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https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/nov/18/jan-schakowsky/schakowsky-said-based-gdp-capita-united-states-has/
|
The United States has never been richer, if you look at per capita GDP.
|
Steve Contorno
|
11/18/2013
|
[] |
As congressional Democrats and Republicans sit down for high-stakes budget talks,the rhetoric has flown furiously to familiar territory.Republicans want cuts and reforms to entitlement programs, while Democrats insist that revenue must be on the table, too. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., made the case for the latter inan interview on MSNBCon Nov. 12, 2013. This country has never been richer, if you look at per capita GDP, she said. It doesn't feel that way when you hear about austerity and we have to cut this and we have to cut that. It's because the income inequality is greater than it has ever been. We wondered if she was correct. The numbers dont lie Schakowskys office sent us figures from theEconomic Research Serviceof the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to those numbers, the GDP per capita, when adjusted for inflation, hit $45,633 this year, which surpassed the previous high of $45,360, which was set in 2007 prior to the most recent recession. It was barely higher, but higher all the same. (The government defines the GDP gross domestic product as the market value of the goods and services produced by labor and property within the country.) We were curious how the data was calculated, so we contacted Mathew Shane, an economist with the USDA who put the figures together. He told us that the 2013 number was partially based on a projection, since the year is not yet completed. But if that projection is borne out, he said,then GDP per capita will be at its highest level ever. Its close, Shane said. We hit a peak in 2007 when the crisis hit. Theres been no income growth in real terms since 2007. The difference between (2007 and 2013) is a very modest difference. We, essentially, finally regained what we were in 2007. I guess we could say were projected to be slightly better than we were in 2007. If I guess doesnt sound definitive enough, we also sought out another source:the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the government agency that calculates the nations GDP. The bureaus analysis also backs up Shanes findings. By the second quarter of this year, GDP per capita had surpassed 2007 levels. The third quarter of 2013 is the highest on record, said Thomas Dail, spokesman for the bureau. Finally, GDP per capita, even when adjusted for inflation, hasgone up and upfor more than a century. In other words, Schakowsky could have said what she said at virtually any given point during the last 150 years and had a pretty good chance of being right. Our ruling Schakowsky said, This country has never been richer, if you look at per capita GDP. We found that GDP has trended upward throughout much of America's history and the current level is only slightly higher than pre-recession levels. But the numbers show Schakowsky is right. We rate her comments True.
|
[
"National",
"Economy",
"Federal Budget",
"Taxes"
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[] |
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"sentence": "Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., made the case for the latter inan interview on MSNBCon Nov. 12, 2013."
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"sentence": "Schakowskys office sent us figures from theEconomic Research Serviceof the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to those numbers, the GDP per capita, when adjusted for inflation, hit $45,633 this year, which surpassed the previous high of $45,360, which was set in 2007 prior to the most recent recession. It was barely higher, but higher all the same. (The government defines the GDP gross domestic product as the market value of the goods and services produced by labor and property within the country.)"
},
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"sentence": "If I guess doesnt sound definitive enough, we also sought out another source:the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the government agency that calculates the nations GDP. The bureaus analysis also backs up Shanes findings."
}
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true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lori-mcallen-shoot-immigrants/
|
Did an Oregon Department of Transportation Employee Say That Immigrants Should be 'Shot at the Border'?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
06/21/2018
|
[
"Lori McAllen has faced a backlash after screenshots emerged of her calling for immigrants to be shot during an online debate over the Trump administration's immigration policy."
] |
In the summer of 2018, the Trump administration's implementation of a "zero tolerance" immigration policy which saw thousands of children separated from their migrant parents, often in difficult and uncertain circumstances provoked widespread and often impassioned opposition and public debate. One such discussion around the issue of immigration sparked a wave of outrage after screenshots went viral online which appeared to show an employee of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) calling for immigrants into the United States to be shot at the border. ODOT In a 19 June 2018 Facebook post, Angela Ochoa shared a screenshot which appeared to show Lori McAllen, an employee of ODOT, writing: post I personally think they should shoot them all at the border and call it good...it'll save us hard working AMERICAN'S [sic] billions of dollars on our taxes!! ;) The post went viral. A spokesperson for ODOT confirmed that the agency was "looking into a posting that was connected to ODOT." Without naming McAllen, the spokesperson said the employee had been "put on administrative leave" while ODOT investigates the facts surrounding the post, as well as its authenticity. "We take this very seriously and very personally," the spokesperson told us, adding that the post "does not reflect the values of ODOT," and that its content was "deeply disturbing and hurtful." We can confirm that McAllen's post is authentic. We spoke to a person with knowledge of the posts and whose identity we were able to verify. That person told us that McAllen made her remarks during the course of a 19 June 2018 Facebook debate involving several people about the ongoing "zero tolerance" immigration policy, and the separation of children from their parents. The conversation was held on the Facebook page of another user. We also received multiple screenshots from that conversation, which both corroborate the authenticity of McAllen's post, and show excerpts from the exchanges that led up to, and came after, her "shoot them all at the border" comment. We have edited these images only to preserve the anonymity of other participants. Some time after McAllen posted the comment in question, another participant, outraged at its content, warned that they would make her "famous." In this screenshot, McAllen responds mockingly to a reference to her own offending remarks: Another screenshot shows a third person, supportive of McAllen, acknowledging the fact that she did indeed post the remarks in question ("ONE comment Lori made") and attacking another participant in the conversation. Another series of screenshots sent to us clearly shows McAllen responding to further references to her "shoot them at the border" comments. McAllen has deleted her social media profiles and we were unable to contact her for comment.
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"sentence": "In the summer of 2018, the Trump administration's implementation of a \"zero tolerance\" immigration policy which saw thousands of children separated from their migrant parents, often in difficult and uncertain circumstances provoked widespread and often impassioned opposition and public debate. One such discussion around the issue of immigration sparked a wave of outrage after screenshots went viral online which appeared to show an employee of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) calling for immigrants into the United States to be shot at the border. "
},
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"sentence": "In a 19 June 2018 Facebook post, Angela Ochoa shared a screenshot which appeared to show Lori McAllen, an employee of ODOT, writing:"
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| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/myeshia-johnson-facebook-post/
|
Did Myeshia Johnson Accuse Rep. Frederica Wilson of Using Her Husband 'As a Political Platform'?
|
Arturo Garcia
|
10/21/2017
|
[
"An alleged Facebook post from the widow about a controversial condolence call was \"published\" at least an hour before President Donald Trump phoned her."
] |
Conservative social media users circulated an image of a purported Facebook post from 17 October 2017 which they said showed Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson accusing Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) of exploiting a presidential condolence call over the death of her husband, U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, for political gain: circulated The picture allegedly depicts a post from Myeshia Johnson's Facebook page dated "17 October 2017 at 3:27 p.m." saying: I want to set the record straight! I'm getting sick and tired of this so called politician using my husband as a political platform. Even buy [sic] her own words she did not hear all of the conversation she only heard part of it. This is what actually was said. "They know the risk, they know what they sign up for but they still volunteer to put their lives on the line for their fellow Americans. We owe them a debt that can never be repaid" A phone call from President Donald Trump to Johnson is at the center of what has become a public dispute between Johnson and the Trump administration. But the validity of the screenshot is doubtful. While the date of the post corresponds with that of the 17 October 2017 condolence call, the time listed is actually more than an hour before the reported time of President Trump's phone call, which was 4:45 p.m. Eastern time. reported Also, the picture shows a Facebook profile bearing a square profile picture. But the social media site implemented an update in August 2017 that changed the shape of users' profile pictures in the Facebook newsfeed from square to round, as seen in this example from the Snopes.com Facebook page (top left): update shape Facebook La David Johnson was killed while serving in Niger on 4 October 2017, in what has been described as an ambush by Islamic insurgents. Three other U.S. service members, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, were also killed in the attack, as were four Nigerien troops. described Rep. Wilson said she was riding with the Army sergeant's widow and members of her family to receive his body when the President called, telling CNN host Don Lemon that night: telling I heard what [Trump] said because the phone was on speaker. Basically he said, "Well, I guess he knew what he signed up for, but I guess it still hurt." That's what he said. Wilson accused Trump of being insensitive not only to La David Johnson's family but "to the family of every soldier that has paid the ultimate price for our freedom." The sergeant's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, has corroborated Wilson's account of the phone call, saying that "President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband." corroborated President Trump responded by denying what Rep. Wilson had claimed: I didn't say what that congresswoman said. Didn't say it all. She knows it. I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who was sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren't too surprised to hear that. On 23 October 2017, Myeshia Johnson told ABC News that Wilson was "100 percent" in her description of the phone call. She said: told The President said that he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway. And it made me cry cause I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said he couldn't remember my husband's name. The only way he remembered my husband's name is because he told me he had my husband's report in front of him and that's when he actually said La David. I heard him stumblin' on, trying to remember my husband's name and that's what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why can't you remember his name. But while President Trump suggested he had proof to support his account of events, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the call had not been not recorded. Instead, Sanders said, Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly and other White House staff members were near President Trump when he phone Myeshia Johnson and heard what he said. proof told For his part, Kelly called Wilson an "empty barrel" and accused her of taking credit in 2015 for the funding of a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Miami, a claim that was debunked by footage of Wilson's remarks that was posted online on 20 October 2017. debunked Despite Sanders' statement that the president's conversation with Myeshia Johnson was not recorded, Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and host of a Facebook broadcast devoted to what his administration calls "real news," asserted on 20 October 2017 that she had read a transcript of the call which confirmed Trump spoke the words in question, albeit with additional context: broadcast asserted [Trump] said, "Your husband went into battle, you know, knowing that he could be injured, knowing that he could be killed, and he still did it because he loved this country, and he did it for the American people." Wilson came under additional criticism after she responded to Kelly's allegations by exclaiming that "You mean to tell me that I've become so important that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That's amazing. I'll have to tell my kids that I'm a rockstar now." exclaiming Two days earlier, Rep. Wilson had issued a statement reading: statement Despite President Trump's suggestion that I have recanted my statement or misstated what he said, I stand firmly by my original account of his conversation with Myeshia Johnson, the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson. Moreover, this account has been confirmed by family members who also witnessed Mr. Trump's incredible lack of compassion and sensitivity. The Johnson family and the families of the three other soldiers who tragically lost their lives in the Niger ambush are experiencing what I am certain must feel like an unbearable loss. Rather than engage in a petty war of words with Mr. Trump, it is so much more important to embrace and support the families and honor these fallen heroes. We reached out to Rep. Wilson for comment but have not yet received a response. Sabovic, Sanela et al. "Trump to Widow of Sgt. La David Johnson: 'He Knew What He Signed Up For.'"
WPLG-TV. 17 October 2017. Wilson, Frederica S. "Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson Stands by Account of President Trump's Condolence Call to the Widow of Sgt. La David Johnson."
18 October 2017. Kelly, Heather. "Facebook's Adding Text Bubbles and Round Profiles."
CNN. 15 August 2017. Sabovic, Sanela. "Remains of US Army Sgt. La David Johnson return to Miami."
WPLG-TV. 17 October 2017. CNN. "Congresswoman Describes Trump's Call to Widow."
17 October 2017. Gearan, Anne and Kristine Phillips. "Fallen Soldier's Mother: 'Trump Did Disrespect My Son.'"
The Washington Post. 18 October 2017. de Moraes, Lisa. "White House: No Recording Of Donald Trumps Phone Call to Widow of Soldier Killed in ISIS Ambush."
Deadline. 18 October 2017. Barszewski, Larry. "Frederica Wilson 2015 Video Shows White House Chief of Staff John Kelly Got It Wrong."
The Sun-Sentinel. nbsp; 20 October 2017. Holly, Jessica. "Congresswoman Reacts to White House Statement on Call to Army's Family."
WSVN-TV. 19 October 2017. Searcey, Dionnne et al. "Conflicting Accounts in Niger Ambush Are Subject of Pentagon Investigation."
The New York Times. 20 October 2017. Slattery, Denis. "Lara Trump Says She 'Read Exactly What' President Said to Fallen Soldier's Widow Even Though There's No Transcript."
[New York] Daily News. 20 October 2017. Nestel, M.L. "'I Was Very Angry' at Trump, Says Myeshia Johnson, Widow of Fallen Soldier."
ABC News. 23 October 2017. Update [23 October 2017]: Updated with statement from Myeshia Johnson interview with ABC News backing up Wilson's account.
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"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Conservative social media users circulated an image of a purported Facebook post from 17 October 2017 which they said showed Gold Star widow Myeshia Johnson accusing Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Florida) of exploiting a presidential condolence call over the death of her husband, U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, for political gain:"
},
{
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"sentence": "While the date of the post corresponds with that of the 17 October 2017 condolence call, the time listed is actually more than an hour before the reported time of President Trump's phone call, which was 4:45 p.m. Eastern time."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://money.cnn.com/2017/08/15/technology/facebook-newsfeed-updates/index.html",
"https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16151812/facebook-news-feed-redesign-blue-header-circle-profile-picture-bubbles-messages",
"https://www.facebook.com/snopes/posts/1182702415207609"
],
"sentence": "Also, the picture shows a Facebook profile bearing a square profile picture. But the social media site implemented an update in August 2017 that changed the shape of users' profile pictures in the Facebook newsfeed from square to round, as seen in this example from the Snopes.com Facebook page (top left):"
},
{
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"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/world/africa/niger-ambush-conflicting-accounts.html"
],
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},
{
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],
"sentence": "Rep. Wilson said she was riding with the Army sergeant's widow and members of her family to receive his body when the President called, telling CNN host Don Lemon that night:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/18/totally-fabricated-trump-disputes-congresswomans-depiction-of-his-exchange-with-soldiers-widow/"
],
"sentence": "The sergeant's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, has corroborated Wilson's account of the phone call, saying that \"President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://abcnews.go.com/US/fallen-soldiers-widow-angry-trumps-call-couldnt-remember/story?id=50655063"
],
"sentence": "On 23 October 2017, Myeshia Johnson told ABC News that Wilson was \"100 percent\" in her description of the phone call. She said:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/920611770775064576",
"https://deadline.com/2017/10/donald-trump-phone-call-widow-soldier-isis-ambush-no-phone-recording-sarah-huckabee-sanders-1202190770/"
],
"sentence": "But while President Trump suggested he had proof to support his account of events, White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters that the call had not been not recorded. Instead, Sanders said, Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly and other White House staff members were near President Trump when he phone Myeshia Johnson and heard what he said."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-reg-wilson-kelly-tape-of-speech-20171020-story.html"
],
"sentence": "For his part, Kelly called Wilson an \"empty barrel\" and accused her of taking credit in 2015 for the funding of a Federal Bureau of Investigation field office in Miami, a claim that was debunked by footage of Wilson's remarks that was posted online on 20 October 2017."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/2017/08/02/trump-administration-real-news/",
"https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/fox-news-host-mentions-non-existent-trump-condolence-transcript-article-1.3577060"
],
"sentence": "Despite Sanders' statement that the president's conversation with Myeshia Johnson was not recorded, Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and host of a Facebook broadcast devoted to what his administration calls \"real news,\" asserted on 20 October 2017 that she had read a transcript of the call which confirmed Trump spoke the words in question, albeit with additional context:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Wilson came under additional criticism after she responded to Kelly's allegations by exclaiming that \"You mean to tell me that I've become so important that the White House is following me and my words? This is amazing. That's amazing. I'll have to tell my kids that I'm a rockstar now.\""
},
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],
"sentence": "Two days earlier, Rep. Wilson had issued a statement reading:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/acesha-bright-murder/
|
Video Captures Acesha Bright Committing Murder?
|
Dan Evon
|
02/19/2017
|
[
"A woman named Acesha Bright was arrested for murder in February 2017, but a video purportedly showing someone by that name killing her boyfriend was staged."
] |
In February 2017, a video was widely circulated online purportedly showing a woman named AceshaBright committing a murder. As depicted in the video, Bright enters a residence unannounced, finds her partner taking a bath with another man, and hurls a plugged-in electrical appliance into the tub, presumably electrocuting him: Social media viewers pointed to an arrest report for an "Acesha A. Bright" as evidence that the video depicted a real murder: report Although a woman named AceshaBright was arrested on 11 February 2017 for murder, she is not the woman seen in this video: In addition to the optical differences, the viral video contains a clue that the event it depicts was staged. The video contains a watermark for "Dominic Low," who has posted several realistic videos to Facebook, many of which feature women getting revenge on unfaithful lovers. The same woman (wearing the same dress) is featured in at least one other of these videos: videos videos In addition to using the same actress, Low also employed the same location in a prior video (notice the painting on the wall that appears in both): location Furthermore, the earliest version of the viral video purportedly showing Acesha Bright's homicide was posted along with a caption stating that it occurred on Valentine's Day ("Fried Ass and a glass of Wine...Hell of a Vday !!! credit Dominic Low"), three days after the real Bright's arrest on 11 February 2017. Valentine's Day The original postings of the video also did not identify the scornful woman who fried her love as Acesha Bright (or anyone else). While we have not been able to positively identify the woman in the videos, social media users have pointed to "Opal Culton," an actress from Las Vegas who is also Facebook friends with Dominic Low. friends
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},
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"sentence": "In addition to the optical differences, the viral video contains a clue that the event it depicts was staged. The video contains a watermark for \"Dominic Low,\" who has posted several realistic videos to Facebook, many of which feature women getting revenge on unfaithful lovers. The same woman (wearing the same dress) is featured in at least one other of these videos:"
},
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"sentence": "Furthermore, the earliest version of the viral video purportedly showing Acesha Bright's homicide was posted along with a caption stating that it occurred on Valentine's Day (\"Fried Ass and a glass of Wine...Hell of a Vday !!! credit Dominic Low\"), three days after the real Bright's arrest on 11 February 2017."
},
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"sentence": "The original postings of the video also did not identify the scornful woman who fried her love as Acesha Bright (or anyone else). While we have not been able to positively identify the woman in the videos, social media users have pointed to \"Opal Culton,\" an actress from Las Vegas who is also Facebook friends with Dominic Low."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/study-refugees-brought-in-revenues/
|
Did a Banned Federal Study Show That Refugees Bring in More in Government Revenues Than They Cost?
|
David Emery
|
12/12/2018
|
[
"A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study compared the tax revenues generated by refugees to the overall cost of resettlement."
] |
One of the arguments made by the Trump administration for lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh its benefits. lowering Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million.These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position:A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on!A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government:The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact "comparable" to that of the general population:The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable.However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were "suppressed" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate:This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs.The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees.The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, "personally intervened" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't "banned" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document. Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million. breakdown These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position: A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on! A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that: document The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion. All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government: The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact "comparable" to that of the general population: The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable. However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were "suppressed" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate: This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy. John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs. The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees. The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, "personally intervened" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.) denied The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't "banned" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document. Blitzer, Jonathan. "How Stephen Miller Single-Handedly Got the U.S. to Accept Fewer Refugees."
The New Yorker. 13 October 2017. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld. "Trump to Cap Refugees Allowed into U.S. at 30,000, a Record Low."
The New York Times. 17 September 2018. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld and Somini Sengupta. "Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees."
The New York Times. 18 September 2017. Phillips, Amber. "Here's How Much the United States Spends on Refugees."
The Washington Post. 20 November 2015. The New York Times. "Rejected Report Shows Revenue Brought in by Refugees."
19 September 2017.
|
[
"economy"
] |
[
{
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/17/trump-refugees-limits-ceiling-826302"
],
"sentence": "One of the arguments made by the Trump administration for lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh its benefits."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-stephen-miller-single-handedly-got-the-us-to-accept-fewer-refugees"
],
"sentence": "Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million.These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position:A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on!A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government:The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact \"comparable\" to that of the general population:The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable.However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were \"suppressed\" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate:This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs.The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees.The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, \"personally intervened\" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't \"banned\" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/30/heres-how-much-the-united-states-spends-on-refugees/"
],
"sentence": "Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/19/us/politics/document-Refugee-Report.html"
],
"sentence": "A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-stephen-miller-single-handedly-got-the-us-to-accept-fewer-refugees"
],
"sentence": "The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, \"personally intervened\" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/study-refugees-brought-in-revenues/
|
Was there a federal study that was prohibited indicating that refugees generate more government revenues than they consume?
|
David Emery
|
12/12/2018
|
[
"A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study compared the tax revenues generated by refugees to the overall cost of resettlement."
] |
One of the arguments made by the Trump administration for lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh its benefits. lowering Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million.These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position:A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on!A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government:The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact "comparable" to that of the general population:The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable.However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were "suppressed" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate:This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs.The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees.The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, "personally intervened" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't "banned" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document. Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million. breakdown These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position: A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on! A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that: document The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion. All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government: The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact "comparable" to that of the general population: The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable. However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were "suppressed" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate: This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy. John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs. The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees. The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, "personally intervened" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.) denied The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't "banned" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document. Blitzer, Jonathan. "How Stephen Miller Single-Handedly Got the U.S. to Accept Fewer Refugees."
The New Yorker. 13 October 2017. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld. "Trump to Cap Refugees Allowed into U.S. at 30,000, a Record Low."
The New York Times. 17 September 2018. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld and Somini Sengupta. "Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees."
The New York Times. 18 September 2017. Phillips, Amber. "Here's How Much the United States Spends on Refugees."
The Washington Post. 20 November 2015. The New York Times. "Rejected Report Shows Revenue Brought in by Refugees."
19 September 2017.
|
[
"taxes"
] |
[
{
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},
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] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/17/trump-refugees-limits-ceiling-826302"
],
"sentence": "One of the arguments made by the Trump administration for lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh its benefits."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million.These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position:A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on!A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government:The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact \"comparable\" to that of the general population:The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable.However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were \"suppressed\" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate:This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs.The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees.The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, \"personally intervened\" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't \"banned\" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/11/30/heres-how-much-the-united-states-spends-on-refugees/"
],
"sentence": "Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/19/us/politics/document-Refugee-Report.html"
],
"sentence": "A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-stephen-miller-single-handedly-got-the-us-to-accept-fewer-refugees"
],
"sentence": "The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, \"personally intervened\" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/study-refugees-brought-in-revenues/
|
Was there a Federal study that was banned that suggested refugees generate more government income than they require in expenses?
|
David Emery
|
12/12/2018
|
[
"A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study compared the tax revenues generated by refugees to the overall cost of resettlement."
] |
One of the arguments made by the Trump administration for lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh its benefits. lowering Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million.These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position:A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on!A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government:The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact "comparable" to that of the general population:The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable.However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were "suppressed" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate:This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs.The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees.The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, "personally intervened" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't "banned" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document. Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million. breakdown These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position: A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on! A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that: document The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion. All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government: The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact "comparable" to that of the general population: The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable. However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were "suppressed" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate: This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy. John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs. The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees. The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, "personally intervened" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.) denied The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't "banned" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document. Blitzer, Jonathan. "How Stephen Miller Single-Handedly Got the U.S. to Accept Fewer Refugees."
The New Yorker. 13 October 2017. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld. "Trump to Cap Refugees Allowed into U.S. at 30,000, a Record Low."
The New York Times. 17 September 2018. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld and Somini Sengupta. "Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees."
The New York Times. 18 September 2017. Phillips, Amber. "Here's How Much the United States Spends on Refugees."
The Washington Post. 20 November 2015. The New York Times. "Rejected Report Shows Revenue Brought in by Refugees."
19 September 2017.
|
[
"economy"
] |
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[
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "One of the arguments made by the Trump administration for lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the United States is that the costs of refugee resettlement outweigh its benefits."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/19/us/politics/document-Refugee-Report.html",
"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-stephen-miller-single-handedly-got-the-us-to-accept-fewer-refugees"
],
"sentence": "Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million.These cost estimates rarely attempt to take into account any economic benefits refugees might provide to the countries that take them in. According to a Facebook meme making the rounds since mid-2018, just such an analysis was undertaken by the Trump administration, but the results were suppressed because they undercut the official position:A recently leaked federal study found that refugees to America brought in $63 billion in government revenues than they cost in the last 10 years. Trump chief policy adviser Stephen Miller banned the release of the study, because it contradicts his claim that refugees are too costly. Pass it on!A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:The internal study, which was completed in late July but never publicly released, found that refugees contributed an estimated $269.1 billion in revenues to all levels of government between 2005 and 2014 through the payment of federal, state and local taxes. Overall, this report estimated that the net fiscal impact of refugees was positive over the 10-year period, at $63 billion.All in all, the report said, the net fiscal impact of refugees over the 10-year period was positive, not negative, to the tune of $63 billion at all levels of government:The study concluded that refugees on average had a net fiscal impact \"comparable\" to that of the general population:The per capita annual net fiscal benefit was $2,205 for refugees and $1,848 for the general U.S. population, a difference not likely to be significant given margins of error and other limitations of this study. Expenditures for the general U.S. population were on average higher than expenditures for refugees, while revenues were more comparable.However, none of this information was contained in the final report delivered to the President, the Times reported, noting that some of the refugee program's proponents believed the results of the study were \"suppressed\" internally. Administration officials characterized those results as illegitimate:This leak was delivered by someone with an ideological agenda, not someone looking at hard data, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman. The actual report pursuant to the presidential memorandum shows that refugees with few skills coming from war-torn countries take more government benefits from the Department of Health and Human Services than the average population, and are not a net benefit to the U.S. economy.John Graham, the acting assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the health department, said: We do not comment on allegedly leaked documents and that no report had been finalized. He noted that Mr. Trumps memorandum seeks an analysis related to the cost of refugee programs. Therefore, the only analysis in the scope of H.H.S.s response to the memo would be on refugee-related expenditures from data within H.H.S. programs.The three-page report the agency ultimately submitted, dated Sept. 5, does just that, using government data to compare the costs of refugees to Americans and making no mention of revenues contributed by refugees.The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, \"personally intervened\" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)The Facebook meme is largely accurate, then, although it somewhat mischaracterizes what became of the original draft report. It wasn't \"banned\" from release, in that it doesn't appear the report was ever intended to be made public. It was allegedly suppressed, however, in that it never reached President Trump's desk, and all discussion of the fiscal benefits of admitting refugees into the United States was excised from the final document."
},
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],
"sentence": "Estimates vary on the total annual cost of processing and resettling refugees in the U.S., but a rough breakdown by the National Conference of State Legislatures put the total expenditures for accepting approximately 70,000 refugees in 2014 at $582 million."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/09/19/us/politics/document-Refugee-Report.html"
],
"sentence": "A leaked document fitting that description was indeed published by the New York Times in September 2017. It was an early draft of a report by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing, at the president's request, the estimated long-term costs of the United States Refugee Admissions Program. The Times noted that:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-stephen-miller-single-handedly-got-the-us-to-accept-fewer-refugees"
],
"sentence": "The Times also said that according to White House sources, Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is reputed to be the chief architect of the administration's immigration policies, \"personally intervened\" to ensure that only the costs of admitting refugees, and not the fiscal benefits thereof, were enumerated in the final report. (According to the New Yorker, the White House denied that Miller was involved in producing the report.)"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/macaulay-quote-india-1835/
|
Is Macaulay Quote About 'Dominating' India with English Culture Real?
|
Jordan Liles
|
10/11/2022
|
[
"A reader emailed us and said they spotted the quote meme on WhatsApp."
] |
On Oct. 11, 2022, we received an email from a reader who said they spotted a questionable quote meme on WhatsApp. The quote was titled "My India in 1835" and was credited to "Lord Macaulay," whose full name was Thomas Babington Macaulay. We found no historical records to confirm that Macaulay ever said the exact words quoted in the meme. At the same time, the quote may have been somewhat of a paraphrase, as Macaulay did express his thoughts on how best to educate the Indian populace in other words. WhatsApp Macaulay was an English politician, author, and historian who lived from 1800-1859. According to Britannica.com, he was perhaps best known for writing a five-volume work, "The History of England from the Accession of James the Second." Britannica.com The History of England from the Accession of James the Second The fake quote reads as follows (with the words "ancient education system" being bolded in the meme): My India in 1835Read Carefully "I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation." Lord Macaulay's Address to the British Parliament on 2nd Feb. 1835 In order to establish whether or not the quote was real, we first looked to Google Books. The Google Books website allows anyone to search the text of just about every book in the world for free. Google Books We searched for various portions of the exact quote, placing quotation marks around the words. However, the only results we found were in recent books that were written in the 21st century. A prominent quote from 1835 would not magically make its first appearance in literature nearly two centuries later. The quote was likely at least partially born on the internet and took on a life of its own, somehow finding its way from the web into recent books. After the Google Books search, we stumbled upon a helpful fact check by Agence France-Presse (AFP). In the AFP story, they reported on the same quote, except the word "India" had been replaced with "Africa." It's unclear which version of the quote came first, but it was likely the one naming India. Nevertheless, AFP concluded the attribution of the quote to Macaulay is incorrect. Agence France-Presse (AFP) replaced with "Africa." The AFP fact check pointed out that the man pictured in the quote meme bore a striking resemblance to "a portrait ofBritish army officer Sir Henry John William Benti[n]ck," not Macaulay. It also mentioned that Macaulay had expressed his views on the benefits of English-language education in India in an 1835 document, "Minute on Education": portrait Minute on Education Authorship of the speech has also been attributed to Lord William Benti[n]ck -- not to be confused with Sir Henry John William Benti[n]ck -- who was a contemporary of Macaulay's and served as Governor-General of British India. attributed to Lord William Benti[n]ck Macaulay's Minute on Education in 1835, which promoted the superiority of Western education, was supported by Lord William Benti[n]ck. In the document, Macaulay talks of creating a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. In "Minute on Education," Macaulay argued that teaching in the English language was necessary to improve education in India. In his opinion, the languages spoken at the time by the people of India were a roadblock to effectively funds allotted by Parliament to improve the country's education. "We have to educate a people who cannot at present be educated by means of their mother-tongue," he said. The following passage is from Macaulay's "Minute on Education," which included the "blood and color" quote that appeared in the AFP report: In one point I fully agree with the gentlemen to whose general views I am opposed. I feel with them that it is impossible for us, with our limited means, to attempt to educate the body of the people. We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, -- a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population. India gained independence from British rule in 1947. gained independence In sum, there's no record of Macaulay uttering the exact words cited in the quote meme in regard to "dominating" India in the 1835, though he did express thoughts in writing on the subject of Indian education at the time, including his conviction that the education of Indians should be conducted in English, not Indians' native languages. Fenton, Roger. Sir Henry John William Bentinck. National Portrait Gallery, London, 1855, https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw157047/Sir-Henry-John-William-Bentinck. Google Books. https://books.google.com/. India Independence Day (1947). United States Census Bureau, 15 Aug. 2022, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/india-independence-day.html. Knowles, Michael David. Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay | English Politician and Author. Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Babington-Macaulay-Baron-Macaulay. Macaulay, Thomas. The History of England from the Accession of James the Second. Penguin Books Limited, 1848. Macaulay, Thomas Babington. Minute on Education. Columbia University in the City of New York, 1835, https://www.columbia.edu/. Malawi Government. Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/malawigovernment/. Mitra, Anirban. The Infamous Macaulay Speech That Never Was. The Wire, 19 Feb. 2017, https://thewire.in/history/macaulays-speech-never-delivered. Saint-Cricq, Thomas, and Charlotte Mason. Lord Macaulay Never Gave This Speech to UK Parliament. Agence France-Presse (AFP), 25 Feb. 2020, https://factcheck.afp.com/lord-macaulay-never-gave-speech-uk-parliament.
|
[
"funds"
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[
{
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Babington-Macaulay-Baron-Macaulay",
"https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_History_of_England/tUwyBBFNwvAC"
],
"sentence": "Macaulay was an English politician, author, and historian who lived from 1800-1859. According to Britannica.com, he was perhaps best known for writing a five-volume work, \"The History of England from the Accession of James the Second.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://books.google.com/"
],
"sentence": "In order to establish whether or not the quote was real, we first looked to Google Books. The Google Books website allows anyone to search the text of just about every book in the world for free."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://factcheck.afp.com/lord-macaulay-never-gave-speech-uk-parliament",
"https://twitter.com/AFPFactCheck/status/1233435794850877440"
],
"sentence": "After the Google Books search, we stumbled upon a helpful fact check by Agence France-Presse (AFP). In the AFP story, they reported on the same quote, except the word \"India\" had been replaced with \"Africa.\" It's unclear which version of the quote came first, but it was likely the one naming India. Nevertheless, AFP concluded the attribution of the quote to Macaulay is incorrect."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw157047/Sir-Henry-John-William-Bentinck",
"https://web.archive.org/web/20221011163053/https://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_minute_education_1835.html"
],
"sentence": "The AFP fact check pointed out that the man pictured in the quote meme bore a striking resemblance to \"a portrait ofBritish army officer Sir Henry John William Benti[n]ck,\" not Macaulay. It also mentioned that Macaulay had expressed his views on the benefits of English-language education in India in an 1835 document, \"Minute on Education\":"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/195859813933854/posts/735211743331989"
],
"sentence": "Authorship of the speech has also been attributed to Lord William Benti[n]ck -- not to be confused with Sir Henry John William Benti[n]ck -- who was a contemporary of Macaulay's and served as Governor-General of British India."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20220805144337/https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/india-independence-day.html"
],
"sentence": "India gained independence from British rule in 1947."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/starbucks-defund-police/
|
Did Starbucks Support Calls To 'Defund the Police'?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
07/16/2020
|
[
"Outraged supporters of law enforcement officers called for a boycott after an evidence-free meme appeared in July 2020."
] |
In the summer of 2020, a new nationwide wave of protests against racial injustice and police brutality was accompanied by a rising campaign to substantially divert funding away from police forces, as well as to replace existing models of local law enforcement. The movement, referred to in shorthand by the somewhat imprecise phrase "defund the police" faced intense opposition from some right-leaning quarters, especially supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump. As a result, companies and organizations faced condemnation for their supposed association with the "defund the police" movement, and in July, readers asked Snopes to examine one such claim. condemnation A widely shared meme read: meme "Starbucks says Defund the Police. Let's defund Starbucks. Ask all friends and family not to be Starbucks patrons. Dunkin coffee is just as good!" We could find no evidence of any instance in which Starbucks, as a company, called for police forces to be defunded or abolished, promoted or supported the "defund the police" campaign, or indeed used the words "defund the police" (or similar phrases) in its public utterances or on its social media accounts. As a result, we are at a loss as to the origins of the false claim that "Starbucks says defund the police." The company has on several occasions articulated support for the Black Lives Matter movement and opposition to racial injustice, but that is clearly not the same as supporting the "defund the police" campaign. several occasions articulated support Black Lives Matter We found no evidence that Starbucks supports the "defund the police" campaign. By contrast, we found ample evidence of the company's partnering with various police forces as part of the "Coffee with a Cop" initiative, which encourages police officers and members of the public to meet in their local Starbucks caf with the aim of creating understanding, rather than hostility, between law enforcement agencies and the communities they police. Coffee with a Cop It's worth noting that that initiative seeks to repair and improve relations between police forces and local communities, especially people of color within those communities. As such, it is actually rather antithetical to the "defund the police" movement, whose proponents often argue that those relationships are damaged beyond repair and efforts to reform policing have failed and should no longer be attempted. argue Mac Guill, Dan. "Has Ford Motor Co. Donated Millions to 'Defund the Police'?"
Snopes.com. 10 July 2020. Starbucks. "Black Lives Matter: Starbucks Update on Standing Against Racial Injustice."
12 June 2020.
|
[
"loss"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ford-motor-company-defund-police/"
],
"sentence": "As a result, companies and organizations faced condemnation for their supposed association with the \"defund the police\" movement, and in July, readers asked Snopes to examine one such claim. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/QZZ3h"
],
"sentence": "A widely shared meme read:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/kg9p6",
"https://archive.is/tE6wl",
"https://www.snopes.com/uploads/2020/07/Screenshot-2020-07-15-at-18.13.37.png",
"https://www.snopes.com/uploads/2020/07/Screenshot-2020-07-15-at-18.15.21.png",
"https://archive.is/cH1e8"
],
"sentence": "The company has on several occasions articulated support for the Black Lives Matter movement and opposition to racial injustice, but that is clearly not the same as supporting the \"defund the police\" campaign. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/WsDV1"
],
"sentence": "We found no evidence that Starbucks supports the \"defund the police\" campaign. By contrast, we found ample evidence of the company's partnering with various police forces as part of the \"Coffee with a Cop\" initiative, which encourages police officers and members of the public to meet in their local Starbucks caf with the aim of creating understanding, rather than hostility, between law enforcement agencies and the communities they police. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/pkj98"
],
"sentence": "It's worth noting that that initiative seeks to repair and improve relations between police forces and local communities, especially people of color within those communities. As such, it is actually rather antithetical to the \"defund the police\" movement, whose proponents often argue that those relationships are damaged beyond repair and efforts to reform policing have failed and should no longer be attempted. "
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/montana-beef/
|
Bozeman Town Hall Meeting
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
08/23/2009
|
[
"Account describes President Obama's August 2009 town hall meeting in Montana?"
] |
Claim: Account describes President Obama's August 2009 town hall meeting in Montana. Example: [Collected via e-mail, August 2009] By now you have probably heard that President Obama came to Montana last Friday. However, there are many things that the major news has not covered. I feel that since Bill and I live here and we were at the airport on Friday I should share some facts with you. Whatever you decide to do with the information is up to you. If you chose to share this email with others I do ask that you DELETE my email address before you forward this on. On Wednesday, August 5th it was announced locally that the President would be coming here. There are many groups here that are against his healthcare and huge spending so those groups began talking and deciding on what they were going to do. The White House would not release ANY details other than the date. On about Tuesday Bill found out that they would be holding the "Town Hall" at the airport. (This is only because Bill knows EVERYONE at the airport) Our airport is actually located outside of Belgrade (tiny town) in a very remote location. Nothing is around there. They chose to use a hangar that is the most remotely located hangar. You could not pick a more remote location, and you can not get to it easily. It is totally secluded from the public. FYI: We have many areas in Belgrade and Bozeman which could have held a large amount of folks with sufficient parking. (gymnasiums/auditoriums). All of which have chairs and tables, and would not have to be SHIPPED IN!! $$$$$ During the week, cargo by the TONS was being shipped in constantly. Airport employees could not believe how it just kept coming. Though it was our President coming several expressed how excessive it was, especially during a recession. $$$$$ Late Tuesday/early Wednesday the 12th, they said that tickets would be handed out on Thursday 9am at two locations and the president would be arriving around 12:30 Friday. Thursday morning about 600 tickets were passed out. However, 1500 were printed at a Local printing shop per White House request. Hmmmm..... 900 tickets just DISAPPEARED. This same morning someone called into the radio from the local UPS branch and said that THOUSANDS of Dollars of Lobster were shipped in for Obama. Montana has some of the best beef in the nation!!! And it would have been really wonderful to help out the local economy. Anyone heard of the Recession?? Just think... with all of the traveling the White House is doing. $$$$$ One can only imagine what else we are paying for. On Friday Bill and I got out to the airport about 10:45am. The groups that wanted to protest Obama's spending and healthcare had gotten a permit to protest and that area was roped off. But that was not to be. A large bus carrying SEIU (Service Employees International Union) members drove up onto the area (illegal)and unloaded right there. It was quite a commotion and there were specifically 2 SEIU men trying to make trouble and start a fight. Police did get involved and arrested the one man but they said they did not have the manpower to remove the SEIU crowd. The SEIU crowd was very organized and young. About 99% were under the age of 30 and they were not locals! They had bullhorns and PROFESSIONALLY made signs. Some even wore preprinted T-shirts. Oh, and Planned Parenthood folks were with them... professing abortion rights with their T-shirts and preprinted signs. (BTW, all these folks did have a permit to protest in ANOTHER area) Those against healthcare/spending moved away from the SEIU crowd to avoid confrontation. They were orderly and respectful. Even though SEIU kept coming over and walking through, continuing to be very intimidating and aggressive at the direction of the one SEIU man. So we had Montana folks from ALL OVER the state with their homemade signs and their DOGS with homemade signs. We had cowboys, nurses, doctors you name it. There was even a guy from Texas who had been driving through. He found out about the occasion, went to the store, made a sign, and came to protest. If you are wondering about the press.... Well, all of the major networks were over by that remote hangar I mentioned. They were conveniently parked on the other side of the buildings FAR away. None of these crowds were even visible to them. I have my doubts that they knew anything about the crowds. We did have some local news media around us from this state and Idaho. Speaking of the local media... they were invited. However, all questions were to be turned into the White House in advance of the event. Wouldn't want anyone to have to think off the top of their head. It was very obvious that it was meant to be totally controlled by the White House. Everything was orchestrated down to the last detail to make it appear that Montana is just crazy for Obama and government healthcare. Even those people that talked about their insurance woes..... the White House called our local HRDC (Human Resource and Development Committee) and asked for names. Then the White House asked those folks to come. Smoke and mirrors... EVERYTHING was staged!!!!!!!!!!! I am very dismayed about what I learned about our current White House. The amount of control and manipulation was unbelievable. I felt I was not living in the United States of America, more like the USSR!! I was physically nauseous. Bill and I have been around when Presidents or Heads of State visit. It has NEVER been like this. I am truly very frightened for our country. America needs your prayers and your voices. If you care about our country please get involved. Know the issues. And let Congress hear your voices again and again!! If they are willing to put forth so much effort to BULLY a small town one can only imagine what is going on in Washington DC. Scary!! KathyBozeman, Montana Origins: On Friday, 14 August 2009, President Obama held a town hall meeting in Bozeman, Montana, to discuss his proposed health care reforms. That town hall meeting was one of three that week, the other two being held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (Aug. 11), and Grand Junction, Colorado (Aug. 15). At this time, the author of the e-mailed account purporting to have been written by someone who attended the town hall meeting in Bozeman is unknown. Some versions are signed "Kathy" and mention that the writer's husband's name is Bill, but others are signed "Sue" and identify the husband as Joe. Some additionally describe the husband as a former Navy pilot and Delta Airlines captain. Many are prefaced by claims that the author is a friend who lives in Montana, or that she is the wife of a cousin. Puzzlingly, though we combed through the hundreds of copies of this piece we received, none of those e-mail forwards provided a surname for Kathy/Bill or Sue/Joe (although a concatenation of the name and location listed at the end has misled some to believe the writer is named Kathy Bozeman). In just about every other case we've tackled where e-mailed eyewitness accounts have gone viral, at least a handful of the earliest forwards provided clues to the surname of the sender, if not the sender's actual name. Questions of authorship aside, the account asserts four primary criticisms: That thousands of dollars worth of lobster was shipped in for the President, that the majority of tickets for the event were not distributed to the town's citizens but instead were used to pack the hall with Obama supporters, that the media did not cover the protests taking place outside the meeting, and that there was a dust-up between two groups of protesters, resulting in the arrest of one person. Let's start with the lobsters. The whole of that claim arises from the e-mail, which states: "This same morning someone called into the radio from the local UPS branch and said that THOUSANDS of Dollars of Lobster were shipped in for Obama." We looked at numerous news accounts about the event (far, far more than are listed in the Sources section at the end of this article) and failed to find any mention of lobsters (shipped in or otherwise) in any of them, or of staffers and/or town hall attendees chowing down on lobster dinners. Regarding the distribution of tickets for the event, most press accounts seem to agree there were 1,300 ticket-holders in attendance at the Bozeman town hall meeting held in a hangar at the airport. Many news articles mention 700 tickets having been handed out (a limit of two to a family) at Bozeman's city hall, and some mention an additional 150 having been distributed on the same basis at the city hall in the nearby small town of Belgrade. According to the Big Sky Weekly, for example: "The vast majority of tickets were general admission (split roughly 80/20 between Bozeman and Belgrade respectively, based on their populations). Tickets were limited to two per person and were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at Bozeman City Hall and Belgrade City Hall. The remaining tickets were distributed by the White House to elected officials and community leaders." If the reported attendance figures are accurate, they would suggest that about 450 tickets were given out through means other than first-come, first-served public distribution, more than the "few" mentioned in other press accounts (e.g., "A few tickets were distributed by the White House to elected officials, community leaders and local supporters" [Associated Press] and "the state's two Democratic U.S. senators each ... said they had a 'handful' of tickets to hand out to friends and supporters" [Billings Gazette]), but less than the "majority" claimed in the e-mail. (While the e-mail asserts 1,500 tickets were printed, press accounts agree there were 1,300 ticket-holding attendees. It's worth noting that organizers of events for which no admission fees are charged often print extra tickets to allow for factors such as spoilage, changes in venue capacity, no-shows, etc.). Away from the hangar that housed the meeting, rallies hosted by various groups were held. Some of these protests were well organized, with supporters having been bused in and armed with professionally-rendered signs, and others weren't. They were not ignored by the press, though (e.g., a Billings Gazette article covered the protests, as did television station KULR in the video linked below), albeit the focus of the journalists in attendance that day was upon the questions being put to the President in the meeting and how he was handling them rather than whatever those not actually part of the town hall meeting were getting up to in a nearby field: article As to how the protesters behaved, various groups shook signs and shouted at one another. There were no reports of violence, although police did arrest one man for disorderly conduct. The unnamed man was released later that afternoon. Regarding the e-mail's suggestion that law enforcement was ineffective in controlling the protesters ("Police did get involved and arrested the one man but they said they did not have the manpower to remove the SEIU crowd"), at the end of the video linked to above, KULR reporter Nick Lough (who was on the scene during the demonstrations) says: "Bozeman police, the Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, and the Montana Highway Patrol were all within a few yards of the protesters just to make sure nothing grew too out of control." Barbara "controlled response" Mikkelson Last updated: 23 August 2009 Dennison, Mike. "Crowd Gathers Early for Obama Montana Visit." Billings Gazette. 14 August 2009. Johnson, Charles. "Demonstrators Have Field Day Near Airport." Billings Gazette. 14 August 2009. Lough, Nick. "Demonstrators Outside Obama Town Hall." KULR-TV [Billings, MT]. 14 August 2009. Mayrer, Jessica. "Civil Discourse." Bozeman Daily Chronicle. 15 August 2009. Person, Daniel. "Obama to Talk Health Care at Airport Friday." Bozeman Daily Chronicle. 12 August 2009. Schontzler, Gail. "Its Showtime." Bozeman Daily Chronicle. 14 August 2009. Sidoti, Liz. "Civil Exchanges at Obama's Health Care Forum." The Star-Ledger. 15 August 2009 (p. A3). Associated Press. "Good Manners in Obama's Montana Audience." 14 August 2009.
|
[
"economy"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_d7056dd4-8954-11de-a2fe-001cc4c002e0.html"
],
"sentence": "Away from the hangar that housed the meeting, rallies hosted by various groups were held. Some of these protests were well organized, with supporters having been bused in and armed with professionally-rendered signs, and others weren't. They were not ignored by the press, though (e.g., a Billings Gazette article covered the protests, as did television station KULR in the video linked below), albeit the focus of the journalists in attendance that day was upon the questions being put to the President in the meeting and how he was handling them rather than whatever those not actually part of the town hall meeting were getting up to in a nearby field:"
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/apr/19/elizabeth-roberts/ri-hhs-secretary-elizabeth-roberts-says-more-30-pe/
|
More than 30 cents of every state tax dollar goes to Medicaid.
|
C. Eugene Emery Jr.
|
04/19/2015
|
[] |
The Raimondo administration wants to see more efficiency when it comes to spending on Medicaid, the joint state and federal program that provides health insurance to the very poor and people with disabilities. Roughly every dollar spent by the state is matched by the federal government. Duringa March 2, 2015, presentationto the Reinventing Medicaid Working Group, the state's secretary for health and human services, Elizabeth Roberts,displayed a slidewhich said that nearly a third of all state tax dollars goes to Medicaid. More than 30 cents of every state tax dollar goes to Medicaid, the slide said. It also contained a pie chart in which Medicaid is shown eating up 31.5 percent of those tax dollars. The slide lists the source as the state budget for the 2013 fiscal year. But on March 31, 2015, groups that want to create a single-payer health insurance system in the statechallenged that statistic and othersbeing used by the Raimondo administration in itspush for Medicaid reform. The Rhode Island chapters of Physicians for a National Health Program and HealthCare Now said the actual percentage isn't 31.5 for fiscal 2013, but closer to 22. We decided to see who was correct. Because Roberts specifically mentioned state tax dollars, for this fact check, we will only look at general revenue funds raised by the state, not federal funds shared with the state or restricted funds. When we contacted Roberts' office, spokesman Michael Raia said the source of the information was listed incorrectly. The 31.5 percent is based on the current fiscal year of 2015. According to data from the House Finance committee, this year the state is slated tospend $1.084 billionof its unrestricted money on Medicaid. That's 31.5 percent of the$3.445 billion in general revenue funds. (The state budget enacted that year totaled $8.78 billion, including restricted revenue and federal money for Medicaid and other things.) That made us curious. What were the numbers in 2013, the year cited incorrectly by Roberts? The Rhode Island Health Care Association, one of the groups questioning the numbers, referred us to the executive summary ofGov. Lincoln Chafee's budget for the 2015 fiscal year. Page A-5 listed $3.216 billion in general revenue for that year and page 71 of the budget'stechnical appendixsays the Office of Health and Human Services (OHHS) actually received $772 million from the general fund. That would be 24 percent, close to what the critics claimed. But in the 2013 enacted budget,20 percent of the state's Medicaid money was spent by other departments, including Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) and the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). That makes the 24 percent too low. When all of the states spending for Medicaid out of its general revenues is accounted for, the percentage comes out to around 31 percent. Our ruling Roberts said more than 30 cents of every state tax dollar goes to Medicaid. She cited a specific percentage of 31.5 percent and said it came from the 2013 fiscal year. It's actually from the 2015 fiscal year. But the percentage from 2013 is very close to that. Roberts may have gotten the source year wrong, but it turns out that either year produces the same result. We rate her statement asTrue. (If you have a claim youd likePolitiFact Rhode Islandto check, email us at[email protected]. And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)
|
[
"Rhode Island",
"Debt",
"Disability",
"Economy",
"Families",
"Health Care",
"Medicaid",
"Poverty",
"State Budget",
"Taxes"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"http://reinventingmedicaid.ri.gov/events/2015/3/2/reinventing-medicaid-task-force-first-public-meeting"
],
"sentence": "Duringa March 2, 2015, presentationto the Reinventing Medicaid Working Group, the state's secretary for health and human services, Elizabeth Roberts,displayed a slidewhich said that nearly a third of all state tax dollars goes to Medicaid."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150331/NEWS/150339834/13815"
],
"sentence": "But on March 31, 2015, groups that want to create a single-payer health insurance system in the statechallenged that statistic and othersbeing used by the Raimondo administration in itspush for Medicaid reform."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/housefinance/ba/2014/FY%202015%20BAE%20Section%20VI%20Special%20Reports.pdf"
],
"sentence": "According to data from the House Finance committee, this year the state is slated tospend $1.084 billionof its unrestricted money on Medicaid. That's 31.5 percent of the$3.445 billion in general revenue funds. (The state budget enacted that year totaled $8.78 billion, including restricted revenue and federal money for Medicaid and other things.)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.budget.ri.gov/Documents/Prior%20Year%20Budgets/Operating%20Budget%202015/ExecutiveSummary/0_FY%202015%20Executive%20Summary.pdf"
],
"sentence": "The Rhode Island Health Care Association, one of the groups questioning the numbers, referred us to the executive summary ofGov. Lincoln Chafee's budget for the 2015 fiscal year. Page A-5 listed $3.216 billion in general revenue for that year and page 71 of the budget'stechnical appendixsays the Office of Health and Human Services (OHHS) actually received $772 million from the general fund. That would be 24 percent, close to what the critics claimed."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://webserver.rilin.state.ri.us/HouseFinance/WEB%20FY%202013%20BAE%20Section%20VI%20Special%20Reports.pdf"
],
"sentence": "But in the 2013 enacted budget,20 percent of the state's Medicaid money was spent by other departments, including Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH) and the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). That makes the 24 percent too low."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/about/"
],
"sentence": "Roberts may have gotten the source year wrong, but it turns out that either year produces the same result. We rate her statement asTrue."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/feb/21/principles-truth-o-meter/"
],
"sentence": "(If you have a claim youd likePolitiFact Rhode Islandto check, email us at[email protected]. And follow us on Twitter: @politifactri.)"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nieto-democrats-open-borders/
|
Is This a Picture of 'El Chapo' and U.S. Democrats Plotting Open Borders?
|
David Mikkelson
|
11/19/2019
|
[
"The infamous drug lord seemingly traveled and dressed well while serving time behind bars in Mexico."
] |
An online tweet-turned-meme attempted to link then-U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, and Mexican drug lord Joaqun Archivaldo Guzmn Loera (commonly known as "El Chapo") in a plot to "keep the USA/Mexico border open": Nothing implied or stated in this meme from January 2019 stands up to scrutiny, though. First off, the suggestion that the featured photograph captured some form of furtive meeting or secret negotiations between El Chapo and Democrats Pelosi and O'Rourke does not reflect reality. This picture was taken in May 2016 while Guzmn was in custody in Mexico awaiting extradition to the United States in conjunction with a tour of three Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership countries undertaken by a bipartisan U.S. House delegation. The man standing next to Pelosi is not El Chapo, but then-President Enrique Pea Nieto of Mexico: tour Pelosi and a delegation of representatives met with Mexican President Enrique Pea Nieto, kicking off a three-country tour to discuss security, trade, migration and human rights. The delegation also included Democratic Reps. Norma Torres, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Pete Aguilar and Linda Sanchez (Calif.); Beto O'Rourke and Henry Cuellar (Texas); Ruben Gallego (Ariz.); Michelle Lujan Grisham (N.M.); and Republicans Michael Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Richard Hanna (N.Y.). The U.S. delegation will also visit Peru and Chile, two Latin American countries that, along with Mexico, are signatories of the Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, President Obama's signature trade deal. A better version of the photograph was contemporaneously posted to Facebook by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who was talking with Nieto at the time the picture was snapped (but was cropped out of the version used in the meme): It is true that another drug lord claimed during El Chapo's January 2019 trial that the latter had paid a bribe of $100 million to Nieto, but the alleged bribe was supposed to have been solicited to induce Nieto to call off the authorities' attempts to find and arrest El Chapo, not to "keep the US/Mexico border open": claimed The former president of Mexico, Enrique Pea Nieto, took a $100 million bribe from Joaqun Guzmn Loera, the infamous crime lord known as El Chapo, according to a witness at Mr. Guzmans trial. The stunning testimony was delivered in a New York courtroom by Alex Cifuentes Villa, a Colombian drug lord who worked closely with Mr. Guzmn from 2007 to 2013, when the kingpin was hiding from the law at a series of remote ranches in the Sierra Madre mountains. According to Mr. Cifuentes, Mr. Pea Nieto first reached out to Mr. Guzmn about the time he was elected president in late 2012, asking the drug lord for $250 million in exchange for calling off a nationwide manhunt for him. Moreover, the bribe accusation against Nieto as related in court was both unproved and somewhat far-fetched: accusation Did members of the [Nieto] administration take bribes? says Alejandro Hope, a Mexican security analyst and columnist at the El Universal newspaper. Yeah maybe. But at the end of the day Guzmn was captured twice, then extradited. So if he did make those bribes they were a very poor investment. Taking handouts from business has become almost expected, especially among members of Pea Nietos PRI party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years. Taking a briefcase of cash from the worlds most sought-after drug lord, though, is a brazen, idiotic move, Hope says. You would think someone in that position could at least transfer it through shell companies in the Cayman Islands. Finally, O'Rourke did not run a "$70 million open borders campaign." His position on immigration has been to oppose the construction of a border-long wall (of the type U.S. President Donald Trump has called for) as an unnecessary and ineffective measure for improving border security, but not to advocate for "open borders": immigration Q: Would you accept some compromises here if you want to make changes, including, for instance, funding the president's border wall? A: I think this one is going to be on the American people. And I think, when we make the choice clear that we can do the right thing by this country and for those kids, and not do it at the price of a 2,000-mile, 30-foot-high, $30 billion wall; not doing it at the price of deporting people who are seeking asylum, deporting people in some cases back to certain death; not doing it at the cost of ending family migration, which is the story of this country -- certainly of the O'Rourkes -- and millions of families who have fled terror or starvation in their countries to be here. I think the American people are going to force us to do the right thing. That always happens in America. It is frustrating. It's slow. It doesn't happen right away. But, ultimately, we get it right. And I'm confident that the American people this time are going to get it right. We already have a border wall that we don't need. Don't need more walls and militarization at a time that the border has never been safer. pic.twitter.com/J6mdMUdyWL pic.twitter.com/J6mdMUdyWL Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) April 20, 2017 April 20, 2017 Nieto left office in December 2018, and El Chapo was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years by a U.S. court in July 2019 and is currently serving his sentence at ADX Florence. sentenced Feuer, Alan. "Former Mexican President Pea Nieto Took $100 Million Bribe, Witness at El Chapo Trial Says."
The New York Times. 15 January 2019. Phippen, J. Weston. "Did Former President Enrique Pena Nieto Take That $100 Million Bribe?'
Rolling Stone. 16 January 2019. Dobuzinskis, Alex. "Mexican Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Begins Life Term in Colorado 'Supermax' Prison."
WKZO. 19 July 2019. Bernal, Rafael. "Pelosi: Mexico Should Not Worry About Trump."
