to African American communities. Facebook has once again failed to act against an explicit violation of its own rules and has allowed the violent and racist post to remain up. Twitter is setting an important norm that, if it continues to follow through, will help build online dialogue that aligns with our national values and the rule of law."
In his statement, Zuckerberg stated: "Unlike Twitter, we do not have a policy of putting a warning in front of posts that may incite violence because we believe that if a post incites violence, it should be removed regardless of whether it is newsworthy, even if it comes from a politician."
Twitter promptly took appropriate enforcement action against this tweet for violating its rules against glorifying violence. It hid the tweet behind a warning label, but did not take it down because the company has a perceived newsworthiness exception that applies when when the president of the United States--or certain other government officials--engage in incitement of state-sponsored violence against African Americans or other groups.
President Trump posted the same message on Facebook and it violates Facebook's Community Standards, including a prohibition on incitement of violence. However, despite the incident being immediately reported to the platform, Facebook has so-far, failed to take any action. This is not the first time Facebook has failed to act when President Trump violated its community standards. Recently, Facebook took no action when President Trump spread disinformation about absentee voting and threatened public officials in Michigan and Nevada. In 2018, Facebook took no action when President Trump ran a political ad that used racist imagery and stereotypes about immigrants.
The use of the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" is no accident. It has a charged and racist history as a threat of violence against African Americans. In 1967, Miami Chief of Police, Walter Headley, used the phrase to embrace police brutality and threaten the unjust use of force against African Americans, or as he put it, a "shotgun crackdown on Negro slum hoodlums."
The Lawyers' Committee is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to enlist the private bar's leadership and resources in combating racial discrimination and the resulting inequality of opportunity - work that continues to be vital today.
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'Disgusted' But 'Not Afraid': Wisconsin Governor Rips Arrest Threat From Trump Border Czar
"We now have a federal government that will threaten or arrest an elected official—or even everyday American citizens—who have broken no laws, committed no crimes, and done nothing wrong."
May 03, 2025
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers hit back Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump's border czar suggested the Democratic leader could be arrested for distributing guidance to state employees on what to do if confronted by federal immigration agents.
The guidance is straightforward and unremarkable, instructing state employees to "stay calm," ask federal agents for their name and badge, contact an attorney, and decline to answer questions or provide agents access to any documents without a lawyer present.
"State employees may not grant [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or another agent access to any such data or information absent authorization from their legal counsel pursuant to a valid judicial warrant," the guidance reads.
In a speech addressed to Wisconsinites and the nation, Evers said that the "goal of this guidance was simple—to provide clear, consistent instructions to state employees and ensure they have a lawyer to help them comply with all federal and state laws."
"But Republicans and their right-wing allies, including Elon Musk, lied about this guidance, spread misinformation, accused me of doing things I didn't do or say, and fueled a fake controversy of their own creation," Evers said.
One Republican member of the Wisconsin State Assembly on Friday morning posted an AI-generated image of Evers in handcuffs at the state capitol, with Trump standing behind him in police uniform.
"I'm used to Republicans and the right wing lying about me. It comes with the job," Evers said Friday. "But, this time, these lies came at a cost. I haven't broken the law. I haven't committed a crime. And I've never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes."
"But when President Trump's hand-picked appointee, Tom Homan, was asked about me and this guidance after he apparently threatened to arrest elected officials across the country, he said, 'Wait 'til you see what's coming,'" the governor continued.
"Overnight, Republican lawmakers piled on, encouraging the Trump administration to arrest me."
Watch Homan's comments to reporters:
NEW: When asked about Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers telling state officials not to cooperate with ICE, Border Czar Tom Homan seems to signal arrests could be imminent:
“Wait until you see what’s coming. I meant what I said.” pic.twitter.com/xJxw5sBVY6
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 1, 2025
Homan's thinly veiled threat against Evers and other officials came days after FBI agents arrested Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan on obstruction charges alleging that she helped an undocumented immigrant evade arrest by misdirecting federal authorities. Dugan's legal team says she is innocent and will be vindicated in court.
Evers said Friday that Homan's threats are "chilling" and "should be of concern to every Wisconsinite and every American who cares about this country and the values we hold dear."
"These threats represent a concerning trajectory in this country," said Evers. "We now have a federal government that will threaten or arrest an elected official—or even everyday American citizens—who have broken no laws, committed no crimes, and done nothing wrong."
