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WASHINGTON - Today, Media Matters released a new report showing that when
discussing major news stories, conservatives in the media have
repeatedly resorted to blaming ACORN in place of substantive analysis
of causes and solutions, even where the organization has little or
nothing to do with the issue. The report can be viewed at:
https://mediamatters.org/items/200904070005
"We are disappointed, but not surprised, in the report's findings,"
said Bertha Lewis, CEO and Chief Organizer of ACORN. "ACORN has watched
over the years as the right wing has attempted to blame us for
everything from the 2008 financial crisis to voter fraud. We hope that
this report serves as a wake-up call that we must no longer be used as
a kicking post."
During the 2008 financial crisis, several in the media claimed,
suggested or uncritically reported that ACORN contributed to the
housing crisis by bullying banks into irresponsible lending to
minorities. For example, the media has falsely asserted that much of
the housing crisis was caused by ACORN intimidating banks under the
Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to lend loans to minorities and the
poor, all of whom could not make payments. In fact, according to
housing experts, a large number of subprime loans were not made under
the CRA.
Also, during the 2008 presidential and general election, the media
falsely linked ACORN's voter registration campaign to allegations of
voter fraud. The media, including CNN and the Wall Street Journal,
repeatedly failed to report that in many states in which ACORN
registered voters, state law required the organization to submit all
registration forms filled out despite being flagged as fraudulent.
Moreover, actual instances of illegal votes being cast as a result of
registration fraud are extremely rare.
In the debate over the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
the media repeatedly claimed that the bill contained language to funnel
money to fund ACORN. However, the act does not mention ACORN or
otherwise single it out for receiving funding, and ACORN itself has
said that it is ineligible for the funds and has no plans to apply for
them.
The media, including The Washington Times and FoxNews.com, has also
uncritically reported that ACORN will be a national partner with the
Census Bureau in its effort to recruit more than 1 million temporary
workers, baselessly suggesting the group will fraudulently influence
the count or that the Obama administration is politicizing the process.
However, ACORN is only one of "more than 250" groups partnering with
the Census Bureau to recruit workers.
Many in the media have also vilified public figures' relationships
with ACORN. For example, during the 2008 Senate recount in Minnesota,
the media uncritically reported that Minnesota Secretary of State Mark
Ritchie's "ties" to ACORN were proof of his favoritism of Democratic
challenger Al Franken over Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.
The report also cites incidences where undocumented immigrants are
used as scapegoats, including during the debate over the 2009 State
Children's Health Insurance Program, when many in the media falsely
claimed that the bill made it easier for undocumented immigrants to
access health benefits.
To read more:
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Since 1970, ACORN has grown to more than 350,000 member families, organized in 850 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the U.S. and in cities in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Canada.
A group named after the Polish-born lawyer of Jewish descent who coined the term genocide issued a "red flag alert" for the United States on Monday after billionaire Elon Musk—a top ally of President Donald Trump—twice flashed what was widely seen as a Nazi salute during a post-inauguration event.
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Studies and Prevention said that "Musk's act is a frightening signal of things to come" and rejected the notion that the billionaire's gestures were unintentional.
"In light of Musk's important influence on the new administration," the group said in a statement, "the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention is issuing a Red Flag Alert for genocide in the United States."
The Lemkin Institute urged Americans to "respond with critical thinking" to any suggestion that Musk's salutes were merely awkward or odd-looking—but ultimately benign—expressions of enthusiasm.
"Is it possible that any person—especially in South Africa (where support for Nazism was very strong) or the USA (where the History Channel has introduced almost all but the youngest generations to the Nazi salute)—is unaware of this salute or what it means?" the group asked. "It is almost impossible that this was an unfortunate mistake. Finally, can we really believe that someone who is so often in the public eye would risk an arm gesture—twice—that looks almost exactly like the Nazi salute while he is supposedly celebrating Donald Trump's election to president? We strongly believe that Elon Musk's gesture was intentional. We will be happy to be proven wrong."