The Hill. 3 May 2016.
|
[
"investment"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=103aFPK4sIHa4oGmRZSq8AUj-qSSsp8Ry"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/278496-pelosi-mexico-should-not-worry-about-trump"
],
"sentence": "Nothing implied or stated in this meme from January 2019 stands up to scrutiny, though. First off, the suggestion that the featured photograph captured some form of furtive meeting or secret negotiations between El Chapo and Democrats Pelosi and O'Rourke does not reflect reality. This picture was taken in May 2016 while Guzmn was in custody in Mexico awaiting extradition to the United States in conjunction with a tour of three Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership countries undertaken by a bipartisan U.S. House delegation. The man standing next to Pelosi is not El Chapo, but then-President Enrique Pea Nieto of Mexico:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/nyregion/el-chapo-trial.html"
],
"sentence": "It is true that another drug lord claimed during El Chapo's January 2019 trial that the latter had paid a bribe of $100 million to Nieto, but the alleged bribe was supposed to have been solicited to induce Nieto to call off the authorities' attempts to find and arrest El Chapo, not to \"keep the US/Mexico border open\":"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/el-chapo-pina-nieto-100-million-bribe-claim-legacy-780040/"
],
"sentence": "Moreover, the bribe accusation against Nieto as related in court was both unproved and somewhat far-fetched:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.ontheissues.org/International/Beto_O%60Rourke_Immigration.htm"
],
"sentence": "Finally, O'Rourke did not run a \"$70 million open borders campaign.\" His position on immigration has been to oppose the construction of a border-long wall (of the type U.S. President Donald Trump has called for) as an unnecessary and ineffective measure for improving border security, but not to advocate for \"open borders\":"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://t.co/J6mdMUdyWL"
],
"sentence": "We already have a border wall that we don't need. Don't need more walls and militarization at a time that the border has never been safer. pic.twitter.com/J6mdMUdyWL"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/855196194183815169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
],
"sentence": " Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) April 20, 2017"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/07/17/joaquin-el-chapo-guzman-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/"
],
"sentence": "Nieto left office in December 2018, and El Chapo was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years by a U.S. court in July 2019 and is currently serving his sentence at ADX Florence."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-disabled-veterans-cuts/
|
Did Donald Trump's 2018 Budget Proposal Cut Support for Disabled Veterans?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
01/23/2018
|
[
"The president's plan did call for changes that would have had a significant financial effect on some disabled veterans, but the policy has been abandoned."
] |
As a presidential candidate, one of Donald Trump's main campaign promises was to improve the treatment of United States military veterans and initiate major reforms to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). reforms However, the president faced criticism during 2018 budget talks amidst reports that he was proposing significant cuts to benefits for disabled veterans. On 17 January 2018, a meme appeared on social media that specified a facet of that criticism: meme As is usually the case with memes and macros, this was not an entirely accurate summation of the political situation. President Trump did propose cutting a particular benefit for some disabled veterans in his March 2017 federal budget proposal; however, his administration backed away from the plan after an outcry from veterans' groups and abandoned the provisions that would have produced those cuts. The Facebook meme appeared to have originated in an analysis of President Trump's budget plan contained in journalist David Cay Johnston's book It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America. On page 225, Johnston wrote that: journalist book page 225 The biggest cut Trump proposed [in his 2018 budget] was ending a benefit for disabled veterans once they reach the minimum age for Social Security benefits. These veterans would see their income plunge from almost $35,000 annually to less than $13,000 if the Trump plan becomes law. The benefit is called "individual unemployability" (IU) and is paid out (as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation program) to military veterans who are unable to find work because they have a relatively high level of disability sustained during service in the armed forces, according to the VA: VA Individual Unemployability ... allows VA to pay certain Veterans disability compensation at the 100% rate, even though VA has not rated their service-connected disabilities at the total level. In order to qualify for IU, a veteran must be assessed as being at least 60 percent disabled due to a service-connected disability or disabilities. As Johnston correctly wrote, Donald Trump's initial 2018 budget proposal ended individual unemployability for disabled veterans once they became eligible to receive Social Security benefits. However, Johnston did not mention that, under President Trump's proposal, disabled veterans who received Social Security benefits would continue to be paid disability benefits by the VA, albeit at their originally-assessed disability rate (rather than at a 100 percent rate), and anyone not eligible for Social Security would continue to receive IU. The 2018 budget proposal outlined the proposed changes: outlined Veterans eligible for Social Security retirement benefits would have their IU terminated upon reaching the minimum retirement age for Social Security purposes, or upon enactment of the proposal if the Veteran is already in receipt of Social Security retirement benefits. These Veterans would continue to receive VA disability benefits based on their original disability rating, at the scheduler evaluation level. IU benefits would not be terminated for Veterans who are ineligible for Social Security retirement benefits, thus allowing them to continue to receive IU past minimum retirement age. The Trump administration estimated that the proposed cuts would save $3.2 billion in 2018 and $40.8 billion over 10 years and had proposed using those savings to help fund a plan to expand and make permanent the Obama administration's Veterans Choice Program, which seeks to improve the availability of care for veterans in their own communities. Veterans Choice Program Veterans organizations strongly criticized the IU proposal in early 2017, with veterans service organization AMVETS warning that it was "deeply concerned" by the cuts, which they said would affect "perhaps the most vulnerable segment of the veterans population": AMVETS warning The argument for this cut is that these senior citizens would be eligible for Social Security retirement benefits at age 65. That argument is flawed because these veterans have largely been disabled, out of the work force and not paying into Social Security for many years before reaching 65. Many have been severely disabled as a result of their military service and unable to work since the day of their discharge. AMVETS estimated that Trump's proposal would affect 225,000 military veterans aged over 65 and would decrease by a full $1,200 a month the disability benefit paid to an unmarried veteran with a 90 percent disabled rating. The payments that veterans receive under IU depends upon their disability rating and family circumstances, as outlined by the VA. For example, a veteran with a 60 percent disability rating who lives alone would theoretically receive $1,083.52 in disability benefits each month. However, under individual unemployability, veterans are treated as if they had a disability rating of 100 percent, meaning they would receive $2,973.86 each month. For veterans eligible to receive Social Security, Trump's plan would have pruned their monthly disability benefit back to the 60 percent rate, a highly significant cut of $1,890.34, or 63.6 percent. Over the course of a year, that would have brought their disability benefits down from $35,686.32 to $13,002.24, roughly the amounts mentioned by David Cay Johnston in his book and in the Facebook meme. VA Such veterans would be in receipt of Social Security benefits as well, but it's easy to see the significant financial effects the plan would have had on an aging veteran who was unable to work and who lived alone. By comparison, a retirement-aged veteran with a 90 percent disability rating and a dependent spouse, a child, and two parents would have seen annual disability benefits cut from $42,326.64 to $27,356.16, a decrease of 35.4 percent. In June 2017, VA Secretary David Shulkin publicly stepped back from the proposed IU cut, telling the Senate Veterans' Affair Committee that: telling As I began to listen to veterans and their concerns and VSOs [Veterans Service Organizations] in particular, it became clear that this would be hurting some veterans, and that this would be a take-away from veterans that can't afford to have those benefits taken away. And I'm really concerned about that...I am not going to support policies that hurt veterans. The following October, Shulkin wrote to veterans service organizations to confirm that the VA no longer supported ending IU for disabled veterans who are eligible to receive Social Security. wrote Johnston's analysis, and the Facebook meme posted by Stacey Sharp, are both true in a narrow sense. The amounts they mentioned were accurate but were based on only one of many possible scenarios for disabled veterans. The latter, published in January 2018, left out that the proposal had been abandoned by then. Merica, Dan. "Trump Signs VA Reform Bill, Making Good on a Campaign Promise."
CNN. 23 June 2017. Johnston, David Cay. It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America.
Simon & Schuster, 2018. ISBN 1-501-17416-9 (p. 225).
Hoellwarth, John. "AMVETS Deeply Concerned by President's Proposed Cuts to Veteran Benefits."
American Veterans. 24 May 2017. Wentling, Nikki. "VA Secretary Promises in Writing Not to Cut Benefit Program for Disabled Vets."
Stars and Stripes. 13 October 2017.
|
[
"income"
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[
{
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=11TeP1ySh4m-uyIubTfypgoM9N__8poDj"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/23/politics/trump-veterans-reform-bill-signing/index.html"
],
"sentence": "As a presidential candidate, one of Donald Trump's main campaign promises was to improve the treatment of United States military veterans and initiate major reforms to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/stacey.sharp.52/posts/10156216190374548"
],
"sentence": "However, the president faced criticism during 2018 budget talks amidst reports that he was proposing significant cuts to benefits for disabled veterans. On 17 January 2018, a meme appeared on social media that specified a facet of that criticism:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://davidcayjohnston.com/",
"https://www.amazon.com/Even-Worse-Than-Think-Administration/dp/1501174169",
"https://books.google.com/books?id=lPpFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA225&dq=trump+veterans+35,000+13,000&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjvjM75zu7YAhUo7IMKHaNRA6UQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=trump%20veterans%2035%2C000%2013%2C000&f=false"
],
"sentence": "The Facebook meme appeared to have originated in an analysis of President Trump's budget plan contained in journalist David Cay Johnston's book It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America. On page 225, Johnston wrote that:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.benefits.va.gov/BENEFITS/factsheets/serviceconnected/IU.pdf"
],
"sentence": "The benefit is called \"individual unemployability\" (IU) and is paid out (as part of the Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation program) to military veterans who are unable to find work because they have a relatively high level of disability sustained during service in the armed forces, according to the VA:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/vet.pdf"
],
"sentence": "The 2018 budget proposal outlined the proposed changes:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.va.gov/opa/choiceact/"
],
"sentence": "The Trump administration estimated that the proposed cuts would save $3.2 billion in 2018 and $40.8 billion over 10 years and had proposed using those savings to help fund a plan to expand and make permanent the Obama administration's Veterans Choice Program, which seeks to improve the availability of care for veterans in their own communities. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://amvets.org/about-us/",
"https://web.archive.org/web/20170527115621/https://amvets.org/amvets-deeply-concerned-presidents-proposed-cuts-veteran-benefits/"
],
"sentence": "Veterans organizations strongly criticized the IU proposal in early 2017, with veterans service organization AMVETS warning that it was \"deeply concerned\" by the cuts, which they said would affect \"perhaps the most vulnerable segment of the veterans population\":"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.benefits.va.gov/compensation/resources_comp01.asp#FNB"
],
"sentence": "The payments that veterans receive under IU depends upon their disability rating and family circumstances, as outlined by the VA. For example, a veteran with a 60 percent disability rating who lives alone would theoretically receive $1,083.52 in disability benefits each month. However, under individual unemployability, veterans are treated as if they had a disability rating of 100 percent, meaning they would receive $2,973.86 each month. For veterans eligible to receive Social Security, Trump's plan would have pruned their monthly disability benefit back to the 60 percent rate, a highly significant cut of $1,890.34, or 63.6 percent. Over the course of a year, that would have brought their disability benefits down from $35,686.32 to $13,002.24, roughly the amounts mentioned by David Cay Johnston in his book and in the Facebook meme."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings/fiscal-year-2018-budget-06142017"
],
"sentence": "In June 2017, VA Secretary David Shulkin publicly stepped back from the proposed IU cut, telling the Senate Veterans' Affair Committee that:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.stripes.com/news/va-secretary-promises-in-writing-not-to-cut-benefit-program-for-disabled-vets-1.492381"
],
"sentence": "The following October, Shulkin wrote to veterans service organizations to confirm that the VA no longer supported ending IU for disabled veterans who are eligible to receive Social Security."
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/apr/06/bernie-sanders/bernie-sanders-has-released-few-tax-returns-compar/
|
Says his campaign has released his past tax returns.
|
Louis Jacobson
|
04/06/2016
|
[] |
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took some heat from CNNs Jake Tapper during anApril 3 interview. The topic: The degree of public transparency Sanders has provided for his tax returns. Tapper brought up the topic: Im kind of surprised that you havent gone further on transparency. You released the summary page of your 2014 tax returns. Hillary Clinton has posted on her website the last eight years of her personal returns, all of the returns. Before the New York primary, will you match her? Will you post your full returns for the last eight years? Sanders responded, You know who does our tax returns? My wife does our tax returns. Weve been a little bit busy lately. So we will get out as much information as we can. There aint going to be very much exciting in that. I get a salary from the United States Senate, you know, theres not going to be anything new in it that people havent seen for the last many years, but we will get it out as soon as we can. Tapper wasnt satisfied. But nobody has seen them at all, I guess, is the point, and whether or not theres anything exciting in them.... At this point, Sanders interjected, No, that is not true. That is not true. Of course, we have released them in the past. Our financial situation, to the best of my knowledge, has not changed very much, but we will get out all of that information as soon as we can. How transparent has Sanders been with his tax past returns? Not very, compared with others in the 2016 presidential field. Heres a closer look. As our friends at theWashington PostFact Checkerhave noted, Tax Analysts, a publisher specializing in tax policy, has been collecting publicly available tax returns of presidential candidates and other top officials for itsTax History Project. This archive goes back as far as the 1913 tax returns of future president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Heres a look at what theircurrent archiveof the 2016 candidates looks like: In other words, among the candidates still in the race, Sanders releases are less extensive than anybodys but Donald Trump. (Trump, too, hasfaced criticismfor refusing to share his returns.) And Sanders shortcomings are actually bigger than the screenshot above would suggest. The2014 filings Sanders releasedconsist of just the first two summary pages of his Form 1040 and the equivalent summary pages from his home-state Vermont tax form. Why does this matter? Unlike most of the other candidates, Sanders has not released the succeeding pages -- the nitty gritty detail of things like charitable donations and other types of itemized deductions. For instance,Clintons release for tax year 2014is 44 pages long, or more than 10 times the length of Sanders for the same year. Its worth noting that Sanders, as a member of Congress, filesannual financial disclosures, which are accessible online back to 2012. And as a presidential candidate, he also filesfinancial disclosure documentsto the Federal Election Commission. But tax returns are much more detailed. And despite what Sanders said in the exchange with Tapper, his campaign did not provide PolitiFact with any earlier, publicly available tax forms. The campaign told thePostthat it has not released any other tax returns prior to 2014. (The campaign did tell PolitiFact that they would release his 2015 returns once they are filed.) Tax and disclosure experts we contacted agreed that Sanders current disclosures are weak by historical standards. If I filed the first two pages of my return with the IRS, it would not take long for them to ding me, said Kenneth A. Gross of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and a specialist in political disclosure and ethics. There is a lot of information on the pages following the cover pages. Joseph J. Thorndike, the Tax Analysts official who heads the Tax History Project, agreed. Sanders has not, in fact, released his most recent tax return, Thorndike said. He has released a portion of that return. The IRS would not accept a Form 1040 as a complete return and neither should voters. Also, its worth noting that Sanders has not released any portion of his older returns. If Mitt Romney had tried to release an incomplete return in 2012, the media would never have accepted it. Our ruling Sanders told Tapper that his campaign has released his past tax returns. Sanders said his 2015 return is forthcoming, and he has made other types of disclosures in the past, including congressional and presidential-candidate filings. But his releases of prior-year tax forms -- the specific documents Tapper asked about -- have been limited in several ways. Hes only released information for one year, which pales compared to most other recent presidential candidates, and even that years release only includes a summary page, not the full return. We rate his claim False. UPDATE: As he had promised, Sandersreleasedhisfull 2014 tax returnon April 15, 2016. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ba140e0d-4c11-436d-ad29-15e562ba5a98
|
[
"National",
"Candidate Biography",
"Transparency",
"Taxes"
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[
{
"image_caption": "Washington Post",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1WJruaHOTh1Xt-tJClaN96__Qmd5DP_yn"
},
{
"image_caption": "Post",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1JzidF85Fjhd6q1PiavYWDKSSvLPOvYxT"
}
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1604/03/sotu.01.html"
],
"sentence": "Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders took some heat from CNNs Jake Tapper during anApril 3 interview. The topic: The degree of public transparency Sanders has provided for his tax returns."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/04/05/bernie-sanderss-false-claim-that-he-has-released-his-full-federal-tax-returns/"
],
"sentence": "As our friends at theWashington PostFact Checkerhave noted, Tax Analysts, a publisher specializing in tax policy, has been collecting publicly available tax returns of presidential candidates and other top officials for itsTax History Project. This archive goes back as far as the 1913 tax returns of future president Franklin D. Roosevelt."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/web/presidentialtaxreturns"
],
"sentence": "Heres a look at what theircurrent archiveof the 2016 candidates looks like:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-tax/2016/04/trumps-tax-return-soap-opera-contd-213560"
],
"sentence": "In other words, among the candidates still in the race, Sanders releases are less extensive than anybodys but Donald Trump. (Trump, too, hasfaced criticismfor refusing to share his returns.)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/presreturns.nsf/Returns/9900B87E8AE6AF0C85257EB4004E9F66/$file/B_Sanders_2014.pdf"
],
"sentence": "And Sanders shortcomings are actually bigger than the screenshot above would suggest. The2014 filings Sanders releasedconsist of just the first two summary pages of his Form 1040 and the equivalent summary pages from his home-state Vermont tax form."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/presreturns.nsf/Returns/07E13291870D475885257E93007B1015/$file/HR_Clinton_2014.pdf"
],
"sentence": "Why does this matter? Unlike most of the other candidates, Sanders has not released the succeeding pages -- the nitty gritty detail of things like charitable donations and other types of itemized deductions. For instance,Clintons release for tax year 2014is 44 pages long, or more than 10 times the length of Sanders for the same year."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://efdsearch.senate.gov/search/"
],
"sentence": "Its worth noting that Sanders, as a member of Congress, filesannual financial disclosures, which are accessible online back to 2012. And as a presidential candidate, he also filesfinancial disclosure documentsto the Federal Election Commission."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-tax-return_us_5711836be4b0060ccda3634e"
],
"sentence": "UPDATE: As he had promised, Sandersreleasedhisfull 2014 tax returnon April 15, 2016."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ba140e0d-4c11-436d-ad29-15e562ba5a98"
],
"sentence": "https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/ba140e0d-4c11-436d-ad29-15e562ba5a98"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/25/ron-johnson/johnsons-claim-irs-audits-mostly-low-wage-earners-/
|
Last year the IRS audited Americans earning less than $25,000 a year at five times the rate of other groups.
|
D.L. Davis
|
08/25/2022
|
[
"Data shows that lowest wage earners were audited by IRS at a rate of 13 per 1,000 for the 2021 fiscal year., Under the analysis by a Syracuse University-based institute, everyone else was audited at a rate of 2.6 per 1,000, So, Johnson and others correctly note that gap., But thats not the final picture, as audits are not all begun in the year in which taxes are filed.",
"The number of audits will grow, and the proportion may shift."
] |
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law Aug. 16, 2022, by President Joe Biden, has many provisions aiming to lower drug costs, address the climate crisis, reduce the deficit, and ask large corporations to pay a greater share of taxes. But one aspect of the Democratic plan has sparked some of the biggest headlines: $80 billion over 10 years to beef up the Internal Revenue Service. Heres a sample of unfounded and debunked claims: A Delta Force seized a shipment of weapons headed to the IRS, a TikTok video claimed. PolitiFact National rated thisPants on Fire. The government is arming up the IRS because Joe Biden is raising taxes and disarming Americans, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said. PolitiFact National rated thisFalse. Democrats' new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you with 710,000 new audits for Americans who earn less than $75k, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy insisted. PolitiFact National rated thisMostly False. In Wisconsin, meanwhile, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson weighed in Aug. 7, 2022, the day the Senate approved the measure, with anews releaseciting a litany of grievances with the IRS and this claim: Last year, the IRS audited Americans earning less than $25,000 a year at five times the rate of other groups. According to Democrats and the White House, the Inflation Reduction Act money for the IRS is meant to improve tax compliance enforcement of the wealthiest in the nation. So, Johnsons claim caught our attention. Is he right? Two sides point to the same study to make their points When asked for backup, Johnson spokesperson Alexa Henning pointed to an April 13, 2022, letter from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. The letter was sent to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Charles Rettig. Theletter from two prominent Democrats, no less accuses the IRS of targeting low-income Americans for tax audits. After noting the lawmakers are working to secure more money to expand audits, the letter says: The most vulnerable taxpayers should not shoulder the burden of insufficient IRS enforcement funding simply because they require fewer resources to audit. Keep those thoughts in mind as we move ahead. At the core of the letter and therefore of Johnsons claim is an analysis of tax data from the 2021 fiscal year by Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonpartisan, nonprofit data research center. Here is what the analysis found: Whats behind this? The March 8, 2022,TRAC analysissays the IRS accomplished over 650 thousand audits last year by jacking up its already high reliance on correspondence audits essentially a letter from the IRS asking for documentation on a specific line item on a return. All but 100,000 of the 659,000 audits were conducted with these letters through the mail. Indeed, in the 2021 fiscal year, that sort of audit accounted for 85% of all audits, up from about 80% in the previous two years. The analysis noted a similar phenomenon occurred more than 20 years ago, amid a cutback in IRS staff. In other words, with less staff, the most simple audits continue, while other more complex audits fall off. A limitation in the IRS ability to audit millionaires is the availability of IRS revenue agents, a particular class of investigators. Only this class of auditors, given sufficient training and experience, are qualified to examine complex tax returns the types of returns typically filed by high-income individuals and large-scale businesses, the analysis states. When asked about Johnsons claim, IRS media relations chief Karen A. Connelly referred PolitiFact Wisconsin to the March 17, 2022,congressional testimonyfrom Rettig. In it, Rettig called the TRAC findings absolutely 100% false and said he was tired of having to deal with this issue. We audit high-income taxpayers more than any other category in the Internal Revenue Service, Rettig said. Taxpayers reflecting over $10 million of income are audited at a rate exceeding 7%. Taxpayers at the $25,000 level, which is primarily the earned income taxpayer would be the only people we would look at, are audited at 1.1%. According to TRAC, Rettig was referring to numbers from 2016. They argue that makes their own numbers more up to date. But that misses an important point. The IRS does not have to initiate audits in the same year returns are filed. So, as years pass, and more audits are started, the picture changes. Under the IRSs definition of the audit rate, the 2016 figure was the most current complete data, said Janet Holtzblatt, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Holtzblatt said audits of 2016 tax returns would have begun, at the earliest, in 2017. So at the time of the preparation of the 2020 Data Book, the audit data for 2016 returns were the most recent year outside the statute of limitations for audits. So, its the total number of audits possible for 2016 returns. Data for a later year would not be complete because the IRS could still be opening up audits for that year. That is, by the IRS definition, the 2019 audit rate would not reflect all the audits that would eventually be done on 2019 tax returns. So, all of that leaves us in an interesting spot. In arguing against a bill that provides more money to do more audits of high-income individuals, Johnson cites the same statistics as those calling for the increased spending. Fair enough. And those numbers do refer to last year. But, under the audit process, they are not complete. The numbers will only rise and the proportions could change as more audits are begun and completed. That means its not as simple as Johnson suggests. Johnson said last year, the IRS audited Americans earning less than $25,000 a year at five times the rate of other groups. That, well, tracks with the TRAC data and lawmakers on the other side of the issue have cited the same information in making their case for the bill. But both sides are missing a key point: Audits are not all begun instantly, so at best the figures cited are preliminary ones. They will change, and the proportion may well shift, as time passes and more audits are started and completed. In other words, the statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Thats our definition for Mostly True.
|
[
"National",
"Economy",
"Workers",
"Taxes",
"Wisconsin"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/tiktok-posts/no-weapons-headed-irs-werent-seized-military/"
],
"sentence": "A Delta Force seized a shipment of weapons headed to the IRS, a TikTok video claimed. PolitiFact National rated thisPants on Fire."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/12/matt-gaetz/no-biden-not-arming-irs-guns-and-ammunition/"
],
"sentence": "The government is arming up the IRS because Joe Biden is raising taxes and disarming Americans, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said. PolitiFact National rated thisFalse."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/aug/11/kevin-mccarthy/kevin-mccarthys-mostly-false-claim-about-army-8700/"
],
"sentence": "Democrats' new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you with 710,000 new audits for Americans who earn less than $75k, House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy insisted. PolitiFact National rated thisMostly False."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/2022/8/sen-johnson-democrats-are-as-detached-from-economic-reality-as-they-are-from-the-truth"
],
"sentence": "In Wisconsin, meanwhile, Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson weighed in Aug. 7, 2022, the day the Senate approved the measure, with anews releaseciting a litany of grievances with the IRS and this claim: Last year, the IRS audited Americans earning less than $25,000 a year at five times the rate of other groups."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2022.04.12%20Letter%20to%20IRS%20and%20Treasury%20re%20audit%20data.pdf"
],
"sentence": "Theletter from two prominent Democrats, no less accuses the IRS of targeting low-income Americans for tax audits."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://trac.syr.edu/tracirs/latest/679/"
],
"sentence": "The March 8, 2022,TRAC analysissays the IRS accomplished over 650 thousand audits last year by jacking up its already high reliance on correspondence audits essentially a letter from the IRS asking for documentation on a specific line item on a return. All but 100,000 of the 659,000 audits were conducted with these letters through the mail."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://waysandmeans.house.gov/legislation/hearings/oversight-subcommittee-hearing-irs-commissioner-rettig-2022-filing-season"
],
"sentence": "When asked about Johnsons claim, IRS media relations chief Karen A. Connelly referred PolitiFact Wisconsin to the March 17, 2022,congressional testimonyfrom Rettig. In it, Rettig called the TRAC findings absolutely 100% false and said he was tired of having to deal with this issue."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/worm-meat-used-mcdonalds-hamburgers/
|
Worm Meat Used in McDonald's Hamburgers?
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
07/04/1999
|
[
"Does McDonald's use worm meat as filler in their hamburgers?"
] |
A decades-old, remarkably persistent rumor periodically rears its head on social media: The fact that McDonald's uses cow eyeballs and worm fillers does not stop them from legally using the claim that they served 100% beef. McDonald's has assured its consumers that its product contains 100% beef. They are allowed to do this because McDonalds buys their "beef" from a company called "100% Beef Company", making it possible for McDonald's to call beef byproducts and soy products "100% beef". McDonalds then ships the beef to their grinding facility in Oak Brook, Illinois where they then take the ground worm filler and add it to their 100% beef patties. McDonalds serves billions of people around the world every year. This allows them to produce a higher profit margin by increasing the amount of patties that can be made, by increasing their product load with the worm filler. The worm filler is ground and packaged in a facility next to McDonalds corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. The employees must sign a confidentiality waiver to never discuss the ingredients of the McDonalds food products or face termination and legal repercussions. However many employees have stepped up over the years with the truth and have created a huge controversy over the quality of food that the company produces. McDonalds has also been accused of using mutant laboratory meat, and pig fat their milkshakes and ice cream. Considering that one quarter of Americans eat McDonalds every single day, although nutritionists recommend you do so only once a month, they are doing so unaware of the products they are putting into their body. If everybody truly knew what they were consuming, they definitely would not be eating this. Rumors don't rely upon common sense. It's the "yuck!" factor that gets us, and so the earthworm additive rumor has long bedeviled McDonald's. As chronicled by Fredrick Koenig, the McDonald's "worm burger" rumor began in the American South in the late summer of 1978 as a tale primarily told about the Wendy's and driven by (false) reports that an investigative television news magazine program had broken the story; then, in typical urban legend fashion, the rumor quickly focused on the most prominent exemplar in that marketplace, the giant McDonald's fast food chain: Toward the end of the summer of 1978, my mother-in-law said she had heard a new rumor about a hamburger chain: A story going around Chattanooga, Tennesse, alleged that Wendy's put red worms in their hamburgers! Contamination rumors are fairly common occurrences in the food and beverage industries. They often sound silly and seem merely bothersome, but they can be devastating, as Wendy's well knew. The first inquiring phone call was made to Wendy's on August 15th. The caller said that the worm story had appeared on the television program 20/20. As the calls poured in, however, the name of the television program involved changed from week to week. Sometimes it was 20/20, sometimes 60 Minutes. Very early in this rumor series, a woman called Wendy's main office to say that her husband saw a program (20/20) on which appeared representatives from Wendy's and McDonald's hamburger chains. The Wendy's people, she said, admitted to putting worms in their hamburgers, but the McDonald's spokesmen were noncommittal. Wendy's was the main target of the worm rumor, with McDonald's, Burger Chef, and Burger King named from time to time. After Labor Day, the Wendy's worm rumors became even stronger in the Chattanooga area and included adjoining parts of Georgia. One whole section of Atlanta was affected. In desperation, Wendy's Chattanooga people demanded that the head office do something. Steve Samons of Wendy's decided to go public, while Doug Timberlake of McDonald's opted to "lie in the weeds" and see how Wendy's made out. A television newx conference was scheduled for September 15th. It was to feature a representative of the government meat inspection office in that region who would point out that nothing was added to the ground beef at Wendy's or at any other fast-food chain. For some reason, he did not show up, so the production became exclusively Wendy's, who denied all and made statements to exonerate themselves. After that effort, they were never again part of the rumor scene. From then on the rumor involved McDonald's. It spread out from Chattanooga and for a while seemed to follow Interstate 75, over to Atlanta, up to Ohio. Doug Timberlake said that when it reached Indiana and Ohio, it really flared up. McDonald's response was to deal with the rumor locally, denying it immediately, getting names and sending out letters, and passing out literature. It just so happened that McDonald's had an illustrated promotion press kit, featuring the high quality of ingredients that went into their burgers "Nothing but 100% pure United States Government-inspected ground beef," and so forth. These materials were distributed to franchise owners in the affected areas and guidelines were laid down. If the literature did not seem to quell the rumors, it was recommended that they start a small, local advertising campaign stressing quality of products, with no specific mention of the rumor. If that failed to work, they were told to go to the local press as a last resort. In no case, however, were they to use the word worm. Managers who called to ask questions were told what to do "just in case." Then things turned scorching hot in Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia. It wasn't even necessary for a person to find the rumor credible in order for it to affect his behavior. Just the thought in the back of one's mind of worms in hamburgers was enough to steer one to a pizza parlor. As Doug Timberlake said, "The rumor was hitting at the bottom line. It was seriously affecting sales in certain areas, and these kinds of losses could not be sustained for a very long period. The affected franchises were hurting; their operations were getting badly mauled." It was decided to hold a press conference in Atlanta. Timberlake was aware that "going public" would make many people aware of the rumor who had never heard it before. Public relations people often are leery of talking directly about a rumor problem or referring to rumors even indirectly, because they believe that such tactics spread rumor even more. On the other hand, an emphatic public statement possibly could immunize people from the effects of the rumor when they did hear it, as well as set the record straight for those who had already heard it. On November 23rd a national press conference was held in Atlanta in which the rumor about "protein additives" was denied. The "100% U.S. Government-inspected beef" position was re-asserted, and of course the word "worm" was never mentioned. A follow-up nationwide advertising campaign was launched in which color photographs of the product, with captions, celebrated its pure, uncontaminated ingredients. The "extinguishers" went into effect, and shortly thereafter the rumor was quenched. The experience of one owner of four McDonald's franchises in Atlanta, Georgia, was typical. Back in 1978, he saw his sales plunge by 30 percent and consequently had to lay off about a third of his employees. Corporate rumors aren't victimless. As McDonald's CEO Ray Kroc noted at the time, the rumor didn't even make sense from a financial standpoint: Rather than saving the company money, the idea of using of worm meat as a "cheap filler" was nonsensical because worms were much more expensive than beef: In April 2014 and again in November 2017, the "worm burger" rumors were revived when the faux news site Daily Buzz Live published an article (reproduced above) recycling that and several other old McDonald's-related urban legends, accompanied by an unrelated photograph of ground beef mixed with pats of frozen butter that coincidentally resemble worms. For the record, not only is the worm additive rumor untrue, but McDonald's also does not purchase and use cow eyeballs, skirt the law by buying adulterated meat from a company misleadingly named "100% Beef," or put yucky stuff like styrofoam balls and feathers in their milkshakes. article photograph cow eyeballs 100% Beef milkshakes Brown, Craig. "... and Moreover."
The [London] Times. 30 April 1992 (Features). Brunvand, Jan Harold.
The Vanishing Hitchhiker. New York: W. W. Norton, 1981. ISBN 0-393-95169-3 (p. 90). De Vos, Gail.
Tales, Rumors and Gossip. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 1996. ISBN 1-56308-190-3 (p. 152). Koenig, Fredrick.
Rumor in the Marketplace. Dover, MA: Auburn House, 1985. ISBN 0-86569-117-7 (pp. 14-17). Morgan, Hal and Kerry Tucker.
Rumor! New York: Penguin Books, 1984. ISBN 0-14-007036-2 (pp. 70-71). Newsweek.
"A Wormburger Scare." 27 November 1978 (p. 90). The Big Book of Urban Legends. New York: Paradox Press, 1994. ISBN 1-56389-165-4 (p. 174).
|
[
"profit"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1dCux8xg803BJe3KZkmSGty31HgwKN0c_"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://dailybuzzlive.com/archives/5413",
"https://www.alcoholian.com/?p=3796",
"/horrors/food/coweyes.asp",
"/business/market/allbeef.asp",
"/horrors/food/mcdshake.asp"
],
"sentence": "In April 2014 and again in November 2017, the \"worm burger\" rumors were revived when the faux news site Daily Buzz Live published an article (reproduced above) recycling that and several other old McDonald's-related urban legends, accompanied by an unrelated photograph of ground beef mixed with pats of frozen butter that coincidentally resemble worms. For the record, not only is the worm additive rumor untrue, but McDonald's also does not purchase and use cow eyeballs, skirt the law by buying adulterated meat from a company misleadingly named \"100% Beef,\" or put yucky stuff like styrofoam balls and feathers in their milkshakes."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/nov/29/jobs-ohio/jobs-ohio-claims-buckeye-state-nearly-tops-new-job/
|
In the past year alone, Ohio businesses have created more jobs than almost every other state in the country.
|
Henry J. Gomez
|
11/29/2012
|
[] |
The nasty political ads have been gone for weeks, but the launch of a marketing campaign aimed at trumpeting Ohios improving economy offers a preview of the next great election battle.JobsOhio, the states private economic development agency, is on air witha 30-second commercialthat celebrates workers of all stripes and conveys an optimistic message.The agency is the brainchild of Republican Gov. John Kasich, who has ridden Ohios rising fortunes to rising poll numbers. And the Thrive in Ohio spot, which also asks viewers to share their success stories ona web site, has rankled Democrats hoping to unseat Kasich in 2014.Never mind that the spot doesnt feature Kasich or identify him or the governors office in any way. Democrats see a calculated political move bankrolled by state development money. The push also includes print advertising and will cost $1.4 million,the Columbus Dispatch reported.Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, one potential challenger to Kasich, haspublicly calledon Kasich to suspend the campaign, declaring it a waste of taxpayer dollars.Given the dust-up surrounding the JobsOhio blitz and the role the states economy is sure to play in the gubernatorial race, PolitiFact Ohio decided to evaluate the claim central to the TV spot.In the past year alone, Ohio businesses have created more jobs than almost every other state in the country, an unseen narrator says, his words scored to an inspirational piano melody. And its only the beginning.So how does the statement stack up when peeled away from such slick marketing?Laura Jones, communications director for JobsOhio, cited employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Via email, Jones said the numbers showed that from October 2011 through October 2012, only California, Texas and New York created more jobs than Ohio.Jones referred us to the bureausRegional and State Employment and Unemployment report. According to seasonally adjusted employment numbers in October, 30 states reported statistically significant increases in employment year-over-year -- Ohio among them.Table E, found on page seven of the 21-page report, breaks down the employment trends by state. Since October 2011, according to preliminary data, Ohio has added 96,500 jobs. Indeed, that increase ranks fourth, behind the more-populated California, Texas and New York.Because the report was dated Nov. 20, three days after JobsOhio posted the commercial to YouTube, PolitiFact Ohio went back to look atthe previous months report, which evaluated the period from September 2011 and September 2012. We found the Buckeye State in the same position: fourth among states with statistically significant employment increases.We also checked with George Zeller, an economic research analyst from Cleveland. He was familiar with the Thrive in Ohio campaign and, after paging through the BLS reports agreed that the numbers cited by JobsOhio were legitimate.But what do the numbers prove?What theyre saying there is that Ohios No. 4, Zeller said. What you have to recognize is that of course were going to gain more jobs than Vermont, because Vermont is smaller. There are 50 states, so being fourth is higher than others. But were by no means at the top.Zeller makes a valid point. Ohio, by virtue of being one of the nations most populous states, is destined to have and add more jobs than smaller states. Ohio is the seventh-most populous state,according to Census figures, ranking behind California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania. In terms of jobs added, Ohio is up there with other highly populated states.Zeller also noted that Ohios recovery, while real, is coming slowly. At current pace, said Zeller, citing his research, it will take the state 11 years to recover all jobs lost during the recession.Theres nothing untrue about what [JobsOhio] said, Zeller continued via telephone. Now does that mean that we are outstripping the rest of the country? No. First of all, because we lost more jobs than the rest of the country did we have to do a lot more to make them up.Of course Democrats will come armed with other numbers as the gubernatorial fight nears. They often citeBLS datathat show the states unemployment rate began dropping in early 2010, under Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and and Democratic President Barack Obama.To their point, its worth noting that public policy set outside Ohio affects the states economy. Exhibit A: The federal governments bailout of the U.S. auto industry, a huge Ohio employer.As such, Democrats argue that Ohio was en route to economic recovery months before Kasich defeated Strickland in the November 2010 election. Ironically, Kasichs constant ballyhooing of these improved prospects was at odds with the message pushed by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and might have helped Obamas re-election bid this year.Now that the race for the White House in the rearview mirror, it is no surprise that Democrats see the JobsOhio commercial as the unofficial kickoff of Kasichs re-election campaign. Perhaps that makes this the unofficial kickoff of PolitiFact Ohios monitoring of the contest, whether its FitzGerald, Strickland or another candidate who takes on the incumbent governor in 2014.For its Thrive in Ohio campaign, JobsOhio said businesses here have created more jobs than almost every other state in the country over the last year. A second later, the ads narrator added: And its only the beginning. That qualifier is appropriate given the perspective Zeller supplied. Considering Ohios size, a statement about the states comparatively high level of job creation is not the ultimate benchmark of success.JobsOhio seems to realize this. On the Truth-O-Meter, the agencys statement rates True.
|
[
"Ohio",
"Economy",
"Jobs"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ccw7DleU4hA"
],
"sentence": "The nasty political ads have been gone for weeks, but the launch of a marketing campaign aimed at trumpeting Ohios improving economy offers a preview of the next great election battle.JobsOhio, the states private economic development agency, is on air witha 30-second commercialthat celebrates workers of all stripes and conveys an optimistic message.The agency is the brainchild of Republican Gov. John Kasich, who has ridden Ohios rising fortunes to rising poll numbers. And the Thrive in Ohio spot, which also asks viewers to share their success stories ona web site, has rankled Democrats hoping to unseat Kasich in 2014.Never mind that the spot doesnt feature Kasich or identify him or the governors office in any way. Democrats see a calculated political move bankrolled by state development money. The push also includes print advertising and will cost $1.4 million,the Columbus Dispatch reported.Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, one potential challenger to Kasich, haspublicly calledon Kasich to suspend the campaign, declaring it a waste of taxpayer dollars.Given the dust-up surrounding the JobsOhio blitz and the role the states economy is sure to play in the gubernatorial race, PolitiFact Ohio decided to evaluate the claim central to the TV spot.In the past year alone, Ohio businesses have created more jobs than almost every other state in the country, an unseen narrator says, his words scored to an inspirational piano melody. And its only the beginning.So how does the statement stack up when peeled away from such slick marketing?Laura Jones, communications director for JobsOhio, cited employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Via email, Jones said the numbers showed that from October 2011 through October 2012, only California, Texas and New York created more jobs than Ohio.Jones referred us to the bureausRegional and State Employment and Unemployment report. According to seasonally adjusted employment numbers in October, 30 states reported statistically significant increases in employment year-over-year -- Ohio among them.Table E, found on page seven of the 21-page report, breaks down the employment trends by state. Since October 2011, according to preliminary data, Ohio has added 96,500 jobs. Indeed, that increase ranks fourth, behind the more-populated California, Texas and New York.Because the report was dated Nov. 20, three days after JobsOhio posted the commercial to YouTube, PolitiFact Ohio went back to look atthe previous months report, which evaluated the period from September 2011 and September 2012. We found the Buckeye State in the same position: fourth among states with statistically significant employment increases.We also checked with George Zeller, an economic research analyst from Cleveland. He was familiar with the Thrive in Ohio campaign and, after paging through the BLS reports agreed that the numbers cited by JobsOhio were legitimate.But what do the numbers prove?What theyre saying there is that Ohios No. 4, Zeller said. What you have to recognize is that of course were going to gain more jobs than Vermont, because Vermont is smaller. There are 50 states, so being fourth is higher than others. But were by no means at the top.Zeller makes a valid point. Ohio, by virtue of being one of the nations most populous states, is destined to have and add more jobs than smaller states. Ohio is the seventh-most populous state,according to Census figures, ranking behind California, Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania. In terms of jobs added, Ohio is up there with other highly populated states.Zeller also noted that Ohios recovery, while real, is coming slowly. At current pace, said Zeller, citing his research, it will take the state 11 years to recover all jobs lost during the recession.Theres nothing untrue about what [JobsOhio] said, Zeller continued via telephone. Now does that mean that we are outstripping the rest of the country? No. First of all, because we lost more jobs than the rest of the country did we have to do a lot more to make them up.Of course Democrats will come armed with other numbers as the gubernatorial fight nears. They often citeBLS datathat show the states unemployment rate began dropping in early 2010, under Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and and Democratic President Barack Obama.To their point, its worth noting that public policy set outside Ohio affects the states economy. Exhibit A: The federal governments bailout of the U.S. auto industry, a huge Ohio employer.As such, Democrats argue that Ohio was en route to economic recovery months before Kasich defeated Strickland in the November 2010 election. Ironically, Kasichs constant ballyhooing of these improved prospects was at odds with the message pushed by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and might have helped Obamas re-election bid this year.Now that the race for the White House in the rearview mirror, it is no surprise that Democrats see the JobsOhio commercial as the unofficial kickoff of Kasichs re-election campaign. Perhaps that makes this the unofficial kickoff of PolitiFact Ohios monitoring of the contest, whether its FitzGerald, Strickland or another candidate who takes on the incumbent governor in 2014.For its Thrive in Ohio campaign, JobsOhio said businesses here have created more jobs than almost every other state in the country over the last year. A second later, the ads narrator added: And its only the beginning. That qualifier is appropriate given the perspective Zeller supplied. Considering Ohios size, a statement about the states comparatively high level of job creation is not the ultimate benchmark of success.JobsOhio seems to realize this. On the Truth-O-Meter, the agencys statement rates True."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/wisconsin-vote-dump/
|
Debunking Trump Tweets: Biden's 143K Vote 'Dump' in Wisconsin
|
David Mikkelson
|
11/18/2020
|
[
"Voting spikes did occur in Wisconsin and other states as ballots were being counted, but for ordinary and predictable reasons."
] |
In the continuous stream of tweets alleging election fraud issued from the Twitter account of President Donald Trump in mid-November 2020, one tweet posted in the evening of Nov. 18 claimed that victorious Democratic presidential candidate had received an "unbelievable" "dump of 143,379 votes at 3:42AM, when they learned he was losing badly": It is true that Biden picked up about 149,000 votes in Wisconsin around 3:30 AM in the early morning hours following the election, thereby erasing a lead Trump had held in the in-progress vote tally up to that point: However, no fraudulent activity of furtive "dump" of ballots was behind this phenomenon. By law, Wisconsin was not allowed to begin tabulating absentee ballots (no matter how early they were sent in) until 7:00 AM on Election Day. Biden's vote count took a big jump (while Trump's increased much more modestly) around the time in question because that was when Milwaukee County finished and reported the tabulation of its approximately 170,000 absentee ballots. That occurrence was doubly favorable for Biden, both because Democrats were far more likely to vote via absentee ballots, and because Milwaukee County is the most populous county in Wisconsin and is an overwhelmingly Democratic area: far more likely The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the bulge in Biden votes, and the reasons behind it, at the time it took place: reported Biden overtook Trump in the early morning hours when Milwaukee reported its roughly 170,000 absentee votes, which were overwhelmingly Democratic. Then early morning returns from Green Bay and Kenosha on Wednesday added to his slender lead. Trump had nurtured a lead of more than 100,000 votes before those returns came in. By the morning after the election, even Trump had recognized (if not accepted) the phenomenon of mail-in ballots in most states being heavily Democratic, in large part because he discouraged his supporters from using that method of voting: In fact, more than two months before the election, NPR had observed that "President Trump's campaign to discourage the use of mail-in voting this fall is raising concerns among Republicans, particularly in the key swing state of Wisconsin, that his efforts could hinder their party on election night." observed As of this writing, Biden has won Wisconsin (and its 10 electoral votes) by just over 20,000 votes out of more than 3.2M ballots cast:
|
[
"returns"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1BZHHRjXPl_4pGLjxMbY96uNscpAh6NzK"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1P_IdCJi1LB2kLLv2brTKSl9bSpNo2pOn"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/04/mail-in-ballot-tracker-us-election-2020"
],
"sentence": "However, no fraudulent activity of furtive \"dump\" of ballots was behind this phenomenon. By law, Wisconsin was not allowed to begin tabulating absentee ballots (no matter how early they were sent in) until 7:00 AM on Election Day. Biden's vote count took a big jump (while Trump's increased much more modestly) around the time in question because that was when Milwaukee County finished and reported the tabulation of its approximately 170,000 absentee ballots. That occurrence was doubly favorable for Biden, both because Democrats were far more likely to vote via absentee ballots, and because Milwaukee County is the most populous county in Wisconsin and is an overwhelmingly Democratic area:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/11/04/wisconsin-results-down-wire-again-milwaukee-ballot-count/6123344002/"
],
"sentence": "The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on the bulge in Biden votes, and the reasons behind it, at the time it took place:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.npr.org/2020/08/31/907091223/some-in-gop-fear-trumps-push-against-mail-in-voting-could-harm-the-party-s-chanc"
],
"sentence": "In fact, more than two months before the election, NPR had observed that \"President Trump's campaign to discourage the use of mail-in voting this fall is raising concerns among Republicans, particularly in the key swing state of Wisconsin, that his efforts could hinder their party on election night.\""
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/aug/09/mike-gallagher/mike-gallagher-target-claim-health-care-costs-us-v/
|
Were spending 18 percent of our GDP on healthcare while the average among industrialized countries is closer to 8 percent.
|
Devi Shastri
|
08/09/2017
|
[] |
[
"Economy",
"Health Care",
"Public Health",
"Wisconsin"
] |
[] |
[] |
true
| null |
|
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/aug/28/scott-walker/scott-walker-touts-47-billion-tax-cuts-he-right/
|
By the end of this budget I'm in right now, taxes will have been cut $4.7 billion in my state.
|
Lucas Daprile
|
08/28/2015
|
[] |
[
"Taxes",
"Wisconsin"
] |
[] |
[] |
true
| null |
|
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/domestic-violence-google/
|
Was 'How To Hit a Woman So No One Knows' Googled 163M Times in 2020?
|
Jessica Lee
|
04/28/2021
|
[
"A researcher looking into the trend said the purported findings shocked her."
] |
In late April 2021, social media posts, like the one displayed below, Google users allegedly asked the search engine "how to a hit a woman so now one knows" more often during the first phase of lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 than during the same time frame the previous year. COVID-19 The claim originated from media sources including Blavity (a Los Angeles-based platform serving Black millennials), UNILAD (a British media outlet), and MSNBC (an American cable network owned by NBC Universal). Blavity UNILAD We obtained an archived version of an April 26 opinion column by the latter outlet, a piece of commentary that cited peer-reviewed research analyzing Google searches from the beginning of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 to the end of August that year. The MSNBC article said: archived version [Millions] of men appear to be doing some very specific research about how to assault the women around them. Published in The Journal of General Psychology, the study was led by Katerina Standish, the deputy director and senior lecturer at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago in New Zealand. 'How to hit a woman so no one knows' was typed into Google 163 million times, a 31 percent increase compared to 2019. In other words, Google users purportedly searched "how to hit a woman so no one knows" 163 million times between March and August 2020, and that number was 31 percent higher than the amount of same searches during those months the previous year. However, that was not true. One day after the MSNBC column published, onlookers identified flaws in the research's methodology, and its author confirmed the findings were inaccurate. As a result, the news outlet removed the above-transcribed section from its article citing the research. (That updated version of the story remained live online as of this writing.) updated version We looked at Google search data ourselves. By searching the phrase "how to hit a woman so no one knows," the platform produces billions of returns or websites or posts that contain those keywords. That is not the same as the number of times users searched the question (we explain how to find that quantity below), and it appeared to grow significantly after the MSNBC article and other media coverage. appeared By using the separate Google Trends search engine -- a tool that compiles data for Google search queries worldwide -- we learned that relatively no one used the website to look for information on "how to hit a woman so no one knows," including during the time window referenced in the study (March to August 2020). Next, to fully explore the issue, we reached out to Standish (the author of the study called, "COVID-19, suicide, and femicide: Rapid Research using Google search phrase") to learn about her research process and its shortcomings. COVID-19, suicide, and femicide: Rapid Research using Google search phrase She responded to us via email, saying she indeed mistook the amount of search returns for the number of times Google users entered the phrase looking for answers. After the revelation, she said she alerted The Journal of General Psychology of the error and requested an assessment of the entire study. "The results are meaningless ... all I have done is demonstrate a rise in web pages over the year. Not at all what I thought I was doing," Standish said. "[The] goal of the study was to look for people who were hurting to elevate what they are going through and to help." Additionally, Standish apologized for the research's flaws on Twitter: "The first time I googled these terms my heart skipped...I was shocked," she continued in a tweet thread. "I sincerely apologise and will make amends." In sum, we rate this claim "false" millions of people, presumably men, did not turn to Google for help to seemingly conceal physical abuse against their female partners during the early months of the pandemic. If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse from an intimate partner, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or text LOVEIS to 22522 for anonymous, confidential help. Natio nal Domestic Violence Hotline This report was updated with comments from the researcher to Snopes.
|
[
"returns"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1pYGyj2cTLr7AYd9z-pI-POaQD1-pJmbj"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1eMiUZt70dLkxYATTYISD6R4wpVDbGBNk"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=13Ead4-lIUhlBGDuKQJheggcogmfWr1D5"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1_heU1Mg5i1IgC1SYeJ2ca8bPCGirID25"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/covid-19/"
],
"sentence": "In late April 2021, social media posts, like the one displayed below, Google users allegedly asked the search engine \"how to a hit a woman so now one knows\" more often during the first phase of lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 than during the same time frame the previous year."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://blavity.com/how-to-hit-a-woman-so-no-one-knows-was-googled-163-million-times-during-2020?category1=news",
"https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/im-going-to-kill-her-when-she-gets-home-was-googled-178-million-times-last-year/"
],
"sentence": "The claim originated from media sources including Blavity (a Los Angeles-based platform serving Black millennials), UNILAD (a British media outlet), and MSNBC (an American cable network owned by NBC Universal)."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20210427093625if_/https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/men-are-becoming-more-violent-against-women-around-world-google-n1265072?featureFlag=false"
],
"sentence": "We obtained an archived version of an April 26 opinion column by the latter outlet, a piece of commentary that cited peer-reviewed research analyzing Google searches from the beginning of the U.S. COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020 to the end of August that year. The MSNBC article said:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/men-are-becoming-more-violent-against-women-around-world-google-n1265072"
],
"sentence": "However, that was not true. One day after the MSNBC column published, onlookers identified flaws in the research's methodology, and its author confirmed the findings were inaccurate. As a result, the news outlet removed the above-transcribed section from its article citing the research. (That updated version of the story remained live online as of this writing.)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/JimmySecUK/status/1387036915577229324"
],
"sentence": "We looked at Google search data ourselves. By searching the phrase \"how to hit a woman so no one knows,\" the platform produces billions of returns or websites or posts that contain those keywords. That is not the same as the number of times users searched the question (we explain how to find that quantity below), and it appeared to grow significantly after the MSNBC article and other media coverage."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00221309.2021.1874863?needAccess=true&journalCode=vgen20"
],
"sentence": "Next, to fully explore the issue, we reached out to Standish (the author of the study called, \"COVID-19, suicide, and femicide: Rapid Research using Google search phrase\") to learn about her research process and its shortcomings."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/04/Screen-Shot-2021-04-28-at-1.39.15-PM.png"
],
"sentence": " "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.thehotline.org",
"https://www.thehotline.org",
"https://www.thehotline.org"
],
"sentence": "If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse from an intimate partner, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or text LOVEIS to 22522 for anonymous, confidential help."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/potato-butter-diet/
|
Can a Person Live Off of a Diet of Potatoes and Butter?
|
Arturo Garcia
|
07/05/2018
|
[
"People could \"survive\" eating a very limited diet, health experts told us, but they wouldn't get everything their bodies needs to function."
] |
The idea that potatoes can be a catch-all form of sustenance for human beings has been popularized at various times by public campaigns and movies, but health experts are split on the potential impact of "surviving" on just one type of food. This claim has been widely circulated online in meme form, with the slight modification of adding butter to the "menu" of the all-potato diet: Katherine Basbaum, a cardiovascular dietitian for the University of Virginia health system, is skeptical of this meme's assertion. She told us that potatoes and butter would provide enough macronutrients for the body at a "very basic level," but added that remaining alive and remaining healthy are two very different things: There's a big difference between what your body needs to survive and what your body needs to work as best as it possibly can to be as efficient, to be as healthy, to be as strong and it possibly can. There's a big difference between that and merely surviving. If you were hard-pressed and you had to do it, you could absolutely survive on it. Is it nutritious? Is it healthy and balanced? Absolutely not. Dana Hunnes, senior dietitian at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, disagreed slightly. She told us that this type of diet could be sustainable for persons who consumed enough potatoes to support their body weight and muscle mass. However, she said she would advise anyone looking to pursue that kind of regimen to instead eat a wider variety of fruits and vegetables. "You can certainly survive healthily it's been done," Hunnes said. "Would I recommend it for people? No. Because I think you'd be bored in that diet." At least two public campaigns have touted the supposed merits of an all-potato diet. In 2010 Chris Voigt, head of the Washington State Potato Commission, promoted the merits of tubers by living off of them for two months. promoted "I'm not encouraging anyone to go on this crazy diet, nor would my doctor," he said at the time. "This diet was just a bold statement to remind people that there is a lot of nutrition in a potato." Voigt lost 23 pounds during that experience and denied rumors that he had abandoned his plan early. lost That type of short-term effort, Basbaum said, was unlikely to cause a person much damage provided that they not only had a clean bill of health but also no family history or risk of heart or kidney disease. Butter, she told us, is extremely high in saturated fats and can lead to unhealthy cholesterol levels. "If somebody came in here saying, 'I heard about this potato and butter diet,' I would tell them not to touch it with a 10-foot pole," she said. Similarly, potatoes on their own are rich in potassium but are best enjoyed in moderation because of the threat they pose to the kidneys, which manage potassium intake for the body. "If someone goes from a regular balanced diet getting the normal amount of potassium to just eating potatoes (like 20 a day or whatever), that's dangerous. It's not a good idea. You're overloading your kidneys with all of this potassium," Basbaum said. "If you have someone with pre-diabetes or diabetes or at risk for developing Type 2 diabetes, I don't really want to put them on an all-starch diet. You're risking increased levels of blood sugar and the body producing way too much insulin for your own good." Six years after Voigt's efforts, an Australian man, Andrew Taylor, also made news when he announced that he lost 114 pounds after spending the year eating around eight or nine pounds of potatoes per day on a "spud fit" diet. announced Taylor posted before-and-after pictures touting his weight loss, but Basbaum did not interpret the results as being fully positive. "As a dietitian I don't look at that picture and [say] 'That dude lost a bunch of weight, good for him," she said. "I look at the before and after photo and I can tell this guy is malnourished. You can see the wasting in his shoulder and his clavicle area. You can see that he's lost muscle tone, he's got barely any muscle tone in his arms. Obviously I couldn't diagnose him, but we do nutrition-based physical exams with our patients and you can tell that that guy wasn't optimum health. Not by a long shot." Heavily-restricted diets gain popularity, Hunnes told us, because some people are seeking "the magic bullet" to keep them healthy. "If someone says anecdotally, 'This works for me,' I think there's a lot of power in people being able to see with their own eyes what's happening to someone else," she said. "I think that's the makings of a fad, particularly if a celebrity gets caught on to it or if a person has a lot of followers on Facebook or Instagram social media, posting those types of images is very powerful for people." For her part, Basbaum said that restricting oneself to that extent gives some dieters a feeling of control because it limits their margin of error. "But at the end of the day, these diets that ask you to either eat only one thing or ask you to eliminate an entire nutrient take no fat or no carbohydrates at all they don't work. They work for a time just like all diets," she added. "But they don't work for everybody and they're not sustainable. What happens when you go off of it?" In popular culture, the popular novel The Martian (which was adapted into a 2015 feature film) featured a subplot in which stranded astronaut Mark Watney grew potatoes on the surface of Mars and ate them to keep himself alive. Subsequent research by the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru produced "encouraging results" regarding the prospect of growing potato crops on the red planet. research produced "With this study, we have the basis for contributing to the so-called 'Bioregenerative Food System' proposed by space agencies, based on a space agriculture using local resources such as soil in future missions to Mars," lead researcher David Ramirez said at the time. Pawlowski, A. "'Spud Fit': Man Loses 115 Pounds Eating Nothing But Potatoes for a Year."
The Today Show. 19 December 2016. BBC News. "Is a Potato-Only Diet Good for You?"