"And as disgusted as I am about the continued actions of the Trump administration, I am not afraid," he added. "I have never once been discouraged from doing the right thing, and I will not start today."
Watch Evers' remarks in full:
The Wisconsin governor's full address is transcribed below:
Good morning, Wisconsin. Governor Tony Evers here.
I’m speaking to you today as your governor but also as a concerned American.
Yesterday, a Trump administration official, in not so many words, apparently threatened to arrest me for distributing guidance that asked state agency employees to consult with an attorney if federal agents show up at state buildings with legal documents.
The goal of this guidance was simple—to provide clear, consistent instructions to state employees and ensure they have a lawyer to help them comply with all federal and state laws. Nothing more, nothing less.
But Republicans and their right-wing allies, including Elon Musk, lied about this guidance, spread misinformation, accused me of doing things I didn’t do or say, and fueled a fake controversy of their own creation.
Now, I’m used to Republicans and the right wing lying about me. It comes with the job. But, this time, these lies came at a cost. I haven't broken the law. I haven't committed a crime. And I’ve never encouraged or directed anyone to break any laws or commit any crimes.
But when President Trump's hand-picked appointee, Tom Homan, was asked about me and this guidance after he apparently threatened to arrest elected officials across the country, he said, "Wait 'til you see what's coming." Overnight, Republican lawmakers piled on, encouraging the Trump administration to arrest me.
Chilling threats like this should be of concern to every Wisconsinite and every American who cares about this country and the values we hold dear.
We live in the United States of America, folks. We are a country of laws. The rule of law matters. Following the law matters.
In this country, the federal government doesn't get to abuse its power to threaten everyday Americans. In this country, the federal government doesn’t get to arrest American citizens who have not committed a crime. In this country, we don't threaten to persecute people just because they belong to a different political party.
These threats represent a concerning trajectory in this country. We now have a federal government that will threaten or arrest an elected official—or even everyday American citizens—who have broken no laws, committed no crimes, and done nothing wrong.
And as disgusted as I am about the continued actions of the Trump administration, I am not afraid. I have never once been discouraged from doing the right thing, and I will not start today.
I swore an oath when I took this office to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of Wisconsin and to faithfully discharge the duties of this office to the best of my ability. I will never waver from that promise.
I hope and pray every elected and appointed official in this country, including the president of the United States of America, will do the same.
Forward, and for Wisconsin, always.
Thank you.
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Trump Pushes Supreme Court to Let Musk's Cronies Seize Social Security Data
"Why do Elon 'Social Security's a Ponzi scheme' Musk and his DOGE cronies need to stick their fingers in your personal data—your work history, income, benefits, and health records?" asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
May 03, 2025
President Donald Trump's administration requested in an emergency filing on Friday that the U.S. Supreme Court allow members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to access highly sensitive Social Security data, complaining that a lower court ruling is inflicting "ongoing, irreparable harm on urgent federal priorities."
The filing, authored by U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, asks the conservative-dominated Supreme Court to lift a preliminary injunction issued last monthby Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander, who has accused Musk's team of engaging in "a fishing expedition" at the Social Security Administration (SSA) "in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion."
The Trump administration's request escalates a monthslong fight over access to the sensitive records that began in February, when the then-acting head of SSA left her post after Musk's lieutenants began infiltrating the agency and attempting to seize data.
A court ruling issued a month later ordered DOGE to "disgorge or delete all unlawfully obtained, disclosed, or accessed data." Musk, the richest person in the world, has falsely described Social Security as a "Ponzi scheme" and peddled discredited claims of large-scale abuses in the program.
The Center for American Progress noted last month that "while President Trump and Elon Musk repeat the long-debunked claim that dead people are claiming Social Security benefits, DOGE staffers are reportedly searching for dead claimants."
"As a result, according to The Washington Post, more than 10 million new people have been marked as dead since early March, including many seniors who are very much alive," the think tank wrote in an analysis warning that DOGE's efforts at SSA pose a grave threat to Social Security recipients. "For example, the SSA erroneously declared 82-year-old Seattle resident Ned Johnson dead. Before Johnson was even aware of or could remedy the mistake, the agency cut off his retirement benefits, took thousands of dollars out of his bank account, and cut off his Medicare."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote in response to the administration's Supreme Court filing that "Trump and Musk need to get their hands off Americans' Social Security."
"Why do Elon 'Social Security's a Ponzi scheme' Musk and his DOGE cronies need to stick their fingers in your personal data—your work history, income, benefits, and health records?" Warren asked.