"Musk's Hitler salute cannot and must not be swept under the rug. The U.S. press, cowed as it has been under President Biden, cannot be trusted to cover the new president's administration with any backbone or honesty. It is up to the American people to defend the Constitution and this country's core values against all threats," the organization continued. "Trans people, refugees, and migrants are not the threats. The billionaires with close ties to our new president who flash the Nazi salute and seek to replace the old elites with a new caste—that is the real threat to America."
Musk's salutes drew widespread alarm, including from public officials in Europe—where Musk has attempted to boost far-right parties.
"Such a gesture, given his already known proximity to right-wing populists in the fascist tradition, must worry every democrat," German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote in response.
Far-right extremists, for their part, celebrated Musk's gestures, which they appear to have had no trouble interpreting.
As Rolling Stonereported, "The Proud Boys Ohio chapter posted a clip of the Musk video to its Telegram channel with the text, 'Hail Trump!'"
President Donald Trump's attempt to end birthright citizenship "seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans."
A coalition of immigrant rights groups sued the Trump administration on Monday over the newly inaugurated president's executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, a move that campaigners and legal experts condemned as both immoral and flagrantly unconstitutional.
The lawsuit was filed by several branches of the ACLU, the Asian Law Caucus, the State Democracy Defenders Fund, and the Legal Defense Fund on behalf of groups with members whose children born in the United States would be denied citizenship under President Donald Trump's new order, which runs up against the clear text of the 14th Amendment and more than a century of legal precedent.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement that "denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional—it's also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values."
"Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is," said Romero. "This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans. We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged. The Trump administration's overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail."
The groups behind the new lawsuit noted that Trump's order leaves many expectant parents across the United States fearful and uncertain about their babies' futures. The organizations pointed to one couple who arrived in the U.S. in 2023 and is awaiting a review of their asylum application.
"The mom-to-be is in her third trimester," the groups said. "Under this executive order, their baby would be considered an undocumented noncitizen and could be denied basic healthcare and nutrition, putting the newborn at grave risk at such a vulnerable stage of life."
"Taken as a whole, Trump's words and actions reveal the enormity of the danger we're facing, which compels us all to mobilize to fight back."
Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, said Monday that "birthright citizenship is a cornerstone of our democracy."
"Our members, who come from all over the world, have created vibrant communities, loving families, and built this country over generations," said Oshiro. "To deny their children the same basic rights as all other children born in the United States is an affront to basic values of fairness, equality, and inclusivity. We are grateful for the bravery of our members who have taken on this case, and are prepared to fight alongside them."
The order was part of a flurry of immigration-related actions that Trump took on the first day of his second White House term, including an emergency declaration that directs the U.S. armed forces "to take all appropriate action to assist the Department of Homeland Security in obtaining full operational control" at the southern border.
Trump also signed an executive order suspending refugee programs, a step that had an immediate impact. Reutersreported that "nearly 1,660 Afghans cleared by the U.S. government to resettle in the U.S., including family members of active-duty U.S. military personnel, are having their flights canceled" under the order.
Additionally, The Washington Postreported that "asylum seekers who made appointments to come to the U.S. border Monday afternoon were blocked at international crossings after Trump officials halted use of the CBP One mobile app, which the Biden administration used as a scheduling tool."
"Trump also ended all 'categorical' parole programs that under President Joe Biden allowed 30,000 migrants per month to enter the country via U.S. airports, bypassing the border, for applicants from Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti, and Nicaragua," the Post added.
Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, said that "taken as a whole, Trump's words and actions reveal the enormity of the danger we're facing, which compels us all to mobilize to fight back."
"This is a fight not just to protect immigrants," said Matos, "but to also defend our democracy."
"This move not only erases accountability for one of the darkest days in our nation's history but also emboldens far-right extremists and grants them free license to continue their ideological reign of terror," said one critic.
Democracy defenders on Monday night swiftly condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pardon roughly 1,500 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and commute the sentences of some others.