29 November 2010. Saltzman, Sammy. "Chris Voigt Ends Potato-Only Protest Diet: Why?"
CBS News. 30 November 2010. International Potato Center. "Crop Harvested Under Red Planet Conditions Will Set Course for Martian Farming."
18 December 2015. International Potato Center. "Research Reveals Potential for Growing Potatoes on Mars, And Challenging Areas of Earth."
9 February 2018.
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},
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},
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"hrefs": [
"https://cipotato.org/about-cip/potatoes-on-mars/",
"https://cipotato.org/blog/research-reveals-potential-growing-potatoes-mars/"
],
"sentence": "In popular culture, the popular novel The Martian (which was adapted into a 2015 feature film) featured a subplot in which stranded astronaut Mark Watney grew potatoes on the surface of Mars and ate them to keep himself alive. Subsequent research by the International Potato Center (CIP) in Peru produced \"encouraging results\" regarding the prospect of growing potato crops on the red planet."
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true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lowes-air-conditioner-scam/
|
Lowe's Email Scam Promises Portable Air Conditioners
|
Jordan Liles
|
07/21/2022
|
[
"We advise readers never to click links in these kinds of emails, since they often lead to phishing attempts."
] |
In July 2022, during a heat wave across the U.S. and other countries, we reviewed an email that claimed Lowe's Home Improvement was giving away free air conditioners in a sweepstakes. In reality, there was no giveaway, and the email was a scam. Scammers were pretending to be Lowe's in an apparent phishing attempt to get people's personal information, such as credit and debit card numbers. the U.S. other countries scam phishing The scam email read, "CONGRATULATIONS! You are the lucky online winner of a brand new [Lowe's] Sweepstakes BTU Portable Air Conditioner entry!" Lowe's We advise readers to never click links or call phone numbers that appear in these kinds of scam emails. The links will lead to phishing attempts, and the phone calls will connect you with scammers who likely will try to lure sensitive data from you. advise readers scam Scam emails often contain obvious grammatical errors. Also, the "from" email address in scam emails can look unofficial, another sign of something suspicious going on. For example, instead of an official email address ending with "@lowes.com," the sender may have something like, "help@lowes-security-winner.co.com.cc." This would not be a legitimate email address for Lowe's. The U.S. Better Business Bureau (BBB) has published a number of articles about the dangers of phishing. In one of its advisories, the agency detailed how these kinds of scams work: one of its advisories Phishing scams tend to follow a pattern. The victim receives an email, phone call or text message (called smishing or SMS phishing). The message urges the target to click a link, share information, call a phone number, or download an attachment which likely contains malware. In the case of an email or text, the link frequently leads to a form, which prompts the target to enter personal information. Think twice before downloading anything from the internet, especially if its an attachment from an anonymous sender. Scammers will hide malware in an attachment and once downloaded, it can wreak havoc on your personal device or steal your personal information. If you're online at home, the scammer may also steal the IP address and then proceed to connect to any other device connected to your home wifi. The BBB also has tips on how to avoid falling victim to these kinds of scams: If something sounds suspicious, call the company directly or checking the company website directly. Dont click on links in an unexpected email type the URL for the company into the browser or do a web search to find the right website. Dont click, download, or open anything that comes from an anonymous sender. This is likely an attempt to gain access to your personal information or install malware on your computer. Question generic emails. Scammers cast a wide net by including little or no specific information in their fake emails. Always be wary of unsolicited messages that don't contain your name, last digits of your account number or other personalizing information. BBB Tip: Phishing Scams Can Come in Text Messages, Prize Offers. 1 Mar. 2022, https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/16758-bbb-tip-phishing-scams. Kirka, Danica, and Jill Lawless. UK Breaks Its Record for Highest Temperature As Heat Builds. Snopes.com via The Associated Press, 19 July 2022, https://www.snopes.com/ap/2022/07/19/uk-breaks-its-record-for-highest-temperature-as-heat-builds/. McLaughlin, Tim, and Brendan OBrien. Record-Breaking U.S. Heat Wave Bakes Americans. Reuters, 20 July 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/coast-coast-us-heat-wave-threatens-tighten-its-grip-2022-07-20/.
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"hrefs": [
"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/coast-coast-us-heat-wave-threatens-tighten-its-grip-2022-07-20/",
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"https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams"
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"sentence": "In July 2022, during a heat wave across the U.S. and other countries, we reviewed an email that claimed Lowe's Home Improvement was giving away free air conditioners in a sweepstakes. In reality, there was no giveaway, and the email was a scam. Scammers were pretending to be Lowe's in an apparent phishing attempt to get people's personal information, such as credit and debit card numbers."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/lowes/"
],
"sentence": "The scam email read, \"CONGRATULATIONS! You are the lucky online winner of a brand new [Lowe's] Sweepstakes BTU Portable Air Conditioner entry!\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/articles/396428/how-to-detect-avoid-online-scams/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/scams/"
],
"sentence": "We advise readers to never click links or call phone numbers that appear in these kinds of scam emails. The links will lead to phishing attempts, and the phone calls will connect you with scammers who likely will try to lure sensitive data from you."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/16758-bbb-tip-phishing-scams"
],
"sentence": "The U.S. Better Business Bureau (BBB) has published a number of articles about the dangers of phishing. In one of its advisories, the agency detailed how these kinds of scams work:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/dec/11/steve-adler/steve-adler-mike-martinez-tax-utility-rates-fares/
|
Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors.
|
W. Gardner Selby
|
12/11/2014
|
[] |
Austin voters should doubt mayoral aspirant Mike Martinezs commitment to an affordable city, his opponent in a Dec. 16, 2014, runoff maintains. The narrator of a Steve Adler TV ad says that as an Austin City Council member, Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors. That statement is made against this visual backdrop: Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,Mike Martinez Record on City Council, posted online Dec. 2, 2014. Martinez has been a council member since June 2006. So its no surprise he would have had a say on taxes and rates charged by the city-owned utilities, though unsaid here is that no single council member controls any such decisions; its been a seven-member body, including the mayor. Martinez also chairs theeight-person boardoverseeing Capital Metro, which provides local bus and limited rail service. So he could have voted on fares charged the elderly. Lets recap Martinezs actions on fares, city taxes and utility rates. Bus fares To our inquiries, Adlers campaign didnt provide comprehensive backup for his ad claim. But by email, spokesman Jim Wick pointed out a September 2010Austin American-Statesmannews storystating the Cap Metro board voted to require bus riders 65 and older to pay 50 cents a ride or $15 for a 31-day bus pass, starting in 2011. The story also said the board was deciding to charge seniors and people with disabilities to ride buses for the first time since 1989. For Capital Metro, spokeswoman Francine Pares told us by email Martinez has been a board member since June 2007 and chairman since January 2010. Pares also confirmed the boards decision to charge the 50-cent fares, though she said that change was adopted at the boards November 2010 gathering, which Martinez didnt attend, she said. According tominutes of the Nov. 10, 2010, board meeting, the six members who were there unanimously approved a resolution authorizing higher fares in part, the resolution said, to generate additional operating revenues while striving to meet growing demand for transportation options. Martinez and another board member were recorded as absent. Pares told us theboard in September 2013approved another increase in senior fares, to 60 cents, effective in 2015. Generally, she said, senior citizens receive 50 percent off regular fares. By phone, Martinez agreed he and fellow board members agreed to charge the fares for elderly residents. But that happened, he said, only after a state panel issued marching orders including a recommendation calling for Capital Metro to raise more money from fares. In a 2010 report, the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the authority charge a bus fare of 50 cents for groups currently riding free. The commission had said 30 percent of Capital Metros passengers were riding for free and, it noted, the board had rejected proposed fares in 2008 and 2009. In its finalJuly 2011 reporton Capital Metro, the commission said: While fare increases are difficult, requiring only a portion of its ridership to bear the burden of these increases is not equitable or sustainable, especially in bad financial times. Martinez pointed out the sunset review occurred in keeping withlegislation passed into lawby the 2009 Legislature, which wanted Capital Metro to get its finances in order. City taxes On taxes, Wick of Adlers camp offered as backup news stories indicating thatin 2009, Martinez said taxpayers would have to pay a little more in taxes and fees through 2010 to maintain services andin 2010, the council acting to raise the citys property tax rate from 42.09 cents per $100 of property value to 45.71 cents; the city tax on a median value home was expected to increase $52 to $843. Wick followed up by emailing us achart made by Adlers campaignindicating city property taxes on a median-valued home going up on Martinezs watch. For a non-campaign analysis, we turned to the Travis Central Appraisal District; the chief appraiser, Marya Crigler, emailed us achartindicating city property taxes on a median-value homestead in 2007 were $715; in 2014, the comparable figure was $1,014. We converted the 2007 figure to 2014 dollars, using afederal inflation calculator. Upshot: Adjusted for inflation, city taxes on a median-value Austin homestead went up $278, or 34 percent, from 2007 through 2014, Martinezs council years. Over those years, according to the district, the median taxable value of an Austin homestead went from $177,257 to $228,032. Adjusting for inflation suggests there was a nearly $18,800, 9 percent, increase. Martinez agreed property owners paid more in taxes in his council tenure, results influenced by surging property values, he said. Still, he said, in five of eight years, council members voted to keep the citys property tax rate the same or to lower it. When the rate was raised, he said, the economy was in recession. For another fact check, the city provided this chart of tax rates, which shows the council raised the rate three times in Martinezs tenure, most recently for 2013, but cut the rate four times, most recently for 2014. In September 2014, the council left the 2014 rate intact for 2015. Utility rates In 2011,we found Mostly Truea claim that Austin Energy, the city electric utility, was considering its first hike in rates since 1994. The base electric rate, covering staff, the electric system, power plants, vehicles and the like, hadnt changed since 1994. Meantime, residential customers were paying less for electricity than they once had, taking inflation into account. On June 7, 2012, the council unanimously voted to raise the base rate, theAmerican-Statesmanreported. The news story said: The complicated new rate structure will hit customers in different ways; generally speaking, the larger and more energy-hungry the home, the higher the percentage increase, effective October 2012. A typical home, which uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month over the course of a year, will see its monthly bill rise by $8, to $113, according to Austin Energy calculations. A home that uses a lot of electricity would see its monthly bill increase by $59, to $332, the story said. How would Adler have voted? We asked Wick how Adler would have voted on the bus fares, tax and utility rate hikes we confirmed. Theres no simple answer, Wick said by email, but Adler favors free fares for senior citizens. Our ruling Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors. Austin residents pay more in taxes and could be paying more for electricity thanks to council actions Martinez supported. He also backed a decision by the Capital Metro board to charge half fares to elderly bus riders who had previously not been charged, though Martinez hardly did this by himself; its worth clarifying, too, that Capital Metro was under pressure to improve its finances and that Martinez missed the vote creating the then-50-cent fare. We rate this statement Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
[
"Transportation",
"Voting Record",
"Taxes",
"Texas"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": "Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1A9KbNQ9u9QIGrFdKHZkT8QXwDnTHHp6m"
},
{
"image_caption": " posted online Dec. 2, 2014.",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1WKRFgGFaOjIAFznizRbOUEvSXPW1PQpm"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWl7Y0oSaPc&feature=youtu.be"
],
"sentence": "Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,Mike Martinez Record on City Council, posted online Dec. 2, 2014."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Martinez also chairs theeight-person boardoverseeing Capital Metro, which provides local bus and limited rail service. So he could have voted on fares charged the elderly."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "To our inquiries, Adlers campaign didnt provide comprehensive backup for his ad claim. But by email, spokesman Jim Wick pointed out a September 2010Austin American-Statesmannews storystating the Cap Metro board voted to require bus riders 65 and older to pay 50 cents a ride or $15 for a 31-day bus pass, starting in 2011. The story also said the board was deciding to charge seniors and people with disabilities to ride buses for the first time since 1989."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFiles/Capmetroorg/Public_Involvement/Board_Meetings/111010%20Bd%20Mtg.pdf"
],
"sentence": "According tominutes of the Nov. 10, 2010, board meeting, the six members who were there unanimously approved a resolution authorizing higher fares in part, the resolution said, to generate additional operating revenues while striving to meet growing demand for transportation options. Martinez and another board member were recorded as absent."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFiles/Capmetroorg/Public_Involvement/Board_Meetings/September%2023,%202013%20Board%20Minutes.doc"
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"sentence": "Pares told us theboard in September 2013approved another increase in senior fares, to 60 cents, effective in 2015. Generally, she said, senior citizens receive 50 percent off regular fares."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sunset.texas.gov/public/uploads/files/reports/Capital%20Metro%20Final%20Report%202011%2082%20leg.pdf"
],
"sentence": "In a 2010 report, the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the authority charge a bus fare of 50 cents for groups currently riding free. The commission had said 30 percent of Capital Metros passengers were riding for free and, it noted, the board had rejected proposed fares in 2008 and 2009. In its finalJuly 2011 reporton Capital Metro, the commission said: While fare increases are difficult, requiring only a portion of its ridership to bear the burden of these increases is not equitable or sustainable, especially in bad financial times."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/fiscalnotes/html/SB01263F.htm"
],
"sentence": "Martinez pointed out the sunset review occurred in keeping withlegislation passed into lawby the 2009 Legislature, which wanted Capital Metro to get its finances in order."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/m/Issue?oid=864995"
],
"sentence": "On taxes, Wick of Adlers camp offered as backup news stories indicating thatin 2009, Martinez said taxpayers would have to pay a little more in taxes and fees through 2010 to maintain services andin 2010, the council acting to raise the citys property tax rate from 42.09 cents per $100 of property value to 45.71 cents; the city tax on a median value home was expected to increase $52 to $843."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0kkOiAWUCUGNHVsdC1KR0c5aGM/view?usp=sharing"
],
"sentence": "Wick followed up by emailing us achart made by Adlers campaignindicating city property taxes on a median-valued home going up on Martinezs watch. For a non-campaign analysis, we turned to the Travis Central Appraisal District; the chief appraiser, Marya Crigler, emailed us achartindicating city property taxes on a median-value homestead in 2007 were $715; in 2014, the comparable figure was $1,014. We converted the 2007 figure to 2014 dollars, using afederal inflation calculator. Upshot: Adjusted for inflation, city taxes on a median-value Austin homestead went up $278, or 34 percent, from 2007 through 2014, Martinezs council years."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/may/10/kathie-tovo/kathie-tovo-says-austin-energy-considering-first-r/"
],
"sentence": "In 2011,we found Mostly Truea claim that Austin Energy, the city electric utility, was considering its first hike in rates since 1994. The base electric rate, covering staff, the electric system, power plants, vehicles and the like, hadnt changed since 1994. Meantime, residential customers were paying less for electricity than they once had, taking inflation into account."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/austin-city-council-approves-electric-rate-hike/nRpK2/"
],
"sentence": "On June 7, 2012, the council unanimously voted to raise the base rate, theAmerican-Statesmanreported. The news story said: The complicated new rate structure will hit customers in different ways; generally speaking, the larger and more energy-hungry the home, the higher the percentage increase, effective October 2012. A typical home, which uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month over the course of a year, will see its monthly bill rise by $8, to $113, according to Austin Energy calculations. A home that uses a lot of electricity would see its monthly bill increase by $59, to $332, the story said."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/feb/21/principles-truth-o-meter/"
],
"sentence": "Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/dec/11/steve-adler/steve-adler-mike-martinez-tax-utility-rates-fares/
|
Mike Martinez has supported increasing taxes and utility rates, as well as discontinuing complimentary bus services for senior citizens.
|
W. Gardner Selby
|
12/11/2014
|
[] |
Austin voters should doubt mayoral aspirant Mike Martinezs commitment to an affordable city, his opponent in a Dec. 16, 2014, runoff maintains. The narrator of a Steve Adler TV ad says that as an Austin City Council member, Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors. That statement is made against this visual backdrop: Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,Mike Martinez Record on City Council, posted online Dec. 2, 2014. Martinez has been a council member since June 2006. So its no surprise he would have had a say on taxes and rates charged by the city-owned utilities, though unsaid here is that no single council member controls any such decisions; its been a seven-member body, including the mayor. Martinez also chairs theeight-person boardoverseeing Capital Metro, which provides local bus and limited rail service. So he could have voted on fares charged the elderly. Lets recap Martinezs actions on fares, city taxes and utility rates. Bus fares To our inquiries, Adlers campaign didnt provide comprehensive backup for his ad claim. But by email, spokesman Jim Wick pointed out a September 2010Austin American-Statesmannews storystating the Cap Metro board voted to require bus riders 65 and older to pay 50 cents a ride or $15 for a 31-day bus pass, starting in 2011. The story also said the board was deciding to charge seniors and people with disabilities to ride buses for the first time since 1989. For Capital Metro, spokeswoman Francine Pares told us by email Martinez has been a board member since June 2007 and chairman since January 2010. Pares also confirmed the boards decision to charge the 50-cent fares, though she said that change was adopted at the boards November 2010 gathering, which Martinez didnt attend, she said. According tominutes of the Nov. 10, 2010, board meeting, the six members who were there unanimously approved a resolution authorizing higher fares in part, the resolution said, to generate additional operating revenues while striving to meet growing demand for transportation options. Martinez and another board member were recorded as absent. Pares told us theboard in September 2013approved another increase in senior fares, to 60 cents, effective in 2015. Generally, she said, senior citizens receive 50 percent off regular fares. By phone, Martinez agreed he and fellow board members agreed to charge the fares for elderly residents. But that happened, he said, only after a state panel issued marching orders including a recommendation calling for Capital Metro to raise more money from fares. In a 2010 report, the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the authority charge a bus fare of 50 cents for groups currently riding free. The commission had said 30 percent of Capital Metros passengers were riding for free and, it noted, the board had rejected proposed fares in 2008 and 2009. In its finalJuly 2011 reporton Capital Metro, the commission said: While fare increases are difficult, requiring only a portion of its ridership to bear the burden of these increases is not equitable or sustainable, especially in bad financial times. Martinez pointed out the sunset review occurred in keeping withlegislation passed into lawby the 2009 Legislature, which wanted Capital Metro to get its finances in order. City taxes On taxes, Wick of Adlers camp offered as backup news stories indicating thatin 2009, Martinez said taxpayers would have to pay a little more in taxes and fees through 2010 to maintain services andin 2010, the council acting to raise the citys property tax rate from 42.09 cents per $100 of property value to 45.71 cents; the city tax on a median value home was expected to increase $52 to $843. Wick followed up by emailing us achart made by Adlers campaignindicating city property taxes on a median-valued home going up on Martinezs watch. For a non-campaign analysis, we turned to the Travis Central Appraisal District; the chief appraiser, Marya Crigler, emailed us achartindicating city property taxes on a median-value homestead in 2007 were $715; in 2014, the comparable figure was $1,014. We converted the 2007 figure to 2014 dollars, using afederal inflation calculator. Upshot: Adjusted for inflation, city taxes on a median-value Austin homestead went up $278, or 34 percent, from 2007 through 2014, Martinezs council years. Over those years, according to the district, the median taxable value of an Austin homestead went from $177,257 to $228,032. Adjusting for inflation suggests there was a nearly $18,800, 9 percent, increase. Martinez agreed property owners paid more in taxes in his council tenure, results influenced by surging property values, he said. Still, he said, in five of eight years, council members voted to keep the citys property tax rate the same or to lower it. When the rate was raised, he said, the economy was in recession. For another fact check, the city provided this chart of tax rates, which shows the council raised the rate three times in Martinezs tenure, most recently for 2013, but cut the rate four times, most recently for 2014. In September 2014, the council left the 2014 rate intact for 2015. Utility rates In 2011,we found Mostly Truea claim that Austin Energy, the city electric utility, was considering its first hike in rates since 1994. The base electric rate, covering staff, the electric system, power plants, vehicles and the like, hadnt changed since 1994. Meantime, residential customers were paying less for electricity than they once had, taking inflation into account. On June 7, 2012, the council unanimously voted to raise the base rate, theAmerican-Statesmanreported. The news story said: The complicated new rate structure will hit customers in different ways; generally speaking, the larger and more energy-hungry the home, the higher the percentage increase, effective October 2012. A typical home, which uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month over the course of a year, will see its monthly bill rise by $8, to $113, according to Austin Energy calculations. A home that uses a lot of electricity would see its monthly bill increase by $59, to $332, the story said. How would Adler have voted? We asked Wick how Adler would have voted on the bus fares, tax and utility rate hikes we confirmed. Theres no simple answer, Wick said by email, but Adler favors free fares for senior citizens. Our ruling Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors. Austin residents pay more in taxes and could be paying more for electricity thanks to council actions Martinez supported. He also backed a decision by the Capital Metro board to charge half fares to elderly bus riders who had previously not been charged, though Martinez hardly did this by himself; its worth clarifying, too, that Capital Metro was under pressure to improve its finances and that Martinez missed the vote creating the then-50-cent fare. We rate this statement Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
[
"Transportation",
"Voting Record",
"Taxes",
"Texas"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": "Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1B5uuGhZ68BbM7GinajTcM4HW2snaqOgu"
},
{
"image_caption": " posted online Dec. 2, 2014.",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1wWyscgktLtYLkQ0hpmtdwXOB26OBjUBi"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWl7Y0oSaPc&feature=youtu.be"
],
"sentence": "Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,Mike Martinez Record on City Council, posted online Dec. 2, 2014."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.capmetro.org/leadership.aspx?id=308"
],
"sentence": "Martinez also chairs theeight-person boardoverseeing Capital Metro, which provides local bus and limited rail service. So he could have voted on fares charged the elderly."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/cap-metro-to-raise-fares-cut-services-for-disabled/nRx9W/"
],
"sentence": "To our inquiries, Adlers campaign didnt provide comprehensive backup for his ad claim. But by email, spokesman Jim Wick pointed out a September 2010Austin American-Statesmannews storystating the Cap Metro board voted to require bus riders 65 and older to pay 50 cents a ride or $15 for a 31-day bus pass, starting in 2011. The story also said the board was deciding to charge seniors and people with disabilities to ride buses for the first time since 1989."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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"sentence": "According tominutes of the Nov. 10, 2010, board meeting, the six members who were there unanimously approved a resolution authorizing higher fares in part, the resolution said, to generate additional operating revenues while striving to meet growing demand for transportation options. Martinez and another board member were recorded as absent."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFiles/Capmetroorg/Public_Involvement/Board_Meetings/September%2023,%202013%20Board%20Minutes.doc"
],
"sentence": "Pares told us theboard in September 2013approved another increase in senior fares, to 60 cents, effective in 2015. Generally, she said, senior citizens receive 50 percent off regular fares."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sunset.texas.gov/public/uploads/files/reports/Capital%20Metro%20Final%20Report%202011%2082%20leg.pdf"
],
"sentence": "In a 2010 report, the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the authority charge a bus fare of 50 cents for groups currently riding free. The commission had said 30 percent of Capital Metros passengers were riding for free and, it noted, the board had rejected proposed fares in 2008 and 2009. In its finalJuly 2011 reporton Capital Metro, the commission said: While fare increases are difficult, requiring only a portion of its ridership to bear the burden of these increases is not equitable or sustainable, especially in bad financial times."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/fiscalnotes/html/SB01263F.htm"
],
"sentence": "Martinez pointed out the sunset review occurred in keeping withlegislation passed into lawby the 2009 Legislature, which wanted Capital Metro to get its finances in order."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/m/Issue?oid=864995"
],
"sentence": "On taxes, Wick of Adlers camp offered as backup news stories indicating thatin 2009, Martinez said taxpayers would have to pay a little more in taxes and fees through 2010 to maintain services andin 2010, the council acting to raise the citys property tax rate from 42.09 cents per $100 of property value to 45.71 cents; the city tax on a median value home was expected to increase $52 to $843."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0kkOiAWUCUGNHVsdC1KR0c5aGM/view?usp=sharing"
],
"sentence": "Wick followed up by emailing us achart made by Adlers campaignindicating city property taxes on a median-valued home going up on Martinezs watch. For a non-campaign analysis, we turned to the Travis Central Appraisal District; the chief appraiser, Marya Crigler, emailed us achartindicating city property taxes on a median-value homestead in 2007 were $715; in 2014, the comparable figure was $1,014. We converted the 2007 figure to 2014 dollars, using afederal inflation calculator. Upshot: Adjusted for inflation, city taxes on a median-value Austin homestead went up $278, or 34 percent, from 2007 through 2014, Martinezs council years."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/may/10/kathie-tovo/kathie-tovo-says-austin-energy-considering-first-r/"
],
"sentence": "In 2011,we found Mostly Truea claim that Austin Energy, the city electric utility, was considering its first hike in rates since 1994. The base electric rate, covering staff, the electric system, power plants, vehicles and the like, hadnt changed since 1994. Meantime, residential customers were paying less for electricity than they once had, taking inflation into account."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/austin-city-council-approves-electric-rate-hike/nRpK2/"
],
"sentence": "On June 7, 2012, the council unanimously voted to raise the base rate, theAmerican-Statesmanreported. The news story said: The complicated new rate structure will hit customers in different ways; generally speaking, the larger and more energy-hungry the home, the higher the percentage increase, effective October 2012. A typical home, which uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month over the course of a year, will see its monthly bill rise by $8, to $113, according to Austin Energy calculations. A home that uses a lot of electricity would see its monthly bill increase by $59, to $332, the story said."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/feb/21/principles-truth-o-meter/"
],
"sentence": "Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/dec/11/steve-adler/steve-adler-mike-martinez-tax-utility-rates-fares/
|
Mike Martinez has supported increases in taxes and utility rates, as well as the discontinuation of no-cost bus service for seniors.
|
W. Gardner Selby
|
12/11/2014
|
[] |
Austin voters should doubt mayoral aspirant Mike Martinezs commitment to an affordable city, his opponent in a Dec. 16, 2014, runoff maintains. The narrator of a Steve Adler TV ad says that as an Austin City Council member, Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors. That statement is made against this visual backdrop: Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,Mike Martinez Record on City Council, posted online Dec. 2, 2014. Martinez has been a council member since June 2006. So its no surprise he would have had a say on taxes and rates charged by the city-owned utilities, though unsaid here is that no single council member controls any such decisions; its been a seven-member body, including the mayor. Martinez also chairs theeight-person boardoverseeing Capital Metro, which provides local bus and limited rail service. So he could have voted on fares charged the elderly. Lets recap Martinezs actions on fares, city taxes and utility rates. Bus fares To our inquiries, Adlers campaign didnt provide comprehensive backup for his ad claim. But by email, spokesman Jim Wick pointed out a September 2010Austin American-Statesmannews storystating the Cap Metro board voted to require bus riders 65 and older to pay 50 cents a ride or $15 for a 31-day bus pass, starting in 2011. The story also said the board was deciding to charge seniors and people with disabilities to ride buses for the first time since 1989. For Capital Metro, spokeswoman Francine Pares told us by email Martinez has been a board member since June 2007 and chairman since January 2010. Pares also confirmed the boards decision to charge the 50-cent fares, though she said that change was adopted at the boards November 2010 gathering, which Martinez didnt attend, she said. According tominutes of the Nov. 10, 2010, board meeting, the six members who were there unanimously approved a resolution authorizing higher fares in part, the resolution said, to generate additional operating revenues while striving to meet growing demand for transportation options. Martinez and another board member were recorded as absent. Pares told us theboard in September 2013approved another increase in senior fares, to 60 cents, effective in 2015. Generally, she said, senior citizens receive 50 percent off regular fares. By phone, Martinez agreed he and fellow board members agreed to charge the fares for elderly residents. But that happened, he said, only after a state panel issued marching orders including a recommendation calling for Capital Metro to raise more money from fares. In a 2010 report, the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the authority charge a bus fare of 50 cents for groups currently riding free. The commission had said 30 percent of Capital Metros passengers were riding for free and, it noted, the board had rejected proposed fares in 2008 and 2009. In its finalJuly 2011 reporton Capital Metro, the commission said: While fare increases are difficult, requiring only a portion of its ridership to bear the burden of these increases is not equitable or sustainable, especially in bad financial times. Martinez pointed out the sunset review occurred in keeping withlegislation passed into lawby the 2009 Legislature, which wanted Capital Metro to get its finances in order. City taxes On taxes, Wick of Adlers camp offered as backup news stories indicating thatin 2009, Martinez said taxpayers would have to pay a little more in taxes and fees through 2010 to maintain services andin 2010, the council acting to raise the citys property tax rate from 42.09 cents per $100 of property value to 45.71 cents; the city tax on a median value home was expected to increase $52 to $843. Wick followed up by emailing us achart made by Adlers campaignindicating city property taxes on a median-valued home going up on Martinezs watch. For a non-campaign analysis, we turned to the Travis Central Appraisal District; the chief appraiser, Marya Crigler, emailed us achartindicating city property taxes on a median-value homestead in 2007 were $715; in 2014, the comparable figure was $1,014. We converted the 2007 figure to 2014 dollars, using afederal inflation calculator. Upshot: Adjusted for inflation, city taxes on a median-value Austin homestead went up $278, or 34 percent, from 2007 through 2014, Martinezs council years. Over those years, according to the district, the median taxable value of an Austin homestead went from $177,257 to $228,032. Adjusting for inflation suggests there was a nearly $18,800, 9 percent, increase. Martinez agreed property owners paid more in taxes in his council tenure, results influenced by surging property values, he said. Still, he said, in five of eight years, council members voted to keep the citys property tax rate the same or to lower it. When the rate was raised, he said, the economy was in recession. For another fact check, the city provided this chart of tax rates, which shows the council raised the rate three times in Martinezs tenure, most recently for 2013, but cut the rate four times, most recently for 2014. In September 2014, the council left the 2014 rate intact for 2015. Utility rates In 2011,we found Mostly Truea claim that Austin Energy, the city electric utility, was considering its first hike in rates since 1994. The base electric rate, covering staff, the electric system, power plants, vehicles and the like, hadnt changed since 1994. Meantime, residential customers were paying less for electricity than they once had, taking inflation into account. On June 7, 2012, the council unanimously voted to raise the base rate, theAmerican-Statesmanreported. The news story said: The complicated new rate structure will hit customers in different ways; generally speaking, the larger and more energy-hungry the home, the higher the percentage increase, effective October 2012. A typical home, which uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month over the course of a year, will see its monthly bill rise by $8, to $113, according to Austin Energy calculations. A home that uses a lot of electricity would see its monthly bill increase by $59, to $332, the story said. How would Adler have voted? We asked Wick how Adler would have voted on the bus fares, tax and utility rate hikes we confirmed. Theres no simple answer, Wick said by email, but Adler favors free fares for senior citizens. Our ruling Mike Martinez has voted to raise taxes and utility rates while ending free bus service for seniors. Austin residents pay more in taxes and could be paying more for electricity thanks to council actions Martinez supported. He also backed a decision by the Capital Metro board to charge half fares to elderly bus riders who had previously not been charged, though Martinez hardly did this by himself; its worth clarifying, too, that Capital Metro was under pressure to improve its finances and that Martinez missed the vote creating the then-50-cent fare. We rate this statement Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check.
|
[
"Transportation",
"Voting Record",
"Taxes",
"Texas"
] |
[
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"image_caption": "Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,",
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"sentence": "Source: TV ad from Steve Adler, Austin mayoral candidate,Mike Martinez Record on City Council, posted online Dec. 2, 2014."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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"sentence": "Martinez also chairs theeight-person boardoverseeing Capital Metro, which provides local bus and limited rail service. So he could have voted on fares charged the elderly."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/cap-metro-to-raise-fares-cut-services-for-disabled/nRx9W/"
],
"sentence": "To our inquiries, Adlers campaign didnt provide comprehensive backup for his ad claim. But by email, spokesman Jim Wick pointed out a September 2010Austin American-Statesmannews storystating the Cap Metro board voted to require bus riders 65 and older to pay 50 cents a ride or $15 for a 31-day bus pass, starting in 2011. The story also said the board was deciding to charge seniors and people with disabilities to ride buses for the first time since 1989."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFiles/Capmetroorg/Public_Involvement/Board_Meetings/111010%20Bd%20Mtg.pdf"
],
"sentence": "According tominutes of the Nov. 10, 2010, board meeting, the six members who were there unanimously approved a resolution authorizing higher fares in part, the resolution said, to generate additional operating revenues while striving to meet growing demand for transportation options. Martinez and another board member were recorded as absent."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.capmetro.org/uploadedFiles/Capmetroorg/Public_Involvement/Board_Meetings/September%2023,%202013%20Board%20Minutes.doc"
],
"sentence": "Pares told us theboard in September 2013approved another increase in senior fares, to 60 cents, effective in 2015. Generally, she said, senior citizens receive 50 percent off regular fares."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sunset.texas.gov/public/uploads/files/reports/Capital%20Metro%20Final%20Report%202011%2082%20leg.pdf"
],
"sentence": "In a 2010 report, the staff of the Sunset Advisory Commission recommended the authority charge a bus fare of 50 cents for groups currently riding free. The commission had said 30 percent of Capital Metros passengers were riding for free and, it noted, the board had rejected proposed fares in 2008 and 2009. In its finalJuly 2011 reporton Capital Metro, the commission said: While fare increases are difficult, requiring only a portion of its ridership to bear the burden of these increases is not equitable or sustainable, especially in bad financial times."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/fiscalnotes/html/SB01263F.htm"
],
"sentence": "Martinez pointed out the sunset review occurred in keeping withlegislation passed into lawby the 2009 Legislature, which wanted Capital Metro to get its finances in order."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/m/Issue?oid=864995"
],
"sentence": "On taxes, Wick of Adlers camp offered as backup news stories indicating thatin 2009, Martinez said taxpayers would have to pay a little more in taxes and fees through 2010 to maintain services andin 2010, the council acting to raise the citys property tax rate from 42.09 cents per $100 of property value to 45.71 cents; the city tax on a median value home was expected to increase $52 to $843."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0kkOiAWUCUGNHVsdC1KR0c5aGM/view?usp=sharing"
],
"sentence": "Wick followed up by emailing us achart made by Adlers campaignindicating city property taxes on a median-valued home going up on Martinezs watch. For a non-campaign analysis, we turned to the Travis Central Appraisal District; the chief appraiser, Marya Crigler, emailed us achartindicating city property taxes on a median-value homestead in 2007 were $715; in 2014, the comparable figure was $1,014. We converted the 2007 figure to 2014 dollars, using afederal inflation calculator. Upshot: Adjusted for inflation, city taxes on a median-value Austin homestead went up $278, or 34 percent, from 2007 through 2014, Martinezs council years."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/may/10/kathie-tovo/kathie-tovo-says-austin-energy-considering-first-r/"
],
"sentence": "In 2011,we found Mostly Truea claim that Austin Energy, the city electric utility, was considering its first hike in rates since 1994. The base electric rate, covering staff, the electric system, power plants, vehicles and the like, hadnt changed since 1994. Meantime, residential customers were paying less for electricity than they once had, taking inflation into account."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local/austin-city-council-approves-electric-rate-hike/nRpK2/"
],
"sentence": "On June 7, 2012, the council unanimously voted to raise the base rate, theAmerican-Statesmanreported. The news story said: The complicated new rate structure will hit customers in different ways; generally speaking, the larger and more energy-hungry the home, the higher the percentage increase, effective October 2012. A typical home, which uses an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month over the course of a year, will see its monthly bill rise by $8, to $113, according to Austin Energy calculations. A home that uses a lot of electricity would see its monthly bill increase by $59, to $332, the story said."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/feb/21/principles-truth-o-meter/"
],
"sentence": "Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-healthy-body/
|
Did Stalin Say 'America Is Like a Healthy Body with Threefold Resistance'?
|
David Mikkelson
|
03/15/2012
|
[
"Despite how frequently these words are shared in his name, there appears to be no record of Josef Stalin writing or uttering them."
] |
One of the forms of political expression that frequently arrives in our inbox for verification is the "evil plan" warning, items which present the notion that some malevolent entity (ranging from Communists to Satan himself) not only expressed an intent to destroy our society from within, but outlined a specific plan for doing so. A quote attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that a reader emailed us in November 2011 exemplifies the genre: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." The specifics of these plans (no matter how long ago they may supposedly have been formulated) generally relate to current events, and the political purpose of circulating them is to make readers aware that trends which threaten the health of our society are currently in place (i.e., "This is EXACTLY what is happening now!"), and to warn them that we must be vigilant about holding our course and stopping or reversing the encroachment of these socially unhealthful trends. This form has been expressed in such widely circulated items as Paul Harvey's "If I Were the Devil" essay, an (apocryphal) quotation by Karl Marx about the perils of consumer debt, and an (also apocryphal) warning from Abraham Lincoln about the accumulation of vast wealth in the hands of a few. If I Were the Devil Karl Marx Abraham Lincoln The putative quotation from Stalin referenced above is another item of this genre, one which presents the concept that Communist enemies of the U.S. viewed patriotism, morality, and spirituality as America's greatest assets and cannily plotted that the U.S. could be made to collapse from within if these values were sufficiently undermined (and which, of course, serves as an admonition to American readers to be attentive in maintaining these values). Whatever level of truth one might find in this sentiment, however, it's highly unlikely that Stalin ever spoke these words. Proving a negative is often an uncertain proposition, but our reasons for believing this quotation to be of dubious origin are: Josef Stalin Internet Archive Stalin documents letter Cummings, Jeanne. "Gingrich Out to Save America."The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 16 January 1994 (p. G1). "Readers Respond to 'The Day After'."Lawrence Journal-World. 23 November 1983 (p. 9). Stalin Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/subject/index.htm. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953 | The Online Books Page. https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Stalin%2c%20Joseph%2c%201879-1953. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Updated [Sept.15, 2022]: Sources and links refreshed.
|
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1-083cpeVkwHjSMtlqfAWXYyXGK00tznh"
}
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],
"sentence": "A quote attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that a reader emailed us in November 2011 exemplifies the genre:"
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"hrefs": [
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"sentence": "The specifics of these plans (no matter how long ago they may supposedly have been formulated) generally relate to current events, and the political purpose of circulating them is to make readers aware that trends which threaten the health of our society are currently in place (i.e., \"This is EXACTLY what is happening now!\"), and to warn them that we must be vigilant about holding our course and stopping or reversing the encroachment of these socially unhealthful trends. This form has been expressed in such widely circulated items as Paul Harvey's \"If I Were the Devil\" essay, an (apocryphal) quotation by Karl Marx about the perils of consumer debt, and an (also apocryphal) warning from Abraham Lincoln about the accumulation of vast wealth in the hands of a few."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-healthy-body/
|
Did Stalin claim that 'America resembles a robust body possessing triple resistance'?
|
David Mikkelson
|
03/15/2012
|
[
"Despite how frequently these words are shared in his name, there appears to be no record of Josef Stalin writing or uttering them."
] |
One of the forms of political expression that frequently arrives in our inbox for verification is the "evil plan" warning, items which present the notion that some malevolent entity (ranging from Communists to Satan himself) not only expressed an intent to destroy our society from within, but outlined a specific plan for doing so. A quote attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that a reader emailed us in November 2011 exemplifies the genre: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." The specifics of these plans (no matter how long ago they may supposedly have been formulated) generally relate to current events, and the political purpose of circulating them is to make readers aware that trends which threaten the health of our society are currently in place (i.e., "This is EXACTLY what is happening now!"), and to warn them that we must be vigilant about holding our course and stopping or reversing the encroachment of these socially unhealthful trends. This form has been expressed in such widely circulated items as Paul Harvey's "If I Were the Devil" essay, an (apocryphal) quotation by Karl Marx about the perils of consumer debt, and an (also apocryphal) warning from Abraham Lincoln about the accumulation of vast wealth in the hands of a few. If I Were the Devil Karl Marx Abraham Lincoln The putative quotation from Stalin referenced above is another item of this genre, one which presents the concept that Communist enemies of the U.S. viewed patriotism, morality, and spirituality as America's greatest assets and cannily plotted that the U.S. could be made to collapse from within if these values were sufficiently undermined (and which, of course, serves as an admonition to American readers to be attentive in maintaining these values). Whatever level of truth one might find in this sentiment, however, it's highly unlikely that Stalin ever spoke these words. Proving a negative is often an uncertain proposition, but our reasons for believing this quotation to be of dubious origin are: Josef Stalin Internet Archive Stalin documents letter Cummings, Jeanne. "Gingrich Out to Save America."The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 16 January 1994 (p. G1). "Readers Respond to 'The Day After'."Lawrence Journal-World. 23 November 1983 (p. 9). Stalin Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/subject/index.htm. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953 | The Online Books Page. https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Stalin%2c%20Joseph%2c%201879-1953. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Updated [Sept.15, 2022]: Sources and links refreshed.
|
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"debt"
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1TURKcgR8RrkJBYFDTtHySoSdu7Pfa7Jk"
}
] |
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{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "A quote attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that a reader emailed us in November 2011 exemplifies the genre:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/if-i-were-the-devil/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/failing-marx/",
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],
"sentence": "The specifics of these plans (no matter how long ago they may supposedly have been formulated) generally relate to current events, and the political purpose of circulating them is to make readers aware that trends which threaten the health of our society are currently in place (i.e., \"This is EXACTLY what is happening now!\"), and to warn them that we must be vigilant about holding our course and stopping or reversing the encroachment of these socially unhealthful trends. This form has been expressed in such widely circulated items as Paul Harvey's \"If I Were the Devil\" essay, an (apocryphal) quotation by Karl Marx about the perils of consumer debt, and an (also apocryphal) warning from Abraham Lincoln about the accumulation of vast wealth in the hands of a few."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-healthy-body/
|
Did Stalin assert that America resembles a robust physique possessing triple strength?
|
David Mikkelson
|
03/15/2012
|
[
"Despite how frequently these words are shared in his name, there appears to be no record of Josef Stalin writing or uttering them."
] |
One of the forms of political expression that frequently arrives in our inbox for verification is the "evil plan" warning, items which present the notion that some malevolent entity (ranging from Communists to Satan himself) not only expressed an intent to destroy our society from within, but outlined a specific plan for doing so. A quote attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that a reader emailed us in November 2011 exemplifies the genre: Soviet dictator Josef Stalin "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." The specifics of these plans (no matter how long ago they may supposedly have been formulated) generally relate to current events, and the political purpose of circulating them is to make readers aware that trends which threaten the health of our society are currently in place (i.e., "This is EXACTLY what is happening now!"), and to warn them that we must be vigilant about holding our course and stopping or reversing the encroachment of these socially unhealthful trends. This form has been expressed in such widely circulated items as Paul Harvey's "If I Were the Devil" essay, an (apocryphal) quotation by Karl Marx about the perils of consumer debt, and an (also apocryphal) warning from Abraham Lincoln about the accumulation of vast wealth in the hands of a few. If I Were the Devil Karl Marx Abraham Lincoln The putative quotation from Stalin referenced above is another item of this genre, one which presents the concept that Communist enemies of the U.S. viewed patriotism, morality, and spirituality as America's greatest assets and cannily plotted that the U.S. could be made to collapse from within if these values were sufficiently undermined (and which, of course, serves as an admonition to American readers to be attentive in maintaining these values). Whatever level of truth one might find in this sentiment, however, it's highly unlikely that Stalin ever spoke these words. Proving a negative is often an uncertain proposition, but our reasons for believing this quotation to be of dubious origin are: Josef Stalin Internet Archive Stalin documents letter Cummings, Jeanne. "Gingrich Out to Save America."The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 16 January 1994 (p. G1). "Readers Respond to 'The Day After'."Lawrence Journal-World. 23 November 1983 (p. 9). Stalin Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/subject/index.htm. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Stalin, Joseph, 1879-1953 | The Online Books Page. https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Stalin%2c%20Joseph%2c%201879-1953. Accessed 15 Sept. 2022. Updated [Sept.15, 2022]: Sources and links refreshed.
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"sentence": "The specifics of these plans (no matter how long ago they may supposedly have been formulated) generally relate to current events, and the political purpose of circulating them is to make readers aware that trends which threaten the health of our society are currently in place (i.e., \"This is EXACTLY what is happening now!\"), and to warn them that we must be vigilant about holding our course and stopping or reversing the encroachment of these socially unhealthful trends. This form has been expressed in such widely circulated items as Paul Harvey's \"If I Were the Devil\" essay, an (apocryphal) quotation by Karl Marx about the perils of consumer debt, and an (also apocryphal) warning from Abraham Lincoln about the accumulation of vast wealth in the hands of a few."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/robert-card-arrest-video-lewiston-maine/
|
Is This a Video of Robert Card Being Arrested in Lewiston, Maine, Mass Shooting?
|
Alex Kasprak
|
10/26/2023
|
[
"False claims about the person of interest in the Oct. 25, 2023, massacre spread rapidly on social media. "
] |
On Oct. 25, 2023, a gunman opened fire at two separate locations in Lewiston, Maine, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores more. As reported by NBC News, "Seven people were found dead at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, eight were found dead at Schemengees Bar and Grille and three were pronounced dead at area hospitals." reported Just hours later, based on surveillance camera footage showing the perpetrator's face, law enforcement named Robert Card of Bowdoin, Maine, as a "person of interest:" named As reported by NBC News, a bulletin put out by the Maine Information and Analysis Center, a database for law enforcement officials, indicated that Card was in the Army Reserve and was a trained firearms instructor. reported Around this time, video appearing to show a man being arrested on a dark street went viral with the claim that it purportedly showed Card being arrested: video Such a claim was impossible. At the time of those posts and as of this reporting Card remained at large, and a massive manhunt was underway to capture him, as reported by CNN on Oct. 26, 2023: reported by An extensive manhunt is underway for a suspect in a mass shooting at a bowling alley and at a restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night that left 18 people dead and 13 others injured, Gov. Janet Mills said Thursday. An arrest warrant has been issued for Robert Card, 40, accusing him of murder, Maine State Police Col. William Ross said during a Thursday news conference. He should be considered armed and dangerous, officials said. [...] Major Northeast grocery chain Hannaford Supermarkets kept all its Maine stores closed early Thursday, the company said. And public schools in Lewiston and Portland the states largest district, with about 6,500 students are closed, officials have said. People in nearby Bowdoin, Maine, were advised early Thursday the shelter in place advisory and school closings would include their town, Maine State Police announced: Please stay inside your homes while more than 100 investigators, both local and federal work to locate Robert Card who is a person of interest in the Lewiston shootings. Because Card was still at large at the time a video of his purported arrest went viral, we have rated claim as Live Updates: At Least 18 Killed in Shootings in Lewiston, Maine; Manhunt Underway for Suspect. NBC News, 26 Oct. 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/lewiston-maine-shooting-manhunt-gunman-police-live-rcna122270. Police Identify 40-Year-Old Man as Person of Interest in Mass Shooting in Lewiston, Maine. NBC News, 26 Oct. 2023, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/lewiston-maine-shooting-robert-card-what-know-rcna122262. Smart, Sara, et al. Arrest Warrant Issued for Suspect after 18 Killed in Shooting Rampage in Maine as Manhunt Continues, Officials Say. CNN, 26 Oct. 2023, https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/26/us/lewiston-maine-shootings-thursday/index.html.
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"sentence": "On Oct. 25, 2023, a gunman opened fire at two separate locations in Lewiston, Maine, killing at least 18 people and wounding scores more. As reported by NBC News, \"Seven people were found dead at the Just-In-Time Recreation bowling alley, eight were found dead at Schemengees Bar and Grille and three were pronounced dead at area hospitals.\""
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"sentence": "Around this time, video appearing to show a man being arrested on a dark street went viral with the claim that it purportedly showed Card being arrested:"
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"sentence": "Such a claim was impossible. At the time of those posts and as of this reporting Card remained at large, and a massive manhunt was underway to capture him, as reported by CNN on Oct. 26, 2023:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-rosie-insanity-campaign-donations/
|
Did Rosie O'Donnell 'Plead Insanity' Over Illegal Campaign Donations?
|
Arturo Garcia
|
05/06/2018
|
[
"Right-leaning web sites falsely accused the actress and comedian of trying to set up a \"Trump Derangement Syndrome\" defense."
] |
In May 2018, right-wing blogs pounced on a New York Post story concerning alleged campaign contribution violations by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. According to the Post, the former co-host of The View exceeded the $2,700 limit on individual campaign contributions in donations to several Democratic Party candidates via the fundraising web site ActBlue, while using five different New York addresses and four variations of her name. According The report also said that O'Donnell donated $90,000 to 50 different committees and candidates for federal office. O'Donnell reportedly told the Post via email that she did "nothing nefarious," adding that she did not choose to donate over the limit. The newspaper also quoted her as saying: My anxiety is quelled by donating to those opposing trump [and] his agenda especially at night when most of these were placed. Conservative bloggers seized on that remark to accuse O'Donnell of "pleading insanity": accuse Trump-hating liberal Rosie ODonnell has accused President Trump of many bogus crimes. She has been obsessed with trying to accuse President Trump of nonsense. She has became completely obsessed with President Trump. Her Twitter feed is filled with incohrrent [sic] rants. Now the Trump curse continues as she is pleading insanity in hopes of not paying the penalty for breaking campaign finance laws. She is facing criminal charges thanks to a campaign finance scheme. In fact, there has been no announcement of an investigation into the alleged donations, let alone "criminal charges." The Federal Election Commission did not comment on the Post's report. While the Post's report has been aggregated by blogs and other news outlets, no second source has emerged corroborating its findings. An ActBlue spokesperson, Chris Fleming, did not comment on the story, but did tell us: ActBlue does not allow over the limit contributions in any one transaction, and ActBlue offers donors the option of saving all their info in an account where they can track their cumulative giving through ActBlue and compare/add to offline giving. While the Post reported that FEC violations only rarely lead to penalties, Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson said that it can depend on the jurisdiction. "For instance, some cities and states are much more aggressive about finding and fining people for these violations than others," said Levinson, who focuses on campaign finance in her work: On the federal level, it is true that the Federal Election Commission is a model of inaction. I think it would be fair to say that fines are not common, but I'm not really convinced that these types of violations are terrifically common. For her part, O'Donnell accused the Post on Twitter of employing "sinister ways to warp the truth." She also posted a photograph depicting her contributions on the ActBlue platform, listed at 66 donations totaling $75,500: Twitter She told the Post that candidates should refund donation money that exceeds the individual limit, adding, "I don't look to see who I can donate most to.... I just donate assuming they do not accept what is over the limit." FEC regulations state that campaign committees that receive individual donations over the $2,700 limit have 60 days to refund the excess amount, redesignate it toward another election, or reattribute the money to someone else. In the event of a redesignation or reattribution, the contributor must be notified of the committee's intent and offered the chance to collect a refund instead. state The newspaper's report centered on contributions from O'Donnell to two current Democratic congressional candidates Lauren Underwood in Illinois and Omar Vaid in New York as well as campaigns for three current lawmakers from the same party: Rep. Adam Schiff from California; Doug Jones of Alabama; and Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania. Lamb's campaign will reportedly contact O'Donnell and offer to either refund or redesignate her excess contributions; Vaid's told the Post that it would amend its filings. A spokesperson for Underwood told us: Because of the data point differences in name, address, and employer, our systems did not flag these contributions as totaling above the limit. In the coming weeks, we will be amending our report. Bloggers also attempted to compare O'Donnell's purported violations to the outright illegal donations that led to the 2014 conviction of right-wing documentarian Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza was sentenced to five years probation and eight months in a halfway house after pleading guilty to making illegal contributions in the names of others. D'Souza asked two friends and their partners to donate $10,000 apiece in 2012 toward Republican Wendy Long's senatorial candidate. sentenced "I do think we could find a distinction between what D'Souza was charged with making a contribution of about 10 times the legal limit with what O'Donnell is accused of making a total of $5,400 in contributions over the legal limit to five different candidates," Levinson said. "O'Donnell's error seems more believably to be one of ignorance, while it is hard to believe that D'Souza believed a $20,000 contribution was legal." Sanders, Anna. "Rosie O'Donnell's Campaign Donations to Dems Went Over Legal Limit."
New York Post. 5 May 2018. Federal Election Commission. "Remedying an Excessive contribution." Federal Bureau of Investigations. "Dinesh D'Souza Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to Five Years of Probation for Campaign Finance Fraud."
23 September 2014.
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],
"sentence": "According to the Post, the former co-host of The View exceeded the $2,700 limit on individual campaign contributions in donations to several Democratic Party candidates via the fundraising web site ActBlue, while using five different New York addresses and four variations of her name."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Conservative bloggers seized on that remark to accuse O'Donnell of \"pleading insanity\":"
},
{
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],
"sentence": "For her part, O'Donnell accused the Post on Twitter of employing \"sinister ways to warp the truth.\" She also posted a photograph depicting her contributions on the ActBlue platform, listed at 66 donations totaling $75,500:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "FEC regulations state that campaign committees that receive individual donations over the $2,700 limit have 60 days to refund the excess amount, redesignate it toward another election, or reattribute the money to someone else. In the event of a redesignation or reattribution, the contributor must be notified of the committee's intent and offered the chance to collect a refund instead."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Bloggers also attempted to compare O'Donnell's purported violations to the outright illegal donations that led to the 2014 conviction of right-wing documentarian Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza was sentenced to five years probation and eight months in a halfway house after pleading guilty to making illegal contributions in the names of others. D'Souza asked two friends and their partners to donate $10,000 apiece in 2012 toward Republican Wendy Long's senatorial candidate."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/carl-nassib-republican-voter/
|
Is Carl Nassib a Registered Republican Voter?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
06/23/2021
|
[
"After Nassib made history as the first openly gay active NFL player in June 2021, attention quickly turned to his political affiliations."
] |
In June 2021, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay, making history as the first openly gay active NFL player. Given the high-profile nature of his announcement, it was perhaps unsurprising that the episode quickly turned political, with claims that Nassib is registered to vote as a Republican. came out as gay On June 22, for example, right-wing activist Brigitte Gabriel tweeted: tweeted "FUN FACT: The first openly gay active NFL player, Carl Nassib, is a registered Republican voter." Some left-leaning and LGBTQ observers expressed disappointment at such claims, and others posted what appeared to be screenshots of voter registration details relating to Nassib. expressed disappointment at such claims others posted In general, readers should be wary of claims about a specific individual's party affiliation and voter registration, which often crop up in the aftermath of arrests, scandals and other controversies. Links and screenshots purporting to contain such details often come from unofficial and unreliable sources. often crop up aftermath It should also be noted that Nassib's personal political beliefs and party affiliation are of no inherent interest to the writers and editors at Snopes, and that this fact check is simply in response to widespread and substantive factual claims about a public figure currently in the news. In any event, Snopes has checked official, reliable voter registration data from Nevada and Florida, and can confirm that Nassib is indeed registered to vote as a Republican, and has been in at least two states, since May 2019 at the latest. We are therefore issuing a rating of Nassib joined the Raiders in March 2020, and lives in Las Vegas. On June 23, Snopes downloaded voter rolls from the 16th state assembly district, from the official website of Clark County, Nevada. official website That database contains an entry for Carl Paul Nassib, born in 1993, with an address in Las Vegas, and shows that he is an active voter who registered as a Republican on Nov. 3, 2020 the date of the most recent general election. In the screenshot below, we have redacted certain columns which, although public record, contained personal details including Nassib's home address: Before joining the Raiders, Nassib played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and lived in Hillsborough County, Florida. We checked registration information on the official website of the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, and found that Nassib registered as a Republican there on May 15, 2019. We have redacted Nassib's voter registration number, as well as his residential and permanent addresses, from the screenshot below: official website Before joining the Buccaneers, Nassib played for the Cleveland Browns. Information found on the official website of the Medina County Board of Elections showed that he voted there in the 2016 general election, on Nov. 8, but did not indicate his party affiliation at that time, if any. official website As we have shown, Nassib has been registered as a Republican in two different states Florida and Nevada since May 2019 at the latest, and he was registered as a Republican for the most recent general election, in November 2020. The claim that Nassib is registered to vote, as a Republican, is therefore undoubtedly accurate, as of June 2021.
|
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],
"sentence": "In June 2021, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out as gay, making history as the first openly gay active NFL player. Given the high-profile nature of his announcement, it was perhaps unsurprising that the episode quickly turned political, with claims that Nassib is registered to vote as a Republican."