"Many Social Security field offices have lost half their staff, even as DOGE is forcing millions more people a year to visit those offices. What good are earned benefits that Americans can't access?"
As the Economic Policy Institute recently explained, Social Security personnel "protect a trove of personally identifiable information."
"Sensitive information stored in SSA databases includes not only Social Security numbers, but also detailed earnings, tax, banking, and medical records," the group observed. "Until DOGE entered SSA headquarters, this information was carefully protected, with limited access granted to specially trained employees only for specific purposes."
The Trump administration's aggressive push to access SSA data comes amid a broader assault on the agency and Social Security itself, despite the president's vow to protect the program.
Earlier Friday, the White House released a budget proposal that calls for leaving SSA funding flat, which advocates said is effectively a cut given rising costs.
"The truth is that Social Security is extremely understaffed, which is increasing backlogs and wait times," Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works, said in a statement. "This budget will make those backlogs and delays worse. It will make mistakes—including the Orwellian nightmare of being inadvertently declared dead when you are not—harder to fix."
"This budget's cuts to Social Security are right in line with Elon Musk's DOGE, which has pushed out over 7,000 SSA workers, including some of the most experienced and highly trained," Altman added. "Many Social Security field offices have lost half their staff, even as DOGE is forcing millions more people a year to visit those offices. What good are earned benefits that Americans can't access?"
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Trump's 'Phony Energy Emergency' Used by DOJ to Target State Climate Laws
"There is no energy emergency, and Trump's stated reasoning for it is as much a scam as every other pathetic con and hustle this president attempts," said one consumer campaigner.
May 02, 2025
Defenders of climate and the rule of law blasted the Trump administration on Friday for using what one consumer campaigner called a "phony" emergency to wage lawfare agaist states trying to hold Big Oil financially accountable for the planetary crisis.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed complaints against New York and Vermont over their climate superfund laws, which empower states to seek financial compensation from fossil fuel companies to help cover the costs of climate mitigation. The burning of fossil fuels is the main driver of human-caused global heating.
Separately, the DOJ also sued Hawaii and Michigan "to prevent each state from suing fossil fuel companies in state court to seek damages for alleged climate change harms."
"The use of the United States Department of Justice to fight on behalf of the fossil fuel industry is deeply disturbing."
Hours later, Hawaii became the 10th state to sue Big Oil for lying about the climate damage caused by fossil fuels. The Aloha State's lawsuit targets ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and other corporations for their "decadeslong campaign of deception to discredit the scientific consensus on climate change" and sow public doubt about the existence and main cause of the crisis.
"The federal lawsuit filed by the Justice Department attempts to block Hawaii from holding the fossil fuel industry responsible for deceptive conduct that caused climate change damage," Hawaii Attorney General Anne E. Lopez said. "The use of the United States Department of Justice to fight on behalf of the fossil fuel industry is deeply disturbing and is a direct attack on Hawaii's rights as a sovereign state."
The DOJ on Thursday cited President Donald Trump's April 8 executive order, " Protecting American Energy From State Overreach," which affirms the president's commitment "to unleashing American energy, especially through the removal of all illegitimate impediments to the identification, development, siting, production, investment in, or use of domestic energy resources—particularly oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources."
Trump also signed a day-one edict declaring a "national energy emergency" in service of his campaign pledge to "drill, baby, drill" for climate-heating fossil fuels. The "emergency" has been invoked to fast-track fossil fuel permits, including for extraction projects on public lands.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the DOJ's Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a statement Thursday, "When states seek to regulate energy beyond their constitutional or statutory authority, they harm the country's ability to produce energy and they aid our adversaries."
"The department's filings seek to protect Americans from unlawful state overreach that would threaten energy independence critical to the well-being and security of all Americans," Gustafson added.
Robert Weissman, co-president of the consumer advocacy watchdog Public Citizen, on Friday accused the Trump administration of "using a phony energy emergency declaration to illegally attack state climate and clean energy laws."
"There is no energy emergency, and Trump's stated reasoning for it is as much a scam as every other pathetic con and hustle this president attempts," Weissman continued. "Fake constitutional claims based on a fake emergency cannot and will not displace sensible and long overdue state efforts to hold dirty energy corporations accountable."
"These corporations have imposed massive costs on society through their deceptive denial of the realities of climate change, and through rushing us toward climate catastrophe," he added. "It's good policy, common sense, and completely within state authority, for states to hold these corporations accountable."
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