The widely anticipated move, which Trump made with television cameras in the Oval Office, came just hours after he returned to power on Monday afternoon—despite being convicted of 34 felonies in New York last year and facing various other legal cases, including for his attempts to overturn his 2020 loss to Democratic former President Joe Biden that culminated in inciting the 2021 Capitol attack.
"Just hours after promising to bring 'law and order back to our cities,' Trump pardoned more than a thousand January 6th rioters and put violent offenders right back in our neighborhoods—people who assaulted police officers, destroyed property, and tried to overturn our freedom to vote," said Sean Eldridge, president and founder of the progressive advocacy group Stand Up America, in a statement.
"By giving January 6th rioters a free pass, Trump is rewarding political violence and making all of us less safe," he continued. "No one should be above the law in the United States of America, and our first responders and the American people deserve better than this."
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the grassroots progressive political organizing group Our Revolution, said that "Trump's pardons of January 6 rioters, including those convicted of violence against law enforcement, mark a grave and unprecedented attack on the rule of law and American democracy. This move not only erases accountability for one of the darkest days in our nation's history but also emboldens far-right extremists and grants them free license to continue their ideological reign of terror."
"These are not patriots, these are traitors who will now be free to recruit others into what Trump views as his own personal militia," he asserted. "By granting clemency to these individuals, who sought to overturn the peaceful transfer of power, Trump is signaling that political violence and the rejection of democratic norms are acceptable tactics in service to his authoritarian agenda. This is a direct threat to the foundations of our democracy and the safety of our communities."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of watchdog Public Citizen, said that "it is perhaps on-brand that Donald Trump has kicked off his second term with an assault on our democracy, just as he ended his first term."
"This isn't just about degrading the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law in theory, his disgraceful actions here send a message that political violence is acceptable, so long as it is in support of him and his pursuit of unchecked power," she continued. "We intend to fight against these types of abuses over the next four years to maintain the integrity of the rule of law."
Accusing the Republican of "condoning insurrection," Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón similarly warned that "this will not be the last time President Trump attacks democracy" and vowed that her organization stands "ready to defend it."
During the insurrection, Kase Solomón said, "people died and more than 140 law enforcement officers were injured protecting members of Congress from the attack that followed. These deaths and injuries should not be in vain. To pardon those involved is a blatant and dangerous abuse of power."
"Trump was charged with multiple crimes for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election which ended in the insurrection at the Capitol," she noted. "Only his reelection, coupled with an extremely misguided ruling from the Supreme Court on presidential immunity, allowed him to escape trial. In pardoning those who attempted to violently overturn the election and invalidate 80 million votes, Trump is showing his contempt for our justice system and our democracy."
Noah Bookbinder, a former federal prosecutor who is now president of the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, warned that "giving a pass to those who participated, all of whom were convicted after trial with ample evidence and process or pleaded guilty to crimes, sends a message that the right of the people to choose our own leaders no longer matters because the results can merely be overturned by force."
"And," he said, "it raises a terrifying question: What happens if Trump doesn't want to leave the White House at the end of his term?"
Trump commuted the sentences of Jeremy Bertino, Joseph Biggs, Thomas Caldwell, Joseph Hackett, Kenneth Harrelson, Kelly Meggs, Roberto Minuta, David Moerschel, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola, Zachary Rehl, Stewart Rhodes, Edward Vallejo, and Jessica Watkins. The others—whom Trump called "hostages"—received "a full, complete, and unconditional pardon."
"I further direct the attorney general to pursue dismissal with prejudice to the government of all pending indictments against individuals for their conduct related to the events at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021," Trump's order said. "The Bureau of Prisons shall immediately implement all instructions from the Department of Justice regarding this directive."
Shortly before leaving office on Monday, Biden issued a final wave of pardons, including for members of the U.S. House of Representatives select committee that investigated the insurrection. The Democrat said that he could not "in good conscience do nothing" to protect them and the pardons "should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense."
This post has been updated with comment from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.