},
{
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],
"sentence": "On June 22, for example, right-wing activist Brigitte Gabriel tweeted:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
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"https://web.archive.org/web/20210623153820/https://twitter.com/jayjuniorrrr/status/1407191726104756225",
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/06/Screenshot-2021-06-23-at-12.15.58.png",
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"https://archive.is/eOSM9",
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],
"sentence": "Some left-leaning and LGBTQ observers expressed disappointment at such claims, and others posted what appeared to be screenshots of voter registration details relating to Nassib. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/robert-aaron-long-democrat/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kevin-seefried-democrat-biden/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/orlando-shooter-was-democrat/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/was-florida-school-shooter-democrat/"
],
"sentence": "In general, readers should be wary of claims about a specific individual's party affiliation and voter registration, which often crop up in the aftermath of arrests, scandals and other controversies. Links and screenshots purporting to contain such details often come from unofficial and unreliable sources. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.clarkcountynv.gov/government/departments/elections/reports_data_maps/voter_list_data_files.php"
],
"sentence": "Nassib joined the Raiders in March 2020, and lives in Las Vegas. On June 23, Snopes downloaded voter rolls from the 16th state assembly district, from the official website of Clark County, Nevada."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.votehillsborough.gov/VOTERS/My-Registration-Status"
],
"sentence": "Before joining the Raiders, Nassib played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and lived in Hillsborough County, Florida. We checked registration information on the official website of the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections, and found that Nassib registered as a Republican there on May 15, 2019. We have redacted Nassib's voter registration number, as well as his residential and permanent addresses, from the screenshot below:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://lookup.boe.ohio.gov/vtrapp/medina/vtrlookup.aspx"
],
"sentence": "Before joining the Buccaneers, Nassib played for the Cleveland Browns. Information found on the official website of the Medina County Board of Elections showed that he voted there in the 2016 general election, on Nov. 8, but did not indicate his party affiliation at that time, if any. "
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/apr/27/jenny-wilson/yes-1-million-mitt-romneys-failed-white-house-bid-/
|
Says Mitt Romney is using a million of his presidential campaign dollars to finance his Utah Senate race.
|
John Kruzel
|
04/27/2018
|
[] |
A Democratic candidate for Utahs U.S. Senate seat claimed Republican opponent Mitt Romney is using $1 million of leftover donations to his unsuccessful presidential run to finance his Senate bid. The former Governor of Massachusetts is taking yet another short cut to the Utah Senate Seat, Nickie Titus, campaign manager for Democrat Jenny Wilson, said in apress release. Mitt certainly does things his way moves to Utah from California (and) uses a million of his presidential campaign dollars to finance his Utah senate race. It turns out Wilsons campaign is right: Romney is using $1 million from his failed presidential bid to fuel his Senate campaign. Experts told us this is common in politics, though the practice has come under criticism. Romneys failure to reach the White House in 2008 and 2012 is not without a silver lining. It elevated Romneys public stature, gave him staying power in Republican politics and left him with a substantial and flexible bankroll. Campaign finance rules have long allowed a candidate to hold on to surplus campaign funds indefinitely, said Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at the group Public Citizen, a progressive consumer rights advocacy group. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act and Federal Election Commission rules, candidates can also make unlimited transfers of funds between campaigns, Holman said. It happens all the time, said Michael J. Malbin, the executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, a campaign finance policy think tank. House members take their bankrolls to run for the Senate, senators to run for president. As long as the money was raised for a federal office under federal contribution limits, it's okay. Holman argued just because the practice is widespread doesnt mean its fair. He said the policy can create an uneven playing field and permits candidates to use funds in a way thats contrary to donors intentions. A donor may have supported Romneys presidential campaign against the Democratic nominee, but not support Romneys new campaign for Senate in the primary or general election, Holman said. Yet, under the law, Romney has the authority to use those donors funds without getting their approval. At the beginning of 2018,Romney for President, Inc., the nonprofit organization that supported Romneys failed 2012 presidential bid, had roughly $1.3 million cash on hand. On Feb. 5, the organization transferred $1 million to Romney for Utah, Inc., according to anFEC filing. To the chagrin of Romneys opponents, the transfer from Romneys presidential campaign to his Senate run comprises donations made mostly by non-Utah residents, according to theSalt Lake Tribune. The $1 million is indicative of what were seeing from Mitt Romney. Hes bringing in national money to make this a national-profile race, Wilson told theTribune. Im a Utahn running for Utahns. The April 15, 2018, FEC filing, which covered the first three months of the year, shows the organization also made smaller disbursements for consulting work, email services and bank fees. At the end of the reporting period, Romney for President, Inc., had $222,755 cash on hand. Wilsons campaign said Romney is using a million of his presidential campaign dollars to finance his Utah senate race. The nonprofit organization that collected money for Romneys 2012 campaign transferred $1 million to Romneys bid for Utahs Senate seat. We rate this True.
|
[
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] |
[
{
"image_caption": "Salt Lake Tribune",
"image_src": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/y0hJPwV6R9Fl8_Bt6OP_Hn7-MNPpe_zpayTFOnKTgzF4Kt5pVO0_CN3qikcJCtSfWvOa6lRgKRCe7HoJS0UkM3GbmyCVmBAzKh23-Hiql08g2UUiUDNWlzqNqOWfb9QVpfpDlGhl"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://wilsonforsenate.com/uncategorized/romney-campaign-granted-special-privilege-to-gather-voters-data-by-lt-gov-cox/"
],
"sentence": "The former Governor of Massachusetts is taking yet another short cut to the Utah Senate Seat, Nickie Titus, campaign manager for Democrat Jenny Wilson, said in apress release. Mitt certainly does things his way moves to Utah from California (and) uses a million of his presidential campaign dollars to finance his Utah senate race."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/0134592D:US-romney-for-president-inc"
],
"sentence": "At the beginning of 2018,Romney for President, Inc., the nonprofit organization that supported Romneys failed 2012 presidential bid, had roughly $1.3 million cash on hand. On Feb. 5, the organization transferred $1 million to Romney for Utah, Inc., according to anFEC filing."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/04/10/mitt-romney-transfers-1-million-left-over-from-his-presidential-run-to-his-senate-race-in-utah/"
],
"sentence": "To the chagrin of Romneys opponents, the transfer from Romneys presidential campaign to his Senate run comprises donations made mostly by non-Utah residents, according to theSalt Lake Tribune."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/detailed-image-of-human-cell/
|
Is This the 'Most Detailed Image of a Human Cell to Date'?
|
David Emery
|
01/15/2023
|
[
"For starters, it isn't even, strictly speaking, a human cell."
] |
In April 2021, an image went viral on social media platforms that was represented as follows:"This is not a painting. It is the most detailed image of a human cell to date, obtained via radiography, nuclear MRI, and cryoelectronic microscopy." As we'll explain below, that description is completely inaccurate. First, here's an example of the miscaptioned image as posted on Facebook in late 2022: Contrary to what the caption claims, this is a painting of sorts -- a digital illustrationby an artist named Russell Kightley. It is not the most detailed image of a human cell to date -- in fact, it is, in Kightley's words, a "generalized animal cell," not specifically a human cell. Nor was the image obtained via radiography, nuclear MRI, or cryoelectronic microscopy. All of that was made up out of whole cloth. Kightley created the image with graphics software. digital illustration Russell Kightley As Kightley has written on his blog, the image has repeatedly gone viral since April 2021, almost never with an accurate description or proper credit to the artist (AFP fact-checked viral versions of the image in July 2021). Kightley wrote: has written on his blog AFP fact-checked The image was created twenty years ago for an educational poster for BioCam. It took six weeks of full-time work to create using Painter (Fractal Design's Painter as it was, now it's managed by Corel). Since then, it's appeared in lots of places, including Richard Dawkins's book, The Greatest Show on Earth (plates 12-13 c). It's available on prints and merchandise and for licensing (publication, academic use, etc.). If you want to print it out for your home or office you can buy the digital file here. If you want it for teaching, you can get the 700-pixel file here. BioCam prints and merchandise 700-pixel file Of the conception and design of the illustration, Kightley wrote: I wanted it to look like an opened jewelry box, for the glint and sense of wonder at the inner workings. The colors are arbitrary, but I've used greenish-blue for plasma membranes and red or purple for DNA for many years. It's a generalized animal (including human) cell, with no specializations and was designed as a basic biology teaching tool. I have spent many years creating cell and virus illustrations and animations, including pioneering work on animating the HIV life cycle back in 1990-1991, where I created internal cellular landscapes (using electronic paint on a Quantel Paintbox) and originated this style of illustration. You can learn more about the artist and view more of his work on RussellKightey.com. RussellKightey.com "Animal Cell on White by Russell Kightley." Russell Kightley - Website, https://russell-kightley.pixels.com/featured/animal-cell-on-white-russell-kightley.html. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023. "Illustration of Animal Cell Misrepresented as 'Most Detailed Image of Human Cell.'" Fact Check, 27 July 2021, https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9GD4Z3-6. Kightley, Russell. "Animal Cell Goes Viral AGAIN." Russell Kightley, 25 July 2021, https://www.russellkightley.com/post/animal-cell-goes-viral-again. "Russelly." Russell Kightley, https://www.russellkightley.com/russelly. Accessed 12 Jan. 2023.
|
[
"credit"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1nURnxOZPaAFbO647zOzTDRtJBMCBRag0"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://russell-kightley.pixels.com/featured/animal-cell-on-white-russell-kightley.html",
"https://www.russellkightley.com/russelly"
],
"sentence": "Contrary to what the caption claims, this is a painting of sorts -- a digital illustrationby an artist named Russell Kightley. It is not the most detailed image of a human cell to date -- in fact, it is, in Kightley's words, a \"generalized animal cell,\" not specifically a human cell. Nor was the image obtained via radiography, nuclear MRI, or cryoelectronic microscopy. All of that was made up out of whole cloth. Kightley created the image with graphics software."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.russellkightley.com/post/animal-cell-goes-viral-again",
"https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9GD4Z3-6"
],
"sentence": "As Kightley has written on his blog, the image has repeatedly gone viral since April 2021, almost never with an accurate description or proper credit to the artist (AFP fact-checked viral versions of the image in July 2021). Kightley wrote:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.biocam.com/",
"https://russell-kightley.pixels.com/featured/animal-cell-russell-kightley.html",
"https://shop.russellkightley.com/b/9Jtk"
],
"sentence": "The image was created twenty years ago for an educational poster for BioCam. It took six weeks of full-time work to create using Painter (Fractal Design's Painter as it was, now it's managed by Corel). Since then, it's appeared in lots of places, including Richard Dawkins's book, The Greatest Show on Earth (plates 12-13 c). It's available on prints and merchandise and for licensing (publication, academic use, etc.). If you want to print it out for your home or office you can buy the digital file here. If you want it for teaching, you can get the 700-pixel file here."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.russellkightley.com/"
],
"sentence": "You can learn more about the artist and view more of his work on RussellKightey.com."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/apr/02/cokie-roberts/cokie-roberts-two-thirds-minimum-wage-earners-are-/
|
Two-thirds of the people who receive the minimum wage are female.
|
Katie Sanders
|
04/02/2014
|
[] |
Many Democrats are eager to debateraising the federal minimum wagebecause its a popular issue to the party base, especially women, says ABC News political commentator Cokie Roberts. When you're talking about the minimum wage, you're talking about women, Roberts said March 31 onNPRsMorning Edition. Two-thirds of the people who receive the minimum wage are female, and this is one of many attempts on the part of Democrats to get out the voters who normally don't vote in an off-year election, to try to get them to the polls this year. Well see whether that works or not. Is her statistic accurate? The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, a hub for data on American workers and the unemployed, had just the report, Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2013. The BLS collects this data through a national monthly survey of households called the Current Population Survey. It does not account for overtime pay, tips or commissions workers earn above their hourly wage. Of the 75.9 million Americans who earn hourly wages (and make up half of the nations workforce), 1.5 million earn exactly the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, and 1.8 million earn less than that, according to BLS. Here, were focused on the gender composition of those 3.3 million workers who earn at or below the minimum wage. We found its true that women have a disproportionately high place in the minimum-wage workforce than men. In 2013, 62.4 percent of workers, or 2.06 million people, who earned at or below the federal minimum wage were women. This was down slightly from the year before, when it was 64 percent. Its important to know this data only isolates workers who make the federal minimum wage of $7.25 or below. Many states have set a higher minimum wage for their residents. The BLS measure would not account for minimum-wage earners in California, who earn $8 an hour, or their counterparts in Washington, who earn the highest minimum pay in the country of $9.32. Arecent Congressional Budget Office reportpointed out half of all workers live in states where the minimum wage is more than $7.25 an hour. Still, these caveats do not undermine Roberts point, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, which supports increasing the minimum wage. An increased federal minimum wage to $10.10 would set a new floor for all workers in the country, even those in states that set their own minimum wages. And it wouldnt just lift the pay of workers who earn $7.25 an hour, but also those who make slightly more, such as $8 or $9 an hour. Astudy by the Economic Policy Institutefound women would make up 55 percentpercent of workers who would benefit from raising the minimum wage to $10.10 by the second half of 2016, a congressional proposal backed by the White House. That figure aligns withCBO data, too. If you raise the wage floor, more women will be affected by that, Shierholz said. Thats the bottom line. The discrepancy in pay between men and women known as the gender gap is closer at the bottom of the income distribution than at the top 1 percent of earners, Shierholz said. The gap is closing as a result of more women going to college and stagnated male wages.The White House arguesraising the minimum wage would further tighten the gap because women are overrepresented in low-paying professions. The amount of women in tips-based jobs, such as hairstylists and waitresses, is even higher than the female share of the federal minimum wage workforce, Shierholz said. Employers are allowed to pay workers a minimum of $2.13 an hour as long as their tips or at least $5.12, or the difference between $2.13 and $7.25. The White House also wants an increase in the tipped minimum wage of $2.13 an hour to $4.90 by 2016 under the proposedHarkin-Miller legislation. Efforts to reach Roberts through ABC News were unsuccessful. Our ruling Roberts said, Two-thirds of the people who receive the minimum wage are female. The actual figure is just a little bit lower. Federal data shows62 percent of people who earn the federal minimum wage or below are women. The federal data has limitations, as it does not account for women in states with a higher minimum wage. One study says that if the federal government raises the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, women will benefit more than men by a 55-45 percent spread. Roberts claim is on the right track but needs some additional information. That falls into a rating of Mostly True.
|
[
"Economy",
"Women",
"PunditFact"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/202261-minimum-wage-deal-emerging"
],
"sentence": "Many Democrats are eager to debateraising the federal minimum wagebecause its a popular issue to the party base, especially women, says ABC News political commentator Cokie Roberts."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.npr.org/2014/03/31/297076388/politics-in-the-news-ukraine-and-obamacare"
],
"sentence": "When you're talking about the minimum wage, you're talking about women, Roberts said March 31 onNPRsMorning Edition. Two-thirds of the people who receive the minimum wage are female, and this is one of many attempts on the part of Democrats to get out the voters who normally don't vote in an off-year election, to try to get them to the polls this year. Well see whether that works or not."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2013.pdf"
],
"sentence": "The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, a hub for data on American workers and the unemployed, had just the report, Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2013. The BLS collects this data through a national monthly survey of households called the Current Population Survey. It does not account for overtime pay, tips or commissions workers earn above their hourly wage."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/44995-MinimumWage.pdf"
],
"sentence": "Its important to know this data only isolates workers who make the federal minimum wage of $7.25 or below. Many states have set a higher minimum wage for their residents. The BLS measure would not account for minimum-wage earners in California, who earn $8 an hour, or their counterparts in Washington, who earn the highest minimum pay in the country of $9.32. Arecent Congressional Budget Office reportpointed out half of all workers live in states where the minimum wage is more than $7.25 an hour."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.epi.org/publication/raising-federal-minimum-wage-to-1010/"
],
"sentence": "Astudy by the Economic Policy Institutefound women would make up 55 percentpercent of workers who would benefit from raising the minimum wage to $10.10 by the second half of 2016, a congressional proposal backed by the White House. That figure aligns withCBO data, too."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/20140325minimumwageandwomenreportfinal.pdf"
],
"sentence": "The discrepancy in pay between men and women known as the gender gap is closer at the bottom of the income distribution than at the top 1 percent of earners, Shierholz said. The gap is closing as a result of more women going to college and stagnated male wages.The White House arguesraising the minimum wage would further tighten the gap because women are overrepresented in low-paying professions."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/26/ignored-by-congress-tipped-workers-turn-to-state-lawmakers-to-boost-their-base/"
],
"sentence": "The amount of women in tips-based jobs, such as hairstylists and waitresses, is even higher than the female share of the federal minimum wage workforce, Shierholz said. Employers are allowed to pay workers a minimum of $2.13 an hour as long as their tips or at least $5.12, or the difference between $2.13 and $7.25. The White House also wants an increase in the tipped minimum wage of $2.13 an hour to $4.90 by 2016 under the proposedHarkin-Miller legislation."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2010/oct/19/jack-conway/jack-conway-says-rand-paul-would-end-faith-based-i/
|
Rand Paul wants to end all federal faith-based initiatives, and even end the deduction for religious charities.
|
Louis Jacobson
|
10/19/2010
|
[] |
Anad unveiled Oct. 15, 2010, by Democrat Jack Conway so angered his opponent for a Kentucky Senate seat, Republican Rand Paul, that Paulrefused to shake handsafter a debate two days later.The primary reason for the bad blood was the charge in Conway's ad that Paul, as a college student at Baylor University, had participated in some unorthodox activities, according to an account inGQ.Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible 'a hoax' -- that was banned from mocking Christianity and Christ? said the ad's narrator. Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up? Tell her to bow down before a false idol and say his God was 'Aqua Buddha? 'The ad provoked outrage in the Paul camp, and even some liberal commentators protested.The New Republic'sJonathan Chait called itthe ugliest, most illiberal political ad of the year for coming perilously close to saying that non-belief in Christianity is a disqualification for public office, an idea that Chait called a pretty sickening premise for a Democratic campaign.Because the most salacious details of theGQstory were provided by a woman who requested anonymity, we're not going to attempt to fact-check that part of the story. But the ad does contain two policy-focused claims. We'll turn our focus on those instead.After the reference to the Aqua Buddha story, the ad asks, Why does Rand Paul now want to end all federal faith-based initiatives and even end the deduction for religious charities?We thought we'd take a look.The Paul campaign did not return a telephone inquiry, so we reviewed the sources cited in the ad.To back up the first claim -- that Paul wants to end all federal faith-based initiatives -- the ad citedthe June 20, 2008, edition of a public-affairs television showcalledKentuckyTonight. Paul was one of four guests invited to join an hour-long discussion of the Kentucky state budget.At one point -- it's about 70 percent of the way through the video -- the conversation turns to state budget cuts and the intersection of church-related charity work with state support for social services. Paul offers a note of caution.You mentioned faith-based intermingling -- government and faith-based, Paul said. George (W.) Bush did that, and I think it was a horrible mistake. One, I think the money sort of pollutes the mission of a purely Christian organization, or Muslim or whatever organization it is, and it obscures the church-state separation that there really ought to be. We shouldn't have tax money flowing into churches. We should let churches do charity work, and that's wonderful, but they shouldn't be corrupted with government money.This seems to be a pretty clear statement of Paul's views on the subject. The only potential complication we see with the ad's wording is that Paul's statement onKentuckyTonightwas focused on the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. It's possible to envision a partnership between the federal government and a religious group that doesn't involve money, but we think it's reasonable to assume that most would. So the ad's claim seems pretty accurate to us.On the second point -- that Paul would end the deduction for religious charities -- the ad cites an Associated Press account. The AP actually ran a half-dozen stories beginning on Oct. 12, 2010, that addressed Paul's support for a national sales tax. The tale gets a bit complicated, so bear with us.On Oct. 12, the AP quoted Paul saying, The federal tax code is a disaster no one would come up with if we were starting from scratch. I support making taxes flatter and simpler. I would vote for the Fair Tax to get rid of the 16th Amendment, the IRS and a lot of the control the federal government exerts over us. The story attributed the quote to a written statement distributed by an anti-tax group and verified by his campaign. TheFair Taxwould eliminatethe federal income tax, employment tax, and estate and gift taxes, replacing them with a 23 percent national sales tax on the use or consumption in the United States of taxable property or services. Eliminating the federal income tax would also eliminate deductions such as tax deductions for donations to religious charities. Bills proposing to make that change, which have come up annually for years in Congress, have all failed to progress to a full hearing. Nonetheless, Democrats have used the Fair Tax as the basis for many ads against Republicans this year, one of which we recently ratedHalf True.One day later, Paul began to walk back the comment. The AP reported that Paul, a limited-government advocate, said he supports a 'simpler tax code' but wouldn't offer specifics about his written comments to an anti-tax group supporting repeal of the 16th Amendment that created the federal income tax. 'I haven't really been saying anything like that,' Paul told reporters following a speech in Henderson as part of his Kentucky bus tour. 'I think it's probably better to go ... with what I'm saying on the campaign trail. 'On Oct. 14, theOwensboro Messenger-Inquirerinterviewed Paul before a rally. Paul told the paper that he is for tax reform in general but hasn't committed to the Fair Tax. I'd like to flatten the income tax, Paul said. The church doesn't ask for more than 10 percent of your income.On Oct. 15, Paul's campaign manager, Jesse Benton, told the AP that a tax reform activist -- former Paul campaign manager David Adams -- had distributed the statement that was the basis for the original AP story, and in so doing, distorted Paul's views on the Fair Tax. Our campaign respects the Fair Taxation movement, but the Kentucky coordinator got a little overzealous promoting his cause and created a statement that does not accurately reflect Dr. Paul's views, Benton said in a statement to the AP. Rand knows our tax code is broken and will fight for fundamental reform that both simplifies the system and reduces the financial burden for all Kentuckians. Dr. Paul will study and consider all plans that attempt to do so.The Oct. 15 AP story noted that Adams had said he distributed the statement only after receiving permission from Benton and that Benton had personally verified the statement to the AP for its initial story.Finally, on Oct. 16, the AP reported the existence of a video from a campaign event in February in which Paul told Americans for Fair Taxation volunteer Terry Schmitt, I'm in favor of any change in the tax code that reduces the overall tax burden. That would include the Fair Tax, changing to a sales tax. One great advantage of it would be no more IRS, no more income tax, no more reams of paper that we all have to deal with.This series of explanations suggests that Paul is backtracking to avoid being associated with a policy proposal that could be unpopular among some voters. But even if he does seem ambivalent, we think there's enough evidence to justify the Conway camp's claim that Paul did support the Fair Tax, at least at one point. That said, we think the Conway ad is somewhat misleading in its description of Paul's views. We don't see evidence that Paul made the religious-charity exemption a target of his opposition. His opposition, such as it was, would have been part of his support for a broader, fundamental tax overhaul. So we think Conway's decision to focus on this narrow aspect of the Fair Tax is misleading.All told, then, Conway is close to accurate on both claims but with a slight exaggeration on the question of religious tax exemptions. Keeping in mind that we're not rating the Aqua Buddha portion of the ad, we rate the two policy statements Mostly True.
|
[
"National",
"Message Machine 2010",
"Religion",
"Taxes"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BCa8xw9yGY&feature=player_embedded"
],
"sentence": "Anad unveiled Oct. 15, 2010, by Democrat Jack Conway so angered his opponent for a Kentucky Senate seat, Republican Rand Paul, that Paulrefused to shake handsafter a debate two days later.The primary reason for the bad blood was the charge in Conway's ad that Paul, as a college student at Baylor University, had participated in some unorthodox activities, according to an account inGQ.Why was Rand Paul a member of a secret society that called the Holy Bible 'a hoax' -- that was banned from mocking Christianity and Christ? said the ad's narrator. Why did Rand Paul once tie a woman up? Tell her to bow down before a false idol and say his God was 'Aqua Buddha?'The ad provoked outrage in the Paul camp, and even some liberal commentators protested.The New Republic'sJonathan Chait called itthe ugliest, most illiberal political ad of the year for coming perilously close to saying that non-belief in Christianity is a disqualification for public office, an idea that Chait called a pretty sickening premise for a Democratic campaign.Because the most salacious details of theGQstory were provided by a woman who requested anonymity, we're not going to attempt to fact-check that part of the story. But the ad does contain two policy-focused claims. We'll turn our focus on those instead.After the reference to the Aqua Buddha story, the ad asks, Why does Rand Paul now want to end all federal faith-based initiatives and even end the deduction for religious charities?We thought we'd take a look.The Paul campaign did not return a telephone inquiry, so we reviewed the sources cited in the ad.To back up the first claim -- that Paul wants to end all federal faith-based initiatives -- the ad citedthe June 20, 2008, edition of a public-affairs television showcalledKentuckyTonight. Paul was one of four guests invited to join an hour-long discussion of the Kentucky state budget.At one point -- it's about 70 percent of the way through the video -- the conversation turns to state budget cuts and the intersection of church-related charity work with state support for social services. Paul offers a note of caution.You mentioned faith-based intermingling -- government and faith-based, Paul said. George (W.) Bush did that, and I think it was a horrible mistake. One, I think the money sort of pollutes the mission of a purely Christian organization, or Muslim or whatever organization it is, and it obscures the church-state separation that there really ought to be. We shouldn't have tax money flowing into churches. We should let churches do charity work, and that's wonderful, but they shouldn't be corrupted with government money.This seems to be a pretty clear statement of Paul's views on the subject. The only potential complication we see with the ad's wording is that Paul's statement onKentuckyTonightwas focused on the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. It's possible to envision a partnership between the federal government and a religious group that doesn't involve money, but we think it's reasonable to assume that most would. So the ad's claim seems pretty accurate to us.On the second point -- that Paul would end the deduction for religious charities -- the ad cites an Associated Press account. The AP actually ran a half-dozen stories beginning on Oct. 12, 2010, that addressed Paul's support for a national sales tax. The tale gets a bit complicated, so bear with us.On Oct. 12, the AP quoted Paul saying, The federal tax code is a disaster no one would come up with if we were starting from scratch. I support making taxes flatter and simpler. I would vote for the Fair Tax to get rid of the 16th Amendment, the IRS and a lot of the control the federal government exerts over us. The story attributed the quote to a written statement distributed by an anti-tax group and verified by his campaign."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_basics_main"
],
"sentence": "TheFair Taxwould eliminatethe federal income tax, employment tax, and estate and gift taxes, replacing them with a 23 percent national sales tax on the use or consumption in the United States of taxable property or services. Eliminating the federal income tax would also eliminate deductions such as tax deductions for donations to religious charities. Bills proposing to make that change, which have come up annually for years in Congress, have all failed to progress to a full hearing. Nonetheless, Democrats have used the Fair Tax as the basis for many ads against Republicans this year, one of which we recently ratedHalf True.One day later, Paul began to walk back the comment. The AP reported that Paul, a limited-government advocate, said he supports a 'simpler tax code' but wouldn't offer specifics about his written comments to an anti-tax group supporting repeal of the 16th Amendment that created the federal income tax. 'I haven't really been saying anything like that,' Paul told reporters following a speech in Henderson as part of his Kentucky bus tour. 'I think it's probably better to go ... with what I'm saying on the campaign trail.'On Oct. 14, theOwensboro Messenger-Inquirerinterviewed Paul before a rally. Paul told the paper that he is for tax reform in general but hasn't committed to the Fair Tax. I'd like to flatten the income tax, Paul said. The church doesn't ask for more than 10 percent of your income.On Oct. 15, Paul's campaign manager, Jesse Benton, told the AP that a tax reform activist -- former Paul campaign manager David Adams -- had distributed the statement that was the basis for the original AP story, and in so doing, distorted Paul's views on the Fair Tax. Our campaign respects the Fair Taxation movement, but the Kentucky coordinator got a little overzealous promoting his cause and created a statement that does not accurately reflect Dr. Paul's views, Benton said in a statement to the AP. Rand knows our tax code is broken and will fight for fundamental reform that both simplifies the system and reduces the financial burden for all Kentuckians. Dr. Paul will study and consider all plans that attempt to do so.The Oct. 15 AP story noted that Adams had said he distributed the statement only after receiving permission from Benton and that Benton had personally verified the statement to the AP for its initial story.Finally, on Oct. 16, the AP reported the existence of a video from a campaign event in February in which Paul told Americans for Fair Taxation volunteer Terry Schmitt, I'm in favor of any change in the tax code that reduces the overall tax burden. That would include the Fair Tax, changing to a sales tax. One great advantage of it would be no more IRS, no more income tax, no more reams of paper that we all have to deal with.This series of explanations suggests that Paul is backtracking to avoid being associated with a policy proposal that could be unpopular among some voters. But even if he does seem ambivalent, we think there's enough evidence to justify the Conway camp's claim that Paul did support the Fair Tax, at least at one point."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kummakivi-balancing-rock/
|
Does Finland's Kummakivi Rock Weigh 500,000 Kg, and Is It 11K Years Old?
|
Damakant Jayshi
|
05/16/2023
|
[
"According to Finnish folklore, giants and trolls left behind the massive balancing rock, but geologists explain the science behind it."
] |
For years, people have marveled at the sight of a massive rock resting on a smaller rock in Kummakivi, Ruokolahti, Finland. In 2022, several Reddit accounts posted a picture of this rock, known as Kummakivi Balancing Rock. Some of these posts, including this one from February 2023, claimed that the Kummakivi rock weighs 500,000 kg (1.1 million pounds) and "has been balancing on top of another rock for 11,000 years." several Reddit accounts this one (Image Via r/Damnthatsinteresting/Reddit) Such claims about so-called "precariously balanced rocks" (PBRs) are not new, though. Various social media accounts and several online portals have discussed different aspects of the Kummakivi rock. Some articlesrefer to Finnish folklore attributing the rock's position "to giants or trolls who are said to dwell in rocky landscapes and throw boulders around." social media several online portals refer to Finnish folklore Science, however, explains in less fanciful terms how one rock comes to rest on another. Precariously balanced rocks "form as blocks preserved on cliffs, or when softer rocks erode and leave the harder rocks behind," noted an October 2020 article from Imperial College London. "They can also form when landslides or retreating glaciers deposit them in strange positions." article According to the aforementioned social media and online portals, the estimated age of the rock varies between 8,000 and 12,000 years. Saimaa Geoparkin Finland, which was awarded Global Geopark status by UNICEF in 2021, stated that the rock is 11,500 years old and approximately 7 meters (about 23 feet) long. Saimaa Geopark (According to UNESCO, "Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development." The designation is considered similar to UNESCO World Heritage sites.) UNESCO While some social media posts and online sources claim that the weight of Kummakivi rock is 500,000 kg (approximately 1.1 million pounds), we could not verify this information. As noted above, Kummakivi is not the only rock in such a peculiar situation. There are other examples of PBRs in different places. Photos of such PBRs can be found on several websites, like this one about the Balanced Rock in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Additionally, in 2017, the Lonely Planet travel guide published an article about the "10 nerve-racking rocks." Similarly, in October 2013, the BBC featured a photo of a PBR in Brittany, France, sent by a reader under the headline "Your pictures: Resting." one "10 nerve-racking rocks." featured In addition to being tourist attractions, these PBRs have drawn the interest of researchers, including those at Imperial College London. They suggested that such rocks could help in forecasting earthquakes. "By tapping into ancient geological data locked within Californian PBRs, Imperial College London researchers have broken ground on a new technique to boost the precision of hazard estimates for large earthquakes by up to 49 per cent," noted thearticle from October 2020 on the university's website. article Considering that reputable sources report the age of the Kummakivi rock to be around 11,000 years but we were unable to verify the estimated weight of the rock, we rate the claim as "Mixture." "A Rock like No Other the Kummakivi of Ruokolahti." FINLAND, NATURALLY, 20 Aug. 2017, https://finlandnaturally.com/mustsee/a-rock-like-no-other/. "Earthquake Forecasting Clues Unearthed in Strange Precariously Balanced Rocks | Imperial News | Imperial College London." Imperial News, 1 Oct. 2020, https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/205493/earthquake-forecasting-clues-unearthed-strange-precariously/. https://plus.google.com/+UNESCO. "UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp)." UNESCO, 25 Feb. 2019, https://en.unesco.org/global-geoparks. Ilya. "The Mysterious Kummakivi Balancing Rock: A Natural Wonder Explained." Unusual Places, 11 May 2013, https://unusualplaces.org/kummakivi/. Imbler, Sabrina. "Why Scientists Fall for Precariously Balanced Rocks." Atlas Obscura, 9 Jan. 2020, http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/precariously-balanced-rocks. "Kummakivi Balancing Rock." Atlas Obscura, http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kummakivi-balancing-rock. Accessed 16 May 2023. Kummakivi, Balancing Rock, Seems to Defy the Laws of Physics. https://www.geologyin.com/2022/11/kummakivi-balancing-rock-seems-to-defy.html. Accessed 16 May 2023. "Kummakivi Erratic Boulder." Saimaa Geopark, 5 July 2022, https://saimaageopark.fi/en/kummakivi-erratic-boulder/. Secret Marvels: Top 10 Nerve-Racking Rocks - Lonely Planet. 22 Mar. 2023, https://web.archive.org/web/20230322040417/https:/www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/secret-marvels-top-10-nerve-racking-rocks. "Your Pictures: Resting." BBC News, 23 Oct. 2013. www.bbc.com, https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-24621801.
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"https://web.archive.org/web/20220709202228/https:/www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/vv9xrp/kummakivi_is_a_500_000_kg_rock_in_finland_that/",
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"sentence": "For years, people have marveled at the sight of a massive rock resting on a smaller rock in Kummakivi, Ruokolahti, Finland. In 2022, several Reddit accounts posted a picture of this rock, known as Kummakivi Balancing Rock. Some of these posts, including this one from February 2023, claimed that the Kummakivi rock weighs 500,000 kg (1.1 million pounds) and \"has been balancing on top of another rock for 11,000 years.\""
},
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"hrefs": [
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"https://www.facebook.com/Mysteriology/photos/a.905789252784031/4280500201979569/?paipv=0&eav=Afa9MCTp58gPxvHMcm6RVA0iYg2NEi8pESpgt7zUYK5oKSXzLWDBDAGix7mBZmVT4-Y",
"https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kummakivi-balancing-rock",
"https://finlandnaturally.com/mustsee/a-rock-like-no-other/",
"https://www.geologyin.com/2022/11/kummakivi-balancing-rock-seems-to-defy.html#:~:text=When%20the%20glaciers%20retreated%20from,became%20the%20Kummakivi%20Balancing%20Rock",
"https://unusualplaces.org/kummakivi/"
],
"sentence": "Such claims about so-called \"precariously balanced rocks\" (PBRs) are not new, though. Various social media accounts and several online portals have discussed different aspects of the Kummakivi rock. Some articlesrefer to Finnish folklore attributing the rock's position \"to giants or trolls who are said to dwell in rocky landscapes and throw boulders around.\" "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/205493/earthquake-forecasting-clues-unearthed-strange-precariously/#:~:text=Precariously%20balanced%20rocks%20(PBRs)%20are,leave%20the%20harder%20rocks%20behind"
],
"sentence": "Precariously balanced rocks \"form as blocks preserved on cliffs, or when softer rocks erode and leave the harder rocks behind,\" noted an October 2020 article from Imperial College London. \"They can also form when landslides or retreating glaciers deposit them in strange positions.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://saimaageopark.fi/en/kummakivi-erratic-boulder/#filter=r-fullyTranslatedLangus-,r-onlyOpened-,sb-sortedBy-0"
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"sentence": "According to the aforementioned social media and online portals, the estimated age of the rock varies between 8,000 and 12,000 years. Saimaa Geoparkin Finland, which was awarded Global Geopark status by UNICEF in 2021, stated that the rock is 11,500 years old and approximately 7 meters (about 23 feet) long. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://en.unesco.org/global-geoparks"
],
"sentence": "(According to UNESCO, \"Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.\" The designation is considered similar to UNESCO World Heritage sites.)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/precariously-balanced-rocks",
"https://web.archive.org/web/20230322040417/https:/www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/secret-marvels-top-10-nerve-racking-rocks",
"https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-24621801"
],
"sentence": "Photos of such PBRs can be found on several websites, like this one about the Balanced Rock in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Additionally, in 2017, the Lonely Planet travel guide published an article about the \"10 nerve-racking rocks.\" Similarly, in October 2013, the BBC featured a photo of a PBR in Brittany, France, sent by a reader under the headline \"Your pictures: Resting.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/205493/earthquake-forecasting-clues-unearthed-strange-precariously/#:~:text=Precariously%20balanced%20rocks%20(PBRs)%20are,leave%20the%20harder%20rocks%20behind."
],
"sentence": "In addition to being tourist attractions, these PBRs have drawn the interest of researchers, including those at Imperial College London. They suggested that such rocks could help in forecasting earthquakes. \"By tapping into ancient geological data locked within Californian PBRs, Imperial College London researchers have broken ground on a new technique to boost the precision of hazard estimates for large earthquakes by up to 49 per cent,\" noted thearticle from October 2020 on the university's website."
}
] |
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|
Obama on the Debt Limit
|
David Mikkelson
|
07/28/2011
|
[
"In 2006, did Barack Obama speak out against raising the debt limit?"
] |
Claim: In 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama spoke out against raising the U.S. government debt limit. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2011] 'The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here." Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.' Origins: In 2006, while serving his first term as a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, Barack Obama made the remarks attributed to him above during discussion in the U.S. Senate prior to the call for votes on raising the debt limit. The full text of his remarks in the Senate on 16 March 2006 are: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is "trillion" with a "T." That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion. Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America. And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on. Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies. But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to thecommonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending. As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again. Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit. The shortened quote now attributed to him is a verbatim capture of the opening and closing paragraphs of his remarks of 16 March 2006. (The Senate vote held later that day on a resolution to increase the debt limitpassed by a 52-48 margin, with Senator Obama voting against it.) passed President Obama has undergone a change of position regarding raising the debt limit. In a 15 April 2011 Good Morning America interview, President Obama said this of his reasons for doing so: Last updated: 7 October 2013 Congressional Record. "Remarks by Sen. Barack Obama." 16 March 2006. Farley, Robert. "Obama Says Reagan Raised Debt Ceiling 18 Times; George W. Bush 7 Times." St. Petersburg Times. 26 July 2011. Stephanopoulos, George. "President Obama One-on-One." Good Morning America. 15 April 2011. Werner, Erica. "WH: Obama Regrets Vote Against Raising Debt Limit." Associated Press. 11 April 2011.
|
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[
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] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ceiling-whacks/
|
Obama's stance on the debt limit
|
David Mikkelson
|
07/28/2011
|
[
"In 2006, did Barack Obama speak out against raising the debt limit?"
] |
Claim: In 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama spoke out against raising the U.S. government debt limit. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2011] 'The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here." Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.' Origins: In 2006, while serving his first term as a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, Barack Obama made the remarks attributed to him above during discussion in the U.S. Senate prior to the call for votes on raising the debt limit. The full text of his remarks in the Senate on 16 March 2006 are: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is "trillion" with a "T." That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion. Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America. And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on. Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies. But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to thecommonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending. As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again. Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit. The shortened quote now attributed to him is a verbatim capture of the opening and closing paragraphs of his remarks of 16 March 2006. (The Senate vote held later that day on a resolution to increase the debt limitpassed by a 52-48 margin, with Senator Obama voting against it.) passed President Obama has undergone a change of position regarding raising the debt limit. In a 15 April 2011 Good Morning America interview, President Obama said this of his reasons for doing so: Last updated: 7 October 2013 Congressional Record. "Remarks by Sen. Barack Obama." 16 March 2006. Farley, Robert. "Obama Says Reagan Raised Debt Ceiling 18 Times; George W. Bush 7 Times." St. Petersburg Times. 26 July 2011. Stephanopoulos, George. "President Obama One-on-One." Good Morning America. 15 April 2011. Werner, Erica. "WH: Obama Regrets Vote Against Raising Debt Limit." Associated Press. 11 April 2011.
|
[
"finance"
] |
[
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"image_src": "https://www.infopuntual.com/image.axd?picture=2013%2F9%2FObama+el+centro+de+la+Cumbre+del+G20.jpg"
}
] |
[
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"https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00054"
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}
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true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ceiling-whacks/
|
Obama's stance on the Debt Limit
|
David Mikkelson
|
07/28/2011
|
[
"In 2006, did Barack Obama speak out against raising the debt limit?"
] |
Claim: In 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama spoke out against raising the U.S. government debt limit. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2011] 'The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here." Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.' Origins: In 2006, while serving his first term as a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, Barack Obama made the remarks attributed to him above during discussion in the U.S. Senate prior to the call for votes on raising the debt limit. The full text of his remarks in the Senate on 16 March 2006 are: The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is "trillion" with a "T." That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion. Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America. And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on. Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies. But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to thecommonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending. As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5 years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that has worked in the past and can work again. Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt. This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money, the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders whose interests might not be aligned with ours. Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit. The shortened quote now attributed to him is a verbatim capture of the opening and closing paragraphs of his remarks of 16 March 2006. (The Senate vote held later that day on a resolution to increase the debt limitpassed by a 52-48 margin, with Senator Obama voting against it.) passed President Obama has undergone a change of position regarding raising the debt limit. In a 15 April 2011 Good Morning America interview, President Obama said this of his reasons for doing so: Last updated: 7 October 2013 Congressional Record. "Remarks by Sen. Barack Obama." 16 March 2006. Farley, Robert. "Obama Says Reagan Raised Debt Ceiling 18 Times; George W. Bush 7 Times." St. Petersburg Times. 26 July 2011. Stephanopoulos, George. "President Obama One-on-One." Good Morning America. 15 April 2011. Werner, Erica. "WH: Obama Regrets Vote Against Raising Debt Limit." Associated Press. 11 April 2011.
|
[
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}
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[
{
"hrefs": [
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}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/germany-campaign-feed-americans/
|
Did Germany Start a Campaign to Feed Americans?
|
Dan Evon
|
11/09/2021
|
[
"Many Americans are truly food insecure, but the \"Great Nations Eat\" campaign ads are American made. "
] |
In the fall of 2021, a series of videos started circulating on social media that supposedly showed a charitable campaign from Germany encouraging donations to feed hungry Americans. One posting of this claim on TikTok racked up more than 9 million views: TikTok racked up more than 9 million views While many social media users claimed that this "Great Nations Eat" campaign had been produced in Germany (some claimed China) in an effort to raise funds to feed hungry Americans, this video actually originated in the United States. This video comes from a 2015 campaign produced by the American charity Share Our Strength. The "Great Nations Eat" campaign was created by Share Our Strength and the creative agency BBG (Bartle Bogle Hegarty). In a news release, the group writes that it purposefully mirrored the public service announcements (PSAs) that often air in the United States to raise money to feed people in developing countries in an attempt to evoke an emotional reaction from American audiences. Great Nations Eat Share Our Strength Billy Shore, CEO and founder of Share Our Strength, told Fast Company in 2015: Fast Company This was really to try to think a little more disruptively to get peoples attention, to go right to the heart of the issue that people are not aware hunger is a problem in the United States ... Id say that historically theres been a genre of media around hunger that looks kind of alikestories of kids in rural areas like Appalachia or Alabama ... Those stories are important and compelling, but they all have the same kind of message. The idea was to do something different, and point out that America cant be great on an empty stomachreally tap into this notion that it has to do with our strength as a nation, as a people, as a society. Its not just about these childrenas important as that isbut it really impacts all of us. The non-profit wrote in a news release at the time of the campaign's debut: news release All of the advertising for the Great Nations Eat launch was created by the award-winning creative agency, BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty) New York. As the goal of the campaign was first and foremost awareness, the creative allows for the facts to evoke the emotion. The campaign PSAs use an unconventional approach to contrast the problem of hunger in America versus other countries, surprising viewers with the facts. While these ads were not actually produced in China, Germany, or Slovenia, the message in these ads that millions of people in the United States are food insecure is true. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than 10% of U.S. households (which amounts to about 38.3 million people) were food insecure in 2020. The USDA writes: writes Food insecure At times during the year, these households were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. Food-insecure households include those with low food security and very low food security. 10.5 percent (13.8 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2020.Unchanged from 10.5 percent in 2019. [...] 38.3 million people lived in food-insecure households. Here is one of the American-produced "Great Nations Eat" ads that is presented as if China made this ad to feed hungry Americans: Here's another version of this ad "from Germany": Millions of Americans truly struggle with hunger. While these ads were created to make it seem as if China, Germany, and other countries had released PSAs to feed hungry Americans, these videos were actually produced by an American charity and were designed to play on the tropes of similar PSAs. Anders Anglesey. German-Language Ad Asking to Help Feed Poor Americans Goes Viral. Newsweek, 9 Nov. 2021, https://www.newsweek.com/german-ad-asking-feed-americans-goes-viral-tiktok-1647405. Great Nations Eat Launches Unprecedented Billion Impression Media Campaign in 2015 to Transform the Conversation Around Hunger in America. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/great-nations-eat-launches-unprecedented-billion-impression-media-campaign-in-2015-to-transform-the-conversation-around-hunger-in-america-300104454.html. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021. Ha, Thu-Huong. Video: What If Other Countries Saw the Same PSAs about Hungry Americans That Americans See about Them? Quartz, https://qz.com/473786/video-what-if-other-countries-saw-the-same-psas-about-hungry-americans-that-americans-see-about-them/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021. Peters, Adele. These Anti-Hunger Ads Ask People In Other Countries To Donate To Help Feed Americans. Fast Company, 15 July 2015, https://www.fastcompany.com/3048452/these-anti-hunger-ads-ask-people-in-other-countries-to-donate-to-help-feed-americans. Silva, Christianna. Food Insecurity In The U.S. By The Numbers. NPR, 27 Sept. 2020. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2020/09/27/912486921/food-insecurity-in-the-u-s-by-the-numbers. USDA ERS - Key Statistics & Graphics. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/food-security-in-the-us/key-statistics-graphics.aspx. Accessed 10 Nov. 2021.
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"funds"
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"sentence": "In the fall of 2021, a series of videos started circulating on social media that supposedly showed a charitable campaign from Germany encouraging donations to feed hungry Americans. One posting of this claim on TikTok racked up more than 9 million views:"
},
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"hrefs": [
"https://greatnationseat.org/",
"https://www.shareourstrength.org/"
],
"sentence": "The \"Great Nations Eat\" campaign was created by Share Our Strength and the creative agency BBG (Bartle Bogle Hegarty). In a news release, the group writes that it purposefully mirrored the public service announcements (PSAs) that often air in the United States to raise money to feed people in developing countries in an attempt to evoke an emotional reaction from American audiences. "
},
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"hrefs": [
"https://www.fastcompany.com/3048452/these-anti-hunger-ads-ask-people-in-other-countries-to-donate-to-help-feed-americans"
],
"sentence": "Billy Shore, CEO and founder of Share Our Strength, told Fast Company in 2015:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "The non-profit wrote in a news release at the time of the campaign's debut:"
},
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],
"sentence": "The USDA writes:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-there-a-warrant-for-cia-nominee-gina-haspels-arrest/
|
Is There a Warrant for CIA Director Nominee Gina Haspel's Arrest?
|
Arturo Garcia
|
03/19/2018
|
[
"Activists have called on German prosecutors to move against Haspel, but no warrant has been issued."
] |
The Trump administration has had its share of embattled nominees, but President Donald Trump's pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency in March 2018 is controversial even by those standards. Trump nominated the agency's deputy director, Gina Haspel, on 13 March 2018. But her record has come under question both in the U.S. and abroad because of her service while stationed at a secret CIA facility in 2002, leading to allegations that she committed war crimes (with commentary appearing, naturally, in meme form): A human rights advocacy group the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) has called for Haspel to be taken into custody if she travels to the continent. The group has petitioned federal prosecutors in Germany since 2014 to issue a warrant, saying: saying: Those who commit, order or allow torture should be brought before a court this is especially true for senior officials from powerful nations. The prosecutor must, under the principle of universal jurisdiction, open investigations, secure evidence and seek an arrest warrant. If the deputy director travels to Germany or Europe, she must be arrested. Andreas Schller, director of the group's International Crimes and Accountability Program, has said that ECCHR does not expect that Haspel will actually face a warrant; its goal, he said, is that German officials recognize Haspel's alleged actions: said If you allow her to come here, you are making a clear political decision that you prioritize that over your obligations under the Convention Against Torture They can't say they didn't know who was coming here. Haspel, who first joined the agency in 1985 during President Ronald Reagan's administration, was reportedly in charge of a secret "black site" prison in Thailand at which a prisoner and terror suspect, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was waterboarded. She also allegedly supported the destruction of videotapes in 2005 capturing waterboardings at the prison. (However, a report stating that she was in charge of the facility, code-named "Cat's Eye," at the time another suspect, Abu Zubaydah, was tortured was retracted.) reportedly retracted. The use of waterboarding or "enhanced interrogation," as officials called it at the time was banned in 2009 by President Barack Obama. Five years later, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report criticizing the practice. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who was the committee chair at the time, wrote in the foreword to the report: banned report CIA personnel, aided by two outside contractors, decided to initiate a program of indefinite secret detention and the use of brutal interrogation techniques in violation of U.S. law, treaty obligations, and our values. In March 2018, Feinstein called on the agency to declassify documents related to Haspel's role in the program: called As we move forward with the nomination process for Ms. Haspel, my fellow Senators and I must have the complete picture of Ms. Haspel's involvement in the program in order to fully and fairly review her record and qualifications. I also believe the American people deserve to know the actual role the person nominated to be the director of the CIA played in what I consider to be one of the darkest chapters in American history. Two of Feinstein's GOP Senate colleagues, Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona, have also called for Haspel to explain how involved she was with the agency's interrogation program while it was active. Paul McCain Michaelson, Jay. "Could CIA Nominee Gina Haspel Be Prosecuted for War Crimes?"
The Daily Beast. 19 March 2018. Senator Dianne Feinstein. "Feinstein to CIA: Release Haspel Torture Documents."
15 March 2018. Goldman, Adam. "Gina Haspel, Trump's Choice for C.I.A., Played Role in Torture Program."
New York Times. 13 March 2018. Bonner, Raymond. "Correction: Trump's Pick to Head CIA Did Not Oversee Waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah."
ProPublica. 15 March 2018. MacAskill, Ewen. "Obama: 'I Believe Waterboarding Was Torture, And it Was a Mistake.'"
The Guardian. 29 April 2009. Paul, Rand. "Why I'm Against Gina Haspel."
Politico. 18 March 2018. Sen. John McCain. "Statement by SASC Chairman John McCain on Leadership Changes at State Department & CIA."
13 March 2018.
|
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] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.ecchr.eu/en/our_work/international-crimes-and-accountability/u-s-accountability/germany.html"
],
"sentence": "A human rights advocacy group the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) has called for Haspel to be taken into custody if she travels to the continent. The group has petitioned federal prosecutors in Germany since 2014 to issue a warrant, saying:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.thedailybeast.com/could-cia-nominee-gina-haspel-be-prosecuted-for-war-crimes"
],
"sentence": "Andreas Schller, director of the group's International Crimes and Accountability Program, has said that ECCHR does not expect that Haspel will actually face a warrant; its goal, he said, is that German officials recognize Haspel's alleged actions:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/us/politics/gina-haspel-cia-director-nominee-trump-torture-waterboarding.html",
"https://www.propublica.org/article/cia-cables-detail-its-new-deputy-directors-role-in-torture"
],
"sentence": "Haspel, who first joined the agency in 1985 during President Ronald Reagan's administration, was reportedly in charge of a secret \"black site\" prison in Thailand at which a prisoner and terror suspect, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was waterboarded. She also allegedly supported the destruction of videotapes in 2005 capturing waterboardings at the prison. (However, a report stating that she was in charge of the facility, code-named \"Cat's Eye,\" at the time another suspect, Abu Zubaydah, was tortured was retracted.)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/30/obama-waterboarding-mistake",
"https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/publications/committee-study-central-intelligence-agencys-detention-and-interrogation-program"
],
"sentence": "The use of waterboarding or \"enhanced interrogation,\" as officials called it at the time was banned in 2009 by President Barack Obama. Five years later, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report criticizing the practice. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), who was the committee chair at the time, wrote in the foreword to the report:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F2358FDC-46C0-43F5-83D7-903B5DEA5B66"
],
"sentence": "In March 2018, Feinstein called on the agency to declassify documents related to Haspel's role in the program:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/18/rand-paul-gina-haspel-cia-217653",
"https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F5AE735B-2F08-4CBA-B954-F04BA0006626"
],
"sentence": "Two of Feinstein's GOP Senate colleagues, Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona, have also called for Haspel to explain how involved she was with the agency's interrogation program while it was active."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/postman-fathered-1300-children/
|
Did a Retired Postman Father Over 1,300 Illegitimate Children?
|
Dan Evon
|
02/29/2016
|
[
"Contraception wasnt very popular in those days, he told local reporters in his defense."
] |
On 27 February 2016, the World News Daily Report web site published an article positing that a retired postman had fathered more than 1,300 illegitimate children: An 87-year-old former postman has been proven to have fathered over 1,300 illegitimate children after a private investigator hired by a Tennessee family discovered the shocking truth. Contraception wasnt very popular in those days, he told local reporters in his defense. I have nothing to be ashamed of. The 60s were the good old days and I did a great Johnny Cash impression which played out real good with the ladies, he explained. Some even thought I was Johnny Cash for real, he recalls laughingly. I dont know if they really believed it or if they were trying to convince themselves, but who was I to say no to a quickie? he acknowledged. There was no truth to thisstory, which originated with World News Daily Report (WNDR), a fake news site that does not publish factual stories (as noted in their disclaimer): WNDR assumes however all responsibility for thesatiricalnature of its articles and for the fictional nature oftheir content. All characters appearing in the articlesin this website even those based on real people areentirely fictionalandany resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purelya miracle. In addition to the disclaimer, thefake news story about a postman's fathering 1,300 illegitimate children was given away as fiction because it featured two unrelated images that were lifted (like all of WNDR's photographs) from other sites: The first image, which purportedly depicts the prolific postman, actually shows a 97-year-old World War II veteran. The second image, which supposedly captures the reporter who uncovered the story, is actually picture of David Stockman, the budget director during the Reagan administration. shows picture
|
[
"budget"
] |
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1FTMzZQab_8pxnrQqKxDVlUIgMc4jjhj_"
},
{
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Sef_-ZReeIuzeGzkD2QysteKb3IKn7QY"
}
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-02/97-year-old-man-robbed/4171854",
"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-03-31/stockman-warns-of-crash-of-fed-fueled-bubble-economy"
],
"sentence": "The first image, which purportedly depicts the prolific postman, actually shows a 97-year-old World War II veteran. The second image, which supposedly captures the reporter who uncovered the story, is actually picture of David Stockman, the budget director during the Reagan administration."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/shot-whiskey-origin/
|
Did the Phrase 'a Shot of Whiskey' Originate in the Old West?
|
Kim LaCapria
|
10/14/2017
|
[
"Anecdotal reports say the expression \"a shot of whiskey\" came into being when cowboys traded bullets for liquor in Old West saloons."
] |
Thanks to 150 years of fictionalization in dime novels, Hollywood films, and television shows, that hallowed time and place in American history known as the Old West is as much a figment of the national imagination as it was a historical reality. So deep a wellspring of myth and legend is it, in fact, that people are still making up stories about the Old West today on that most modern of misinformation sources, the Internet. novels films shows Consider the origin of the expression "a shot of whiskey." In 2016, a social media meme shared via Facebook popularized a long-established folk etymology holding that the phrase originated in frontier saloons with cowboys trading bullets for drinks: meme Although the meme is of recent origin, Internet mentions of this alleged historical fact date to at least 2003. Significantly, however, we were unable to trace it back any further than that, nor could we find any credible support for the general claim that it was common to use ammunition as a substitute for hard currency in frontier drinking establishments. 2003 Was the price of a single .45 six-gun cartridge equivalent to that of a shot of whiskey in the Old West, as claimed? It doesn't appear so. The 1891 edition of Chicago hardware dealer Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.'s General Catalog lists Smith & Wesson .45 cartridges at a price of $25 per thousand, or 2-1/2 cents per cartridge. For the price of a shot of whiskey, we consulted Kelly J. Dixon's 2005 book Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City, which notes that the average cost of a measure of any drink was around two bits, or 25 cents (although the cost later dropped as competition increased when more Americans moved west). Using those figures as our base prices, one shot of whiskey would have cost the equivalent of 10 cartridges. Even allowing for price variations according to time and place, it appears highly doubtful a one-to-one correspondence between the price of a cartridge and the cost of a drink ever existed in the Old West. lists We also looked into the etymology of the noun shot, which has a long and interesting history as well as many shades of meaning. It derives from the Old English verb scotan (later scot), meaning "to shoot," or "let loose a projectile." etymology shot The earliest known usage of "shot" in the sense of "a measure of liquor" appeared in the autobiography of the Rev. Oliver Heywood (1630-1702), in which we find the phrase "their vain way of drinking shots." Unfortunately for the trading-cartridges-for-shots theory, the usage predates the time period of the Old West (which, by convention, was roughly 1850 to 1900) by some 150 years. autobiography Interestingly enough, the term "shot" was also at one time synonymous with "a charge to be paid" (and, in a more specific usage, "a bill or one's share of it, especially in a pub or bar"), according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Again, however, those meanings predate the Old West era, in this case going all the way back to 15th-century England, hundreds of years before saloons and cowpokes dotted the western frontier of the United States. according Despite their sharing the same derivation, it's unclear precisely how these three disparate senses of the word came to be associated with one another. A theory advanced on the Etymology Online web site suggests that the expression "throw down" (as in "throw down one's money") may link them: Meaning "discharge of a bow, missile," also is from related Old English gesceot. Extended to other projectiles in Middle English, and to sports (hockey, basketball, etc.) 1868. Another original meaning, "payment" (perhaps literally "money thrown down") is preserved in scot-free. "Throwing down" might also have led to the meaning "a drink," first attested 1670s, the more precise meaning "small drink of straight liquor" by 1928 (shot glass by 1955). scot-free Finally, when we used Google's Ngram Viewer to chart how frequently the exact phrase "shot of whiskey" appeared in published sources from the year 1800 on, we found that it didn't actually become common until the mid-20th century, by which time all that was left of the Old West were fading memories, rusting artifacts, and folklore. chart Martin, Katherine Connor. "What Is the Origin of the Term 'Scot-Free.'"
Oxford Dictionaries. 15 April 2015. Simmons, Brian M. "Dime Novels: The Rise of the American Hero."
Baylor University. 13 August 2013. Smith, Gavin D. A-Z of Whisky.
Castle Douglas, Scotland: Neil Wilson Publishing, 2011. ISBN 9781906476199 p. 250. Etymology Online. "Shot."
Accessed 13 October 2017. World Wide Words. "Shot."
Accessed 13 October 2017.
|
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://blogs.baylor.edu/texascollection/2013/08/13/dime-novels-the-rise-of-the-american-hero/",
"https://www.quora.com/How-do-Westerns-films-compare-to-historical-Wild-West-in-actuality",
"https://www.imdb.com/list/ls004128540/"
],
"sentence": "Thanks to 150 years of fictionalization in dime novels, Hollywood films, and television shows, that hallowed time and place in American history known as the Old West is as much a figment of the national imagination as it was a historical reality. So deep a wellspring of myth and legend is it, in fact, that people are still making up stories about the Old West today on that most modern of misinformation sources, the Internet. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/groups/441333919315986/permalink/940229766093063/"
],
"sentence": "Consider the origin of the expression \"a shot of whiskey.\" In 2016, a social media meme shared via Facebook popularized a long-established folk etymology holding that the phrase originated in frontier saloons with cowboys trading bullets for drinks:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=95;t=000521"
],
"sentence": "Although the meme is of recent origin, Internet mentions of this alleged historical fact date to at least 2003. Significantly, however, we were unable to trace it back any further than that, nor could we find any credible support for the general claim that it was common to use ammunition as a substitute for hard currency in frontier drinking establishments."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://books.google.com/books?id=STs8AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1094#v=onepage&q&f=false"
],
"sentence": "Was the price of a single .45 six-gun cartridge equivalent to that of a shot of whiskey in the Old West, as claimed? It doesn't appear so. The 1891 edition of Chicago hardware dealer Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co.'s General Catalog lists Smith & Wesson .45 cartridges at a price of $25 per thousand, or 2-1/2 cents per cartridge. For the price of a shot of whiskey, we consulted Kelly J. Dixon's 2005 book Boomtown Saloons: Archaeology and History in Virginia City, which notes that the average cost of a measure of any drink was around two bits, or 25 cents (although the cost later dropped as competition increased when more Americans moved west). Using those figures as our base prices, one shot of whiskey would have cost the equivalent of 10 cartridges. Even allowing for price variations according to time and place, it appears highly doubtful a one-to-one correspondence between the price of a cartridge and the cost of a drink ever existed in the Old West."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=shot",
"https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sho3.htm"
],
"sentence": "We also looked into the etymology of the noun shot, which has a long and interesting history as well as many shades of meaning. It derives from the Old English verb scotan (later scot), meaning \"to shoot,\" or \"let loose a projectile.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.org/stream/revoliverheywood01heyw/revoliverheywood01heyw_djvu.txt"
],
"sentence": "The earliest known usage of \"shot\" in the sense of \"a measure of liquor\" appeared in the autobiography of the Rev. Oliver Heywood (1630-1702), in which we find the phrase \"their vain way of drinking shots.\" Unfortunately for the trading-cartridges-for-shots theory, the usage predates the time period of the Old West (which, by convention, was roughly 1850 to 1900) by some 150 years. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/us/shot#shot_Noun_300"
],
"sentence": "Interestingly enough, the term \"shot\" was also at one time synonymous with \"a charge to be paid\" (and, in a more specific usage, \"a bill or one's share of it, especially in a pub or bar\"), according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Again, however, those meanings predate the Old West era, in this case going all the way back to 15th-century England, hundreds of years before saloons and cowpokes dotted the western frontier of the United States."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/04/scot-free-origin/"
],
"sentence": "Meaning \"discharge of a bow, missile,\" also is from related Old English gesceot. Extended to other projectiles in Middle English, and to sports (hockey, basketball, etc.) 1868. Another original meaning, \"payment\" (perhaps literally \"money thrown down\") is preserved in scot-free. \"Throwing down\" might also have led to the meaning \"a drink,\" first attested 1670s, the more precise meaning \"small drink of straight liquor\" by 1928 (shot glass by 1955)."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=shot+of+whiskey&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cshot%20of%20whiskey%3B%2Cc0"
],
"sentence": "Finally, when we used Google's Ngram Viewer to chart how frequently the exact phrase \"shot of whiskey\" appeared in published sources from the year 1800 on, we found that it didn't actually become common until the mid-20th century, by which time all that was left of the Old West were fading memories, rusting artifacts, and folklore."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/classical-gas/
|
Failed Suicide by Gas
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
07/06/2001
|
[
"Woman unsuccessfully tries to gas herself to death, but the gas company has turned off service."
] |
Legend: Woman unsuccessfully tries to gas herself to death only to discover the gas company has turned off service. Example: [Healey & Glanvill, 1996] A social worker mate in Glasgow had to visit a woman who's been put through the mill due to the incompetent Tories' recession. The worst slump since the 1930s had decimated her life. Nothing was going right. The company she worked for had sacked her and then gone bust, so she'd had no redundancy money after sixteen years' service. Her husband had lost his well-paid job in the building trade and they'd fallen way behind on their mortgage. The house was about to be repossessed, but it had plummeted in value so they owed the building society more than it was worth. The car and furniture on HP had been taken by the bailiffs, and every letter was a final demand. Finally, the strain of living on the breadline had wrecked their marriage and her husband had left to build a new life for himself down south. It was the last straw; the poor woman had had enough, and decided to end it all. So she opened the oven, stuck her head inside and switched the gas full on. But she woke the next day with a stinking headache, to find the gas supply had been cut off. Origins: Whenever a story sounds too pat to be true, that generally turns out to be the case real life is rarely that neat. In this instance, a tired plotline has been resurrected to service a new theme: The Tory government of Britain so screws up this woman's life it makes it impossible for her to kill herself. The theme of the gas having been turned off is as old as the hills, although this plot twist is usually resorted to in murder thrillers rather than suicide tales. From the 1946 book 101 Plots Used and Abused comes this description: Henry Smithers, in a rage, strikes his wife and kills her. In a panic, he has an inspiration why not make it appear that she had committed suicide by turning on the gas? Ah, what a great idea! Henry carries the body to the gas range, places it so that the head rests inside, turns on the gas, and, leaving the house, goes off on a "business trip." When he returns, he is arrested and charged with the crime. Unfortunately for Mr. Smithers, the gas company, carrying out an old threat, had turned off the gas shortly before the murder. This 1946 collection of overused storylines referred to this theme as "bewhiskered," and rightly so. Still, it's nice to see so old a device used for a new purpose. Barbara "gas masked" Mikkelson Sightings: The 1977 Kinks song "Life Goes On" contains the following stanza: My bank went broke and my well ran dry.It was almost enough to contemplate suicide.I turned on the gas, but I soon realizedI hadn't settled my bill so they cut off my supply. Last updated: 18 January 2007 Sources: Healey, Phil and Rick Glanvill. Now! That's What I Call Urban Myths. London: Virgin Books, 1996. ISBN 0-86369-969-3 (p. 240). Now! That's What I Call Urban Myths Young, James. 101 Plots Used and Abused. Boston: The Writer, Inc., 1946 (p. 3)
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https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/turmeric-prevent-dementia/
|
Does Turmeric Prevent Dementia?
|
Alex Kasprak
|
12/05/2017
|
[
"Myriad studies have suggested that turmeric can treat or prevent dementia, but evidence of its efficacy is problematic."
] |
Turmeric, which has been the subject of thousands of studies and perhaps even more memes, came up again recently when an image circulated claiming that the spice prevents dementia, and that because of its curative powers, India has the lowest rate of dementia in the world. The meme, like a lot of claims about turmeric's curative properties, relies on a large body of research that scientists have recently called into question. Most turmeric studies have focused on curcumin, which appears in high concentrations in the root, and other similar chemicals called curcuminoids. Many of these curcumin studies employ a laboratory technique called High Throughput Screening (HTS) that allows researchers to test how curcumin responds to chemicals representing different bodily functions. High Throughput Screening These types of studies have suggested that curcumin can treat conditions ranging from diabetes to HIV. One study summed up the findings in this astonishing list: summed Curcumin has been reported to have activity for the following indications: anti-inflammatory, anti-HIV, antibacterial, antifungal, nematocidal, antiparasitic, antimutagenic, antidiabetic, antifibrinogenic, radioprotective, wound healing, lipid lowering, antispasmodic, antioxidant, immunomodulating, anticarcinogenic, and Alzheimers disease, among others. An expansive 2017 review of curcumin and curcmuninoid research, however, argued that curcumin's chemical properties make it impossible to study using HTS and too biologically unstable to treat anything. 2017 review Curcumin is part of a group of chemicals called pan-assay interference compounds (or PAINS) that are known to trigger false positives in HTS studies. PAINS Even if false positives weren't a problem, curcumin and curcuminoids are both unstable and not very potent in the human body, making them unlikely to be effective as a treatment. Speaking to the Washington Post, Kathryn M. Nelson, a principal scientist at the University of Minnesotas Institute for Therapeutics Discovery and Development and the author of the 2017 review of curcumin explained: Speaking Curcumins bioavailability the amount that makes its way throughout the body is dismal, Nelson says. The chemical is fragile, and once its ingested, its quickly excreted. The compound itself is probably not doing anything, she adds. It falls apart in water. Think about how well its going to survive your stomach and its acids. For these and other reasons, research on the benefits of turmeric and curcumin remain far from settled, despite the large amount of literature on the topic. Does India Actually Have The Lowest Rage of Dementia in the World? Web sites promoting the use of turmeric often claim that India, a country with relatively high turmeric consumption, has the lowest rate of dementia in the world. But the research on dementia rates in India is so limited that it makes using the country as proof of turmerics efficacy problematic, if not scientifically dishonest. claim The claim originated with a 2001 epidemiology study that suggested one rural Indian village boasted the lowest rates of Alzheimer's (the most common dementia subtype) in the world. This finding, however, came with heavy caveats: 2001 epidemiology study common These are the first AD [Alzheimer's disease] incidence rates to be reported from the Indian subcontinent, and they appear to be among the lowest ever reported. However, the relatively short duration of follow-up, cultural factors, and other potential confounders suggest caution in interpreting this finding. Later studies on dementia rates in India were hindered by the similar problems. similar problems A 2006 study in the journal The Lancet suggested that the existing epidemiological data was insufficient to estimate the actual prevalence of dementia in India, in part due to under-diagnosis and a lack of awareness about the disease in rural communities. Based in part on an increasing awareness of the condition in rural parts of India, scientists predict dementia rates to grow by 300% in the coming years, among the fastest in the world. A 2008 paper further supported the notion that economic factors can contribute to an underestimate of the incidence of dementia in lower-income countries like India. insufficient predict 2008 paper Relying on disease rates in populations that consume a lot of turmeric as evidence for its efficacy is also problematic without data on other dietary factors and genetic differences, as a 2017 review suggested: 2017 review Even the authors of the oft-cited study cautioned against overinterpretation of their results given the relatively short duration of the study, the small number of incident cases, and the wide confidence intervals. Diet was not considered as part of the study, and the frequency of the APOE4 allele [gene], a risk factor for AD, was noted as being lower in the [Indian] group as compared to the [American] group. How Would Turmeric Treat Dementia? Setting aside for a moment the problems with calculating the rate of dementia in India and the problems with HTS studies of curcumin, how would curcumin cure dementia? There are two main theories. The first relies on its (contested) anti-inflammatory properties: relies contested Research to date suggests that chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and most chronic diseases are closely linked, and the antioxidant properties of curcumin can play a key role in the prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Another, related, hypothesis suggests that curcumin could stimulate the immune system to more efficiently remove the buildup in the brain of chemicals that produce amyloid plaques, which are thought to contribute to dementia. Some studies suggest that when you have Alzheimer's, your white blood cells can't efficiently consume and destroy these chemicals. Some research in animals and in laboratory settings hinted that curcumin could stimulate the immune system to do so. consume research However, there have been no controlled, double-blind, clinical trials on humans that support this claim outside of the lab. In terms of clinical research on humans, a 2012 phase II, 24-week, randomized, double-blinded clinical trial of curcumin on 36 individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimers indicated a lack of efficacy: 2012 lack After 24 weeks of treatment, there was no observed difference in mental status between the placebo and treated groups based on several measurements of cognitive status. "To our knowledge, [curcumin] has never been shown to be conclusively effective in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial for any indication," Nelson and her colleagues wrote in their 2017 review. wrote Bollinger, Ty. "Key Health Benefit of Turmeric: Improved Brain Health."
The Truth about Cancer. 6 September 2016. Neslon, Kathryn, M., et al. "The Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin."
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 11 January 2017. Baell, Jonathan B., and Holloway, Georgina, A. "New Substructure Filters for Removal of Pan Assay Interference Compounds (PAINS) from Screening Libraries and for Their Exclusion in Bioassays."
Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. 4 February 2010. NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. "Turmeric."
Accessed 5 December 2017. Blackemore, Erin. "New Substructure Filters for Removal of Pan Assay Interference Compounds (PAINS) from Screening Libraries and for Their Exclusion in Bioassays."
Washington Post. 20 August 2017. Burns, Alistair. Dementia."
BMJ. 5 February 2017. He, Yan, et al. Curcumin, Inflammation, and Chronic Diseases: How Are
They Linked?"
Molecules. 20 May 2015. Zhang, L., et al. Curcuminoids Enhance Amyloid-beta Uptake by Macrophages of Alzheimer's Disease Patients."
Journal of Alzheimers Research. September 2006. Chandra, V., et al. Incidence of Alzheimers Disease in a Rural Community In India:
The IndoUS Study."
Neurology. 25 September 2001. Ferri, Cleusa, P., et al. Global Prevalence of Dementia: A Delphi Consensus Study"
The Lancet. 4 April 2006. Rodriguez, Juan J., et al. Prevalence of Dementia in Latin America, India, and China: a Population-based Cross-sectional Survey."
The Lancet. 4 April 2006.
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"sentence": "Web sites promoting the use of turmeric often claim that India, a country with relatively high turmeric consumption, has the lowest rate of dementia in the world. But the research on dementia rates in India is so limited that it makes using the country as proof of turmerics efficacy problematic, if not scientifically dishonest."
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}
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false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/iv-drug-users-needles-in-tproll/
|
Are IV Drug Users Cleaning Needles by Poking Toilet Paper Rolls?
|
Dan Evon
|
03/08/2019
|
[
"A single, unverified Facebook post is never a good reason to panic. "
] |
In March 2019, a number of social media users encountered a piece of text warning them to be extra cautious in public bathrooms because intravenous drug users purportedly were known to clean their needles by sticking them into rolls of toilet paper: I took a HAZWOP class about 6 months ago and ever since then I always look at the toilet paper roll in a porta potty or public restroom before deciding to do my business. The instructor warned us about intravenous drug users cleaning their needles by stabbing the dirty needle into the roll of toilet paper to clean the blood off of the tip. This photograph and text was originally shared by Facebook user Gavin Aubert. The post racked up hundreds of thousands of shares, but was ultimately deleted after it attracted bots that flooded the comments section with spammy links. We managed to get in contact with Aubert's wife, who told us that her husband truly wrote the text, and that the photograph had been taken at a KFC in Federal Way, Washington. deleted While Aubert may be relaying something he actually heard during a HAZWOPER class Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response is a set of guidelines set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that does not mean that this practice is widespread. A spokesperson for OSHA told us that the organization had not heard of this practice. We received a similar response from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The Institute told us that concerned citizens should check with their local public health departments for more information, but, generally speaking, the organization had no evidence that drug users were cleaning needles by stabbing them into toilet paper rolls in public bathrooms. A spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Health said that they were also unaware of any reports of drug users cleaning needles by sticking them into toilet paper rolls: We have never heard of this. This practice seems extremely unlikely because the tip of the needle could break off if one tried to stab it through a toilet paper roll. I'm not sure why someone would risk that if what they wanted was to use the same needle for another shot. Logically it would be much easier to wipe off the tip with some toilet paper rather than stabbing it through the roll. Here is the info on how someone would properly clean a needle/syringe. info That said, the best public health practice endorsed by CDC and the US Public Health Service is to use a new sterile needle/syringe for every injection. We reached out to the Federal Way Police Department but did not hear back by press time. As noted by the Washington Health Department, the method described in this viral Facebook post is not effective in cleaning a needle. Health officials also say drug users should never share needles as it puts them at risk of getting or transmitting disease such as hepatitis or HIV. HarmReduction.org also recommends against re-using needles in general: HarmReduction.org The only to definite way to avoid disease transmission of this sort is to never share needles, syringes, or other injection equipment. It is therefore extremely important for every injector to have his or her own set of works, and an ample supply of needles and syringes so that they never have to share or re-use their ownbut especially othersinjection equipment. Cleaning needles and syringes is a complicated process that, even if done according to the best scientific advice currently available, is not a 100% fool-proof method of avoiding harmful bacteria, viruses, and other blood-borne pathogens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that drug users can reduce the risk of HIV by cleaning their needles in bleach, but this method still does not completely eliminate the risk. The CDC suggests that drug users find a local syringe service program (SSP) to obtain free sterile needles: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The best way to reduce the risk of getting or transmitting HIV through injection drug use is to stop injecting drugs. Talk with a counselor, doctor, or other health care provider about substance use disorder treatment, including medication-assisted treatment. To find a treatment center near you, check out the locator tools on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) or www.hiv.gov, or call 1-800-662-HELP (4357). If you continue injecting drugs, never share needles or works. Many communities have syringe services programs (SSPs) where you can get free sterile needles and syringes and safely dispose of used ones. They can also refer you to substance use disorder treatment and help you get tested for HIV and hepatitis. Contact your local health department or North American Syringe Exchange Network (NASEN) to find an SSP. Also, some pharmacies may sell needles without a prescription. Other things you can do to lower your risk of getting or transmitting HIV, if you continue to inject drugs, include: Cleaning used needles with bleach. This may reduce the risk of HIV but doesn't eliminate it. In short, rumors about intravenous drug users cleaning their needles by stabbing them into rolls of toilet paper in public bathrooms were based on a single, unverified Facebook post. As of this writing, we have not encountered any evidence to suggest that this practice is widespread. Are Fentanyl Users Cleaning Needles by Poking Toilet Paper Rolls? Harm Reduction Coalition. "A Safety Manual for Injection Drug Users."
Retrieved 8 March 2019. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Injection Drug Use and HIV Risk."
Retrieved 8 March 2019. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "Frequently Asked Questions: HAZWOPER."
Retrieved 8 March 2019. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. "Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER)."
Retrieved 8 March 2019. Update [29 August 2019]: Added a variation to this claim concerning fentanyl specifically.
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"sentence": "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that drug users can reduce the risk of HIV by cleaning their needles in bleach, but this method still does not completely eliminate the risk. The CDC suggests that drug users find a local syringe service program (SSP) to obtain free sterile needles:"
}
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neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire/
|
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky -- The Decline and Fall of the American Empire
|
David Mikkelson
|
03/15/2013
|
[
" Rabbi Steven Pruzansky penned an opinion piece about the 2012 U.S. presidential elections?"
] |
Claim: Rabbi Steven Pruzansky penned an opinion piece about the 2012 U.S. presidential elections entitled "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire." CORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED Example: [Collected via e-mail, March 2013] Just wondering if you can verify whether the following waswritten by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Teaneck, NJ: Please take a moment to digest this provocative article by a Rabbi fromTeaneck, N.J. It is far and away the most succinct and thoughtfulexplanation of how our nation is changing. The article appeared in TheIsrael National News, and is directed to Jewish readership. 70% of AmericanJews vote as Democrats. The Rabbi has some interesting comments in thatregard. The most charitable way of explaining the election results of 2012 isthat Americans voted for the status quo for the incumbent Presidentand for a divided Congress. They must enjoy gridlock, partisanship,incompetence, economic stagnation and avoidance of responsibility.And fewer people voted.2008 total. But as we awake from the nightmare, it is important to eschew the facile explanations for the Romney defeat that will prevail among the chattering classes. Romney did not lose because of the effects of Hurricane Sandy that devastated this area, nor did he lose because he ran a poor campaign, nor did he lose because the Republicans could have chosen better candidates, nor did he lose because Obama benefited from a slight uptick in the economy due to the business cycle. Romney lost because he didnt get enough votes to win. That might seem obvious, but not for the obvious reasons. Romney lost because the conservative virtues the traditional American virtues of liberty, hard work, free enterprise, private initiative and aspirations to moral greatness no longer inspire or animate a majority of the electorate. The notion of the Reagan Democrat is one clich that should be permanently retired. [Rest of article here.] here Origins: Rabbi Steven Pruzansky describes himself on his web site biography as: biography [T]he spiritual leader of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, a synagogue consisting of nearly 600 families located in Teaneck, New Jersey, and one of the most vibrant centers of Orthodox Jewish life today. He has served since August 1994. Previously, Rabbi Pruzansky was for nine years the spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Chaim in Kew Gardens Hills, New York. While in New York, he served a two-year term as President of the Vaad Harabonim (Rabbinical Board) of Queens. On 7 November 2012, the day after the 2012 U.S. presidential election, Rabbi Pruzansky (a Romney supporter) published the opinion piece referenced above on his blog under the title "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire," offering his viewpoint on why the election turned out the way it did and what the results augur for the future. published Last updated: 15 March 2013
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},
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}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-slipping-on-stairs/
|
Photograph of Hillary Clinton Slipping on Stairs Circulated as Proof of Poor Health
|
Dan Evon
|
08/08/2016
|
[
"Several right-wing web sites circulated a months-old photograph of Hillary Clinton slipping on some stairs as the 'latest evidence' that she is in poor health."
] |
On 7 August 2016, the web site The American Mirror published an article reporting that Hillary Clinton's "health condition" should be a "major issue" of the 2016 presidential race, along with two photographs purportedly showing Clinton being helped up a flight of stairs: SHOCK PHOTO: Multiple staffers help unstable Hillary up stairs The questionable health condition of Hillary Clinton should be a major issue of the 2016 campaign. The latest evidence comes in the form of Clinton being helped up a set of stairs by multiple individuals outside what appears to be a home. The photographs received wider attention when they were shared by conservative commentator Matt Drudge on Twitter: Other pro-Donald Trump web pages paired the above-displayed photographs with images of Donald Trump ascending stairs with ease: images Donald Trump on his way the presidency of the United States. Donald Trump on his way the presidency of the United States. While the above-displayed photographs are real, they are not the "latest evidence" of Clinton's alleged poor health, nor are they by themselves indicative of any significant health problems. The photographs were originally published in February 2016, more than five months before they started circulating on various right-wing web sites. When Getty Images published their photograph, it was accompanied with a caption explaining that it depicted Clinton being assisted as she had just slipped while walked up stairs in South Carolina: slipped Democratic Presidential candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slips as she walks up the stairs into the non-profit SC Strong, a 2 year residential facility that helps former felons, substance abusers, and homeless move into self-sufficiency February 24, 2016 in North Charleston. The South Carolina Democratic Presidential Primary is held on February 27. Although these photographs were offered as "proof" that Clinton is in such poor health that she needs constant accompaniment while ascending stairs, several photographs of the Democratic presidential nominee ascending and descending stairs without help from anyone are not difficult to find: several photographs ascending descending
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"sentence": "Other pro-Donald Trump web pages paired the above-displayed photographs with images of Donald Trump ascending stairs with ease:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"//imgur.com/3GkPLLp"
],
"sentence": "Donald Trump on his way the presidency of the United States."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-presidential-candidate-former-secretary-of-state-news-photo/512026552#democratic-presidential-candidate-former-secretary-of-state-hillary-picture-id512026552"
],
"sentence": "When Getty Images published their photograph, it was accompanied with a caption explaining that it depicted Clinton being assisted as she had just slipped while walked up stairs in South Carolina:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/presidential-candidate-hillary-clinton-heads-down-a-spiral-news-photo/480679964#presidential-candidate-hillary-clinton-heads-down-a-spiral-staircase-picture-id480679964",
"https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/USA-ELECTION-CLINTON-GF10000326420.html",
"https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/USA-ELECTION-CLINTON-TB3EC3206COUD.html",
"https://pictures.reuters.com/archive/USA-ELECTION-CLINTON-HT1EC751GFM0O.html"
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"sentence": "Although these photographs were offered as \"proof\" that Clinton is in such poor health that she needs constant accompaniment while ascending stairs, several photographs of the Democratic presidential nominee ascending and descending stairs without help from anyone are not difficult to find:"
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hiroshima-vs-detroit/
|
Hiroshima vs. Detroit
|
David Emery
|
08/11/2016
|
[
"Circulating images purport to compare the effects of urban decay in Detroit with the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan by an atomic bomb during World War II."
] |
The photo montage displayed above is one of dozens circulating online since 2009, purporting to demonstrate that 50-plus years of rule by the Democratic Party wrought a level of destruction on Detroit comparable to that caused by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Some versions have sought to make the case verbally, as well. For example:What has caused more long term destruction - the A-bomb, or Government welfare programs created to buy the votes of those who want someone to take care of them? Japan does not have a welfare system. Work for it or do without. These are possibly the 5 best sentences youll ever read and all applicable to this experiment: 1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. The comparison of 2010 Detroit to 1945 Hiroshima is grotesquely forced, however, as is the implication that Democratic policies are wholly to blame for the Detroit's decline since World War II. We'll start our analysis with the images, some of which are inaccurately labeled. Beginning with the upper left-hand photo, it is, in fact, an aerial view of the hypocenter (ground zero) of the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, taken a few months after the fact. Here's a larger view of the image: hypocenter Working clockwise, the next image in the set supposedly depicts modern-day Hiroshima except that it doesn't. It's actually a snapshot taken from the Landmark Tower Sky Garden in Yokohama, Japan much like this one from Flickr: Flickr That having been pointed out, it's true that Hiroshima was rebuilt from its ashes and is now a beautiful and modern city. Nor is it too terribly hard to find an actual photo of it. rebuilt photo The photo at bottom-right though taken in 2013, not 2010 does show a dilapidated building (of which there are plenty) on the east side of Detroit. It's the former Packard Automotive Plant, which closed in the late 1950s: plenty closed However, the thing to note about the use of this image to portray Detroit as a locus of Hiroshima-like devastation is that all we actually see is one long-abandoned, crumbling building. It doesn't make the case. Lastly, we're shown a photo supposedly depicting Detroit in its mid-1940s heyday except that it was taken in the mid-1930s. It's an aerial view of Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium): Navin Field Granted, for the purposes of argument it doesn't really matter whether the above photo was taken in the '30s or '40s the point remains that Detroit once had a teeming population, abundant jobs, and a booming economy. In 1950 it was the fourth-largest city in the United States, but no longer. The question is, who was responsible? There's no simple explanation (and therefore no single scapegoat at whom to point fingers) for Detroit's long, slow descent to bankruptcy. Scott Martelle, author of Detroit: A Biography, offered this capsule summary in an op-ed column published in 2011: column The collapse of Detroit has roots in intentional de-industrialization by the Big Three automakers, which in the 1950s began aggressively spider-webbing operations across the nation to produce cars closer to regional markets, and to reduce labor costs by investing in less labor-friendly places than union-heavy Detroit. Their flight was augmented by government policies that, in the 1970s and 1980s particularly, forced municipalities and states to compete with each other for jobs by offering corporate tax breaks and other inducements to keep or draw business investments, a bit of whipsawing that helped companies profit at the expense of communities. Another summary of Detroit's decline cited issues such as the city's dependence on a single industry (i.e., automobiles), decades of racial tensions, shortcomings of leadership (stretching back to the 1930s), and the lack of an efficient transit system. decline Did Democrats and Democratic policies play some role in the fall of Detroit? Surely they did. Every Detroit mayor since 1962 has been a Democrat, after all. But Republicans held the seat for the 12 years prior to that, from 1950 through 1961. The Packard plant whose hollowed-out remains were displayed above closed its doors during that time. Whatever blame is to be allotted to politicians must be shared by both Democrats and Republicans on the national level, as well. Detroit's decline since World War II took place during periods when both parties held the presidency and/or controlled Congress. Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same. maintained Drury, Flora."A City Rebuilt from the Ashes."
Daily Mail Online.5 August 2015. Martelle, Scott."The Collapse of Detroit."
Los Angeles Times.27 March 2011. "Anatomy of Detroit's Decline."
New York Times.8 December 2013. "Zombieland: The Abandoned Buildings of Detroit."
Beaumont Enterprise.18 July 2013.
|
[
"economy"
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"sentence": "Beginning with the upper left-hand photo, it is, in fact, an aerial view of the hypocenter (ground zero) of the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, taken a few months after the fact. Here's a larger view of the image:"
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"sentence": "Working clockwise, the next image in the set supposedly depicts modern-day Hiroshima except that it doesn't. It's actually a snapshot taken from the Landmark Tower Sky Garden in Yokohama, Japan much like this one from Flickr:"
},
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"sentence": "The photo at bottom-right though taken in 2013, not 2010 does show a dilapidated building (of which there are plenty) on the east side of Detroit. It's the former Packard Automotive Plant, which closed in the late 1950s:"
},
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],
"sentence": "Lastly, we're shown a photo supposedly depicting Detroit in its mid-1940s heyday except that it was taken in the mid-1930s. It's an aerial view of Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium):"
},
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],
"sentence": "There's no simple explanation (and therefore no single scapegoat at whom to point fingers) for Detroit's long, slow descent to bankruptcy. Scott Martelle, author of Detroit: A Biography, offered this capsule summary in an op-ed column published in 2011:"
},
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"sentence": "Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hiroshima-vs-detroit/
|
Comparison between Hiroshima and Detroit
|
David Emery
|
08/11/2016
|
[
"Circulating images purport to compare the effects of urban decay in Detroit with the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan by an atomic bomb during World War II."
] |
The photo montage displayed above is one of dozens circulating online since 2009, purporting to demonstrate that 50-plus years of rule by the Democratic Party wrought a level of destruction on Detroit comparable to that caused by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Some versions have sought to make the case verbally, as well. For example:What has caused more long term destruction - the A-bomb, or Government welfare programs created to buy the votes of those who want someone to take care of them? Japan does not have a welfare system. Work for it or do without. These are possibly the 5 best sentences youll ever read and all applicable to this experiment: 1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. The comparison of 2010 Detroit to 1945 Hiroshima is grotesquely forced, however, as is the implication that Democratic policies are wholly to blame for the Detroit's decline since World War II. We'll start our analysis with the images, some of which are inaccurately labeled. Beginning with the upper left-hand photo, it is, in fact, an aerial view of the hypocenter (ground zero) of the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, taken a few months after the fact. Here's a larger view of the image: hypocenter Working clockwise, the next image in the set supposedly depicts modern-day Hiroshima except that it doesn't. It's actually a snapshot taken from the Landmark Tower Sky Garden in Yokohama, Japan much like this one from Flickr: Flickr That having been pointed out, it's true that Hiroshima was rebuilt from its ashes and is now a beautiful and modern city. Nor is it too terribly hard to find an actual photo of it. rebuilt photo The photo at bottom-right though taken in 2013, not 2010 does show a dilapidated building (of which there are plenty) on the east side of Detroit. It's the former Packard Automotive Plant, which closed in the late 1950s: plenty closed However, the thing to note about the use of this image to portray Detroit as a locus of Hiroshima-like devastation is that all we actually see is one long-abandoned, crumbling building. It doesn't make the case. Lastly, we're shown a photo supposedly depicting Detroit in its mid-1940s heyday except that it was taken in the mid-1930s. It's an aerial view of Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium): Navin Field Granted, for the purposes of argument it doesn't really matter whether the above photo was taken in the '30s or '40s the point remains that Detroit once had a teeming population, abundant jobs, and a booming economy. In 1950 it was the fourth-largest city in the United States, but no longer. The question is, who was responsible? There's no simple explanation (and therefore no single scapegoat at whom to point fingers) for Detroit's long, slow descent to bankruptcy. Scott Martelle, author of Detroit: A Biography, offered this capsule summary in an op-ed column published in 2011: column The collapse of Detroit has roots in intentional de-industrialization by the Big Three automakers, which in the 1950s began aggressively spider-webbing operations across the nation to produce cars closer to regional markets, and to reduce labor costs by investing in less labor-friendly places than union-heavy Detroit. Their flight was augmented by government policies that, in the 1970s and 1980s particularly, forced municipalities and states to compete with each other for jobs by offering corporate tax breaks and other inducements to keep or draw business investments, a bit of whipsawing that helped companies profit at the expense of communities. Another summary of Detroit's decline cited issues such as the city's dependence on a single industry (i.e., automobiles), decades of racial tensions, shortcomings of leadership (stretching back to the 1930s), and the lack of an efficient transit system. decline Did Democrats and Democratic policies play some role in the fall of Detroit? Surely they did. Every Detroit mayor since 1962 has been a Democrat, after all. But Republicans held the seat for the 12 years prior to that, from 1950 through 1961. The Packard plant whose hollowed-out remains were displayed above closed its doors during that time. Whatever blame is to be allotted to politicians must be shared by both Democrats and Republicans on the national level, as well. Detroit's decline since World War II took place during periods when both parties held the presidency and/or controlled Congress. Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same. maintained Drury, Flora."A City Rebuilt from the Ashes."
Daily Mail Online.5 August 2015. Martelle, Scott."The Collapse of Detroit."
Los Angeles Times.27 March 2011. "Anatomy of Detroit's Decline."
New York Times.8 December 2013. "Zombieland: The Abandoned Buildings of Detroit."
Beaumont Enterprise.18 July 2013.
|
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},
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},
{
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],
"sentence": "There's no simple explanation (and therefore no single scapegoat at whom to point fingers) for Detroit's long, slow descent to bankruptcy. Scott Martelle, author of Detroit: A Biography, offered this capsule summary in an op-ed column published in 2011:"
},
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"sentence": "Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hiroshima-vs-detroit/
|
Comparison of Hiroshima and Detroit
|
David Emery
|
08/11/2016
|
[
"Circulating images purport to compare the effects of urban decay in Detroit with the destruction of Hiroshima, Japan by an atomic bomb during World War II."
] |
The photo montage displayed above is one of dozens circulating online since 2009, purporting to demonstrate that 50-plus years of rule by the Democratic Party wrought a level of destruction on Detroit comparable to that caused by the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945. Some versions have sought to make the case verbally, as well. For example:What has caused more long term destruction - the A-bomb, or Government welfare programs created to buy the votes of those who want someone to take care of them? Japan does not have a welfare system. Work for it or do without. These are possibly the 5 best sentences youll ever read and all applicable to this experiment: 1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it! 5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation. The comparison of 2010 Detroit to 1945 Hiroshima is grotesquely forced, however, as is the implication that Democratic policies are wholly to blame for the Detroit's decline since World War II. We'll start our analysis with the images, some of which are inaccurately labeled. Beginning with the upper left-hand photo, it is, in fact, an aerial view of the hypocenter (ground zero) of the atomic bomb explosion over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, taken a few months after the fact. Here's a larger view of the image: hypocenter Working clockwise, the next image in the set supposedly depicts modern-day Hiroshima except that it doesn't. It's actually a snapshot taken from the Landmark Tower Sky Garden in Yokohama, Japan much like this one from Flickr: Flickr That having been pointed out, it's true that Hiroshima was rebuilt from its ashes and is now a beautiful and modern city. Nor is it too terribly hard to find an actual photo of it. rebuilt photo The photo at bottom-right though taken in 2013, not 2010 does show a dilapidated building (of which there are plenty) on the east side of Detroit. It's the former Packard Automotive Plant, which closed in the late 1950s: plenty closed However, the thing to note about the use of this image to portray Detroit as a locus of Hiroshima-like devastation is that all we actually see is one long-abandoned, crumbling building. It doesn't make the case. Lastly, we're shown a photo supposedly depicting Detroit in its mid-1940s heyday except that it was taken in the mid-1930s. It's an aerial view of Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium): Navin Field Granted, for the purposes of argument it doesn't really matter whether the above photo was taken in the '30s or '40s the point remains that Detroit once had a teeming population, abundant jobs, and a booming economy. In 1950 it was the fourth-largest city in the United States, but no longer. The question is, who was responsible? There's no simple explanation (and therefore no single scapegoat at whom to point fingers) for Detroit's long, slow descent to bankruptcy. Scott Martelle, author of Detroit: A Biography, offered this capsule summary in an op-ed column published in 2011: column The collapse of Detroit has roots in intentional de-industrialization by the Big Three automakers, which in the 1950s began aggressively spider-webbing operations across the nation to produce cars closer to regional markets, and to reduce labor costs by investing in less labor-friendly places than union-heavy Detroit. Their flight was augmented by government policies that, in the 1970s and 1980s particularly, forced municipalities and states to compete with each other for jobs by offering corporate tax breaks and other inducements to keep or draw business investments, a bit of whipsawing that helped companies profit at the expense of communities. Another summary of Detroit's decline cited issues such as the city's dependence on a single industry (i.e., automobiles), decades of racial tensions, shortcomings of leadership (stretching back to the 1930s), and the lack of an efficient transit system. decline Did Democrats and Democratic policies play some role in the fall of Detroit? Surely they did. Every Detroit mayor since 1962 has been a Democrat, after all. But Republicans held the seat for the 12 years prior to that, from 1950 through 1961. The Packard plant whose hollowed-out remains were displayed above closed its doors during that time. Whatever blame is to be allotted to politicians must be shared by both Democrats and Republicans on the national level, as well. Detroit's decline since World War II took place during periods when both parties held the presidency and/or controlled Congress. Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same. maintained Drury, Flora."A City Rebuilt from the Ashes."
Daily Mail Online.5 August 2015. Martelle, Scott."The Collapse of Detroit."
Los Angeles Times.27 March 2011. "Anatomy of Detroit's Decline."
New York Times.8 December 2013. "Zombieland: The Abandoned Buildings of Detroit."
Beaumont Enterprise.18 July 2013.
|
[
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"sentence": "The photo at bottom-right though taken in 2013, not 2010 does show a dilapidated building (of which there are plenty) on the east side of Detroit. It's the former Packard Automotive Plant, which closed in the late 1950s:"
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"sentence": "Lastly, we're shown a photo supposedly depicting Detroit in its mid-1940s heyday except that it was taken in the mid-1930s. It's an aerial view of Navin Field (later Tiger Stadium):"
},
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},
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},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://countrystudies.us/japan/75.htm"
],
"sentence": "Finally, the specific suggestion that Detroit's downfall was an unintended consequence of the spread of social welfare programs while Hiroshima's dramatic recovery is at least partially attributable to the lack of same in Japan is based on misinformation. Japan has maintained strong public health care and social welfare programs in one form or another since the 1920s. Yet Hiroshima was rebuilt and flourished just the same."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/eyeball-tattoos/
|
Are Eyeball Tattoos a Real Thing?
|
Brooke Binkowski
|
06/03/2016
|
[
"The practice of permanently inking the eyes is real, but it isn't as novel as it may seem."
] |
Humans have been modifying their bodies as long as there have been tools available to do so. Tattoos, piercings, corseting, and other practices generally characterized as "transgressive" actually come with centuries of historical weight, and even newer types of body modification generally have precedents. Eyeball tattooing is no exception to this, despite popping up mostly in news stories after 2015, when an inmate in Alaska appeared in court with one of his sclera evidently tattooed: Jason Barnum, also known as "Eyeball," was sentenced to 22 years in prison for shooting a police officer. His face and eye tattoos came up during the sentencing hearings as well; the prosecution said that his tattoos showed a specific behavior pattern, and Barnum argued that poor decisions earlier in life had left him unable to find work. sentenced At any rate, eye tattoos are real -- and permanent. The BBC weighed in on the practice of eyeball tattooing in 2015, concluding that the tattoos are a strikingly visible way to proclaim one's individuality to the world: Looking a little out-of-this world is something that appealed to Kylie Garth, a body piercer who works in Luna Cobra's Sydney studio. Before deciding to change the colour of her eyeballs, Garth had experimented with a number of body modifications including face tattoos, piercings, elf-like pointed ears and a bifurcated tongue. "It was mentally intense," she says of the several injections needed to colour her eyeballs a delicate blue-green, a colour she refers to as sea foam. "It feels like somebody is poking at your eye, then it feels like strange pressure and then it feels you have a bit of sand in your eye, but there's no pain." In 2007, a handful of stories ran on the practice of eyeball tattooing, mostly focusing on a tattoo artist named Luna Cobra who tattooed Garth's sclera and who claims to have invented the modern practice: practice First and foremost, I, Luna Cobra, am the inventor of eyeball, or sclera, tattooing (tattooing the white of the eye in a solid or mix of colours). I first attempted the procedure on sighted human eyeballs in 2007 on three well-informed and consenting parties. Since then, I have fine-tuned both the technique and materials to increase the safety and minimize the risks of tattooing the eyeball. There are still risks involved, of course, but in the 8 years I have been performing this procedure, all my clients are all still ok. Secondly, I personally have not trained anyone else to do this procedure. I have appeared on various tv/news segments though, and have inspired many copycats worldwide. This is important to know because without the proper education, training, experience and guidance, these practitioners have caused vision impairments like blurred vision, spots or floaters, and even blindness. YES PEOPLE ARE NOW BLIND FROM EYEBALL TATTOOING. The practice of tattooing the sclera or the cornea (mostly the cornea, over the iris of the eye) stretches back to at least the first century A.D. and has been documented as a cosmetic enhancement (e.g., a way to alleviate unsightly scars on the iris) since then: documented Permanent colouring of unsightly corneal scars has been known for almost 2000 years. During the final decade of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th century it was a commonly applied technique. Owing to the tremendous progress in microsurgical reconstructive procedures, corneal tattooing today will only apply for a minor and carefully selected group of patients. However, the procedure of coloring the whites of the eyes for elective cosmetic purposes has gained ground since Luna Cobra apparently developed it. That procedure is slightly less invasive, consisting of sandwiching pigments between the sclera and the conjunctiva of the eye, rather than depositing bits of ink just beneath the upper layer, as with a more traditional tattoo: tattoo Using the injection method of eyeball tattooing, where a larger area of ink is injected via a single hole, complex designs are not possible, and although fades from one color to another are possible to some extent, they can be difficult to control and master. The difficulty in controlling the spread of the ink makes this method inadvisable for the cornea (ie. over the iris and pupil) because of the danger of obscuring vision if the ink spreads over the pupil. Because only a few injections are required to completely cover the white of an eye with ink, many of the risks in the traditional method such as significant ink loss and ulceration are largely mitigated (although they are not eliminated). However, the injections can be difficult to control, and over-injection or injections that are too deep or too shallow carry significant risk the appropriate zone is less than a millimetre thick, with serious consequences for missing it. The medical community uses almost exclusively the traditional tattoo method although even after 150 years they have not come up with an agreed upon technique, which is very telling whereas the body modification community uses almost exclusively the injection method. To date, attempts to tattoo the white of the eye using traditional needle methods have been extremely unsatistfactory, almost completely falling out. The general consensus is that injection is the only acceptable method of scleral tattooing. The end result of this method permanently turns the whites of the eyes another color to create an otherworldly, striking look. Gifford S.R., Steinberg A. "Gold and silver impregnation of cornea for cosmetic purposes."
American Journal of Ophthalmology. 1927. Gold and silver impregnation of cornea for cosmetic purposes Larratt, Shannon. "The Eyeball Tattoo FAQ."
Body Modification Ezine. 21 November 2012. The Eyeball Tattoo FAQ Pitz, S., et al. "Corneal Tattooing: An Alternative Treatment for Disfiguring Corneal Scars."
British Journal of Opthamology. April 2002. Corneal Tattooing: An Alternative Treatment for Disfiguring Corneal Scars.
|
[
"loss"
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1fghwN_wL1KR0l8TTtczBrwdaxZe0wJSb"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/alaska_man_who_tattooed_right.html"
],
"sentence": "Jason Barnum, also known as \"Eyeball,\" was sentenced to 22 years in prison for shooting a police officer. His face and eye tattoos came up during the sentencing hearings as well; the prosecution said that his tattoos showed a specific behavior pattern, and Barnum argued that poor decisions earlier in life had left him unable to find work."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://lunacobra.net/services/eyeball-tattooing"
],
"sentence": "In 2007, a handful of stories ran on the practice of eyeball tattooing, mostly focusing on a tattoo artist named Luna Cobra who tattooed Garth's sclera and who claims to have invented the modern practice:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1771069/"
],
"sentence": "The practice of tattooing the sclera or the cornea (mostly the cornea, over the iris of the eye) stretches back to at least the first century A.D. and has been documented as a cosmetic enhancement (e.g., a way to alleviate unsightly scars on the iris) since then:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://news.bme.com/2012/10/18/the-eyeball-tattoo-faq/"
],
"sentence": "However, the procedure of coloring the whites of the eyes for elective cosmetic purposes has gained ground since Luna Cobra apparently developed it. That procedure is slightly less invasive, consisting of sandwiching pigments between the sclera and the conjunctiva of the eye, rather than depositing bits of ink just beneath the upper layer, as with a more traditional tattoo:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.ajo.com/article/S0002-9394(27)91124-6/abstract"
],
"sentence": "Gifford S.R., Steinberg A. \"Gold and silver impregnation of cornea for cosmetic purposes.\"\rAmerican Journal of Ophthalmology. 1927."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://news.bme.com/2012/10/18/the-eyeball-tattoo-faq/"
],
"sentence": "Larratt, Shannon. \"The Eyeball Tattoo FAQ.\" \rBody Modification Ezine. 21 November 2012."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1771069/#r1"
],
"sentence": "Pitz, S., et al. \"Corneal Tattooing: An Alternative Treatment for Disfiguring Corneal Scars.\"\r British Journal of Opthamology. April 2002."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cristhian-rivera-gofundme/
|
Did 'Liberals' Set Up a GoFundMe Campaign for Murder Suspect Cristhian Rivera?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
08/24/2018
|
[
"A hyperpartisan Facebook page spread a fake and inflammatory meme after the death of Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts."
] |
In August 2018, police in Iowa charged 24-year-old Cristhian Rivera with the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old college student who had gone missing while jogging more than a month earlier. charged The investigation into the disappearance of Tibbetts had been closely followed on a national level for weeks, but the arrest of Rivera, who authorities say is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, prompted some commentators -- led by President Donald Trump -- to bring her death into the realm of politics. In a short video posted to Twitter, Trump used the murder of Tibbetts to advance his immigration policies, including the long-touted construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico: pic.twitter.com/wYCNmkkaNR pic.twitter.com/wYCNmkkaNR Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018 August 22, 2018 The politicization of Tibbetts' death continued in the days following the arrest of Rivera, whom authorities in Iowa say led them to her remains and has confessed to the murder. On 23 August, the right-wing junk news Facebook page "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" posted a widely-shared meme which claimed that "liberals" had started a GoFundMe campaign to collectively raise $5,000,000 for Rivera's bail. It contained what was presented as a screenshot from the GoFundMe website, along with the introductory message: "Liberals raising the bail money for a murder [sic] just #WalkAway." meme "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" added: "Is this for real? Are Democrats raising money for this [piece of shit]?" #WalkAway is an online campaign which purports to represent individuals who have left the Democratic party, supposedly in dismay at left-wing policies and vehement criticism or disparagement of President Donald Trump. A Twitter tracking tool called Hamilton68, which is run by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, has found that Russian bot networks have boosted the spread of the #WalkAway hashtag. campaign Russian bot networks The meme was also promoted in several widely-shared tweets, including one posted by the self-described "investigative journalist" Laura Loomer, who has a track record of fabricating and perpetuating conspiracy theories: tweets track record Soooooooo@jihadwatchRS cant have a @gofundme for his journalism, but #MollieTibbettss illegal immigrant murderer can? ? @jihadwatchRS @gofundme #MollieTibbetts We need a very powerful lawyer of group of lawyers to sue these tech companies for violation of public accommodation laws. This is absolutely absurd. pic.twitter.com/dnEOoQcGNv pic.twitter.com/dnEOoQcGNv Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 23, 2018 August 23, 2018 The meme's central claim is false. Nobody (liberal or otherwise) has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise Rivera's bail (which is, in fact, $5,000,000.) The meme features some sloppy image editing, for example the jarring difference in font between "$117,504" and "of 5,000,000 to make bail." bail It also contains mistakes. On the actual GoFundMe website, the feature which shows how much money a campaign has raised always follows the same format: "$9,999 of $99,999 goal," as shown in the example below: In the GoFundMe mobile app, the same feature is slightly different, always following the format "$9,999 raised of $99,999 goal." Neither the website or app display this meter with a description of the campaign (such as "to make bail") affixed to the end, and they always include dollar signs before every amount (which is not the case in the fake "Cristhian Rivera" meme.) format As well being crudely doctored, the "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" meme does not follow either of these formats, which establishes that it is a fake. No campaign relating to Cristhian Rivera's bail existed on GoFundMe as of 24 August 2018, as a quick search of the website shows. (Neither did any such campaign exist under "Christian Rivera," as the suspect's name is sometimes misspelled, or "Cristhian Bahena Rivera," his full name.) Furthermore, no such campaign had ever existed. search exist Bahena When a campaign is removed from GoFundMe, it remains discoverable on search engines. For example, in August 2018 GoFundMe deleted a potentially fraudulent campaign purporting to raise funds for medical care for a Trump supporter supposedly attacked with a brick in Arizona. Performing a Google search for the title of the campaign ("Darrell's medical bills") still yields a residual URL for that campaign: campaign "Uncle Sam's Misguided Children" is a hyperpartisan Facebook page which frequently posts misleading or fake content and memes, some of which we have debunked previously. debunked A separate campaign relating to Rivera (but not mentioning his bail) was launched on 22 August. It, too, used his mugshot but it was titled "Iowa billboard" and aimed to purchase a billboard which would show Rivera's photograph along with the slogan "Vote Democrat: No border. No wall. Just death for you all." campaign Foley, Ryan. "Authorities: Iowa Student Killed by Mexican in US Illegally."
The Associated Press. 22 August 2018. Palma, Bethania. "Did the #WalkAway Campaign Use Stock Photographs for People It Claimed Left the Democratic Party?"
Snopes.com. 25 July 2018. O., Caroline. "Pro-Trump and Russian-Linked Twitter Accounts Are Posing as Ex-Democrats In New Astroturfed Movement."
ArcDigital. 5 July 2018. Palma, Bethania. "Conspiracy Theories Immediately Appear After Santa Fe School Shooting."
Snopes.com. 18 May 2018. KNXV Phoenix. "Video -- Valley GoFundMe Page Taken Down."
KNXV/MSN. 23 August 2018.
|
[
"funds"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.apnews.com/c40d14e3d9dd45faa7e23775404ad256/Immigrant-charged-with-murder-in-death-of-missing-Iowa-woman"
],
"sentence": "In August 2018, police in Iowa charged 24-year-old Cristhian Rivera with the murder of Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old college student who had gone missing while jogging more than a month earlier. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://t.co/wYCNmkkaNR"
],
"sentence": "pic.twitter.com/wYCNmkkaNR"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1032393212126613504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
],
"sentence": " Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2018"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/jRZNf"
],
"sentence": "On 23 August, the right-wing junk news Facebook page \"Uncle Sam's Misguided Children\" posted a widely-shared meme which claimed that \"liberals\" had started a GoFundMe campaign to collectively raise $5,000,000 for Rivera's bail. It contained what was presented as a screenshot from the GoFundMe website, along with the introductory message: \"Liberals raising the bail money for a murder [sic] just #WalkAway.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/walkaway-campaign-stock-photos/",
"https://arcdigital.media/pro-trump-russian-linked-twitter-accounts-are-posing-as-ex-democrats-in-new-astroturfed-movement-20359c1906d3"
],
"sentence": "#WalkAway is an online campaign which purports to represent individuals who have left the Democratic party, supposedly in dismay at left-wing policies and vehement criticism or disparagement of President Donald Trump. A Twitter tracking tool called Hamilton68, which is run by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, has found that Russian bot networks have boosted the spread of the #WalkAway hashtag. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/DJ2sY",
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/05/18/conspiracy-theories-texas-santa-fe-shooting/"
],
"sentence": "The meme was also promoted in several widely-shared tweets, including one posted by the self-described \"investigative journalist\" Laura Loomer, who has a track record of fabricating and perpetuating conspiracy theories:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/jihadwatchRS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw",
"https://twitter.com/gofundme?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw",
"https://twitter.com/hashtag/MollieTibbetts?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
],
"sentence": "Soooooooo@jihadwatchRS cant have a @gofundme for his journalism, but #MollieTibbettss illegal immigrant murderer can? ?"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://t.co/dnEOoQcGNv"
],
"sentence": "This is absolutely absurd. pic.twitter.com/dnEOoQcGNv"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/LauraLoomer/status/1032748161767546881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
],
"sentence": " Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 23, 2018"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mollie-tibbetts-murder-suspect-cristhian-rivera-held-on-5-million-bond/"
],
"sentence": "The meme's central claim is false. Nobody (liberal or otherwise) has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise Rivera's bail (which is, in fact, $5,000,000.) The meme features some sloppy image editing, for example the jarring difference in font between \"$117,504\" and \"of 5,000,000 to make bail.\" "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/uploads/2018/08/IMG_4168.png"
],
"sentence": "In the GoFundMe mobile app, the same feature is slightly different, always following the format \"$9,999 raised of $99,999 goal.\" Neither the website or app display this meter with a description of the campaign (such as \"to make bail\") affixed to the end, and they always include dollar signs before every amount (which is not the case in the fake \"Cristhian Rivera\" meme.)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://gofundme.com/mvc.php?route=category&term=Cristhian%20rivera",
"https://www.gofundme.com/mvc.php?route=homepage_norma/search&term=%22christian%20rivera%22",
"https://www.gofundme.com/mvc.php?route=homepage_norma/search&term=cristhian%20bahena%20rivera"
],
"sentence": "No campaign relating to Cristhian Rivera's bail existed on GoFundMe as of 24 August 2018, as a quick search of the website shows. (Neither did any such campaign exist under \"Christian Rivera,\" as the suspect's name is sometimes misspelled, or \"Cristhian Bahena Rivera,\" his full name.) Furthermore, no such campaign had ever existed."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/t/valley-gofundme-page-taken-down/vp-BBMiOEE"
],
"sentence": "When a campaign is removed from GoFundMe, it remains discoverable on search engines. For example, in August 2018 GoFundMe deleted a potentially fraudulent campaign purporting to raise funds for medical care for a Trump supporter supposedly attacked with a brick in Arizona. Performing a Google search for the title of the campaign (\"Darrell's medical bills\") still yields a residual URL for that campaign:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/uncle-sams-misguided-children/"
],
"sentence": "\"Uncle Sam's Misguided Children\" is a hyperpartisan Facebook page which frequently posts misleading or fake content and memes, some of which we have debunked previously. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/10ZDm"
],
"sentence": "A separate campaign relating to Rivera (but not mentioning his bail) was launched on 22 August. It, too, used his mugshot but it was titled \"Iowa billboard\" and aimed to purchase a billboard which would show Rivera's photograph along with the slogan \"Vote Democrat: No border. No wall. Just death for you all.\""
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/katie-couric-husband/
|
Is Katie Couric Married to Matt Lauer?
|
Jordan Liles
|
02/20/2021
|
[
"A number of misleading online advertisements appeared to claim that long-time journalist Couric was married to the former NBC News personality."
] |
In February 2021, online advertisements appeared to falsely claim that Matt Lauer was long-time journalist Katie Couric's husband. Couric and Lauer previously worked together on the "Today" show on NBC. She left the program in 2006. In November 2017, Lauer was fired from his NBC job as a co-anchor on "Today" for "inappropriate sexual behavior." fired The misleading ads pictured Couric and Lauer together with various texts. For example, one of the ads read: "[Photos] Meet The Man Katie Couric Is Romantically Involved With In 2021." Another ad said something similar: "[Photos] Meet Katie Couric's Husband." Both ads were misleading clickbait that led to lengthy slideshow articles. The first one took readers to the Sport Pirate website. Couric and her real husband, John Molner, appeared after more than 80 pages. real husband appeared The second ad went to the Refinance Gold website. It took 266 clicks to reach the page with Couric and Molner: American TV royalty and CBS Evening News host Katie Couric lost her first husband, Jay Monahan in 1998, as he passed away from colon cancer. But she did find love again with John Molner. Apparently, she asked her friend to set her up with a doctor, but they though [sic] that she would be a better match with their banker firmed, John. In 2012, Molner finally called Katie to set up a date and they fell for each other. The couple has been happily married since 2014, and have a blended family now, as each of them have two kids from their previous marriage. Lauer never showed up in either story. The strange inclusion of Lauer appeared to simply be a strategy by the advertisers to draw in readers with a misleading picture. It's true that Couric's first husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998. He was 42 years old. Over the years, she posted remembrances on social media: died She left NBC in 2006 to host the "CBS Evening News." At CBS News, she also contributed as a correspondent on "60 Minutes." She later worked for ABC News and Yahoo! News. In 2014, Couric announced on Twitter that she and John Molner had married: announced In the past, Couric and her current husband hosted a cooking show called "Full Plate." As of February 2021, she was hosting the podcast, "Next Question with Katie Couric." hosted podcast Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising "arbitrage." The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads. submit ads to us
|
[
"finance"
] |
[
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[
{
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"https://apnews.com/article/6eaf2bf0027d4470ae49bcbfc6b07569"
],
"sentence": "In November 2017, Lauer was fired from his NBC job as a co-anchor on \"Today\" for \"inappropriate sexual behavior.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/02/katie-couric-husband-ad-2.jpg"
],
"sentence": "Another ad said something similar: \"[Photos] Meet Katie Couric's Husband.\""
},
{
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"https://apnews.com/article/c07bf6b2227e4f61b83b15e3f860467f",
"https://archive.vn/1Ejyu"
],
"sentence": "Both ads were misleading clickbait that led to lengthy slideshow articles. The first one took readers to the Sport Pirate website. Couric and her real husband, John Molner, appeared after more than 80 pages."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.radio.com/music/entertainment-news/katie-couric-honors-late-husband-on-his-64th-birthday"
],
"sentence": "It's true that Couric's first husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998. He was 42 years old. Over the years, she posted remembrances on social media:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/katiecouric/status/480504437903855616"
],
"sentence": "In 2014, Couric announced on Twitter that she and John Molner had married:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/katiecouric/status/828358554587320321",
"https://twitter.com/katiecouric/status/1362530120993546244"
],
"sentence": "In the past, Couric and her current husband hosted a cooking show called \"Full Plate.\" As of February 2021, she was hosting the podcast, \"Next Question with Katie Couric.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/contact"
],
"sentence": "Snopes debunks a wide range of content, and online advertisements are no exception. Misleading ads often lead to obscure websites that host lengthy slideshow articles with lots of pages. It's called advertising \"arbitrage.\" The advertiser's goal is to make more money on ads displayed on the slideshow's pages than it cost to show the initial ad that lured them to it. Feel free to submit ads to us, and be sure to include a screenshot of the ad and the link to where the ad leads."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-sanction-russia-pipeline/
|
Did Biden Waive Sanctions on Russia-to-Germany Pipeline?
|
Madison Dapcevich
|
05/21/2021
|
[
"The move seemed at odds with previous statements made by the Biden administration. "
] |
In May 2021, numerous media outlets reported that U.S. President Joe Bidens administration would be waiving sanctions on vessels, corporate entities and the CEO of Nord Stream AG, an international consortium of five major companies overseeing the construction of Russias Nord Stream 2 pipeline into Germany. However, the administration still expressed opposition to the construction of the pipeline. The claim was originally reported by the news website Axios on May 20, 2021. In the original report, the publication cited two sources who had been briefed on the decision. Axios Snopes contacted the State Department and was told the agency had submitted a report to Congress on May 19 saying the U.S. was lifting sanctions on five entities, four vessels, and Nord Stream 2 AG CEO Matthias Warnig. Unknown at the time of this writing was which specific entities would be waived. These sanctions were currently required under the Protecting Europes Energy Security Act (PEESA). PEESA Nord Stream 2 is a wide pipeline network of offshore natural gas lines that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The pipelines have largely been opposed by the U.S. and some European nations that believe their creation would increase Russias influence in the region. Under PEESA, the U.S. is granted the authority to advance national security and foreign policy objectives, in particular, to address Russian pipeline projects that use coercive purposes and create risks to U.S. national security, threaten Europes energy security, and that could endanger Europes political and economic welfare. Nord Stream 2 PEESA Map of the proposed Nord Stream 2. Samuel Bailey/Public Domain Samuel Bailey/Public Domain Russia uses its energy export pipelines to create national and regional dependencies on Russian energy supplies, leveraging these dependencies to expand its political, economic, and military influence, weaken European security, and undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, wrote the Bureau of Energy Resources in an April 9 statement. These pipelines also reduce European energy diversification, and hence weaken European energy security. statement A spokesperson for the State Department referred our team to this statement written by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 19, 2021. this statement I have determined that it is in the national interest of the United States to waive the application of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, its CEO Matthias Warnig, and Nord Stream 2 AGs corporate officers, wrote Blinken. Todays actions demonstrate the Administrations commitment to energy security in Europe, consistent with the Presidents pledge to rebuild relationships with our allies and partners in Europe. While the Biden administration supported waiving sanctions on some elements associated with Nord Stream AG, the administration maintained its opposition to construction of Nord Stream 2 and that seemed at odds with statements made by Blinken during his Jan. 19 nomination hearing, when he said the administration would do whatever we can to prevent that completion of Nord Stream 2. Jan. 19 nomination hearing, Sanctions are placed on companies that the U.S. determines meet certain criteria/specifications that suggest a danger to national security. The State Department, in conjunction with the Biden administration, can also determine when they want to waive or temporarily pause the application of such sanctions. Blinken said that the administration would continue to oppose the completion of the project that it acknowledged would weaken European energy security and that of Ukraine, the Eastern flank NATO, and EU countries. However, the sanctions that were waived not lifted, as some media reports claimed allowed for the continuation of various transactions and activities involving the Marine Rescue Service, which are unrelated to Nord Stream 2 construction. These activities include a range of search and rescue, environmental, and other missions. Issuance of this waiver also provides space for diplomatic engagement with Germany to address the risks a completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline would pose to Ukraine and European energy security, an official with the State Department told Snopes in an interview. In the statement sent to Snopes, Blinken reiterated that the administration would continue to oppose completion of the project. Our opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is unwavering, Blinken continued. Though we may not always agree, our alliances remain strong, and our position is in line with our commitment to strengthen our Transatlantic relationships as a matter of national security.
|
[
"interest"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1fjNox1a_jDAca2rmnjpjt7qZjmslWvnD"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.axios.com/nord-stream-sanction-biden-russia-f6db2ae3-2c89-4343-b326-9f399d674077.html"
],
"sentence": "The claim was originally reported by the news website Axios on May 20, 2021. In the original report, the publication cited two sources who had been briefed on the decision."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PEESA-Sec.7503-of-FY2020-NDAA-as-amended-by-FY2021-NDAA-Sec.-1242.pdf"
],
"sentence": "Snopes contacted the State Department and was told the agency had submitted a report to Congress on May 19 saying the U.S. was lifting sanctions on five entities, four vessels, and Nord Stream 2 AG CEO Matthias Warnig. Unknown at the time of this writing was which specific entities would be waived. These sanctions were currently required under the Protecting Europes Energy Security Act (PEESA). "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nord-stream2.com/company/rationale/",
"https://www.state.gov/protecting-europes-energy-security-act-peesa/#:~:text=PEESA%2C%20as%20amended%2C%20provides%20the,endanger%20Europe's%20political%20and%20economic"
],
"sentence": "Nord Stream 2 is a wide pipeline network of offshore natural gas lines that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany. The pipelines have largely been opposed by the U.S. and some European nations that believe their creation would increase Russias influence in the region. Under PEESA, the U.S. is granted the authority to advance national security and foreign policy objectives, in particular, to address Russian pipeline projects that use coercive purposes and create risks to U.S. national security, threaten Europes energy security, and that could endanger Europes political and economic welfare."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tachyon/2021/05/nord-stream.png",
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nordstream.png"
],
"sentence": " Map of the proposed Nord Stream 2. Samuel Bailey/Public Domain"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.state.gov/protecting-europes-energy-security-act-peesa/#:~:text=PEESA%2C%20as%20amended%2C%20provides%20the,endanger%20Europe's%20political%20and%20economic"
],
"sentence": "Russia uses its energy export pipelines to create national and regional dependencies on Russian energy supplies, leveraging these dependencies to expand its political, economic, and military influence, weaken European security, and undermine U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, wrote the Bureau of Energy Resources in an April 9 statement. These pipelines also reduce European energy diversification, and hence weaken European energy security."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.state.gov/nord-stream-2-and-european-energy-security/"
],
"sentence": "A spokesperson for the State Department referred our team to this statement written by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 19, 2021."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-117shrg43890/html/CHRG-117shrg43890.htm"
],
"sentence": "While the Biden administration supported waiving sanctions on some elements associated with Nord Stream AG, the administration maintained its opposition to construction of Nord Stream 2 and that seemed at odds with statements made by Blinken during his Jan. 19 nomination hearing, when he said the administration would do whatever we can to prevent that completion of Nord Stream 2."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-tipping-point/
|
Oprah Ten Percent Tip Advice
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
11/04/2009
|
[
"Does Oprah Winfrey say restaurant goers should tip ten percent?"
] |
Claim: Oprah Winfrey said that restaurant customers need not tip their servers more than 10%.. Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2009] Did Oprah Winfrey state that, in this economy, tipping 10% is acceptable? Origins: Leaving a relatively substantial monetary tip for the waitstaff at the conclusion of a restaurant meal is the custom in some countries, including the U.S. and Canada. A gratuity amounting to 15% to 20% of the bill is now considered the standard or minimum tip, with even more left in recognition of superlative service. It is therefore little cause for surprise that any cultural icon's public voicing of an opinion that folks should leave no more than a 10% tip would raise the hackles of many in the service industry. And so it was with the belief that Oprah Winfrey, beloved television talk show host, had instructed members of her audience to not leave more than a 10% tip when dining in restaurants, with such rumor often coupled with a further assertion that this advice was offered in recognition of the recession's having hit everyone hard. Such belief that Oprah had said it fit well with a widely-held stereotype that African American customers tip less than do other restaurant patrons. In September 2009 a page on the social networking site Facebook raised the false "Oprah said not to tip more than 10%" claim. Titled "1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments," the group stated as its purpose: Against Oprah Winfrey has recently stated on her TV show that it is acceptable to tip servers 10% in our current economy. This group is being put together to show Oprah that her comments have a crippling affect on servers all over the world. As of 4 November 2009, "1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments" has 37,228 members. Yet the claim that has inflamed so many is false. There is no evidence in support of the assertion that Oprah Winfrey recommended her audience tip waitstaff 10%, in response to economic recession or otherwise, on her television show or in her magazine. No one has yet to turn up a video clip from her show of her supposed tipping advice or produce a copy of an article from O, The Oprah Magazine in which such counsel was allegedly given. Instead, material from both those venues state that restaurant goers should tip at least 15%. While we've yet to locate a video clip or news report of Oprah herself instructing the audience to pony up with 15% or better, there are examples of invited guests on her show or columnists in her magazine saying exactly that. In the "Ending Rudeness" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show (which aired on 9 September 2008), Steven Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, sat beside Oprah and, with her nodding in agreement, offered this bit of advice for restaurant goers: Rudeness Don't tip less than 15 percent Waiters are paid wages well below the minimum wage as little as $2.15 an hour in some states with the expectation that they will earn the majority of their income through tips. In addition, some restaurants require waiters to pay around 20 to 30 percent of their tips to food runners, hostesses and bartenders. "If you don't tip, then that person doesn't get paid," Steven says. "Literally." Of the "10 Do's and Don'ts of Restaurant Etiquette" proffered by The Oprah Winfrey Show via oprah.com, its official web site, the first is "Tip 15 percent or more." first Likewise, the "Guide to Tipping" published in the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine says: Guide to Tipping Normally, 15 to 20 percent of the total bill 20 percent for a first-class place. Note that people tip more in urban areas. According to the Zagat Survey, the average gratuity in city restaurants across the United States is about 18 percent. In response to the rumor, HarpoBear (moderator of oprah.com's message board) posted a clarificationon 8 June 2009 (and repeated periodically since then) that said: posted We'd like to respond to the concerns raised about Oprah's thoughts on tipping. The truth is that Oprah has never said that people should tip less during the recession. She believes in generously compensating waiters and waitresses. While a November 2009 Facebook page marked a resurgence of the Oprah rumor, it wasn't the first time the claim had been bruited on that venue: In December 2008 a now defunct Facebook group titled "No, Oprah, it's not OK to tip 10%" repeated the gossip. The rumor comes in two forms: that Oprah herself directed her audience never to tip more than 10% or (far less frequently) that one of her guests did. One name that has been mentioned as the identity of the guest who gave such advice is financial guru Suze Orman, as in this 19 September 2009 blog entry: Suze Orman blog entry It has been brought to my attention that Suze Orman went onto the Oprah Winfrey show some time ago to give some sound financial advice to all the Oprah-ites who bow down to the feet of the great and powerful O. [...] She said that when it comes time to tip you should just leave 10% instead of 15%. Barbara "the ten percent dissolution" Mikkelson Last updated: 11 November 2009 Day Owen, Sarah. "Servers at Restaurants See Dropoff in Gratuities." Augusta Chronicle. 19 December 2008. Ellen, Daryn. "Guide to Tipping." O, The Oprah Magazine. December 2002.
|
[
"income"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/group.asp?gid=132000908466&ref=nf"
],
"sentence": "In September 2009 a page on the social networking site Facebook raised the false \"Oprah said not to tip more than 10%\" claim. Titled \"1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments,\" the group stated as its purpose: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20080909_tows_rude/9"
],
"sentence": "In the \"Ending Rudeness\" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show (which aired on 9 September 2008), Steven Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, sat beside Oprah and, with her nodding in agreement, offered this bit of advice for restaurant goers:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080909-tows-restaurant-etiquette"
],
"sentence": "Of the \"10 Do's and Don'ts of Restaurant Etiquette\" proffered by The Oprah Winfrey Show via oprah.com, its official web site, the first is \"Tip 15 percent or more.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/omag_200212_tipping"
],
"sentence": "Likewise, the \"Guide to Tipping\" published in the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine says: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/community/message/1074039#1074039"
],
"sentence": "In response to the rumor, HarpoBear (moderator of oprah.com's message board) posted a clarificationon 8 June 2009 (and repeated periodically since then) that said:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.suzeorman.com/",
"https://thebitchywaiter.blogspot.com/2009/09/wanted-dead-or-alive-suze-orman.html"
],
"sentence": "The rumor comes in two forms: that Oprah herself directed her audience never to tip more than 10% or (far less frequently) that one of her guests did. One name that has been mentioned as the identity of the guest who gave such advice is financial guru Suze Orman, as in this 19 September 2009 blog entry: "
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-tipping-point/
|
Oprah's recommendation is to leave a ten percent tip.
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
11/04/2009
|
[
"Does Oprah Winfrey say restaurant goers should tip ten percent?"
] |
Claim: Oprah Winfrey said that restaurant customers need not tip their servers more than 10%.. Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2009] Did Oprah Winfrey state that, in this economy, tipping 10% is acceptable? Origins: Leaving a relatively substantial monetary tip for the waitstaff at the conclusion of a restaurant meal is the custom in some countries, including the U.S. and Canada. A gratuity amounting to 15% to 20% of the bill is now considered the standard or minimum tip, with even more left in recognition of superlative service. It is therefore little cause for surprise that any cultural icon's public voicing of an opinion that folks should leave no more than a 10% tip would raise the hackles of many in the service industry. And so it was with the belief that Oprah Winfrey, beloved television talk show host, had instructed members of her audience to not leave more than a 10% tip when dining in restaurants, with such rumor often coupled with a further assertion that this advice was offered in recognition of the recession's having hit everyone hard. Such belief that Oprah had said it fit well with a widely-held stereotype that African American customers tip less than do other restaurant patrons. In September 2009 a page on the social networking site Facebook raised the false "Oprah said not to tip more than 10%" claim. Titled "1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments," the group stated as its purpose: Against Oprah Winfrey has recently stated on her TV show that it is acceptable to tip servers 10% in our current economy. This group is being put together to show Oprah that her comments have a crippling affect on servers all over the world. As of 4 November 2009, "1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments" has 37,228 members. Yet the claim that has inflamed so many is false. There is no evidence in support of the assertion that Oprah Winfrey recommended her audience tip waitstaff 10%, in response to economic recession or otherwise, on her television show or in her magazine. No one has yet to turn up a video clip from her show of her supposed tipping advice or produce a copy of an article from O, The Oprah Magazine in which such counsel was allegedly given. Instead, material from both those venues state that restaurant goers should tip at least 15%. While we've yet to locate a video clip or news report of Oprah herself instructing the audience to pony up with 15% or better, there are examples of invited guests on her show or columnists in her magazine saying exactly that. In the "Ending Rudeness" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show (which aired on 9 September 2008), Steven Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, sat beside Oprah and, with her nodding in agreement, offered this bit of advice for restaurant goers: Rudeness Don't tip less than 15 percent Waiters are paid wages well below the minimum wage as little as $2.15 an hour in some states with the expectation that they will earn the majority of their income through tips. In addition, some restaurants require waiters to pay around 20 to 30 percent of their tips to food runners, hostesses and bartenders. "If you don't tip, then that person doesn't get paid," Steven says. "Literally." Of the "10 Do's and Don'ts of Restaurant Etiquette" proffered by The Oprah Winfrey Show via oprah.com, its official web site, the first is "Tip 15 percent or more." first Likewise, the "Guide to Tipping" published in the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine says: Guide to Tipping Normally, 15 to 20 percent of the total bill 20 percent for a first-class place. Note that people tip more in urban areas. According to the Zagat Survey, the average gratuity in city restaurants across the United States is about 18 percent. In response to the rumor, HarpoBear (moderator of oprah.com's message board) posted a clarificationon 8 June 2009 (and repeated periodically since then) that said: posted We'd like to respond to the concerns raised about Oprah's thoughts on tipping. The truth is that Oprah has never said that people should tip less during the recession. She believes in generously compensating waiters and waitresses. While a November 2009 Facebook page marked a resurgence of the Oprah rumor, it wasn't the first time the claim had been bruited on that venue: In December 2008 a now defunct Facebook group titled "No, Oprah, it's not OK to tip 10%" repeated the gossip. The rumor comes in two forms: that Oprah herself directed her audience never to tip more than 10% or (far less frequently) that one of her guests did. One name that has been mentioned as the identity of the guest who gave such advice is financial guru Suze Orman, as in this 19 September 2009 blog entry: Suze Orman blog entry It has been brought to my attention that Suze Orman went onto the Oprah Winfrey show some time ago to give some sound financial advice to all the Oprah-ites who bow down to the feet of the great and powerful O. [...] She said that when it comes time to tip you should just leave 10% instead of 15%. Barbara "the ten percent dissolution" Mikkelson Last updated: 11 November 2009 Day Owen, Sarah. "Servers at Restaurants See Dropoff in Gratuities." Augusta Chronicle. 19 December 2008. Ellen, Daryn. "Guide to Tipping." O, The Oprah Magazine. December 2002.
|
[
"economy"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/group.asp?gid=132000908466&ref=nf"
],
"sentence": "In September 2009 a page on the social networking site Facebook raised the false \"Oprah said not to tip more than 10%\" claim. Titled \"1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments,\" the group stated as its purpose: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20080909_tows_rude/9"
],
"sentence": "In the \"Ending Rudeness\" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show (which aired on 9 September 2008), Steven Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, sat beside Oprah and, with her nodding in agreement, offered this bit of advice for restaurant goers:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080909-tows-restaurant-etiquette"
],
"sentence": "Of the \"10 Do's and Don'ts of Restaurant Etiquette\" proffered by The Oprah Winfrey Show via oprah.com, its official web site, the first is \"Tip 15 percent or more.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/omag_200212_tipping"
],
"sentence": "Likewise, the \"Guide to Tipping\" published in the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine says: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/community/message/1074039#1074039"
],
"sentence": "In response to the rumor, HarpoBear (moderator of oprah.com's message board) posted a clarificationon 8 June 2009 (and repeated periodically since then) that said:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.suzeorman.com/",
"https://thebitchywaiter.blogspot.com/2009/09/wanted-dead-or-alive-suze-orman.html"
],
"sentence": "The rumor comes in two forms: that Oprah herself directed her audience never to tip more than 10% or (far less frequently) that one of her guests did. One name that has been mentioned as the identity of the guest who gave such advice is financial guru Suze Orman, as in this 19 September 2009 blog entry: "
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-tipping-point/
|
Oprah's advice regarding a ten percent tip.
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
11/04/2009
|
[
"Does Oprah Winfrey say restaurant goers should tip ten percent?"
] |
Claim: Oprah Winfrey said that restaurant customers need not tip their servers more than 10%.. Example: [Collected via e-mail, November 2009] Did Oprah Winfrey state that, in this economy, tipping 10% is acceptable? Origins: Leaving a relatively substantial monetary tip for the waitstaff at the conclusion of a restaurant meal is the custom in some countries, including the U.S. and Canada. A gratuity amounting to 15% to 20% of the bill is now considered the standard or minimum tip, with even more left in recognition of superlative service. It is therefore little cause for surprise that any cultural icon's public voicing of an opinion that folks should leave no more than a 10% tip would raise the hackles of many in the service industry. And so it was with the belief that Oprah Winfrey, beloved television talk show host, had instructed members of her audience to not leave more than a 10% tip when dining in restaurants, with such rumor often coupled with a further assertion that this advice was offered in recognition of the recession's having hit everyone hard. Such belief that Oprah had said it fit well with a widely-held stereotype that African American customers tip less than do other restaurant patrons. In September 2009 a page on the social networking site Facebook raised the false "Oprah said not to tip more than 10%" claim. Titled "1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments," the group stated as its purpose: Against Oprah Winfrey has recently stated on her TV show that it is acceptable to tip servers 10% in our current economy. This group is being put together to show Oprah that her comments have a crippling affect on servers all over the world. As of 4 November 2009, "1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments" has 37,228 members. Yet the claim that has inflamed so many is false. There is no evidence in support of the assertion that Oprah Winfrey recommended her audience tip waitstaff 10%, in response to economic recession or otherwise, on her television show or in her magazine. No one has yet to turn up a video clip from her show of her supposed tipping advice or produce a copy of an article from O, The Oprah Magazine in which such counsel was allegedly given. Instead, material from both those venues state that restaurant goers should tip at least 15%. While we've yet to locate a video clip or news report of Oprah herself instructing the audience to pony up with 15% or better, there are examples of invited guests on her show or columnists in her magazine saying exactly that. In the "Ending Rudeness" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show (which aired on 9 September 2008), Steven Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, sat beside Oprah and, with her nodding in agreement, offered this bit of advice for restaurant goers: Rudeness Don't tip less than 15 percent Waiters are paid wages well below the minimum wage as little as $2.15 an hour in some states with the expectation that they will earn the majority of their income through tips. In addition, some restaurants require waiters to pay around 20 to 30 percent of their tips to food runners, hostesses and bartenders. "If you don't tip, then that person doesn't get paid," Steven says. "Literally." Of the "10 Do's and Don'ts of Restaurant Etiquette" proffered by The Oprah Winfrey Show via oprah.com, its official web site, the first is "Tip 15 percent or more." first Likewise, the "Guide to Tipping" published in the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine says: Guide to Tipping Normally, 15 to 20 percent of the total bill 20 percent for a first-class place. Note that people tip more in urban areas. According to the Zagat Survey, the average gratuity in city restaurants across the United States is about 18 percent. In response to the rumor, HarpoBear (moderator of oprah.com's message board) posted a clarificationon 8 June 2009 (and repeated periodically since then) that said: posted We'd like to respond to the concerns raised about Oprah's thoughts on tipping. The truth is that Oprah has never said that people should tip less during the recession. She believes in generously compensating waiters and waitresses. While a November 2009 Facebook page marked a resurgence of the Oprah rumor, it wasn't the first time the claim had been bruited on that venue: In December 2008 a now defunct Facebook group titled "No, Oprah, it's not OK to tip 10%" repeated the gossip. The rumor comes in two forms: that Oprah herself directed her audience never to tip more than 10% or (far less frequently) that one of her guests did. One name that has been mentioned as the identity of the guest who gave such advice is financial guru Suze Orman, as in this 19 September 2009 blog entry: Suze Orman blog entry It has been brought to my attention that Suze Orman went onto the Oprah Winfrey show some time ago to give some sound financial advice to all the Oprah-ites who bow down to the feet of the great and powerful O. [...] She said that when it comes time to tip you should just leave 10% instead of 15%. Barbara "the ten percent dissolution" Mikkelson Last updated: 11 November 2009 Day Owen, Sarah. "Servers at Restaurants See Dropoff in Gratuities." Augusta Chronicle. 19 December 2008. Ellen, Daryn. "Guide to Tipping." O, The Oprah Magazine. December 2002.
|
[
"income"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/group.asp?gid=132000908466&ref=nf"
],
"sentence": "In September 2009 a page on the social networking site Facebook raised the false \"Oprah said not to tip more than 10%\" claim. Titled \"1 Million Servers Strong Against Oprah's Comments,\" the group stated as its purpose: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20080909_tows_rude/9"
],
"sentence": "In the \"Ending Rudeness\" segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show (which aired on 9 September 2008), Steven Dublanica, author of Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip Confessions of a Cynical Waiter, sat beside Oprah and, with her nodding in agreement, offered this bit of advice for restaurant goers:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080909-tows-restaurant-etiquette"
],
"sentence": "Of the \"10 Do's and Don'ts of Restaurant Etiquette\" proffered by The Oprah Winfrey Show via oprah.com, its official web site, the first is \"Tip 15 percent or more.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/omag_200212_tipping"
],
"sentence": "Likewise, the \"Guide to Tipping\" published in the December 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine says: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.oprah.com/community/message/1074039#1074039"
],
"sentence": "In response to the rumor, HarpoBear (moderator of oprah.com's message board) posted a clarificationon 8 June 2009 (and repeated periodically since then) that said:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.suzeorman.com/",
"https://thebitchywaiter.blogspot.com/2009/09/wanted-dead-or-alive-suze-orman.html"
],
"sentence": "The rumor comes in two forms: that Oprah herself directed her audience never to tip more than 10% or (far less frequently) that one of her guests did. One name that has been mentioned as the identity of the guest who gave such advice is financial guru Suze Orman, as in this 19 September 2009 blog entry: "
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pot-poll/
|
Poll to Legalize Marijuana
|
David Mikkelson
|
04/30/2009
|
[
"President Obama will legalize marijuana if one million people call a designated phone number?"
] |
Claim: President Obama will legalize marijuana if one million people call a designated phone number. Examples: [Collected via e-mail, April 2009] Comment: I got a text message this morning saying that Obama would legalize marijuana if it had 1 million supporters. We are supposed to call a phone number to record a vote - phone number 973.409.3274 and press pound - haven't done it, just wanted to check first. Origins: With good reason, many people are now wary that any unsolicited e-mail or text message urging them to call an unfamiliar phone number is some form of hoax or scam. The message reproduced above, claiming that President Obama will legalize marijuana if one million supportive phone calls areplaced to a designated number, is an example of such wariness many people who have received it are skeptical that it's on the level. Although the message isn't quite literally true, neither is it really a hoax or a scam. scam The phone number 973-409-3274 is one of many operated by Humor Hotlines, the company that offers such novelty services as the "Rejection Hotline," the "Bad Breath Notification Number," and "The Pissed Off Poet." This particular number connects callers Humor Hotlines to the "Marijuana Legalization Endorsement Line," which plays a 30-second recorded message about controversies regarding the legalization of marijuana and then urges the caller to press the pound key (#) if he or she supports the concept of "legalizing marijuana to help save the economy." The recording states that once a million endorsements have been received, a proposal for the legalization of marijuana will be presented to President Obama and the U.S. Congress. As far as we have been able to ascertain, the Marijuana Legalization Endorsement Line is not a "scam" in the sense that calling it does not result in hidden or exorbitant fees being charged to the caller's bill. It isn't true that "Obama will legalize marijuana" if the number collects one million supporters, though; merely that a proposal for such will supposedly be created and presented if the phone number records one million positive responses. We note, however, that this phone poll has no more power to affect anything than any other public petition does, and there are no guarantees that the President or Congress would even see the resultant proposal, As well, President Obama does not have the authority to single-handedly legalize marijuana throughout the United States; such an act would require the overturning of a variety of state and federal laws. Last updated: 5 May 2009
|
[
"economy"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"/fraud/telephone/telephone.asp"
],
"sentence": "Origins: With good reason, many people are now wary that any unsolicited e-mail or text message urging them to call an unfamiliar phone number is some form of hoax or scam. The message reproduced above, claiming that President Obama will legalize marijuana if one million supportive phone calls areplaced to a designated number, is an example of such wariness many people who have received it are skeptical that it's on the level. Although the message isn't quite literally true, neither is it really a hoax or a scam."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.rejectionhotline.com/"
],
"sentence": "The phone number 973-409-3274 is one of many operated by Humor Hotlines, the company that offers such novelty services as the \"Rejection Hotline,\" the \"Bad Breath Notification Number,\" and \"The Pissed Off Poet.\" This particular number connects callers "
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/joe-biden-n-word-recorded-speech/
|
Did Joe Biden Use the N-Word in a Recorded Speech?
|
Jessica Lee
|
02/25/2021
|
[
"Social media posts claimed he used the racial slur in a speech about international security."
] |
In late February 2021, several social media users alleged U.S. President Joe Biden used the N-word while addressing world leaders at a virtual event to discuss international security policies. As part of the Munich Security Conference, an annual event that convenes hundreds of policy makers from across the world, Biden spoke on camera for roughly 20 minutes on Feb. 19, describing his administration's desire to be on good terms with the European Union. Approximately three-quarters of the way into his remarks, social media users alleged he uttered the racial slur referring to Black people. Some people accused the president of saying the N-word accidentally, while others raised the possibility that he intentionally made the alleged racist comment. accidentally intentionally One conservative commentator pointed to closed captioning on recordings of the speech on YouTube as alleged evidence of the president indeed saying the word, despite the fact the video platform's captioning system runs on computer-generated, speech-recognition software that is known for error and not necessarily a true indication of what someone said. conservative commentator known for error To investigate the legitimacy of the underlying allegation whether the president at any point during the virtual Munich Security Conference event used the N-word for whatever reason we obtained an official White House transcript, as well as a video recording via C-SPAN, of Biden's speech. White House transcript C-SPAN Considering that the social media posts made use of brief video clips of his alleged comments around the 16-minute mark in the C-Span footage, we focused on that portion of his remarks, specifically. At that point, he said, according to the transcript and video footage: "Look, the range of challenges Europe and the United States must take on together is broad and complex. And Im eager to hear Im eager to hear Im eager to hear next from my good friends and outstanding leaders, Chancellor Merkel, about her thoughts on the way forward together." While saying "I'm eager to hear," Biden stuttered, repeating the phrase three times. On the third time, the consonant "mmmm" in the word "I'm" blended with the next word, "eager," to make a "mnnm-eager" sound. That was the source of the social media posts' allegations, despite the fact that the hypothetical insertion of the N-word there would be abrupt and confusing, contextually speaking, no matter what the speaker's reason for saying it. A more plausible reason for the president's phrasing in that moment was his speech disorder. On several occasions, Biden has openly discussed his struggle with stuttering over the course of his life. It is a speech impediment and neurological disorder that may result in repetitions (D-d-d-dog), prolongations (Mmmmmmilk), or blocks (an absence of sound), according to the non-profit National Stuttering Association. The instance Munich Security Conference appeared to be a combination of repeating and prolonging phonetic sounds. discussed his struggle non-profit National Stuttering Association In other words, the claim is false Biden did not use the N-word in that moment, nor at any other time during the virtual speech. The February 2021 posts were not the first to twist Biden's words to accuse him of using the racial slur. During a 1985 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when the president was a senator representing Delaware Biden read out loud portions of a memo by Louisiana legislators that included the N-word, and supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to frame that moment of Biden reciting other people's words as an example of his alleged racism. See our fact check into the claim here. here
|
[
"profit"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1a5u--zs4v3IMv2BYSnoK5oGrYKXVA1Aj"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/owen_carruthers/status/1364003250501001217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1364003250501001217%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.the-sun.com%2Fnews%2F2389974%2Fjoe-biden-say-n-word-munich-conference%2F",
"https://twitter.com/AverageAPoliti2/status/1363872719767437312"
],
"sentence": "Approximately three-quarters of the way into his remarks, social media users alleged he uttered the racial slur referring to Black people. Some people accused the president of saying the N-word accidentally, while others raised the possibility that he intentionally made the alleged racist comment."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4cAr6rzwM",
"https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/08/youtube-captions/595831/"
],
"sentence": "One conservative commentator pointed to closed captioning on recordings of the speech on YouTube as alleged evidence of the president indeed saying the word, despite the fact the video platform's captioning system runs on computer-generated, speech-recognition software that is known for error and not necessarily a true indication of what someone said."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/02/19/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-2021-virtual-munich-security-conference/",
"https://www.c-span.org/video/?509162-101/president-biden-addresses-munich-security-conference"
],
"sentence": "To investigate the legitimacy of the underlying allegation whether the president at any point during the virtual Munich Security Conference event used the N-word for whatever reason we obtained an official White House transcript, as well as a video recording via C-SPAN, of Biden's speech."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/joe-biden-stutter/",
"https://westutter.org/what-is-stuttering/?cmpn=Non-Brand%7CUSA%7CDSA&device=c&kw=&adpos=&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvP6ABhCjARIsAH37rbTuuyNxfgUvzfioM5fp8deS0hsMpAEO_vqFIimuOXp2DEFQprBoCmQaAr-sEALw_wcB"
],
"sentence": "On several occasions, Biden has openly discussed his struggle with stuttering over the course of his life. It is a speech impediment and neurological disorder that may result in repetitions (D-d-d-dog), prolongations (Mmmmmmilk), or blocks (an absence of sound), according to the non-profit National Stuttering Association. The instance Munich Security Conference appeared to be a combination of repeating and prolonging phonetic sounds."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-n-word-senate/"
],
"sentence": "The February 2021 posts were not the first to twist Biden's words to accuse him of using the racial slur. During a 1985 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when the president was a senator representing Delaware Biden read out loud portions of a memo by Louisiana legislators that included the N-word, and supporters of former President Donald Trump attempted to frame that moment of Biden reciting other people's words as an example of his alleged racism. See our fact check into the claim here."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/sep/15/greg-abbott/greg-abbott-says-if-texas-were-country-its-economy/
|
If Texas were a country our economy would rank # 10...in the WORLD.
|
W. Gardner Selby
|
09/15/2016
|
[] |
CORRECTION, 2:50 p.m., Sept. 15, 2016:After this fact check posted, readers pointed out we'd presented Texas and California GDP figures in billions of dollars when relevant figures actually reflected productivity in the trillions of dollars. We made appropriate changes. Our rating of the claim didn't change. In a tweet adorned with images of a rocket, a wind turbine, a steer, a factory and a microscope, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared: If Texas were a country, it would have the 10th highest GDP in the world. If so, thats gained ground.When we looked into a 2012 claimcomparing productivity in Texas versus the nations of the world, Texas ranked 14th internationally. So, we decided to put Abbotts statement to the Texas Truth-O-Meter. The fine print in Abbotts tweet states that it's based on information from Glenn Hegar, the Texas state comptroller, and from the International Monetary Fund and Bureau of Economic Analysis. When we asked, Lauren Willis of the comptrollers office emailed usits chartindicating that in 2015, Texas had a gross domestic product of $1.59 trillion -- placing it 10th among countries behind the U.S. ($17.95 trillion) and eight countries including Brazil ($1.77 trillion). The chart shows Texas ahead of No. 11 Canada ($1.55 trillion) as well as Korea, Russia, Australia, Spain, Mexico and four other countries. GDP, the most-used measure of national economic output, isdefinedas the market value of goods and services produced by labor and property in country. SOURCE:Email, Lauren Willis, director of communications, Office of Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Sept. 6, 2016 For our part, we found 2015GDP figures posted in April 2016by the International Monetary Fund matching the GDP figures in the comptrollers chart. Willis also pointed out aWorld Bank breakoutof GDPs by nation for 2015; the presented figures didnt perfectly align with the comptrollers chart, we found, though the ranking of the top 10 countries did. Willis also sent a web link to the bureaus U.S. and state-by-state GDP figures for 2015 and previous years. From the BEA, we downloaded figures indicating that in 2015, Texas had the GDP of $1.59 trillion that Abbott relied on. Then again, more populous California had a GDP of $2.46 trillion, which would have placed the Golden State No. 6 in the world if it were a nation, nudging Texas to No. 11.We recently found toothat California in 2015 had greater per-capita productivity than Texas. SOURCE:Website,Regional Economic Accounts, Gross Domestic Product, Interactive TablesBureau of Economic Analysis, last updated June 14, 2016 (GDP figures downloaded Sept. 6, 2016) Our ruling Abbott said that if Texas were a country, its economy would rank 10th in the world. Thats so, figures show, if you leave out a bigger state, California. Considering California, in fairness, Texas would rank 11th in the world. We rate this claim Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check. https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cdc4ac03-aab9-4c82-b255-b39c9f4656db
|
[
"Corrections and Updates",
"Economy",
"States",
"Texas"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": "After this fact check posted, readers pointed out we'd presented Texas and California GDP figures in billions of dollars when relevant figures actually reflected productivity in the trillions of dollars. We made appropriate changes. Our rating of the claim didn't change.",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1OyMIF9p8XeMWabp7_ieDOndbmsGXsq1z"
},
{
"image_caption": "SOURCE:",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1hiDzSbXuHq24gdm8uT-clZCeiZL5skAz"
},
{
"image_caption": "SOURCE:",
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=17sLWXp_u7jfY0v39EbGnu265krCIGOPT"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2012/dec/18/texas-petition/secession-petition-says-texas-has-15th-largest-eco/"
],
"sentence": "If so, thats gained ground.When we looked into a 2012 claimcomparing productivity in Texas versus the nations of the world, Texas ranked 14th internationally."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r6LB0kav35_EjRRUd4wFcqUz40OTHVe0md5z-sLsbSA/edit?usp=sharing"
],
"sentence": "When we asked, Lauren Willis of the comptrollers office emailed usits chartindicating that in 2015, Texas had a gross domestic product of $1.59 trillion -- placing it 10th among countries behind the U.S. ($17.95 trillion) and eight countries including Brazil ($1.77 trillion). The chart shows Texas ahead of No. 11 Canada ($1.55 trillion) as well as Korea, Russia, Australia, Spain, Mexico and four other countries."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.bea.gov/glossary/glossary_g.htm"
],
"sentence": "GDP, the most-used measure of national economic output, isdefinedas the market value of goods and services produced by labor and property in country."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1c89iXPS0kz2ZiFcx61Aa7DuA_x5_AXLVtLJtEArel-8/edit?usp=sharing"
],
"sentence": "For our part, we found 2015GDP figures posted in April 2016by the International Monetary Fund matching the GDP figures in the comptrollers chart. Willis also pointed out aWorld Bank breakoutof GDPs by nation for 2015; the presented figures didnt perfectly align with the comptrollers chart, we found, though the ranking of the top 10 countries did."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2016/aug/17/julian-castro/julian-castro-says-california-besting-texas-creati/"
],
"sentence": "Willis also sent a web link to the bureaus U.S. and state-by-state GDP figures for 2015 and previous years. From the BEA, we downloaded figures indicating that in 2015, Texas had the GDP of $1.59 trillion that Abbott relied on. Then again, more populous California had a GDP of $2.46 trillion, which would have placed the Golden State No. 6 in the world if it were a nation, nudging Texas to No. 11.We recently found toothat California in 2015 had greater per-capita productivity than Texas."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.bea.gov/regional/index.htm"
],
"sentence": "SOURCE:Website,Regional Economic Accounts, Gross Domestic Product, Interactive TablesBureau of Economic Analysis, last updated June 14, 2016 (GDP figures downloaded Sept. 6, 2016)"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/feb/21/principles-truth-o-meter/"
],
"sentence": "MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information. Click here formoreon the six PolitiFact ratings and how we select facts to check."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cdc4ac03-aab9-4c82-b255-b39c9f4656db"
],
"sentence": "https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/cdc4ac03-aab9-4c82-b255-b39c9f4656db"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-shaking-hands-rouhani/
|
Is This a Real Photo of Obama Shaking Hands with Iranian President Rouhani?
|
David Mikkelson
|
01/07/2020
|
[
"Arizona U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar tweeted a fake image of a meeting between former President Barack Obama and Iran President Hassan Rouhani."
] |
On Jan. 6, 2020, amidst escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran over the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, U.S. Rep. Paul A. Gosar, R-Az., tweeted a picture of former President Barack Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, along with the caption "The world is a better place without these guys in power": airstrike However, Obama and Rouhani never met face-to-face during the former's term of office, and the image of the two men tweeted by Gosar was a fake created by altering a 2011 photograph of Obama's meeting with former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss nuclear-liability laws: Manmohan Singh Moreover, Gosar's critical caption for the fake photo ("The world is a better place without these guys in power") was inaccurate, as Rouhani is still very much in power as Iran's president. Rouhani After the picture of Obama and Rouhani was identified as a fake, Gosar then criticized the "dim witted reporters" who pointed it out and attempted to claim that the false and misleading aspects of his tweet were irrelevant: Reuters. "'Never Threaten the Iranian Nation,' Rouhani Tells Trump."
The New York Times. 6 January 2020. Wright, Tom. "Indian, U.S. Leaders Meet on Nuclear Law."
The Wall Street Journal. 18 November 2011.
|
[
"liability"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1MXgVLtpeWTQ7gIIkmcmW3hYUEFN441YN"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/ap/2020/01/02/irans-gen-soleimani-killed-in-airstrike-at-baghdad-airport/"
],
"sentence": "On Jan. 6, 2020, amidst escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran over the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, U.S. Rep. Paul A. Gosar, R-Az., tweeted a picture of former President Barack Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, along with the caption \"The world is a better place without these guys in power\":"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203699404577045231531004356"
],
"sentence": "However, Obama and Rouhani never met face-to-face during the former's term of office, and the image of the two men tweeted by Gosar was a fake created by altering a 2011 photograph of Obama's meeting with former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss nuclear-liability laws:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/01/06/world/middleeast/06reuters-iraq-security-iran-president.html"
],
"sentence": "Moreover, Gosar's critical caption for the fake photo (\"The world is a better place without these guys in power\") was inaccurate, as Rouhani is still very much in power as Iran's president."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/juval-aviv/
|
Juval Aviv Terrorist Predictions
|
David Mikkelson
|
08/01/2007
|
[
"Did Juval Aviv correctly predict upcoming terrorist attacks against the U.K. and the U.S.?"
] |
Claim: Juval Aviv correctly predicted upcoming terrorist attacks against the U.K. and the U.S. Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2007] FROM THE C.O. OF MOSSAD / PLEASE READ A week ago, I was able to attend a dinner with Juval Aviv - the Israeli Agent who the movie "Munich" was about... He was Golda Meir's bodyguard and she appointed him to track down and bring to justice the Palestinian terrorists who took the Israeli athletes hostage and killed them during the Munich Olympic Games. Tonight he shared information that EVERY American needs to know but our government has not shared. His bio is below, his book is "Staying Safe" and I suggest you buy and read it. First, I am going to share what he discussed in regard to the Bush Administration, 9/11 and Iraq and then I will share his predictions for the next attack on the U.S. (and he predicted the London subway bombing on the Bill O'Reilly show on Fox News stating publicly that it would happen within a week - O'Reilly laughed and mocked him saying that in a week he wanted him back on the show and unfortunately, within a week the terrorist attack occured). Juval Aviv gave intelligence (via what he had gathered in Israel and the Middle East) to the Bush Administration about 9/11 a month before it occured. His report specifically said they would use planes asbombs and target high profile buildings and monuments. The Administration ridiculed him and refused to respond (Congress has since hired him as a security consultant - but still the Administration does not listen to him). Within a month 9/11 occured. He didn't agree with going into Iraq - said it didn't make sense if we wanted terrorists responsible for 9/11 (and also he believes in Golda Meir's approach which was to bring justice to the terrorists but do not take down civilians - killing civilians only creates more terrorists - but similar to Bush, Israel's subsequent leaders were not as insightful as Golda Meir) - however, when we did decide to invade Iraq we should have learned from Israel's past mistakes. He very articulately stated that Israel's greatest mistake against their war on terror was to invade the West Bank and Gaza and stay there... He said they should have done the proven anti-terrorist strategy which was "Hit and Leave" instead of "Hit and Stay." Now we are stuck in Iraq and it is worse than Vietnam - Iraq is the U.S.'s West Bank/Gaza . He doesn't think we will ever be able to truly leave because even when we are able to pull our troops back we will still have to go back regularly which will keep us quagmired. We should have hit hard and left immediately - or actually, we shouldn't have gone in at all... Now for the scary stuff.... He predicts the next attack on the U.S. is coming within the next few months. Forget hijacking airplanes because he says terrorists will NEVER try and hijack a plane again as the people on the plane will not go down quietly. Aviv believes our airport security is a joke- we are beingreactionary versus looking at strategies that are effective. 1) Our machines are outdated. They look for metal and the new explosives are made of plastic 2) He talked about how some idiot tried to light his shoe on fire - we now have to take off our shoes, a group of idiots tried to bring aboard liquid explosives - now we can't bring liquids on board. He is waiting for some suicidal maniac to pour liquid explosive on their underwear and light up in a plane or in the terminal and then we will all have to travel naked! 3) We only focus on security when people are heading to the gates, he says that if a terrorist attack targets airports in the future, they will target busy times and on the front end when people are checking in. It would be easy for someone to take two suitcases of explosives, walk up to a busy check-in line, ask a person next to them to watch their bags for a minute while they run to the restroom or get a drink (and I have done that for people myself) and then detonate the bags BEFORE security even gets involved. Israel checks bags before people can enter the airport. Now, back to his predictions: He says the next attack will come in the next few months and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers in places that people congregate: Disneyland, Las Vegas, Big Cities (NY, SFO, Chicago, etc...) and there it will be shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, casinos, etc.. as well as rural America (Wyoming, Montana, etc...). The attack will be simultaneous detonations around the country (they like big impact) 5-8 cities including rural areas. They won't need to use suicide bombers because at largely populated places like the MGM Grand in Vegas - they can simply valet park! He says this is well known in intelligence circles but our government does not want to alarm Americans. However, he also said that Bush will attack Iran and Syria before he leaves office (we are being prepared for that! and I have to wonder if we are not hearing about this impending attack so America will support attacking Iran and Syria ?). In addition, since we don't have enough troops Bush will likely use small, strategic nuclear weapons regardless that the headlines the next day will read "US Nukes Islamic World" and the world will be a different place to such an extent that global warming will be irrevelent. He did a test for Congress recently putting an empty briefcase in 5 major spots in 5 US cities and not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago - someone tried to steal it! In Israel an unattended bag or package would be reported in seconds with a citizen shouting "Unattended Bag" and the area cleared slowly, calmly and immediately by the people themselves. Unfortunately, we haven't hurt enough yet for us to be that concerned.... He also discussed how many children were in preschool and kindergarten after 9/11 without parents to pick them up and the schools did not have a plan. Do you have a plan with your kids, schools and familiesif you cannot reach each other by phone? If you cannot return to your house? If you cannot get to your child's school - do they know what to do? We should all have a plan. He said that our government's plan after the next attack is to immediately cut-off EVERYONE's ability to use their telephone, cell phone, blackberry because they don't want terrorists to be able to talk to one another - do you have a plan if you cannot communicate directly with those that you love? Again - I recommend his book, "Staying Safe" and I also recommend we heighten each other's attention now for the inevitable.... In fact, this week the Today Show began with a segment that Al Qaeda was resurfacing - the same kind of action on the Pakistani border occurred before 9/11... It is scary, but we do not have to panic, we just need to be aware.... Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has not been helpful and we cannot change things until 2008. However, remember that when you vote.... Juval Aviv holds an M.A. in Business from Tel Aviv University. He is President and CEO of Interfor, Inc. Based in New York with offices around the world, founded in 1979, Interfor providesforeign and domestic intelligence services to the legal, corporate and financial communities and conducts investigations around the world. In addition, Mr. Aviv serves as a special consultant to the U.S. Congress and other policy makers on issues of terrorism, fraud and money laundering. A leading authority on terrorist networks, Mr. Aviv served as lead investigator for Pan Am Airways into the Pan Am 103-Lockerbie terrorist bombing. He was featured in the recent film, Munich, as the leader of the Israeli team that tracked down the terrorists who kidnapped the Israeli Olympic team. Interfor's services encompass white-collar crime investigations, asset search and recovery, corporate due diligence, litigation support, fraud investigations, internal compliance investigations, security and vulnerability assessments. Since its inception, Interfors asset investigation services have recovered over $2 billion worldwide for its clients. Before founding Interfor, Mr. Aviv served as an officer in the Israel Defense Force (Major, retired) leading an elite Commando/Intelligence Unit, and was later selected by the Israeli Secret Service (Mossad) to participate in a number of intelligence and special operations in many countries in the late 1960s and 1970s. While working as a consultant with El Al, Mr. Aviv surveyed the existing security measures in place and updated El Al's security program, making El Al the safest airline in business today. Most recently, Mr. Aviv wrote Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business, (2004, HarperResource). He is also the author of several other published books on terrorism. He has been a guest on ABC Nightline, FOX News, CNN, BBC Newsnight, ZDF (German National Television) and RAI (Italian National Television) and has been featured in numerous articles inmajor magazines and newspapers worldwide Origins: Juval Aviv ian Israeli-American security consultant and writer and the president of New York-based Interfor Inc. (a corporate investigations firm). He was reportedly the source for the 1984 book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team (the basis for the 2005 Steven Spielberg film Munich), he is the author of Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business, and he has made predictions about imminent terrorist attacks on the United States (and the forms they might take) similar to the ones described above. However, some critics have expressed skepticism about Aviv's background, claiming that he has grossly exaggerated his "spymaster" credentials, as the Guardian maintained in a 2006 article about the film Munich: Our investigations show that Aviv never served in Mossad, or any Israeli intelligence organisation. He had failed basic training as an Israeli Defence Force commando, and his nearest approximation to spy work was as a lowly gate guard for the airline El Al in New York in the early 70s. The tale he had woven [in Vengeance] was apparently nothing more than a Walter Mitty fabrication. Similarly, Chris Thompson wrote in the Village Voice that: Most famously, Aviv has promoted the idea that he was the lead Mossad assassin tasked with avenging the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in a secret operation that was portrayed in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich. It was Aviv that actor Eric Bana was supposedly playing, though his name in the movie was "Avner." But throughout Aviv's rise as one of New York's biggest corporate spies and as a terrorism expert on television, there have been nagging questions about his legitimacy. Is this guy really who he says he is? Officially, the Israeli government says that Aviv is full of it. According to a 1990 letter from Yigal Carmon, then the Israeli prime minister's counterterrorism adviser, Aviv was never an assassin, let alone the person chosen by Golda Meir to avenge the Munich massacre. "Aviv does not work and has never worked for the Intelligence Community of the State of Israel," Carmon wrote in response to an inquiry from the U.S. government. In fact, Carmon added, the closest that Aviv ever came to intelligence work was as a security official for an El Al office in New York. "His work in that capacity was terminated at the initiative of the employer because of unsuitability resulting from negative character traits," Carmon wrote. "During the course of his work Yuval [sic] Aviv was found to be unreliable and dishonest." Nonetheless, Aviv has built a remarkable career for himself. In 1989, following the Pan Am 103 bombing that killed 270 people in Lockerbie, Scotland, airline officials hired Aviv to investigate the incident. His report alleging that the bombing was a CIA gun- and drug-smuggling operation gone terribly wrong was leaked to the press, reportedly by Aviv himself. News outlets like Time, NBC, ABC, and Barron's picked up the story. But as more skeptical journalists began to examine Aviv's report, Pan Am officials suddenly dropped their plans to use it as a defense, and the media outlets that had run Aviv's allegations squirmed under the scrutiny. A Brooklyn federal magistrate later found Aviv's report to be utterly without merit. Today, American intelligence officials who were charged with investigating the Pan Am 103 bombing are still furious with Avivand they fume over the fact that national television outlets treat him as anything but a fraud. "This crud, this piece of dirt, went around inventing stories about how this plane got destroyed, because he was paid money to do so," says Vincent Cannistraro, the former chief of operations and analysis at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. "The man is not worth being in human company, frankly." This guy's full of shit," says Larry Johnson, who served in the CIA and as a deputy director in the State Department's Office of Counterterrorism. "What's true is, yes, he has a security and corporate-intelligence firm, and he's big at playing up the Israeli mystique. If you say it with a foreign accent, you're good to go." Aviv, these senior counterterrorism officials insist, is no terrorism expert; instead, he's a liar who's been spreading falsehoods about his rsum and his prowess as an investigator. American RadioWorks, however, suggests that Aviv was the target of a smear campaign by the FBI for his report implicating U.S. govermment agents in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing: smear campaign In response to Aviv's report, and investigative news stories based on them, government officials launched an attack on Aviv that went well beyond simple denials. In letters to newspaper editors and on network TV, diplomatic and intelligence officials called Aviv a "fabricator" who had lied about his entire background. Asked recently to back up that characterization, Hurley, formerly of the DEA, faxed us a letter dated May, 1990. The letter, signed by Yigal Carmon, "Israeli Prime Minister's Advisor for Countering Terrorism," says Juval Aviv never worked for Israeli intelligence and was fired from a low-level job with El-Al airlines for "dishonesty." The letter is on plain white paper, not Israeli government letterhead. We faxed it to the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. A spokeswoman said the letter did not have the look of a letter sent from the Office of the Prime Minister. When reached at an office in Tel Aviv, Yigal Carmon said he "did not know of anyone called Juval Aviv" and refused to discuss the contents of any letter with us. A spokesperson for El-Al Airlines in Tel Aviv said he was unaware of any such incident of "dishonesty" by Juval Aviv, or of any firing of Aviv. Aviv, for his part, produces several documents that he's entered into court refuting the accusation that he lied about his background. The documents include an FBI memo about Aviv from 1982, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and a contract between Aviv and the US Justice Department, dated 1984. Both refer to Aviv's past association with Israeli intelligence. As late as 1993, an FBI agent wrote to Aviv asking for assistance in a tax-recovery investigation, even as other government officials were publicly calling Aviv a fabricator. Whatever Juval Aviv's credentials might be, we found no evidence to support the claim that he predicted the July 2005 London bombings during a Fox News interview conducted just one week before those attacks occurred. Although Aviv was a frequent guest on American news programs in the years after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, our search of television news transcripts did not turn up any appearances by him on such programs between 5 November 2004 and the day after the London bombings (8 July 2005). He was interviewed on Fox News several days after the London bombings and issued a warning about an "imminent" terrorist attack on the United States, but he did not appear just prior to the London bombings and correctly predict them. His predictions about terrorists hitting the U.S. in "six, seven, or eight cities simultaneously" sometime within the next "ninety days at most" are outdated, as he issued them back in July 2005. It seems safe to say from this vantage point that those predictions were not correct, as no such attacks occurred. July 2005 Last updated: 22 April 2013 Thompson, Chris. "Secret Agent Schmuck." The Village Voice. 16 October 2007. American RadioWorks. "Aviv: Fabricator or Smear Victim?" FOXNews.com. "U.S. Terror Attack 'Ninety Days at Most.'" 13 July 2005. The Independent. "Juval Aviv: The Good Assassin." 16 July 2006.
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"sentence": "His predictions about terrorists hitting the U.S. in \"six, seven, or eight cities simultaneously\" sometime within the next \"ninety days at most\" are outdated, as he issued them back in July 2005. It seems safe to say from this vantage point that those predictions were not correct, as no such attacks occurred."
}
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false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/mar/23/peter-barca/does-average-uw-madison-faculty-member-bring-close/
|
The average faculty member at UW-Madison brings in close to a quarter million dollars a year in grant money.
|
Dave Umhoefer
|
03/23/2015
|
[] |
A leading Democrat predicts devastation if Gov. Scott Walkers proposed $300 million cut over two years to the University of Wisconsin System is adopted. For UW-Madison its a major issue, Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said in a March 12, 2015Wisconsin Eye interview. Its penny wise and pound foolish there. Barca added: The average faculty member at UW-Madison brings in close to a quarter million dollars a year. So you cut them and theyre leaving. They have plenty of opportunities to go to Harvard or Princeton or Stanford. Barca was joined on the Wisconsin Eye program by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. He thinks the university cut is too large, but says Democrats are overreacting. Lets remember that the cut thats happening under Gov. Walker is about the size of the one that happened under (former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat), and I didnt hear Democrats complaining about the loss of the university and how the world was going to come to an end. Well test Vos claim soon. For now, lets examine Barcas statement about the prowess of the Madison faculty in attracting research grants. Researching the research When we asked Barca to back up the claim, spokeswoman Laura Smith pointed to apage on the UW-Madison websitethat answers frequently asked questions about the 2015-17 budget -- at least from the UW Systems perspective. The page asserts that asking professors to teach more classes -- as Walker suggested -- would cut into critical functions of the university: Research is central to their jobs. According to university statistics, each faculty member is bringing in approximately $242,000 on average to support their research in a highly competitive national environment. Faculty and staff brought in more than $500 million in federal research awards in 2012-13, money that would not otherwise come to Wisconsin. So theres Barcas close to a quarter million figure. We asked UW-Madison about the numbers. They are from 2012-13, and were published in March 2014 in theuniversitys Data Digest. The document provides a detailed look at various aspects of the campus and is put together by three offices: Academic Planning & Institutional Research, Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration. UW-Madison is one of the leading research institutions in the country as measured by total grants from outside sources, mostly the federal government. Out of its 2,173 faculty members, 1,275 (or 59 percent) secured research grants in 2012-13, the latest year available. So theres a point of clarification: Barca frames his claim around the idea that any cuts will hurt the universitys ability to bring in research money. But in the year examined, 41 percent did not bring in grants. The university says it uses the total number of faculty when calculating the per-professor grant haul because all faculty members are expected to do research. In all, professors pulled in a total of $525.7 million in grants from outside sources. The grants are in these areas: biological sciences, humanities, physical sciences, social sciences. Spread over 2,173 faculty, thats the $242,000 figure. If you spread it out over just the faculty receiving grants, the average is $412,000. Jocelyn Milner, a UW official who helps prepare the Data Digest, told us that grant productivity is calculated in another way as well. Theres another $355 million in grants that are not awarded to individual professors, but to a dean or other official even though professors end up doing the research. When you add those in the per-faculty grant figure rises to $399,000 per year, Milner said. UW prefers the more conservative methodology that is behind the $241,935 figure, Milner said. We found that ranking universities on research prowess often turns on how much money they pull in. There areother factors that can help judge research prominence, such as journal articles published, endowment assets, faculty awards, and so on. Our rating Barca said, The average faculty member at UW-Madison brings in close to a quarter million dollars a year. He referred to research grants won. UW-Madison figures back up the claim, but theres one point of clarification, in that not all faculty get grants. We rate Barcas statement Mostly True.
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"sentence": "When we asked Barca to back up the claim, spokeswoman Laura Smith pointed to apage on the UW-Madison websitethat answers frequently asked questions about the 2015-17 budget -- at least from the UW Systems perspective."
},
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"sentence": "They are from 2012-13, and were published in March 2014 in theuniversitys Data Digest. The document provides a detailed look at various aspects of the campus and is put together by three offices: Academic Planning & Institutional Research, Office of the Provost and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance & Administration."
},
{
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"sentence": "We found that ranking universities on research prowess often turns on how much money they pull in. There areother factors that can help judge research prominence, such as journal articles published, endowment assets, faculty awards, and so on."
}
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true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trademark-of-the-devil/
|
Procter and Gamble and Satanism Rumor
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
08/12/1999
|
[
"Procter & Gamble and rumors of Satanism"
] |
Claim: The president of Procter & Gamble announced on a popular talk show that he donates a portion of the company's profits to the Church of Satan. Example: [Collected on the Internet, 1998] PLEASE MAKE A DIFFERENCE The President of Procter & gamble appeared on the Phil Donahue Show on March 1, 1994. He announced that due to the openness of our society, he was coming out of the closet about his association with the church of Satan. He stated that a large portion of his profits from Procter & Gamble Products goes to support this satanic church. When asked by Donahue if stating this on t.v. would hurt his business, he replied, "THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE." Origins: Procter & Gamble's president is neither a Satanist nor does his company support the Church of Satan. What we have here is a rumor run amok, one that's been eluding the butterfly net since 1980. Not only does this rumor antedate the supposed 1994 Donahue air date given above by 14 years, but P&G's president has never been on Donahue (the show confirms this), nor did he say such a thing in any other forum. (Save for the handful of corporate heads who have been very visible as the public face of their companies, such as Apple's Steve Jobs, or who have represented their companies in television commercials, such as Wendy's Dave Thomas, company presidents and CEOs just aren't entertaining or well known enough to be appealing guests for national talk shows and therefore are rarely invited to make appearances in such venues. This is something that should be kept in mind when examining the plausibility of wild tales about damning admissions supposedly made by corporate types on popular talk shows.) How Procter & Gamble directs its profits is a matter of public record, as it is for all publicly-traded companies. (Procter & Gamble is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PG.) Were P&G handing PG a "large portion" of its profits to Satan, that would be readily apparent in the company's financial statements. Those who accepted the rumor as revealed truth pointed to P&G's "man in the moon" logo as proof of the company's ties to evil. They saw in the curlicues of the moon man's hair and beard a pair of devil' horns and an array of 6s, and they believed that by playing "connect the dots" with the thirteen stars in the logo, three 6s could be made to appear. (According to Revelation 13:18, 666 is the "mark of the Beast", with the "beast" understood to be thedevil.) There is nothing sinister in the logo's design, let alone a hidden code that reveals the true intent of the company. P&G's "man in the moon" trademark was adopted in 1851, at a time when goods were more commonly marked with visual trademarks than with companies' names. The ability to read was not as widespread then as it is now, so companies offering an array of consumer goods rather than just one product hadstrong reason to devise memorable pictorial logos for their wares. The thirteen stars were an homage to the original thirteen colonies of the United States of America, and the man in the moon was simply a popular decorative device of the times. (Specific visual motifs often enjoy periods of enthusiastic commercial use and then sink into cultural obscurity. America in the early part of the 20th century was Egypt crazy, but few commercial designs other than the Camels cigarette pack remain to remind us of that fact.) Camels Nonetheless, in the face of persistent "Satanism" rumors, Procter & Gamble modified their logo in 1991 to eliminate the supposed horns and 6's, and in 1995 they dropped the "man in the moon" logo entirely in favor of a simple stylized "P&G" rendered in blue letters. modified P&G In July 1999 the dog and pony were trotted into the ring once again, with the claim about a CEO's admission that his company was donating a portion of their profits to the Church of Satan being amended to reference an incident that supposedly place on 1 March 1998 on the Sally Jesse Raphael Show. What makes this particular claim refutable is the date: 1 March 1998 was a Sunday, and the Sally Jesse Raphael Show show neither tapes nor airs on that day of the week. After this error was pointed out, whoever "fixes" these things altered the Sally Jesse version to change the day of the interview to 19 July 1999, a Monday. Same slander, just a different date. And still as specious as ever. In response to all the inquiries about this claim, Sally Jesse Raphael added the following disclaimer to her FAQ: FAQ Sally listens:Rumor has it that the president of Procter and Gamble appeared on your show and said that he was associated with the Church of Satan. I would appreciate more information if you have any, perhaps a tape of the show if available. If this is a hoax, please let me know. Sally Sez:The rumor going around that the president of Procter and Gamble appeared on The Sally Show and announced he was a member of the church of Satan is not true. This a hoax that's been going around in one form or another for the past 20 years... only originally, it concerned the Phil Donahue Show...then evolved to the Jenny Jones Show ... and now it's evolved to The Sally Show. The president of Procter and Gamble has NEVER appeared on The Sally Show...NEVER. Nor has any other person in authority at P&G. Any president of a multi-national corporation (including the head of P&G or Liz Claiborne) would be immediately fired by the board of directors if he or she did such a thing. Also, profits from any such corporation go to the stockholders ... not a church designated by the president. Do not send money in to get a transcript. We do not provide transcripts or video tapes of our shows to the public. Frankly, this thing has gotten out of hand. If we had this man on our show, and he had said what it's alleged he said, we would have scored a broadcasting scoop and would have trumpeted it to all the newspapers. It would have been to the show's advantage. But there was no scoop, and there were no headlines. The e-mail's comment about "not enough Christians to make a difference" is meant to inflame readers to the point of boycotting P&G products. Of course that statement angrys up the blood; that is its purpose. The statement is also woefully in error: three out of four adult Americans identify themselves as Christian, and adult Americans are the target consumer group for P&G. The rumor is framed in such a way as to offend three-quarters of P&G's buying public and influence them into shunning P&G products in protest. Those whose first instinct is to react angrily to the "not enough Christians" comment should instead pause to reflect that their chains are deliberately being yanked by those who would prefer (for their own reasons) that people not buy from Procter and Gamble. Although the origin of the P&G satanism rumor is unknown, Procter & Gamble has over the years initiated a number of lawsuits against Amway Corp. (now known as Alticor), a vendor of household products (many of which compete with Procter & Gamble's brands), charging it with fomenting the slander. P&G claimed distributors for Amway revived the rumors in 1995 when one of them recounted a version of the TV show rumor on the Amway distributors' national voice mail system, and in March 2007 a jury awarded P&G $19.25 million after finding that four Amway distributors had spread false rumors about P&G to advance their own business. The self-same "head of large company proclaims that company tithes Satanic causes" hoax has been kited about others. In 1990, designer Liz Claiborne was dogged by the widely-believed rumor that during a recent appearance on Oprah she admitted to donating 40% of the profits from her clothing company to support the Church of Satan. The rumor was wholly false (Liz Claiborne never even appeared on that Oprah's show), but that didn't stop the tale from spreading. Similarly, in 1977 the rumor mill had it that Ray Kroc of McDonald's also made the startling admission on a TV talk show that his company tithed the Church of Satan. Again, even though there was nothing to this bit of gossip, it was believed and acted upon not only did customers boycott the golden arches, but kids quit their McDonald's-sponsored Little League teams over the slander. Liz Claiborne Barbara "devil's food" Mikkelson Additional information: Talk Show Denials (Phil Dononue, Jenny Jones, Sally Jessy Raphael) Last updated: 21 June 2013 The Choking Doberman de Vos, Gail. Tales, Rumors and Gossip. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 1996. ISBN 1-56308-190-3 (pp. 26, 279-282). Tales, Rumors and Gossip Morgan, Hal and Kerry Tucker. Rumor! New York: Penguin Books, 1984. ISBN 0-14-007036-2 (pp. 144-145). Rumor! Schiller, Zachary. "P&G Is Still Having a Devil of a Time." Business Week. 11 September 1995 (p. 46). Scott, Bill. Pelicans & Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends. St. Lucia, Queensland: Univ. of Queensland, 1996. ISBN 0-7022-2774-9 (p. 59). Pelicans & Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends Smith, Paul. The Book of Nastier Legends. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1986. ISBN 0-7102-0573-2 (p. 68). The Book of Nastier Legends Stampler, Laura. "In Spite Of Old, Satanist Accusations, P&G Put a Moon Back Into Its New Logo." Business Insider. 21 May 2013. The Houston Chronicle. "High Court Favors P&G Over Amway." 2 October 2001 (Business, p. 5). Newsweek. "Tall Tales: McDevil Burgers?" 23 October 1978 (p. 85). Orlando Sentinel Tribune. "Claiborne Company Dogged by Rumor About Satanic Cult." 30 November 1990 (p. E3). Reuters. "P&G Awarded $19.25 Mln Against Amway Distributors." 19 March 2007. The Big Book of Urban Legends
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"sentence": "Nonetheless, in the face of persistent \"Satanism\" rumors, Procter & Gamble modified their logo in 1991 to eliminate the supposed horns and 6's, and in 1995 they dropped the \"man in the moon\" logo entirely in favor of a simple stylized \"P&G\" rendered in blue letters."
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"sentence": "In response to all the inquiries about this claim, Sally Jesse Raphael added the following disclaimer to her FAQ:"
},
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"sentence": "The self-same \"head of large company proclaims that company tithes Satanic causes\" hoax has been kited about others. In 1990, designer Liz Claiborne was dogged by the widely-believed rumor that during a recent appearance on Oprah she admitted to donating 40% of the profits from her clothing company to support the Church of Satan. The rumor was wholly false (Liz Claiborne never even appeared on that Oprah's show), but that didn't stop the tale from spreading. Similarly, in 1977 the rumor mill had it that Ray Kroc of McDonald's also made the startling admission on a TV talk show that his company tithed the Church of Satan. Again, even though there was nothing to this bit of gossip, it was believed and acted upon not only did customers boycott the golden arches, but kids quit their McDonald's-sponsored Little League teams over the slander."
},
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false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/history-lessened/
|
Etymology of 'Little History Lesson'
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
11/01/2010
|
[
"The etymology of the phrases contained in the 'Little History Lesson' article."
] |
Claim: "Little History Lesson" article accurately explains origins of many common phrases. Example: [Collected via e-mail, October 2000] In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs" therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg". As incredible as it sounds, we are informed that men and women took baths only twice a year! (May & October) Women always kept their hair covered while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs. The wigs couldn't be washed so to clean them, they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes Mr. Big Wig" because someone appears to be or "is" powerful and wealthy. In the late 1700's many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall and used for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while an invited guest would be offered to sit in this chair during a meal whom was almost always a man. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. Sitting in the chair, one was called the "chair man of the board." Today in business we use the expression/title "Chairman of the Board." Needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax." Should thewoman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile?" Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt and therefore the expression "losing face." Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady as in "straight laced." Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "ace of spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 card instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck." Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times... "you go sip here" and "you go sip there". The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and thus, we have the term "gossip." At local taverns, pubs and bars, people drank from pint and quart sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts." Hence the term "minding your "P's" and "Q's." Origins: In 1999, a spurious missive purporting to explain the origins of a number of common phrases appeared on the Internet. That laughable compilation, titled "Life in the 1500s," was pulled together as someone's idea of a joke. 1500s In 2000, the pranksters went at it again with yet another specious list of purported word and phrase origins, this time dating it to the1700s. Typically titled "Little History Lesson," it offered the set of false etymologies listed in the Example section above. Below we analyze each entry in order: In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs" therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg". While some portrait artists might have charged extra for the inclusion of additional details in commissioned works, we know of none that charged per limb displayed. (Most varied their fee by the size of the canvas requested.) The "costs an arm and a leg" saying instead first surfaced around the 1940s, with a meaning of "An exorbitant amount of money," and it likely developed from much older phrases wherein arms and legs were used as examples of extremely valuable items their possessors might be persuaded to surrender in exchange for things desired even more. "If it takes a leg" (used to express desperate determination) dates to 1872. Similarly, print sightings for "I'd give my right arm" (to be able to do something especially desired) go back as far as 1616. As incredible as it sounds, we are informed that men and women took baths only twice a year! (May & October) Women always kept their hair covered while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs. The wigs couldn't be washed so to clean them, they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term "big wig." Today we often use the term "here comes Mr. Big Wig" because someone appears to be or "is" powerful and wealthy. Full immersion bathing didn't become the norm for a very long time because it took a fair bit of work to haul the amount of water and wood needed to fill and heat a bath. However, that folks weren't routinely taking what we would consider proper baths doesn't mean that they didn't regularly clean themselves. Cleaning one's body was a matter of taking what we would regard as "sponge baths": wetting oneself down with a damp cloth, followed by scrubbing the body with a soapy cloth, rinsing with a wet cloth, and finishing off with a toweling dry. Even in the 1700s in locales and social strata where the wearing of wigs was common, these headcoverings were indeed washed (albeit carefully); they were not inserted into loaves of bread and baked. (One has to wonder about an explanation that posits folks who were afraid they'd damage expensive goods by washing them would happily risk incinerating them.) Print sightings of "big wig" and "big wigged" date to 1781 and 1778 respectively, with the term's always having referred to someone regarded as societally prominent by virtue of wealth, position, or power. While the term does find its origin in the rather impressive wigs sported by the upper crust, said wigs were deliberately constructed to be large and imposing; they didn't get that way from having been baked in bread to kill lice. In the late 1700's many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board was folded down from the wall and used for dining. The "head of the household" always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Once in a while an invited guest would be offered to sit in this chair during a meal whom was almost always a man. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. Sitting in the chair, one was called the "chair man of the board." Today in business we use the expression/title "Chairman of the Board." People have been eating off tables of various forms for about as long as humans have been recording history. We're wholly unaware of any society wherein a board hinged to the wall was let down at dinnertime so that folks seated on the floor in front of it could eat from it. The "board" in "chairman of the board" refers to a board of directors, generally a group of successful businessmen appointed to oversee the running of a corporation. The word "chairman" dates to 1654 and refers to the occupier of a chair of authority. Needless to say, personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told "mind your own bee's wax." Should thewoman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term "crack a smile?" Also, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt and therefore the expression "losing face." While throughout history women have used odd (and sometimes dangerous) substances on themselves in pursuit of beauty, we're unaware that at any point they were coating their visages with wax. "Mind your own beeswax," a phrase first noted in 1934, is no more than a cutesy way of saying "Mind your own business," with "beeswax" used as an ear-pleasing substitute for the more staid "business." The saying it's based upon, "To mind one's business," dates to 1660 and means to tend to one's own concerns in preference of involving oneself in the doings of others. One "cracks a smile" in the same way that one cracks a joke or a boast; there is no physical crevice made in anything, let alone the fictional wax masks women were supposedly parading about in. Sightings of "crack" used in the sense of uttering something loudly and with flair date to 1315, with "crack a boast" to 1386. The linguistic concept of "losing face" (or saving it) didn't enter the English language prior to contact between British traders and the Chinese and was first noted in 1834. The "face" the Chinese were so concerned about wasn't an anatomical one but rather the publicized image of oneself, in the sense of the "face" one displays to the world at large. Two Chinese words, one meaning "moral character," the other "social prestige," were each translated into English as "face," with "to lose face" meaning to have damage done to one's reputation or to be publicly embarrassed. Ladies wore corsets which would lace up in the front. A tightly tied lace was worn by a proper and dignified lady as in "straight laced." "Strait-laced" does derive from the tying of corsets, but the proposed etymology given in the article has it backwards: The term's origin has to do with the tightness of the lacing and the consequent constriction of such garments, as opposed to the moral character of the persons wearing these underpinnings. (One needs to remember that a multitude of men and women, from the wholly proper and dignified right down to the entirely disreputable, wore corsets.) "Strait" came into the English language from the Latin verb "stringere," which means "to strain; draw tight." Other "strait" words we're familiar with, such as Straits of Gibraltar and strait-jacket, likewise employ its narrowing or restraining elements. "Strait-laced" was first spotted in 1430, and while at that time it did have to do with the tightness of corsets, by the 1540s the term had expanded to encompass things that were narrow in range or scope or people that were uncommunicative (i.e., kept a great deal of themselves in). By the 1550s, it was used to describe folks who were excessively rigid or scrupulous in matters of conduct. Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the "ace of spades." To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 card instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't "playing with a full deck." Taxes were levied on playing cards in England at various times in its history, with the earliest instance occurring in 1588. However, when this tax was in force, the basic duty was applied to each deck, not just a specific card within it. Once the tax had been paid, one card from the now-taxed deck was stamped with a special seal to show that the duty had been properly rendered. Over time, that card came to be the ace of spades (most likely because it's the one on the end of the deck). "Not playing with a full deck" is simply one of countless sayings of the same ilk as "two bricks shy of a load" or "a couple of French fries short of a Happy Meal"; a phrase indicating that the person referred to lacks ordinary intellectual capacity. Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what was considered important to the people. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs and bars who were told to "go sip some ale" and listen to people's conversations and political concerns. Many assistants were dispatched at different times... "you go sip here" and "you go sip there". The two words "go sip" were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and thus, we have the term "gossip." "Gossip" descends from "God sib," an ancient term (1014) for godparent or sponsor. (A christening ceremony was a "gossiping.") Along the way to its current meaning, "gossip" picked up the additional meaning of "chum" or "friend." One of the activities folks engage in with their friends is chewing over the events of the day, and over time the word "gossip" shifted away from the person chatted with to the activity itself, as well as coming to attach to people overly fond of discussing the doings of others. At local taverns, pubs and bars, people drank from pint and quart sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in "pints" and who was drinking in "quarts." Hence the term "minding your "P's" and "Q's." In an nutshell (with the non-nutshell version to be found here), while the definitive origin of this phrase has yet to surface, ones that most certainly can be ruled out are the "pints and quarts served in a bar" explanations. The first print sighting of the saying dates to 1756 (or even earlier if we accept a 1602 sighting of a variant of the phrase), which means it long predates the selling of beer in pints and quarts. here While the "Little History Lesson" e-mail has remained surprisingly static across its decade-plus existence, one additional item about freezing the balls off a brass monkey has come to be added to it. One more: bet you didn't know this! In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem... how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a "Monkey" with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make "Brass Monkeys." Few land lubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey." (All this time, youthought that was an improper expression, didn't you.) That writeup first appeared on the Internet in September 2002 as a stand-alone item. By March 2004 it began showing up as the completing entry in the "Little History Lesson" mailing. In a further nutshell, (with the non-nutshell version offered here), while the etymology of this pronouncement is still up in the air, the "cannonballs" explanation should be dismissed because when the saying started appearing in print in the mid-19th century, various body parts (ears, tail, nose, or whiskers) were said to be about to fall off a brass monkey thanks to the cold. here Barbara "frozen assets" Mikkelson Last updated: 1 November 2010 Lighter, J.E. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang. New York: Random House, 1997. IBSN 0-679-43464-X. Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang The Compact Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. ISBN 0-19-861258-3. The Compact Oxford English Dictionary
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https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/texas-roadhouse-vouchers/
|
SCAM ALERT: Texas Roadhouse Vouchers on Facebook
|
Dan MacGuill
|
09/29/2021
|
[
"The bogus promotion ran on at least 13 separate inauthentic Facebook profiles, in September 2021."
] |
In late September 2021, Snopes readers asked us to examine the facts surrounding a widely-shared but suspicious-looking Facebook promotion that promised users free Texas Roadhouse vouchers in return for them sharing and commenting on the post. One version of the scam consisted of several photos of what appeared to be Texas Roadhouse steak dishes, as well as a picture of staff attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new restaurant, along with the following text: Im Gerald L.Morgan, CEO of texas roadhouses. I know times have been tough so to help everyone out I have a special surprise for everyone who shares&comments then. Every person who does this by Sep 29th can get a voucher. Each voucher can be used at any texas roadhouses restaurant to get a meal for two with drinks! A second version of the scam invited users to like, share or comment on the post, before clicking on a link and "entering" or "registering" [safe link] for the voucher: registering Users who clicked on one of those links were directed to various dubious websites (we have archived or made screenshots of these links, so they are safe to click on) where they were instructed to "claim" their prize or "register." Clicking on those links, in turn, brought users to a variety of entirely unrelated websites offering various dubious promotions and gift card offers of their own. various dubious websites dubious promotions Snopes discovered that at least 13 separate Facebook profiles ran various versions of the Texas Roadhouse scam, in the final days of September 2021, with all of them using the blatantly inauthentic profile name "Texas Roadhouse's." The actual Texas Roadhouse chain addressed the scam in a Sept. 28 Facebook post, writing: Sept. 28 Facebook post There is a scam circulating on Facebook offering Texas Roadhouse meal vouchers and other benefits to our guests who share their posts. This account is attempting to gain access to personal information... If you see a suspicious post in your News Feed offering free vouchers to Texas Roadhouse, please do not click on any links or share with your friends.
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"sentence": "A second version of the scam invited users to like, share or comment on the post, before clicking on a link and \"entering\" or \"registering\" [safe link] for the voucher:"
},
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"sentence": "Users who clicked on one of those links were directed to various dubious websites (we have archived or made screenshots of these links, so they are safe to click on) where they were instructed to \"claim\" their prize or \"register.\" Clicking on those links, in turn, brought users to a variety of entirely unrelated websites offering various dubious promotions and gift card offers of their own. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/jM37m"
],
"sentence": "The actual Texas Roadhouse chain addressed the scam in a Sept. 28 Facebook post, writing:"
}
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false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-eyes-of-texas/
|
Is McDonald's the World's Largest Purchaser of Cow Eyeballs?
|
David Mikkelson
|
10/09/2000
|
[
"Some versions of this rumor posit that the cow eyes are used as hamburger filler, or to make beef patties stick together better."
] |
The claim that McDonalds is the worlds largest purchaser of cow eyeballs shares roots with many other beware of fast food legends. In this particular case, the sentiment is of the huge fast food corporations only care about profits, so theyll put anything they can (legally) get away with in their food to save money variety.Snopes came across the below-displayed message online in 1999: legends A few weeks ago I was watching Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher on TV and one of the guests made a remark in a quite serious voice that the Billion dollar fast food chain McDonalds, is the largest purchaser of cow eyeballs. Now Ive hear about Burger King using camel meat and stuff, but this one was new to me. And the fact that Mcdonalds doesnt have an email address to contact them nor a toll free number doesnt give me much reassurance on the matter. Similar expressions of this anxiety have resulted in widespread tales about McDonalds making hamburgers fromworm meat, usingchicken feathersin their shakes, and even purchasing food supplies from a company named 100% Beef so that they can put any old dreck in their burgers while still legitimately advertising that they use 100% Beef products. worm meat chicken feathers We dont know what the going rate for cow eyeballs is, but we suspect that just like worms theyre too expensive to be practical as an alternative to real beef for a restaurant chain looking to save on their food costs. Youd think theyd be dirt cheap, because after all,who the heck would wantcow eyeballs? They actuallydohave other uses, however many schools purchase them for students to dissect in biology labs, for example. Whatever the market price of cow eyeballs, the idea of using them as filler in beef (or even in place of beef) just isnt practical. The wholesale price of beef for companies who purchase as much of it as McDonalds does is already very low, and the amount of eyeball meat available per cow is miniscule compared to the amount of real beef produced per animal. McDonalds If you really have your doubts about this one, check out theingredientlists on the McDonalds website. All of their hamburgers are made from 100% beef patties; furthermore, they define beef patty as being 100% pure USDA inspected beef; no additives, no fillers, no extenders. This means exactly what it says. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA)grades beef, it gradesbeef; it doesnt allow beef marketers to use the word as if it merely meant cow parts. ingredient USDA Some versions of this rumor posit that the cow eyes are used only as hamburger filler, or to make beef patties stick together better, or as tenderizer, or as thickener in milk shakes. Still, one has to wonder what the (presumably more expensive) alternative to cow eyeballs is, and what all the other fast food chains who cant get cow eyes (because McDonalds has cornered the market) use instead, and why competitors products dont cost significantly more (or are noticeably inferior) as a result. If you really dont want to eat at McDonalds, its not hard to come up with a few legitimate reasons not to. The lack of beef in their beef isnt one of them, though. dont want to eat at McDonalds This post was updated to meet Snopes' current formatting standards on Oct. 13, 2022.
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"sentence": "The claim that McDonalds is the worlds largest purchaser of cow eyeballs shares roots with many other beware of fast food legends. In this particular case, the sentiment is of the huge fast food corporations only care about profits, so theyll put anything they can (legally) get away with in their food to save money variety.Snopes came across the below-displayed message online in 1999:"
},
{
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],
"sentence": "Similar expressions of this anxiety have resulted in widespread tales about McDonalds making hamburgers fromworm meat, usingchicken feathersin their shakes, and even purchasing food supplies from a company named 100% Beef so that they can put any old dreck in their burgers while still legitimately advertising that they use 100% Beef products."
},
{
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},
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"sentence": "If you really have your doubts about this one, check out theingredientlists on the McDonalds website. All of their hamburgers are made from 100% beef patties; furthermore, they define beef patty as being 100% pure USDA inspected beef; no additives, no fillers, no extenders. This means exactly what it says. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA)grades beef, it gradesbeef; it doesnt allow beef marketers to use the word as if it merely meant cow parts."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jamie-oliver-mcdonalds-burgers/"
],
"sentence": "If you really dont want to eat at McDonalds, its not hard to come up with a few legitimate reasons not to. The lack of beef in their beef isnt one of them, though."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2010/jun/18/hillsborough-area-rapid-transit-hart/brochure-estimates-financial-impact-hillsborough-t/
|
The addition of a 1 percent sales tax would cost a typical household in Hillsborough County approximately $12 a month.
|
Janet Zink
|
06/18/2010
|
[] |
After decades of fits and starts, Hillsborough County commissioners agreed to ask voters to consider a 1 percent sales tax increase for expanded bus service, light rail and road improvements. The issue will appear on the November ballot. One question many voters want answered: How much will the new tax cost me? In a brochure outlining how rapid transit can boost the economy and ease traffic congestion, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit says the tax will cost the average family $12 a month. That figure comes from the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organizations long-range transportation plan. It puts the cost of a 1 cent sales tax for the average family at $142 a year, and the average for a single person at $85 a year. The MPO came up with those numbers by plugging the countys household incomes into the IRS sales tax deduction calculator, available on the agencys Web site. The IRS developed the calculator because tax rules allow people to deduct either sales taxes paid annually or state income tax from their federal returns, and the calculator enables them to arrive at a reasonable estimate without having to save a basket of receipts. MPO planner Beth Alden said she used average household income rather than median income. The number weve been using is the higher one, just to be more conservative, she said. The countys average family of three has a household income of $77,852, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A single households average income is $44,832. We plugged those figures into the IRS calculator and it showed the average family would pay $141.83 a year in local sales tax, which currently is 1 percent. A single person would pay $91.50.Thats virtually the same as the MPO estimates. The figure does not include sales taxes on major purchases, such as cars, mobile homes or construction materials for a house. Those are listed separately on tax returns. The county sales tax on items worth more than $5,000 is capped, meaning the maximum amount paid on any single item would be $50. But how accurate is the IRS calculator? Skeptical observers say it spits out a low figure. Its in the IRS interest to have that on the lower end, obviously, to decrease the deductions, said Rusty Spoor, a tax accountant at Foley & Lardner. He guessed the calculator could be as much as 30 percent off. Like other tax experts, he noted its impossible to determine exactly how much people pay a year in sales taxes without saving receipts, so the IRS calculator is a useful tool. Thats the best of the poorest options, he said. I dont think that numbers great, but its the best starting point. The calculator is based on spending patterns captured in the Consumer Expenditure Survey conducted annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IRS spokesperson Florida Mike Dobzinski said. Thats the best method for calculating how much people pay in sales tax, according to Frank Williams, chief economist for the Florida Department of Revenues Office of Tax Research. It should be fairly close, he said. It may understate it by 2 to 5 percent, but thats just a gut feel.Opponents of the sales tax say it will cost residents much more than the MPO estimates. Jim Hosler, a demographer running for Hillsborough County commissioner, initially figured it would cost households nearly $400 a year. He came up with that number by dividing the estimated revenue from the tax about $174 million, according to the Florida Legislative Committee on Intergovernmental Relations by 454,000, the approximate number of households in Hillsborough County. That comes about $383. Trouble is, residents arent the only ones who pay sales taxes. Tourists, commuters and businesses also pay them. Experts say theres no way to know exactly who pays what, but most estimate that non-residents bear about 20 percent of the tax burden. Under that calculation, the cost is $307 per household. But that spreads out sales taxes equally among all households, regardless of income. And a household that earns $200,000 a year will pay much more in sales taxes than a $20,000 household, simply by virtue of having more disposable income. Hosler concedes his number may be high. But their number is definitely a low number, he said. The real number is probably somewhere in between. Clearly there are a number of ways to calculate the figure, and the result for all of them is a somewhat imprecise. Still, our research shows that the number in the brochure is very close to the one provided by the MPO, and HART used a recognized, legitimate source in coming up with the figure. The IRS calculation, while perhaps on the low side, is a recognized standard. So we rate the statement Mostly True.
|
[
"Economy",
"Energy",
"Infrastructure",
"Transportation",
"Urban",
"Taxes",
"Florida"
] |
[] |
[] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/oct/05/joseph-kyrillos/joe-kyrillos-says-united-states-has-highest-corpor/
|
Says the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.
|
Erin O'Neill
|
10/04/2012
|
[] |
Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Kyrillos said increased revenues are needed to deal with the national debt, but the path to that goal isnt paved with tax hikes.Rather, Kyrillos said, he wants to lower taxes to stimulate growth.Well, we're going to have to raise revenue and I want to do it through growth. I want to lower tax rates. I want to make sure that America doesn't have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, which is what we have now, and lower the rates for everybody, Kyrillos said during a debate tonight with his Democratic rival, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, that aired on NJTV.Are corporations in the United States subject to the highest tax rate in the world?The statutory rate for businesses is the highest among industrialized nations. But for the rate businesses actually pay -- whats called the effective tax rate -- the United States ranks among the highest, but not at the very top, according to studies.We checked a nearly identical claim that Kyrillos made during an Aug. 20 interview on WOR-AM. Then he said, we've got the highest corporate tax rate in the world. We rated that statement Mostly True.At that time, a spokeswoman for Kyrillos cited the nations top statutory corporate tax rate of 39.2 percent. That rate is a combination of federal, state and local tax rates before any tax breaks are factored in.Japan used to have a higher statutory rate than the United States. But in April, Japan reduced its rate and the U.S. took first place among industrialized nations, according to the Tax Foundation, a business-backed group.So on that point, Kyrillos is right.Since businesses receive a number of tax breaks, the effective tax rate for corporations in the U.S. isnt the worlds highest, but its still up there.More than a dozen of the most recent studies on effective corporate tax rates across the world found businesses in the U.S. paid an effective rate between 23 percent and 34.9 percent, according to a September 2011 report from the Tax Foundation.The effective rate varied between the studies the Tax Foundation looked at because of different methodologies.In those studies, the U.S. never ranked first in the world. But in 10 of the studies, the nations effective corporate tax rate ranked among the top five highest.Its worth noting that an analysis by the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice along with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, found that 30 Fortune 500 companies, including General Electric, didnt pay any federal corporate income taxes over the 2008-2010 period.As for what is the better measure -- statutory rates or effective rates -- we found mixed views.Scott Hodge, the president of the Tax Foundation, told PolitiFact New Jersey in August that because statutory rates are fixed they make for better comparisons, whereas effective rates are unpredictable and vary across different industries.But Joseph Rosenberg, a research associate at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said effective tax rates provide the best measure of comparison for overall tax burdens.Then Aparna Mathur, an economist with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said in an e-mail that both are equally valid measures of looking at the burden of the corporate income tax.Our rulingKyrillos repeated a claim he made before that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.Thats true for the nations statutory corporate tax rate among industrialized nations. When Japan lowered its statutory rate, the United States moved into first place.Even when accounting for various tax breaks, the effective rate is still among the highest.On the Truth-O-Meter, we rate this statement Mostly True.To comment on this ruling, go toNJ.com.
|
[
"New Jersey",
"Corporations",
"Taxes"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/10/joe_kyrillos_menendez_tax.html"
],
"sentence": "Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Kyrillos said increased revenues are needed to deal with the national debt, but the path to that goal isnt paved with tax hikes.Rather, Kyrillos said, he wants to lower taxes to stimulate growth.Well, we're going to have to raise revenue and I want to do it through growth. I want to lower tax rates. I want to make sure that America doesn't have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, which is what we have now, and lower the rates for everybody, Kyrillos said during a debate tonight with his Democratic rival, U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, that aired on NJTV.Are corporations in the United States subject to the highest tax rate in the world?The statutory rate for businesses is the highest among industrialized nations. But for the rate businesses actually pay -- whats called the effective tax rate -- the United States ranks among the highest, but not at the very top, according to studies.We checked a nearly identical claim that Kyrillos made during an Aug. 20 interview on WOR-AM. Then he said, we've got the highest corporate tax rate in the world. We rated that statement Mostly True.At that time, a spokeswoman for Kyrillos cited the nations top statutory corporate tax rate of 39.2 percent. That rate is a combination of federal, state and local tax rates before any tax breaks are factored in.Japan used to have a higher statutory rate than the United States. But in April, Japan reduced its rate and the U.S. took first place among industrialized nations, according to the Tax Foundation, a business-backed group.So on that point, Kyrillos is right.Since businesses receive a number of tax breaks, the effective tax rate for corporations in the U.S. isnt the worlds highest, but its still up there.More than a dozen of the most recent studies on effective corporate tax rates across the world found businesses in the U.S. paid an effective rate between 23 percent and 34.9 percent, according to a September 2011 report from the Tax Foundation.The effective rate varied between the studies the Tax Foundation looked at because of different methodologies.In those studies, the U.S. never ranked first in the world. But in 10 of the studies, the nations effective corporate tax rate ranked among the top five highest.Its worth noting that an analysis by the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice along with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, found that 30 Fortune 500 companies, including General Electric, didnt pay any federal corporate income taxes over the 2008-2010 period.As for what is the better measure -- statutory rates or effective rates -- we found mixed views.Scott Hodge, the president of the Tax Foundation, told PolitiFact New Jersey in August that because statutory rates are fixed they make for better comparisons, whereas effective rates are unpredictable and vary across different industries.But Joseph Rosenberg, a research associate at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, said effective tax rates provide the best measure of comparison for overall tax burdens.Then Aparna Mathur, an economist with the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said in an e-mail that both are equally valid measures of looking at the burden of the corporate income tax.Our rulingKyrillos repeated a claim he made before that the United States has the highest corporate tax rate in the world.Thats true for the nations statutory corporate tax rate among industrialized nations. When Japan lowered its statutory rate, the United States moved into first place.Even when accounting for various tax breaks, the effective rate is still among the highest.On the Truth-O-Meter, we rate this statement Mostly True.To comment on this ruling, go toNJ.com."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2013/may/07/fix-austin-schools/group-says-under-perrys-plan-texas-cut-funding-sch/
|
Says that under Rick Perrys plan, Texas has cut funding for public schools by 25%.
|
W. Gardner Selby
|
05/07/2013
|
[] |
Fix Austin Schools, a group advocating voter approval of four bond propositions benefiting the Austin school district, slammed Gov. Rick Perrys education plan in a leaflet fielded by local voters in early May 2013.Under the word cut in capital letters, one side of the leaflet says: Under Rick Perry, Texas has CUT funding for public schools by 25%, a conclusion attributed to PolitiFact.Lynda Rife, a consultant to the group, told us the claim echoed our January 2013 review of Perrys statement to reporters at the time that Texas public school funding grew at three times the rate of enrollment from 2002 to 2012.In raw terms, there was a basis for Perrys claim. However, after adjusting for inflation and the effect of an annual tax swap put in motion by lawmakers and Perry in 2006, we concluded that Texas schools in 2012 were fielding 25 percent less in state aid than what they reaped in 2002. Perrys claim drew arating of False.At the time, we looked at enrollment changes and at both overall school spending, counting dollars from state, federal and local sources, and state education aid alone.EnrollmentEnrollment increased about 20 percent from 2001-02 to 2011-12, from more than 4.1 million to nearly 5 million students, according to a December 2012 report by the Texas Education Agency. By email, agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe told us 2012-13 enrollment was expected to exceed 5 million, a figure subsequently confirmed, Ratcliffe told us recently by email.Overall spendingOverall school expenditures totaled $27.9 billion in 2002 and $44.2 billion in 2012, according to a chart from the Legislative Budget Board, which tracks fiscal issues for lawmakers.That makes for a difference of 58 percent, though thats also before adjusting for inflation, which the boards staff did by converting figures to 2004 dollars using an inflation adjuster devised by the federal government, the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government.In 2004 dollars, Texas public school spending in 2002 totaled $30.1 billion. In 2012, the total was $33.3 billion--11 percent greater than in 2002.By this measure, then, it looks like school enrollment went up faster than spending. Then again, we learned, these figures were not behind Perrys statement.State spending alonePerrys then-spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, told us by email that Perry was referring to the difference in state education spending alone as those are the funds the state has control over.The budget boards chart shows $10.9 billion in state spending on the schools in 2002 and $18.9 billion in 2012, for a 73 percent difference, or a little more than Perrys declared 70 percent.Adjusting for inflation, though, reduces the increase to 20 percent, which was still outpacing enrollment growth. In 2004 dollars, such spending was $14.2 billion in 2012, compared with $11.8 billion in 2002.Another crucial factorAnalyst Eva DeLuna Castro of the liberal Center for Public Policy Priorities and school lobbyist Lynn Moak, a former Texas Education Agency official, each pointed out another wrinkle, suggesting that any consideration of state education spending should take into account changes in law approved in 2006 resulting in the state picking up about $7 billion more in annual costs in return for school districts cutting local maintenance and operation property tax rates.Castro said by email: The property tax cut was $14.2 billion a biennium, or $7.1 billion every year. That means the state had to put in that amount of money a year to offset local property taxes falling by the same amount.The shift in funding sources did not, in itself, step up aid received by the schools, Castro said.Moak said by phone: This was simply a source-of-funds transfer.To adjust for the annual cost shift, we subtracted $7.1 billion from the state spending in 2012, suggesting a $0.9 billion difference from the 2002 spending. However, adjusting for inflation makes the 2012 state spending equal $8.2 billion in 2002 dollars--25 percent less than the $10.9 billion spent in 2002, which also would mean that spending trailed enrollment growth.For this article, finally, we weighed the message that the reduced spending was Perrys education plan. Perry was governor through all the spending decisions, but the reality is that Republican majorities of the 150-member House and 31-member Senate were needed to pass the decisions into law. Perry was key, but he didn't dictate actions. No governor can.Our rulingThe pro-bonds group said that under Perrys education plan, Texas has cut funding for public schools by 25 percent.State education spending in 2012 was 25 percent lower than it was in 2002, adjusting for inflation and the real effects of the 2006 law giving the state more responsibility for education revenues.Yet Perry didnt cause the reduction by himself; lawmakers acted, too. This clarification is missing from the groups statement, which we rate as Mostly True.
|
[
"Children",
"Education",
"State Budget",
"Texas"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2013/jan/16/rick-perry/rick-perry-says-texas-education-increased-phenomen/"
],
"sentence": "Fix Austin Schools, a group advocating voter approval of four bond propositions benefiting the Austin school district, slammed Gov. Rick Perrys education plan in a leaflet fielded by local voters in early May 2013.Under the word cut in capital letters, one side of the leaflet says: Under Rick Perry, Texas has CUT funding for public schools by 25%, a conclusion attributed to PolitiFact.Lynda Rife, a consultant to the group, told us the claim echoed our January 2013 review of Perrys statement to reporters at the time that Texas public school funding grew at three times the rate of enrollment from 2002 to 2012.In raw terms, there was a basis for Perrys claim. However, after adjusting for inflation and the effect of an annual tax swap put in motion by lawmakers and Perry in 2006, we concluded that Texas schools in 2012 were fielding 25 percent less in state aid than what they reaped in 2002. Perrys claim drew arating of False.At the time, we looked at enrollment changes and at both overall school spending, counting dollars from state, federal and local sources, and state education aid alone.EnrollmentEnrollment increased about 20 percent from 2001-02 to 2011-12, from more than 4.1 million to nearly 5 million students, according to a December 2012 report by the Texas Education Agency. By email, agency spokeswoman Debbie Ratcliffe told us 2012-13 enrollment was expected to exceed 5 million, a figure subsequently confirmed, Ratcliffe told us recently by email.Overall spendingOverall school expenditures totaled $27.9 billion in 2002 and $44.2 billion in 2012, according to a chart from the Legislative Budget Board, which tracks fiscal issues for lawmakers.That makes for a difference of 58 percent, though thats also before adjusting for inflation, which the boards staff did by converting figures to 2004 dollars using an inflation adjuster devised by the federal government, the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government.In 2004 dollars, Texas public school spending in 2002 totaled $30.1 billion. In 2012, the total was $33.3 billion--11 percent greater than in 2002.By this measure, then, it looks like school enrollment went up faster than spending. Then again, we learned, these figures were not behind Perrys statement.State spending alonePerrys then-spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, told us by email that Perry was referring to the difference in state education spending alone as those are the funds the state has control over.The budget boards chart shows $10.9 billion in state spending on the schools in 2002 and $18.9 billion in 2012, for a 73 percent difference, or a little more than Perrys declared 70 percent.Adjusting for inflation, though, reduces the increase to 20 percent, which was still outpacing enrollment growth. In 2004 dollars, such spending was $14.2 billion in 2012, compared with $11.8 billion in 2002.Another crucial factorAnalyst Eva DeLuna Castro of the liberal Center for Public Policy Priorities and school lobbyist Lynn Moak, a former Texas Education Agency official, each pointed out another wrinkle, suggesting that any consideration of state education spending should take into account changes in law approved in 2006 resulting in the state picking up about $7 billion more in annual costs in return for school districts cutting local maintenance and operation property tax rates.Castro said by email: The property tax cut was $14.2 billion a biennium, or $7.1 billion every year. That means the state had to put in that amount of money a year to offset local property taxes falling by the same amount.The shift in funding sources did not, in itself, step up aid received by the schools, Castro said.Moak said by phone: This was simply a source-of-funds transfer.To adjust for the annual cost shift, we subtracted $7.1 billion from the state spending in 2012, suggesting a $0.9 billion difference from the 2002 spending. However, adjusting for inflation makes the 2012 state spending equal $8.2 billion in 2002 dollars--25 percent less than the $10.9 billion spent in 2002, which also would mean that spending trailed enrollment growth.For this article, finally, we weighed the message that the reduced spending was Perrys education plan. Perry was governor through all the spending decisions, but the reality is that Republican majorities of the 150-member House and 31-member Senate were needed to pass the decisions into law. Perry was key, but he didn't dictate actions. No governor can.Our rulingThe pro-bonds group said that under Perrys education plan, Texas has cut funding for public schools by 25 percent.State education spending in 2012 was 25 percent lower than it was in 2002, adjusting for inflation and the real effects of the 2006 law giving the state more responsibility for education revenues.Yet Perry didnt cause the reduction by himself; lawmakers acted, too. This clarification is missing from the groups statement, which we rate as Mostly True."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/customer-liability-for-chipped-card-emv-fraud/
|
Customer Liability for Chipped Card (EMV) Fraud
|
Kim LaCapria
|
08/04/2016
|
[
"The introduction of the EMV \"chip card\" has led to misinformation that swiping chipped credit or debit cards leaves consumers liable for fraud."
] |
The introduction of new EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) technology has enhanced the security of debit and credit card transactions by replacing standard cards with ones embedded with small computer chips thats extremely hard to counterfeit. The addition of the chips makes the cards much harder to counterfeit and provides for additional authentication and security during point-of-sale transactions. The manner in which EMV cards are physically handled during a sales transaction is somewhat different than with older cards, however. Rather than being swiped through a point-of-sale (POS) terminal, EMV cards are inserted (or "dipped") into the terminal and left in place for the entire transaction so that the reader and card can talk back and forth. EMV cards can be either swiped or dipped (since not all merchants are yet set up with EMV-compliant card readers), and that duality has led to some confusion among consumers about whether liability for fraudulent transactions shifts depending upon how an EMV card is processed. Specifically, some consumers have heard rumors that swiping an EMV card rather than dipping it leaves them (rather than the merchant or card issuer) liable for any ensuing fraudulent use of the card. The issue of fraud liability has evolved with the introduction of EMV cards, but that liability has not been passed back onto cardholders. According to CreditCards.com, that evolution solely concerns determining whether the merchant or the card issuer is the party bears liability for fraud in any given case cardholders themselves remain protected from liability, regardless of whether their EMV cards are swiped or dipped: CreditCards.com Cardholders may be adjusting to "dipping" their chip cards instead of swiping them, but they won't have to adjust to fraud liability changes. If an authorized transaction occurs against a consumer's credit account, they will continue to be reimbursed by their card issuer for the charges per the major networks' (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover) zero-liability policies. If the issuer finds that the fraud occurred at a non-EMV compliant merchant, it can request a refund for the chargeback transaction, but the consumer is not involved. Consumers will not be responsible for fraud charges that result from a merchant not being prepared to properly accept EMV cards or because their card issuer has not yet sent them a chip-embedded card. What the new rules govern is whether merchants or card issuers (i.e., banks and credit unions) are liable in cases of credit card fraud, with responsibility now falling upon whichever party was least EMV-compliant: Today, if an in-store transaction is conducted using a counterfeit, stolen or otherwise compromised card, consumer losses from that transaction fall back on the payment processor or issuing bank, depending on the card's terms and conditions. Following an Oct. 1, 2015 deadline created by major U.S. credit card issuers MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express, the liability for card-present fraud shifted to whichever party is the least EMV-compliant in a fraudulent transaction. Consider the example of a financial institution that issues a chip card used at a merchant that has not changed its system to accept chip technology. This allows a counterfeit card to be successfully used. "The cost of the fraud will fall back on the merchant," [chip card service company president Martin] Ferenczi says. The change is intended to help bring the entire payment industry on board with EMV by encouraging compliance to avoid liability costs. A separate article on that web site illustrated the liability shifts with a chart: illustrated Many consumers have noticed that although some merchants have seemingly upgraded to EMV-compliant POS terminals, the card slots on those terminals are puzzlingly non-operational (and thus require that customers swipe their chipped cards). As the New York Times noted in March 2016, that situation is the result of merchants' having to wait for certification of their terminals: noted Avi Kaner, a co-owner of the Morton Williams supermarket chain in New York, has spent about $700,000 to update the payment terminals at his stores. Trouble is, he cannot turn them on. The new terminals can accept credit and debit cards with embedded digital chips, a security feature intended to reduce the number of fraudulent purchases. But before the payment systems can work, they must be certified, a process that Mr. Kaner and many retailers around the country are waiting to happen. In the case of Morton Williams, the holdup has lasted several months. The cost of waiting, retailers say, is piling up. Until recently, banks covered much of the cost of fraudulent purchases. Since Oct. 1, though, merchants that cannot accept chip cards have had to shoulder the cost of fraud, and banks have not been shy about passing along the bill. For years, retailers have argued that the technology, commonly referred to as E.M.V., which stands for Europay, MasterCard and Visa, the technologys early advocates, mainly protected banks. Mr. Peterson estimated that only 40 to 50 percent of retailers are capable of accepting chip cards. Kaner told the newspaper he believed consumers were taking advantage of the interim period to file suspicious chargebacks due to the shift in liability: Mr. Kaner worries that some customers may be using the Oct. 1 liability shift to get out of paying for legitimate purchases. The number of chargebacks, he said, has risen sharply. It started out as a trickle, and now its turning into a flood, he said. In the first couple months, it might have been a few hundred dollars a month. Now, its thousands a month. Terry Crowley, CEO of processor TranSend, told KrebsonSecurity that consumer dishonesty was a larger issue than consumer liability during the transition period: told Crowley predicts that plenty of smaller merchants could soon get hit with a wave of chargebacks from unscrupulous people abusing the liability shift at merchants that still dont offer the chip dip. Theres an invisible hand at work that is about to kick everyone in the pants and accelerate U.S. dipping into EMV slots, Crowley said. If you use a chip card at a point of sale that says swipe and you later say that wasnt me theres very little a merchant can do to dispute that charge. Its going to happen because what people arent thinking about is the friendly fraud. When people are made aware that if I swipe and I have a chip card, that lunch can be free if Im a bad consumer. It's possible cardholders have confused information intended for merchants as being directed at them.Processor Square published a short instructional guide for the EMV card liability shift that might have caused such confusion among consumers who didn't realize the pronoun "you" referred to merchants and not cardholders: instructional guide But, in short, consumers don't have to adjust to fraud liability changes with EMV cards. That's an issue for merchants and card issuers to sort out between them. Abrams, Rachel. "Chip-Card Payment System Delays Frustrate Retailers."
The New York Times. 22 March 2016. Kossman, Sienna. "7 Merchant Tips to Understanding EMV Fraud Liability Shift."
CreditCards.com. 21 June 2016. Kossman, Sienna. "8 FAQs About EMV Credit Cards."
CreditCards.com. 17 June 2016. KrebsonSecurity. "The Great EMV Fake-Out: No Chip for You!"
16 February 2016.
|
[
"credit"
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},
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1nf7tF8mqaKqZaZL0-Pfm5Ld9FwdKjqIP"
}
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/emv-faq-chip-cards-answers-1264.php"
],
"sentence": "The issue of fraud liability has evolved with the introduction of EMV cards, but that liability has not been passed back onto cardholders. According to CreditCards.com, that evolution solely concerns determining whether the merchant or the card issuer is the party bears liability for fraud in any given case cardholders themselves remain protected from liability, regardless of whether their EMV cards are swiped or dipped:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/understanding-EMV-fraud-liability-shift-1271.php"
],
"sentence": "A separate article on that web site illustrated the liability shifts with a chart:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/business/chip-card-payment-system-delays-frustrate-retailers.html"
],
"sentence": "Many consumers have noticed that although some merchants have seemingly upgraded to EMV-compliant POS terminals, the card slots on those terminals are puzzlingly non-operational (and thus require that customers swipe their chipped cards). As the New York Times noted in March 2016, that situation is the result of merchants' having to wait for certification of their terminals:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/02/the-great-emv-fake-out-no-chip-for-you/"
],
"sentence": "Terry Crowley, CEO of processor TranSend, told KrebsonSecurity that consumer dishonesty was a larger issue than consumer liability during the transition period:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://squareup.com/emv-liability-shift"
],
"sentence": "It's possible cardholders have confused information intended for merchants as being directed at them.Processor Square published a short instructional guide for the EMV card liability shift that might have caused such confusion among consumers who didn't realize the pronoun \"you\" referred to merchants and not cardholders:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nwllab-moh-bulletin-coronavirus/
|
Was This 'Health Bulletin' an Accurate Coronavirus Warning?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
01/31/2020
|
[
"A viral social media post erroneously advised the public to \"keep your throat moist\" in order to avoid contracting the respiratory infection."
] |
In January 2020 we received multiple inquiries from readers about an alert that was shared widely on Facebook and Twitter, purporting to be an "emergency notification" from an unspecified "Ministry of Health" about an ongoing outbreak of a new coronavirus. Broadly speaking, the warning appeared in two forms. The most commonly shared was a text post that typically read as follows: *Urgent: Health Bulletin to the Public * *Ministry of healths emergency notification to the public that the Coronavirus outbreak this time is very very serious & fatal. There's no cure once you are infected.**Its spreading from China to various countries* *Prevention method is to keep your throat moist, do not let your throat dry up. Thus do not hold your thirst because once your membrane in your throat is dried, the virus will invade into your body within 10 mins.**Drink 50-80cc warm water, 30-50cc for kids, according to age.* *Everytime u feel your throat is dry, do not wait, keep water in hand.* *Do not drink plenty at one time as it doesnt help, instead continue to keep throat moist.**Till end of March 2020, do not go to crowded places, wear mask as needed especially in train or public transportation* *Avoid fried or spicy food and load up vitamin C.**The symptoms/ description are**1.repeated high fever**2.prolonged coughing after fever**3.Children are prone**4.Adults usually feel uneasy,*headache and mainly respiratory related**5: highly contagious* The message was typically followed up with an exhortation to share its warnings, such as, "Please forward to help others." One version of the viral alert even concluded by pleading with readers, "Please share if you care for human life." warnings version The second principal form in which the message appeared was as a photograph of a printed email, dated Jan. 28, 2020, and purporting to have been sent by "NWLLAB." It contained many of the same key components it purported to come from an unspecified "MOH" (Ministry of Health), and its main recommendation to the public was again to "keep your throat moist" by drinking water. It read as follows: appeared photograph Pls tell ur families, relatives and friends MOH Health Bulletin to the Public: The Upper Respiratory Infection affecting China at present is quite serious. The virus causing it is very potent and is resistant to existing antibiotics. (virus is not bacterial infection hence cannot be treated by antibiotics). The prevention method now is to keep your throat moist, do not let your throat dry up. Thus do not hold your thirst because once your membrane in your throat is dried, the virus will invade into your body within 10 mins. Drink 50-80cc warm water, 30-50cc for kids, according to age. Everytime [sic] you feel your throat is dry, do not wait, keep water in hand. Do not drink plenty at one time as it does not help; instead, continue to keep throat moist. Till end of March, do not go to crowded places, wear mask as needed especially in train or public transportation. Avoid fried or spicy food and load up vitamin C. The symptoms/description are: 1. Repeated high fever.2. Prolonged coughing after fever. 3. Children are more prone. 4. Adults usually feel uneasy, headache and mainly respiratory related illness. This illness is highly contagious. Let's continue to pray and wait for further notice about the infection. Please share. Neither the printed email nor the viral Facebook message were official statements produced by any public health authority. The alert was apt to spread widely online precisely because it did not include any details about its supposed source, aside from mentioning a "Ministry of Health" in an unspecified country or region. The message also contained erroneous advice, claiming that readers could avoid contracting the virus by "keeping your throat moist," avoiding fried or spicy food, and taking vitamin-C supplements. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the so-called "novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)" outbreak is thought to have first been transmitted from animals to humans in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China. Since then, it has spread from person to person. Previous coronaviruses like Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been transmitted between humans primarily through "respiratory droplets" that is, coughs and sneezes. outbreak The CDC's general respiratory infection prevention advice applies to the 2019-nCoV outbreak, as follows: as follows No evidence exists to indicate that any public health authority is officially advising the public that a dry throat makes individuals more vulnerable to contracting the virus, and that therefore drinking water is an effective prevention method, nor that vitamin C deficiency contributes to one's vulnerability to contracting the illness, nor that fried and spicy food are a medium for transmission of 2019-nCoV. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Situation Summary."
30 January 2020. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "2019 Novel Coronavirus -- Prevention and Treatment."
30 January 2020.
|
[
"share"
] |
[
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1wrrPU6HOEbim3kHrwQsw76Zv0kTH1fGM"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/stteklehaimanot.ottawa.7/posts/541679743365250",
"https://archive.is/ISzJ3"
],
"sentence": "The message was typically followed up with an exhortation to share its warnings, such as, \"Please forward to help others.\" One version of the viral alert even concluded by pleading with readers, \"Please share if you care for human life.\" "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/MethodistChurchFiji/photos/a.494219720667971/2776065395816714/?type=3&theater",
"https://archive.is/i6pZd"
],
"sentence": "The second principal form in which the message appeared was as a photograph of a printed email, dated Jan. 28, 2020, and purporting to have been sent by \"NWLLAB.\" It contained many of the same key components it purported to come from an unspecified \"MOH\" (Ministry of Health), and its main recommendation to the public was again to \"keep your throat moist\" by drinking water. It read as follows:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/QDCLo"
],
"sentence": "According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the so-called \"novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV)\" outbreak is thought to have first been transmitted from animals to humans in Wuhan, Hubei Province, in China. Since then, it has spread from person to person. Previous coronaviruses like Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been transmitted between humans primarily through \"respiratory droplets\" that is, coughs and sneezes. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/n8Vnm"
],
"sentence": "The CDC's general respiratory infection prevention advice applies to the 2019-nCoV outbreak, as follows:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/can-firechat-send-messages-without-internet/
|
Can the 'FireChat' App Send Messages Without an Internet Connection?
|
Dan Evon
|
09/07/2017
|
[
"The app works as advertised, but it does have some distance limitations."
] |
As a series of hurricanes made landfall in August and September 2017, those living in the affected areas have been searching for a communication tool that would enable them to send messages in the event of a service outage. An app called "FireChat" is one of the most widely suggested tools, due to its purported ability to send messages without an internet connection: web site When no Internet connection or cellular networks are available, FireChat uses the radios inside our phones to connect them directly with one another. In that case (which is also called "offline" or off-the-grid), messages will travel up to 70 meters (210 feet) from one phone to the next. If there are more than two devices, they will form a network and messages will bounce from one device to the next, thus extending the range of the network. The more people use FireChat, the better the network gets for everybody. This is why FireChat works really well for very large groups of people. In other words, FireChat wouldn't be able to send a text message from Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington (a distance of more than 3,000 miles) unless an unbroken chain of tens of thousands of FireChat users spanned that distance. However, it can be used to send messages within a community of FireChat users without the Internet: used What's unique about FireChat is that it also works when there is no Internet connection or cellular phone coverage. It even works on a plane. When your community gets together, it creates your own free communication network and doesnt rely on traditional networks. You don't have to do anything special: just keep FireChat on your smartphone and keep Bluetooth and WiFi on (yes, even if there is no Internet access). This is game-changing since you can create local communication networks at zero cost and also stay connected during sports games, rallies, music festivals, and in emergency situations. The MIT Technology Review explained more about how the app works in an article that was published shortly after FireChat's initial release in 2014: explained FireChat makes use of a feature Apple introduced in the latest version of its iOS mobile software, iOS7, called multipeer connectivity. This feature allows phones to connect to one another directly using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi as an alternative to the Internet. If youre using FireChat, its nearby chat room lets you exchange messages with other users within 100 feet without sending data via your cellular provider. Micha Benoliel, CEO and cofounder of startup Open Garden, which made FireChat, says the app shows how smartphones can be set free from cellular networks. He hopes to enable many more Internet-optional apps with the upcoming release of software tools that will help developers build FireChat-style apps for iPhone, or for Android, Mac, and Windows devices. This approach is very interesting for multiplayer gaming and all kinds of communication apps, says Benoliel. Christophe Daligault, the vice president of sales and marketing for the app, told NPR that it works on a "mesh" network: NPR Mesh networks can be used to set up temporary networks in disaster zones, and even to spread the Internet to remote areas beyond the reach of existing wireless networks and cables. That's the technology that Google and Facebook are counting on for their plans of spreading the Internet across the globe with balloons and drones. [...] "Once you build a mesh network ... now you have a network that is resilient, self-healing, cannot be controlled by any central organization, cannot be shut down and is always working," Daligault says. "I think that solves many other drawbacks or challenges of the mobile broadband Internet today." He says none of this would be possible without the rapid spread of smartphones, because that means no extra hardware is needed. "Each [phone] becomes a router and in a sense you're growing the Internet everyone who joins the mesh network creates an extension of the Internet," Daligault says. "In a year or two from now, I think people won't even remember that you had to be on Wi-Fi or get a cell signal to be able to communicate." The FireChat app can send messages without Internet service as stated. However, the app does some have limitations. Potential users, especially those searching for an emergency communication tool to use during a natural disaster, should visit the FireChat home page to make sure that they understand how the app works: FireChat The messaging app Zello was also widely suggested for emergency communications in September 2017. Although there are several benefits to that particular app during an emergency (it is billed as a "walkie-talkie" app), Zello does not work without the internet. Zello Toor, Amar. "This App Lets Rescue Workers Send Offline Alerts When Disaster Strikes"
The Verge. 19 May 2016. Yu, Alan. "How One App Might Be A Step Toward Internet Everywhere."
NPR. 7 April 2014. Simonite, Tom. "The Latest Chat App for iPhone Needs No Internet Connection."
MIT Technology Review. 28 March 2014.
|
[
"interest"
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}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.opengarden.com/how-to.html"
],
"sentence": "In other words, FireChat wouldn't be able to send a text message from Miami, Florida to Seattle, Washington (a distance of more than 3,000 miles) unless an unbroken chain of tens of thousands of FireChat users spanned that distance. However, it can be used to send messages within a community of FireChat users without the Internet:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.technologyreview.com/s/525921/the-latest-chat-app-for-iphone-needs-no-internet-connection/"
],
"sentence": "The MIT Technology Review explained more about how the app works in an article that was published shortly after FireChat's initial release in 2014:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/04/07/298925565/how-one-app-might-be-a-step-toward-internet-everywhere",
"https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/04/07/298925565/how-one-app-might-be-a-step-toward-internet-everywhere"
],
"sentence": "Christophe Daligault, the vice president of sales and marketing for the app, told NPR that it works on a \"mesh\" network:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.opengarden.com/firechat.html"
],
"sentence": "The FireChat app can send messages without Internet service as stated. However, the app does some have limitations. Potential users, especially those searching for an emergency communication tool to use during a natural disaster, should visit the FireChat home page to make sure that they understand how the app works:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/zello-work-without-internet/"
],
"sentence": "The messaging app Zello was also widely suggested for emergency communications in September 2017. Although there are several benefits to that particular app during an emergency (it is billed as a \"walkie-talkie\" app), Zello does not work without the internet. "
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/betty-white-grow-some-balls/
|
Betty White on 'Grow Some Balls'
|
David Emery
|
07/17/2016
|
[
"A popular joke about the wisdom of the saying 'Grow some balls' is falsely attributed to actress Betty White."
] |
A popular meme circulating since 2011 via the Internet quotes nonagenarian comic actress Betty White thusly: But while the observation has much of the cadence, attitude and wit that have made White so beloved by American audiences over the years, she never uttered those words and made no bones about it when they were recited to her by a writer for The Guardian: "That's what I hate about Facebook and the internet. They can say you said anything. I never would have said that. I'd never say that in a million years." The Guardian So, who did say it? Partial credit goes to New York standup comedian Sheng Wang, who delivered a lengthier version of the joke on the 28 January 2011 episode of Comedy Central Presents: Sheng Wang Comedy Central Presents A friend said to me, "Hey you need to grow a pair. Grow a pair, Bro." It's when someone calls you weak, but they associate it with a lack of testicles. Which is weird, because testicles are the most sensitive things in the world. If you suddenly just grew a pair, you'd be a lot more vulnerable. If you want to be tough, you should lose a pair. If you want to be real tough, you should grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding. And it appears that Wang's routine borrowed heavily from a bit by comedian Hal Sparks, "Pussy Is Tougher," which aired on Showtime in 2010. Pussy Is Tougher Cragg, Michael."Betty White: TV's Golden Girl on 63 Years in Show Business."
The Guardian.9 November 2012.
|
[
"credit"
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[
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/nov/10/betty-white-golden-girl"
],
"sentence": "But while the observation has much of the cadence, attitude and wit that have made White so beloved by American audiences over the years, she never uttered those words and made no bones about it when they were recited to her by a writer for The Guardian: \"That's what I hate about Facebook and the internet. They can say you said anything. I never would have said that. I'd never say that in a million years.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://shengwangtime.com/",
"https://www.cc.com/video-clips/uuwzqz/comedy-central-presents-grow-a-pair"
],
"sentence": "So, who did say it? Partial credit goes to New York standup comedian Sheng Wang, who delivered a lengthier version of the joke on the 28 January 2011 episode of Comedy Central Presents:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcM0DPH2bNo"
],
"sentence": "And it appears that Wang's routine borrowed heavily from a bit by comedian Hal Sparks, \"Pussy Is Tougher,\" which aired on Showtime in 2010."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/amelia-bassano-william-shakespeare/
|
Amelia Bassano: The True Shakespeare?
|
Dan Evon
|
08/20/2015
|
[
"Did a black woman named Amelia Bassano really write all of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare? Unlikely."
] |
In August 2015, a meme claiming that a black woman named Amelia Bassano Lanyer was the true (uncredited) author of all of William Shakespeare's plays began circulating online: Although the authorship of Shakespeare's plays remains a topic of some debate among scholars, the above-displayed meme contains several factual errors. First, Aemilia Bassano (later Emilia Lanier) was indeed a published author, not someone whose work was suppressed because of her race or gender. In fact, the Shakespearean Authorship Trust notes that Bassano became the "first woman to publish a book of original poetry" when her work Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum was put into print in 1611: Brought up opposite the theatre district in a family of Venetian Jews of Moroccan ancestry, at the age of 7 she was given to be educated by Countess Susan Bertie, in the family headed by Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby. At the age of 13 she became mistress to Lord Hunsdon, the man in charge of the English theatre. When she got pregnant a decade later she was expelled from court and married off to a minstrel. She was one of the first women to own and operate a school and the first woman to publish a book of original poetry Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611). She died in poverty. Second, Bassano was not black. She was born to Baptista Bassano (a Venice musician at the court of Elizabeth I) and Margaret Johnson in 1569, and biographies of her note that she "was part of a family of Italian court musicians of Moroccan/Semitic ancestry who lived as clandestine Jews." born No contemporaneous accounts describe Bassano as "black" (or "African"), and although its provenance is uncertain, many historians believe that this miniature portrait by Nicholas Hilliard depicts Amelia Bassano: portrait Amelia Bassano may have been dark-complected, however. A 2009 paper published in the Oxfordian, the journal of Shakespearean authorship studies, stated that some of Bassano's relatives were referred to as "black" when they arrived in London, likely due to their dark complexions: referred Brought to London from Venice in 1538/9, the dark-skinned Bassanos, some of whom were described in contemporary records as 'black' and who may have been of Moroccan as well as Jewish ancestry, became established as the Court recorder troupe." Lastly, the claim that Amelia Bassano wrote all of William Shakespeare's plays is a decidedly fringe notion, even within the world of Shakespearean authorship controversies. While she is listed as a potential candidate by the Shakespearean Authorship Trust (a group seemingly determined to credit Shakespeare's work to anyone but Shakespeare himself), even among that group she is included as just one of 66 candidates identified so far: candidate She has long been identified as the 'dark lady' of the Sonnets. Her candidacy was announced in March 2007 in a lecture at the Smithsonian Institution as part of the Washington Shakespeare Festival by John Hudson, artistic director of the Dark Lady Players, a New York company who perform the underlying Jewish allegories in the plays. A 5000 word major article on her appears in the Summer/Fall 2009 special issue of The Oxfordian dedicated to the top authorship candidates.
|
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[
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],
"sentence": "Second, Bassano was not black. She was born to Baptista Bassano (a Venice musician at the court of Elizabeth I) and Margaret Johnson in 1569, and biographies of her note that she \"was part of a family of Italian court musicians of Moroccan/Semitic ancestry who lived as clandestine Jews.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/unmasked--the-identity-of-shakespeares-dark-lady-81490.html"
],
"sentence": "No contemporaneous accounts describe Bassano as \"black\" (or \"African\"), and although its provenance is uncertain, many historians believe that this miniature portrait by Nicholas Hilliard depicts Amelia Bassano:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.scribd.com/doc/15488374/New-Shakespeare-Theory"
],
"sentence": "Amelia Bassano may have been dark-complected, however. A 2009 paper published in the Oxfordian, the journal of Shakespearean authorship studies, stated that some of Bassano's relatives were referred to as \"black\" when they arrived in London, likely due to their dark complexions: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.shakespeareanauthorshiptrust.org.uk/pages/candidates.htm"
],
"sentence": "Lastly, the claim that Amelia Bassano wrote all of William Shakespeare's plays is a decidedly fringe notion, even within the world of Shakespearean authorship controversies. While she is listed as a potential candidate by the Shakespearean Authorship Trust (a group seemingly determined to credit Shakespeare's work to anyone but Shakespeare himself), even among that group she is included as just one of 66 candidates identified so far:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/columbia-graduation-race/
|
Is Columbia University Planning Graduation Ceremonies Based on Race, Background?
|
Jessica Lee
|
03/16/2021
|
[
"It is common for higher education institutions to organize various events in celebration of the annual milestone."
] |
On March 16, 2021, Fox published an article with the headline, "Columbia University hosting 6 separate graduation ceremonies based on income level, race, ethnicities." The link garnered heavy reaction online, notably among high-profile conservative commentators who framed the alleged events by the New York City university as unnecessarily separatist. an article unnecessarily separatist. The viral claim was a misleading depiction of the facts, absent of context explaining why and under what circumstances the university hosted what it dubbed "multicultural graduation ceremonies" annually. In reality, it is common for higher education institutions to organize various graduation ceremonies. In the case of Columbia University, students could attend multiple institution-sponsored commencement celebrations on a voluntary basis. Those facts discredited social media posts that advertised the multicultural events as examples of the university forcing students to celebrate graduation only with peers who identify or look like them. As of this writing, schools within Columbia University were also planning commencement ceremonies for spring 2021 that did not promise to explicitly honor, nor highlight the significance of, graduating seniors who are not white, affluent, or Hispanic. (Here's the page to find information on those events.) Also, the institution was preparing for a university-wide commencement ceremony on April 30. Here's the page university-wide commencement With that said, the Fox article failed to state of the goal of the multicultural ceremonies: to provide students of historically-disenfranchised communities spaces to honor their academic successes with their background and identity front of mind, according to the events' registration page (a portion of which is displayed below). registration page "Complementing our school and University-wide ceremonies, these events provide a more intimate setting for students and guests to gather, incorporate meaningful cultural traditions and celebrate the specific contributions and achievements of their communities," the registration page read. In other words, it was true that, as of this writing, graduating seniors of any undergraduate school at Columbia University could voluntarily attend ceremonies between April 25 and April 30 based on whether they identify as Native, Asian, Black, Latino or Latina, low income, or a member of the LGBTQ community, or whether they are the first generation in their family to achieve the academic milestone. The events would take place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic See the below-displayed screenshot from Columbia University's website for evidence of the 2021 events. The scheduled events, coordinated by Columbia University's Intercultural Resource Center (IRC), were not the first of their kind. According to photographic evidence on the center's Facebook page, it hosted the multicultural graduation ceremonies every year since the social media account's creation in 2012. Facebook page Snopes reached out to university leaders for their response to the Fox News story and subsequent criticism of the multicultural graduation ceremonies. A Columbia University spokesperson emailed us the following statement: Columbia marks graduation every spring with a university-wide Commencement ceremony. [...] The smaller celebratory events held for particular groups are in addition to, not instead of, the main Commencement and Class Day graduation ceremonies. In most instances, these smaller, multicultural gatherings evolved from ceremonies originally created by alumni and students. The gatherings are voluntary, open to every student who wants to participate, and have become a highly anticipated and meaningful part of the Columbia graduation experience. Class Day In sum, while it was true graduating seniors at Columbia University could attend 2021 commencement ceremonies based on race, ethnicity, gender or sexual identity, or socioeconomic status, it was false to frame those events as unprecedented efforts to "bring back segregation" or eliminate diversity at graduation ceremonies. For those reasons, we rate this claim a "Mixture" of true and misleading information.
|
[
"income"
] |
[
{
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},
{
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1_p7q-WHYDORDdbAa4lOw9DMMY8-pl7Ik"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.foxnews.com/us/columbia-university-graduation-ceremonies-income-race-ethnicity",
"https://twitter.com/WrestleFanSoKal/status/1371846389777465351"
],
"sentence": "On March 16, 2021, Fox published an article with the headline, \"Columbia University hosting 6 separate graduation ceremonies based on income level, race, ethnicities.\" The link garnered heavy reaction online, notably among high-profile conservative commentators who framed the alleged events by the New York City university as unnecessarily separatist. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://commencement.columbia.edu/",
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],
"sentence": "As of this writing, schools within Columbia University were also planning commencement ceremonies for spring 2021 that did not promise to explicitly honor, nor highlight the significance of, graduating seniors who are not white, affluent, or Hispanic. (Here's the page to find information on those events.) Also, the institution was preparing for a university-wide commencement ceremony on April 30."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/multicultural/graduateregistration"
],
"sentence": "With that said, the Fox article failed to state of the goal of the multicultural ceremonies: to provide students of historically-disenfranchised communities spaces to honor their academic successes with their background and identity front of mind, according to the events' registration page (a portion of which is displayed below)."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/covid-19/"
],
"sentence": "In other words, it was true that, as of this writing, graduating seniors of any undergraduate school at Columbia University could voluntarily attend ceremonies between April 25 and April 30 based on whether they identify as Native, Asian, Black, Latino or Latina, low income, or a member of the LGBTQ community, or whether they are the first generation in their family to achieve the academic milestone. The events would take place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/ColumbiaOMA/photos/?tab=album&ref=page_internal"
],
"sentence": "The scheduled events, coordinated by Columbia University's Intercultural Resource Center (IRC), were not the first of their kind. According to photographic evidence on the center's Facebook page, it hosted the multicultural graduation ceremonies every year since the social media account's creation in 2012."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://commencement.columbia.edu/content/columbia-college"
],
"sentence": "Columbia marks graduation every spring with a university-wide Commencement ceremony. [...] The smaller celebratory events held for particular groups are in addition to, not instead of, the main Commencement and Class Day graduation ceremonies. In most instances, these smaller, multicultural gatherings evolved from ceremonies originally created by alumni and students. The gatherings are voluntary, open to every student who wants to participate, and have become a highly anticipated and meaningful part of the Columbia graduation experience."
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ronda-rousey-death-hoax/
|
Ronda Rousey Death Hoax
|
Kim LaCapria
|
01/02/2017
|
[
"A fake news site appropriated the name of a popular newspaper to claim MMA fighter Ronda Rousey was found dead in her bathtub."
] |
On 2 January 2017, the "USA Today News" web site reported that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Ronda Rousey had been discovered dead in her home following a routine wellness check: reported On the morning of January 2, 2017, Ronda Rousey was found in a bathtub in her Venice residence, dead. Despite an immediate medical response, EMTs were unable to revive her. The cause of death is still unknown, however a preliminary autopsy has been confirmed to be underway. First responders told us that they discovered what appeared to be a needle used for drugs, as well as a bag of an ambiguous powdered substance. While no drug use has been substantiated, her mother had previously spoken to the media about Rouseys previous depression & drug abuse. Rouseys mother had this to say, All of those who have criticized Ronda for taking a loss so to heart, for not just shrugging it off dont understand that what made Ronda so successful is that she cares DEEPLY about winning to an extent that I dont believe the average person can wrap his/her head around. After her last fight, where she lost to Amanda Nunes in less than one minute, Rousey went silent no one has heard a thing from her on social media, or from interviews. Her whereabouts and status were completely unknown to the public until this tragic happening was uncovered by two police officers discovered her body on a wellness check. However, the report that Ronda Rousey was found dead on 2 January 2017 was merely fake news that appeared solely on the fly-by-night "USA Today News" web site and was reported neither by the legitimate USA Today news outlet nor any other credible source. "USA Today News" in no way resembles the actual USA Today web site: The "USA Today News" article included an image of a large law enforcement presence in a residential neighborhood, a picture that appeared to come from a blog devoted to the television show House and did not depict any real event involving Ronda Rousey. blog
|
[
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1UKuEbD6O8VD7VQ4FxnY0D6Az0BXrwnGc"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/Decm3"
],
"sentence": "On 2 January 2017, the \"USA Today News\" web site reported that Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Ronda Rousey had been discovered dead in her home following a routine wellness check:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/ouspI"
],
"sentence": "The \"USA Today News\" article included an image of a large law enforcement presence in a residential neighborhood, a picture that appeared to come from a blog devoted to the television show House and did not depict any real event involving Ronda Rousey."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/keanu-reeves-road-to-heaven-quote/
|
Did Keanu Reeves Say 'The Road to Heaven Isn't Through Your Yard'?
|
Dan MacGuill
|
02/09/2021
|
[
"A viral quotation has been around online for years, but only belatedly was the Hollywood star's name attached to it. "
] |
In February 2021, social media users enthusiastically shared a meme that attributed the following quotation to the actor Keanu Reeves: shared "I don't care how much you don't like me. The last time I checked, the road to heaven wasn't through your yard." It's very unlikely Reeves ever uttered or wrote those words, but we cannot rule out that possibility. As a result, we are issuing a rating of "Unproven," for now. The quotation itself has been around since 2018 at the latest, and appeared in numerous widely-shared memes that year. In the intervening years, it has appeared on T-shirts, and in various online forums devoted to "inspirational quotes." numerous appeared T-shirts online forums Only more recently has it been attributed to Reeves, a clear indication (though not definitive proof) that he did not come up with it. We found instances of its attribution to the actor as early as August 2019, and social media users continued to share it in 2020. For reasons that are not clear, the meme enjoyed a resurgence in February 2021. August 2019 2020 February 2021 We could not find any evidence to support the attribution of the quotation to Reeves, despite checking a news archive that stretches back several decades. The meme strongly appears to feature a generic, unattributed quotation of the kind that is widely shared on social media, which was belatedly linked to Reeves online. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that Reeves wrote or uttered those words in some source that has since become obscure. As a result, for now, we're issuing a rating of "Unproven."
|
[
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] |
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[
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "In February 2021, social media users enthusiastically shared a meme that attributed the following quotation to the actor Keanu Reeves:"
},
{
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],
"sentence": "The quotation itself has been around since 2018 at the latest, and appeared in numerous widely-shared memes that year. In the intervening years, it has appeared on T-shirts, and in various online forums devoted to \"inspirational quotes.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/oeu72",
"https://archive.is/NP34i",
"https://www.facebook.com/search/photos?q=%22the%20road%20to%20heaven%20wasn%27t%20through%20your%20yard%22&f=Abr2ZUDC92Pc0ayyVCq4iLbHQM5cR3HJ011vdmKCcQmGqdHJ-TiOMMefxPHuF2UpvlvSXUnKlWp9RJD42f8BCZ5VMx09hbMpzGOBJff90bCyaS6392-aRZH8M2Umm5WcZovEs7MewrfIVc715L1zGJhlyuTwYEfuoJi_dbE2G9xbI4E7s256MUMB2NuEASQ6PVc&filters=eyJycF9jcmVhdGlvbl90aW1lOjAiOiJ7XCJuYW1lXCI6XCJjcmVhdGlvbl90aW1lXCIsXCJhcmdzXCI6XCJ7XFxcInN0YXJ0X3llYXJcXFwiOlxcXCIyMDIxXFxcIixcXFwic3RhcnRfbW9udGhcXFwiOlxcXCIyMDIxLTFcXFwiLFxcXCJlbmRfeWVhclxcXCI6XFxcIjIwMjFcXFwiLFxcXCJlbmRfbW9udGhcXFwiOlxcXCIyMDIxLTEyXFxcIixcXFwic3RhcnRfZGF5XFxcIjpcXFwiMjAyMS0xLTFcXFwiLFxcXCJlbmRfZGF5XFxcIjpcXFwiMjAyMS0xMi0zMVxcXCJ9XCJ9In0%3D"
],
"sentence": "Only more recently has it been attributed to Reeves, a clear indication (though not definitive proof) that he did not come up with it. We found instances of its attribution to the actor as early as August 2019, and social media users continued to share it in 2020. For reasons that are not clear, the meme enjoyed a resurgence in February 2021. "
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pinched-cookies/
|
The Stolen Biscuits
|
Barbara Mikkelson
|
02/08/1999
|
[
"A long-circulating tale of biscuit banditry. "
] |
This legend has circulated in Great Britain at least since 1972. Author Douglas Adams tells the "packet of biscuits" tale in his 1984 novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. He has since recounted it on numerous occasions, claiming it happened to him in 1976 at a station in Cambridge. His claim is doubted by many who point out the self-same tale was around years prior to that, but it is not impossible for events in real life to mimic those of lore. (Indeed, the actual folkloric term for such an event is ostension.) In any case, whether the incident happened to him or not, it is clear the legend did not begin with him: ostension Examples: [Brunvand, 1986] An elderly woman, traveling by bus, had a layover during her journey. She purchased a package of Oreo cookies from a vending machine in the bus terminal and located a table. She placed her cookies on the table, sat down, and proceeded to read her newspaper She was joined by a young man, who, to her surprise, opened the package of Oreo cookies and began to eat them. The woman, saying nothing, but giving him an icy stare, grabbed a cookie. The young man, with a funny look on his face, ate another cookie. The woman again glared and grabbed another cookie. The young man finished the third cookie and offered the last to the woman. Completely appalled, she grabbed the cookie and the young man left. Outraged, the woman threw down her paper only to find her unopened Oreos on the table in front of her. [Collected on the Internet, 1994] A friend of my aunt was going shopping at the mall, and stopped in a snack bar to rest her feet. She bought a Kit Kat bar, a candy bar which breaks into several pieces. The place was crowded, so the friend was forced to share a table with a meek-looking gentleman. (That's just the way some malls are, I guess.) The expected business happened with the two of them sharing the Kit Kat, but since the Kit Kat had an odd number of pieces, she made sure she got the last one. The man got up without saying a word, went over to the counter and bought a couple of donuts. The friend was working herself into a rage because this guy had eaten her Kit Kat. She imagined that he had bought two donuts to give one to her in apology, and so you can imagine how she got even more angry when he had the gall to go sit by himself at a table far away from her. So, in the strength of her fury, she stalked over to his table, picked up one of the donuts, took a BIG CHOMP out of it, and set it back in front of him. Then she glared at him, said "And a VERY GOOD DAY to you, too!" and stormed out. She got to her car, opened up the purse to get her keys, and you know the rest. [Ann Landers, 1997] A Ferry Story My aunt and uncle own a business in Kamloops, B.C. Here is a true story that happened to one of the women in their office: The woman was taking the car ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. She sat on the deck. Beside her in an empty chair were her newspaper and her chocolate bar. A man sat next to the little pile. He picked up the chocolate bar, ate it, picked up the newspaper, read some of it, threw the candy bar wrapper away, tucked the newspaper under his arm and then walked off. The woman was too shocked to say anything. Having nothing to read, eat or munch on, she decided to go to the cafeteria. There, at a table, sat the man, flipping the pages of the newspaper with one hand, holding a submarine sandwich in the other. Still angry, the woman strode over to him, grabbed the sandwich out of his hand, took a big bite and then put the sandwich back in his hand. She marched off, saying nothing and not looking back. She then decided to go to her car. On the passenger seat were her newspaper and her chocolate bar. She had never taken them out of the car! Variations: Numerous stories about unwitting thieves abound in the realm of contemporary lore, with the "victim turned thief" motif appearing in such tales since the early 1900s. (Visit our Pocket(ed) Watch, Gun-Toting Grannies, and Jogger's Billfold pages for other legends of this type.) Pocket(ed) Watch Gun-Toting Grannies Jogger's Billfold As folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand put it, "All variations on the theme of unwitting theft portray a plausible situation in which we ourselves might act in such an uncharacteristic threatening manner because of a simple misunderstanding." In this legend, the "plausible situation" impels a woman one presumes would not normally make a spectacle of herself to angrily glare at a stranger, screech at him, lecture him, or even defiantly grab a food item she knows is his and tear a bite out of it. Because of the way the characters are presented (the woman exudes a faintly aristocratic aura while the man is described as a leather-clad punk, a foreigner, or an insolent-appearing young person), the woman's social lapse is more glaring. We forgive her outburst at the time ... but afterwards have a chance to reflect on how she handled the situation and conclude there had to have been a better way. Her lapse and the awareness of how she must have appeared to others serves as a caution against our taking similar action in any potentially confrontational encounter that occurs in public. We might not always have all of the facts we think we do. Moreover, even if we do have all the facts, we're going to look like a right idiot to anyone looking on. Sightings: Both the 1990 film The Lunch Date and the 1989 film Boeuf Bourgignon make use of this legend. In both, a well-dressed white woman goes off to fetch silverware and returns to find a Black man eating her lunch. Only after she shares her dinner with the stranger (at one point he fetches coffee for the two of them) and the man leaves does she notice her own meal sitting on another table. The 2010 Ian McEwan novel Solar contains an interesting sighting of the legend, where it is both related as a true story undergone by the book's protagonist and afterwards challenged by a folklorist he encounters on its basis as an urban legend of long standing. Denton. Lisa. Chewing Gum Keeps the Hearing Aids In.
The Chattanooga Times. 30 July 1997 (p. C1). Kaelber, Randy. The Biscuit Bullet: Is It My Fault?
FOAFTale News. June 1996 (p. 8). Kreck, Dick. A Biscuit with Her Name on It.
The Denver Post. 6 April 1996 (p. D8). McEwan, Ian. Solar.
Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. ISBN 978-0-385-53341-6.
(pp. 117-8, 119, 121-7, 154-5, 157-8, 179-80). Owens, Gene. Doughboy Gets Around.
[Greensboro] News & Record. 11 July 1995 (Food; p. A7). Rose, Allen. Story of Biscuit Dough Explodes in My Face.
The Orlando Sentinel. 31 May 1996 (p. D1). Rose, Allen. Biscuit Dough Makes Impact on Shopper.
The Orlando Sentinel. 30 May 1996 (p. D1). Sandstrom, Karen. Joke Telling Done Well Gives Audience More Than Laughs.
The Plain Dealer. 19 June 1994 (p. B5). Setencich, Eli. City Shoots First, Asks Questions Later.
The Fresno Bee. 22 January 1996 (p. B1). Truly, Pat. The Unthinkable Is Becoming Less So Every Day.
The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer. 19 January 1994 (p. B5). Venable, Sam. Highway Shooting Incident Turned Out to Be Poppin Fresh.
The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 19 April 1998. Viets, Elaine. The Half-Baked Biscuit Bullet Story Wont Die.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 13 December 1995 (Food; p. 3). Wikipedia. "Ostensive Definition; Ostension in Folklore."
Accessed 14 November 2018.
|
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[
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"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "His claim is doubted by many who point out the self-same tale was around years prior to that, but it is not impossible for events in real life to mimic those of lore. (Indeed, the actual folkloric term for such an event is ostension.) In any case, whether the incident happened to him or not, it is clear the legend did not begin with him:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
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"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/gun-toting-grannies/",
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],
"sentence": "Numerous stories about unwitting thieves abound in the realm of contemporary lore, with the \"victim turned thief\" motif appearing in such tales since the early 1900s. (Visit our Pocket(ed) Watch, Gun-Toting Grannies, and Jogger's Billfold pages for other legends of this type.)"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/target-walmart-refrigerators-ovens/
|
Scam for Target and Walmart Refrigerators and Ovens Hits Facebook
|
Jordan Liles
|
08/16/2022
|
[
"We strongly recommend sharing this article with any family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this potentially dangerous scam."
] |
On Aug. 16, 2022, we received mail from our readers that asked if Facebook pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans were legitimately giving away or donating hundreds of refrigerators and ovens. The truth was that these pages were nothing more than the first step of potentially dangerous survey scams. The scammers appeared to be based in Indonesia. The posts showed pictures of refrigerators and ovens (ranges) with the caption, "We are happy to announce that we will be donating 670 refrigerators and cookers which cannot be sold due to a few scratches and minor damage, all machines are in working order, so we will send them randomly to someone who writes 'DONE' before August 19th!" A search of Facebook for the words Target Fans and the lowercase and special characters ??????? ???? showed dozens of pages that were hosting the survey scams. Target Fans ??????? ???? Survey scams like the one for the Target refrigerators giveaway are a specific kind of ruse. They promise big prizes up front, but then lead to a seemingly endless number of surveys with other tantalizing prizing promises, such as a $750 transfer via the mobile finance app, Cash App. Usually, the scammers who created the Facebook posts are hoping that users sign up for accounts on various websites that might land them small amounts of commission. Target At the same time, survey scams can also be quite dangerous, reported AARP.org: reported AARP.org Amid questions about the supposed subject, sham surveys solicit personal or financial information, such as a credit card number to pay a shipping fee for your prize something a legit survey will not do. They might trick you into signing up for a free trial offer thats actually a costly subscription for a dietary supplement or other product. Clicking on the link might also launch malware that can scrape sensitive data from your device. Either way, the scammers get information they can use for identity theft or sell on to other bad actors. Some major retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, do offer gift cards as prizes for customers who complete online surveys about their shopping experience, but those companies say they will never ask participants to provide sensitive data. We strongly advise readers to never click any links in offers that seem too good to be true. Also, we recommend sharing our article with family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this kind of a Target or Walmart Facebook scam. In sum, no, Target and Walmart weren't giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans. Walmart Facebook Source: Beware of Survey Scams That Require Personal Information. AARP, https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/survey.html.
|
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[
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"sentence": "A search of Facebook for the words Target Fans and the lowercase and special characters ??????? ???? showed dozens of pages that were hosting the survey scams."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "Survey scams like the one for the Target refrigerators giveaway are a specific kind of ruse. They promise big prizes up front, but then lead to a seemingly endless number of surveys with other tantalizing prizing promises, such as a $750 transfer via the mobile finance app, Cash App. Usually, the scammers who created the Facebook posts are hoping that users sign up for accounts on various websites that might land them small amounts of commission."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/survey.html"
],
"sentence": "At the same time, survey scams can also be quite dangerous, reported AARP.org:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/walmart/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/facebook/"
],
"sentence": "In sum, no, Target and Walmart weren't giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/target-walmart-refrigerators-ovens/
|
Fraudulent scheme regarding refrigerators and ovens at Target and Walmart gains traction on Facebook.
|
Jordan Liles
|
08/16/2022
|
[
"We strongly recommend sharing this article with any family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this potentially dangerous scam."
] |
On Aug. 16, 2022, we received mail from our readers that asked if Facebook pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans were legitimately giving away or donating hundreds of refrigerators and ovens. The truth was that these pages were nothing more than the first step of potentially dangerous survey scams. The scammers appeared to be based in Indonesia. The posts showed pictures of refrigerators and ovens (ranges) with the caption, "We are happy to announce that we will be donating 670 refrigerators and cookers which cannot be sold due to a few scratches and minor damage, all machines are in working order, so we will send them randomly to someone who writes 'DONE' before August 19th!" A search of Facebook for the words Target Fans and the lowercase and special characters ??????? ???? showed dozens of pages that were hosting the survey scams. Target Fans ??????? ???? Survey scams like the one for the Target refrigerators giveaway are a specific kind of ruse. They promise big prizes up front, but then lead to a seemingly endless number of surveys with other tantalizing prizing promises, such as a $750 transfer via the mobile finance app, Cash App. Usually, the scammers who created the Facebook posts are hoping that users sign up for accounts on various websites that might land them small amounts of commission. Target At the same time, survey scams can also be quite dangerous, reported AARP.org: reported AARP.org Amid questions about the supposed subject, sham surveys solicit personal or financial information, such as a credit card number to pay a shipping fee for your prize something a legit survey will not do. They might trick you into signing up for a free trial offer thats actually a costly subscription for a dietary supplement or other product. Clicking on the link might also launch malware that can scrape sensitive data from your device. Either way, the scammers get information they can use for identity theft or sell on to other bad actors. Some major retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, do offer gift cards as prizes for customers who complete online surveys about their shopping experience, but those companies say they will never ask participants to provide sensitive data. We strongly advise readers to never click any links in offers that seem too good to be true. Also, we recommend sharing our article with family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this kind of a Target or Walmart Facebook scam. In sum, no, Target and Walmart weren't giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans. Walmart Facebook Source: Beware of Survey Scams That Require Personal Information. AARP, https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/survey.html.
|
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},
{
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],
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},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/survey.html"
],
"sentence": "At the same time, survey scams can also be quite dangerous, reported AARP.org:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/walmart/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/facebook/"
],
"sentence": "In sum, no, Target and Walmart weren't giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/target-walmart-refrigerators-ovens/
|
Fraudulent activity targeting refrigerators and ovens at Target and Walmart gains traction on Facebook.
|
Jordan Liles
|
08/16/2022
|
[
"We strongly recommend sharing this article with any family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this potentially dangerous scam."
] |
On Aug. 16, 2022, we received mail from our readers that asked if Facebook pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans were legitimately giving away or donating hundreds of refrigerators and ovens. The truth was that these pages were nothing more than the first step of potentially dangerous survey scams. The scammers appeared to be based in Indonesia. The posts showed pictures of refrigerators and ovens (ranges) with the caption, "We are happy to announce that we will be donating 670 refrigerators and cookers which cannot be sold due to a few scratches and minor damage, all machines are in working order, so we will send them randomly to someone who writes 'DONE' before August 19th!" A search of Facebook for the words Target Fans and the lowercase and special characters ??????? ???? showed dozens of pages that were hosting the survey scams. Target Fans ??????? ???? Survey scams like the one for the Target refrigerators giveaway are a specific kind of ruse. They promise big prizes up front, but then lead to a seemingly endless number of surveys with other tantalizing prizing promises, such as a $750 transfer via the mobile finance app, Cash App. Usually, the scammers who created the Facebook posts are hoping that users sign up for accounts on various websites that might land them small amounts of commission. Target At the same time, survey scams can also be quite dangerous, reported AARP.org: reported AARP.org Amid questions about the supposed subject, sham surveys solicit personal or financial information, such as a credit card number to pay a shipping fee for your prize something a legit survey will not do. They might trick you into signing up for a free trial offer thats actually a costly subscription for a dietary supplement or other product. Clicking on the link might also launch malware that can scrape sensitive data from your device. Either way, the scammers get information they can use for identity theft or sell on to other bad actors. Some major retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, do offer gift cards as prizes for customers who complete online surveys about their shopping experience, but those companies say they will never ask participants to provide sensitive data. We strongly advise readers to never click any links in offers that seem too good to be true. Also, we recommend sharing our article with family members or friends who might be susceptible to falling for this kind of a Target or Walmart Facebook scam. In sum, no, Target and Walmart weren't giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans. Walmart Facebook Source: Beware of Survey Scams That Require Personal Information. AARP, https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/survey.html.
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},
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],
"sentence": "Survey scams like the one for the Target refrigerators giveaway are a specific kind of ruse. They promise big prizes up front, but then lead to a seemingly endless number of surveys with other tantalizing prizing promises, such as a $750 transfer via the mobile finance app, Cash App. Usually, the scammers who created the Facebook posts are hoping that users sign up for accounts on various websites that might land them small amounts of commission."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2021/survey.html"
],
"sentence": "At the same time, survey scams can also be quite dangerous, reported AARP.org:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/walmart/",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/facebook/"
],
"sentence": "In sum, no, Target and Walmart weren't giving away or donating refrigerators or ovens on Facebook on pages named Target Fans and Walmart Fans."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/inventor-autocorrect-died-sign/
|
Is the 'Inventor of Autocorrect Died' Sign Real?
|
Dan Evon
|
07/08/2022
|
[
"The funnel will be held tomato. Rest in peas."
] |
In July 2022, a user of Snopes' Facebook tip group asked us if a viral photograph of a sign reading "The inventor of autocorrect has died the funnel will be held tomato" was real or if it had been digitally edited. Snopes' Facebook tip group The skepticism surrounding this sign is certainly understandable. After all, we've covered dozens of other photos featuring digitally altered verbiage on signs. covered dozens other photos featuring digitally altered verbiage signs This picture shows a sign in the parking lot of a National Vacuum store in Gainesville, Florida. Here's a screenshot from Google Streeview that shows the sign at a similar angle. National Vacuum store in Gainesville, Florida This store regularly uses its sign to display humorous messages. Using Google Street View, we were able to find several other sign displays outside this store stretching back to 2007. While we didn't find an image of the "founder of autocorrect" sign, we did find a number of similar idioms, such as "It's Spring! We're so excited we wet our plants," "talk is cheap until you hire a lawyer," and "I can tell people are judgmental just by looking at them." We reached out to National Vacuum for comment and they confirmed that the message "the inventor of autocorrect has died. The funnel will be held tomato" had previously been displayed on their sign. A spokesperson said: "Yes, we have used this sign message in the past." Who invented autocorrect? Did they die? Will the funnel be held tomato? The history of autocorrect can be traced back to the early 1990s, when Microsoft implemented a new feature in their word processing program, Word 6.0. There have been numerous improvements and iterations of this idea since then, so there isn't really a single "inventor" of the feature. According to Wired, the "closest thing [autocorrect] has to an individual creator" would be Dean Hachamovitch, who worked on the feature for Microsoft in 1993. According to Wired When Hachamovitch first joined Microsoft, he was given a job on the Word team. This was back in the early '90s. Word processing was at a crossroads, split into factions. On one side were the people who wanted adornments and frillsimproved desktop publishing, color separation, and the like. On the other side was the functionality gang, with whom Hachamovitch threw in his lot. This camp simply wanted to help people get out of their own way. As Hachamovitch saw it, the main thing that people do on a word processor is typeand typing, in his estimation, is a matter of a little bit of creativity and a whole lot of scutwork. He could improve the typing experience by delivering us from scut. His aim was to make our typing sleek and invisible, smooth as speaking from a teleprompter. Ken Kocienda also deserves partial credit for inventing autocorrect, as he developed the feature for the original iPhone. developed the feature for the original iPhone As of this writing, Hachamovitch and Kocienda are both still with us. Engber, Daniel. Who Made That Autocorrect? The New York Times, 6 June 2014. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/08/magazine/who-made-that-autocorrect.html. Lewis-Kraus, Gideon. The Fasinatng Fascinating History of Autocorrect. Wired. www.wired.com, https://www.wired.com/2014/07/history-of-autocorrect/. Accessed 8 July 2022. Stern, Joanna. Autocorrect Explained: Why Your IPhone Adds Annoying Typos While Fixing Others. Wall Street Journal, 27 Apr. 2022. www.wsj.com, https://www.wsj.com/articles/autocorrect-explained-why-your-iphone-adds-annoying-typos-while-fixing-others-11651051891. Update [July 12, 2022]: Status changed to "True" based on new information.
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"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ninja-turtles-say-pizza-to-drugs/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/welcome-mingo-county/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/welcome-australia-sign-fake/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/stop-killing-alligators-gatorade/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/beware-billionaire-hunters-sign-real/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/harrison-ford-holding-a-trump-sign/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/president-obama-69-alaska/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-u-s-border-sign-free-stuff-real/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-made-america-the-best-sign/"
],
"sentence": "The skepticism surrounding this sign is certainly understandable. After all, we've covered dozens of other photos featuring digitally altered verbiage on signs. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/nationalvac"
],
"sentence": "This picture shows a sign in the parking lot of a National Vacuum store in Gainesville, Florida. Here's a screenshot from Google Streeview that shows the sign at a similar angle. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.wired.com/2014/07/history-of-autocorrect/"
],
"sentence": "The history of autocorrect can be traced back to the early 1990s, when Microsoft implemented a new feature in their word processing program, Word 6.0. There have been numerous improvements and iterations of this idea since then, so there isn't really a single \"inventor\" of the feature. According to Wired, the \"closest thing [autocorrect] has to an individual creator\" would be Dean Hachamovitch, who worked on the feature for Microsoft in 1993."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.wsj.com/articles/autocorrect-explained-why-your-iphone-adds-annoying-typos-while-fixing-others-11651051891"
],
"sentence": "Ken Kocienda also deserves partial credit for inventing autocorrect, as he developed the feature for the original iPhone. "
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2015/jul/29/bernie-sanders/bernie-sanders-madison-claims-top-01-americans-hav/
|
The top one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent.
|
Tom Kertscher
|
07/29/2015
|
[] |
A month after launching his long-shot bid for the White House, a 73-year-old senator from Vermont appeared in Madison before perhaps the largest gathering for any candidate to that point in the 2016 campaign. Bernie Sanderscalled fora political revolution against greed and took jabs at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a contender on the GOP side of the field. Cheering him on was an Alliant Energy Center crowd that his aides estimated atnearly10,000people. At one point during his hourlongspeechon July 1, 2015, Sanders said: The issue of wealth and income inequality, to my mind, is the great moral issue of our time. It is the great economic issue of our time and it is the great political issue of our time. Let me be as clear as I can be: There is something profoundly wrong when today, the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Wealth inequality is sure to be an issue Sanders emphasizes as he challenges Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. So, does the top one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent? Previous claims Two of our most-clicked fact checks have found significant gaps in wealth in the United States. Filmmaker Michael Moore -- also speaking in Madison, during the height of protests against Walker over his collective bargaining reforms in 2011 -- said 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. Our rating wasTrue. As of 2010, the net worth of the Forbes 400 -- $1.37 trillion -- exceeded that of the poorest 60 percent of U.S. households. We alsorated Truea2013statement by the liberal One Wisconsin Now advocacy group, which said the wealth of the Wal-Mart Walton family equalled the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined. The wealth of Sam Waltons heirs, we found, was $89.5 billion -- equal to the bottom 42 percent of American families. A note about those fact checks, in terms of helping explain the wealth gap: Many Americans make a good income, have some savings and investments, and own a nice home; they also have debt, for a mortgage, credit cards and other bills. Some people would still have a pretty healthy bottom line, but still have a negative net worth. Meanwhile, so far in 2015, PolitiFact National has given Sanders aMostly Truefor saying income equality in the U.S. is the widest since the 1920s; and aMostly Truefor saying 99 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. Now to his new claim, which is about wealth, rather than income. Sanders evidence To back Sanders statement, his Senate office cited anews articlefrom The Guardian newspaper. The headline on the article, which reported on awealth inequality studyreleased in October 2014, matched Sanders claim nearly word for word. The study was done for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonpartisanorganizationin Cambridge, Mass. It is perhaps best known as the arbiter for determining whether the U.S. economy isin recession. The authors of the study were economistsEmmanuel Saezof the University of California, Berkeley, andGabriel Zucmanof the London School of Economics. Using tax records, they made estimates for 2012 on wealth -- that is, the value of all assets, such as a home, and savings and retirement accounts, minus all debts, such as mortgages and credit card balances. The major finding, in terms of Sanders claim: The top 0.1 percent was composed of 160,000 families with average wealth of $72.8 million. All told, they owned 22 percent of the nations wealth. Meanwhile, the bottom 90 percent -- 144 million families with average wealth of $84,000 -- owned only 22.8 percent of the wealth. In other words, the top 0.1 percent and the bottom 90 percent of U.S. households own virtually the same share of all the nation's wealth. Wealth is getting more concentrated in the United States, the researchers observed, but this phenomenon largely owes to the spectacular dynamics of fortunes of dozens and hundreds of million dollars, and much less to the growth in fortunes of a few million dollars. Inequality within rich families is increasing. Two other prominent economists --Thomas Pikettyof the Paris School of Economics andEdward Wolffof New York University -- told us that the study makes solid estimates about wealth inequality. Wolff said he was not aware of another study that examined the wealth of the top 0.1 percent. But some fault the findings to some degree. Another view Richard Burkhauser, a professor of policy analysis at Cornell University, told us that Saez and Zucman are very well respected economists, but that he has a major complaint about their study: it excludes Social Security. To ignore it as they do grossly understates the wealth held by Americans in the bottom 99 percent of the population, Burkhauser said. Another criticism is the study that it doesn't take into account changes in tax laws. Daniel Mitchell, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, pointed us to an article one of his colleagues wrote in the Wall Street Journal. It said, for example, that changes in tax laws in the 1980s and 90s skew any increase in wealth inequality by requiring more capital income of high-income taxpayers be reported on individual returns, while excluding most capital income of middle-income savers and homeowners. Mitchell told us: Even if one makes the heroic assumption that the data is completely accurate, our friends on the left take these numbers and want people to believe that the wealth of the top 1 percent (or top 10 percent, or top .01 percent, etc) comes at the expense of the rest of us. This is generally nonsense. People such as Bill Gates become rich because they generate real value for others. There is no fixed pie. Our rating Sanders said the top one-tenth of 1 percent of Americans own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. His claim repeats a finding from a study by two internationally known economists that were supported by two other major economists we contacted. But the study has been criticized, for example, for not including Social Security in the wealth calculations. For a claim that is accurate but needs additional information, a rating is Mostly True.
|
[
"Economy",
"Income",
"Retirement",
"Social Security",
"Wealth",
"Wisconsin"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/bernie-sanders-tells-madison-crowd-he-seeks-political-revolution-b99530702z1-311345541.html"
],
"sentence": "Bernie Sanderscalled fora political revolution against greed and took jabs at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a contender on the GOP side of the field. Cheering him on was an Alliant Energy Center crowd that his aides estimated atnearly10,000people."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.wiseye.org/videoplayer/vp.html?sid=12736"
],
"sentence": "At one point during his hourlongspeechon July 1, 2015, Sanders said:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2011/mar/10/michael-moore/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/"
],
"sentence": "Filmmaker Michael Moore -- also speaking in Madison, during the height of protests against Walker over his collective bargaining reforms in 2011 -- said 400 Americans have more wealth than half of all Americans combined. Our rating wasTrue. As of 2010, the net worth of the Forbes 400 -- $1.37 trillion -- exceeded that of the poorest 60 percent of U.S. households."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2013/dec/08/one-wisconsin-now/just-how-wealthy-wal-mart-walton-family/"
],
"sentence": "We alsorated Truea2013statement by the liberal One Wisconsin Now advocacy group, which said the wealth of the Wal-Mart Walton family equalled the wealth of the bottom 42 percent of Americans combined. The wealth of Sam Waltons heirs, we found, was $89.5 billion -- equal to the bottom 42 percent of American families."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/jun/18/bernie-s/bernie-sanders-says-income-inequality-widest-1920s/"
],
"sentence": "Meanwhile, so far in 2015, PolitiFact National has given Sanders aMostly Truefor saying income equality in the U.S. is the widest since the 1920s; and aMostly Truefor saying 99 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/nov/13/us-wealth-inequality-top-01-worth-as-much-as-the-bottom-90"
],
"sentence": "To back Sanders statement, his Senate office cited anews articlefrom The Guardian newspaper. The headline on the article, which reported on awealth inequality studyreleased in October 2014, matched Sanders claim nearly word for word."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.nber.org/"
],
"sentence": "The study was done for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonpartisanorganizationin Cambridge, Mass. It is perhaps best known as the arbiter for determining whether the U.S. economy isin recession."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/"
],
"sentence": "The authors of the study were economistsEmmanuel Saezof the University of California, Berkeley, andGabriel Zucmanof the London School of Economics. Using tax records, they made estimates for 2012 on wealth -- that is, the value of all assets, such as a home, and savings and retirement accounts, minus all debts, such as mortgages and credit card balances."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/en/cv-en"
],
"sentence": "Two other prominent economists --Thomas Pikettyof the Paris School of Economics andEdward Wolffof New York University -- told us that the study makes solid estimates about wealth inequality. Wolff said he was not aware of another study that examined the wealth of the top 0.1 percent."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.human.cornell.edu/bio.cfm?netid=rvb1"
],
"sentence": "Richard Burkhauser, a professor of policy analysis at Cornell University, told us that Saez and Zucman are very well respected economists, but that he has a major complaint about their study: it excludes Social Security. To ignore it as they do grossly understates the wealth held by Americans in the bottom 99 percent of the population, Burkhauser said."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-1982/
|
Is This a Picture of Christine Blasey Ford in 1982?
|
Dan Evon
|
10/05/2018
|
[
"A picture said to be one of a 15-year-old Christine Blasey Ford has been proffered as \"evidence\" that Brett Kavanaugh did not sexually assault her."
] |
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the Palo Alto University professor who testified before Congress in September 2018 that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school in the 1980s, was the focus of a number of baseless and false rumors spread in an attempt to tarnish her credibility. number baseless false rumors spread attempt tarnish credibility One of the more disturbing smear campaigns centered an alleged photograph of Ford from 1982 that was shared along with comments insinuating that she was too physically unattractive for a handsome young man such as Brett Kavanaugh to target for sexual assault: A number of individuals also shared this fake photograph alongside a genuine image of Brett Kavanaugh from his high school yearbook in order to strengthen their flawed argument that "handsome" Brett would never assault "ugly" Ford: shared yearbook This comparison did not a use a real photograph of Christine Blasey Ford, but nonetheless it was widely shared on Twitter, Facebook, internet forums and web sites along with comments claiming that it was "proof" of Kavanaugh's innocence as he would never sexually assault someone who was "ugly": comments claiming proof innocence sexually assault This is Dr. Ford in 1982. I am going to go ahead and say this proves that she is lying. Christine Blasey ford in 1982. Proof positive Kavanaugh is innocent! Im pretty sure no one was banging this chick in 1982. #justsaying #christineblaseyford #kavanaugh #metoo Christine Blasey Ford in 1982. She must have been fending off men with a stick. ??????? This was Christine Blasey Ford in 1982. Theres NOT enough beer on the planet.... Christine Blasey Ford in 1982. Proof positive Kavanaugh is innocent! This is Christine Blasey Ford in 1982 , I think she was delusional, " some thing did happen to her ! But not with who she dreamed up ! These pictures are of Christine Blasey Ford the paid accuser and Judge Brett Kavanaugh from 1982, is confirmation of his innocence ... I don't think Brett would have been 1000 miles close to where Christine Blasey Ford was. What say you all? This picture was also shared by Lanny Lancaster, the Cabarrus County (North Carolina) GOP chairman, with the caption: This is the alleged sexual assault victim. Wow. Lancaster defended his decision to share the photograph to the News Observer, arguing that he was simply trying to show that the media's portrayal of Ford was inaccurate: caption News Observer I didnt say anything. I just said this is her picture. Basically, the media is distorting the facts on this lady. Everything shes said is made up. She has no evidence whatsoever. I support that theory, Lancaster said. Lancaster said he takes issue with how the news media is portraying Fords early life. The media wants you to think she was a beautiful young lady who was on her way home from the tennis courts ... Lancaster said. I just wanted you to see the real person. I wanted people to see that this is really her. The problem with the argument implied here is twofold. First, sexual assaulters targets victims based on factors other than physical appearance. The notion that physical attractiveness of the victim is a primary criterion in such attacks is a myth that perpetuates the harmful notion that it is a woman's fault for being assaulted: myth Myth: Only certain kinds of people get raped. It cannot happen to me. FACT: Rapists act without considering their victim's physical appearance, dress, age, race, gender, or social status. Assailants seek out victims who they perceive to be vulnerable. The Orange County Rape Crisis Center has worked with victims from infancy to ninety-two years of age and from all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. Myth: Women incite men to rape. FACT: Research has found that the vast majority of rapes are planned. Rape is the responsibility of the rapist alone. Women, children and men of every age, physical type and demeanor are raped. Opportunity is the most important factor determining when a given rapist will rape. Second, this photograph does not show Christine Blasey Ford, in 1982 or in any other year. This picture is one of an as-yet unidentified person which has been used for various memes ever since it first appeared on the internet in "Bad Yearbook" and "Bad Family Photo" galleries around 2011. Blasey Ford's name was never attached to this photograph until September 2018, when internet trolls began to claim so without evidence in order to tarnish her credibility. Bad Yearbook Bad Family Photo Here are genuine images of Christine Blasey Ford taken from her 1982 and 1984 yearbooks: WorldWideInterweb.com. "The 100 Worst Yearbook Photos of All Time."
22 August 2012. Fallon, Brian. "Why the FBI Should Investigate 'Boofing.'"
Politico. 1 October 2018. Specht, Paul. "NC Republican Leader Uses Photo to Mock Christine Blasey Ford. Its Not Her."
News Observer. 3 October 2018.
|
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1jAdjC-r-DfyDACrNCipMn7WMAW0_zXaX"
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[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-cia/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-cellphone-1982/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-peter-strzok/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ford-lawyer-hillary-clinton/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ford-george-soros/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-not-my-president/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/christine-blasey-ford-neil-gorsuch/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/blasey-online-photos/"
],
"sentence": "Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the Palo Alto University professor who testified before Congress in September 2018 that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school in the 1980s, was the focus of a number of baseless and false rumors spread in an attempt to tarnish her credibility. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.facebook.com/groups/441333919315986/permalink/1912852812164082/",
"https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/01/kavanaugh-boofing-fbi-investigation-220808"
],
"sentence": "A number of individuals also shared this fake photograph alongside a genuine image of Brett Kavanaugh from his high school yearbook in order to strengthen their flawed argument that \"handsome\" Brett would never assault \"ugly\" Ford:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/9kfhhj/this_is_dr_ford_in_1982_i_am_going_to_go_ahead/",
"https://twitter.com/Webmyresume/status/1046651858415230977",
"https://twitter.com/49CentBanana/status/1047652388147023872",
"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1909159009170778&set=a.178894145530615&type=3&theater",
"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1916331252009660&set=a.1389812487994875&type=3&permPage=1",
"https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2067912889893988&set=a.105786976106599&type=3&permPage=1"
],
"sentence": "This comparison did not a use a real photograph of Christine Blasey Ford, but nonetheless it was widely shared on Twitter, Facebook, internet forums and web sites along with comments claiming that it was \"proof\" of Kavanaugh's innocence as he would never sexually assault someone who was \"ugly\":"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article219385945.html",
"https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article219385945.html"
],
"sentence": "This picture was also shared by Lanny Lancaster, the Cabarrus County (North Carolina) GOP chairman, with the caption: This is the alleged sexual assault victim. Wow. Lancaster defended his decision to share the photograph to the News Observer, arguing that he was simply trying to show that the media's portrayal of Ford was inaccurate:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/jhamlin/3925/myths.html"
],
"sentence": "The problem with the argument implied here is twofold. First, sexual assaulters targets victims based on factors other than physical appearance. The notion that physical attractiveness of the victim is a primary criterion in such attacks is a myth that perpetuates the harmful notion that it is a woman's fault for being assaulted:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20120828035424/https://worldwideinterweb.com/contact/item/2154-the-100-worst-yearbook-photos-of-all-time.html",
"https://www.mdig.com.br/index.php?itemid=21498"
],
"sentence": "This picture is one of an as-yet unidentified person which has been used for various memes ever since it first appeared on the internet in \"Bad Yearbook\" and \"Bad Family Photo\" galleries around 2011. Blasey Ford's name was never attached to this photograph until September 2018, when internet trolls began to claim so without evidence in order to tarnish her credibility."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/free-rides/
|
Immigration Bill Free Cars
|
David Mikkelson
|
06/26/2013
|
[
"A 2013 immigration bill provides young people with free cars to transport them to their jobs?"
] |
Claim: A 2013 immigration reform bill provides young people with free cars to transport them to their jobs. Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2013] BREAKING: Immigration bill now includes free cars (at tax payer expense) for young people to help them get to work! LIKE if you agree: The Senate should vote no on this Gang of 8 immigration bill! Call and let them know what you think! (888) 978-3134 Fox News reported that the riders made to the 2013 Immigration bill now in the Senate that Bernie Sanders has added a provision for free cars, motorcycles or scooters for "young people to use as transportation" to jobs. This was reported by Laura Ingraham on Fox and Friends on June 25, 2013. Is there any truth to this report. I can not find a copy of the 1,190 page 2013 immigration bill to read it my self S.744 Hoeven-Corker Amendment "The Hoeven-Corker amendment takes big and important steps on the immigration issue that matters most: border security," Senator Lamar Alexander said. "It would double the number of agents on the southwest border, construct 700 miles of new or upgraded fencing and spend $3.2 billion on new security technology that was perfected in Iraq and Afghanistan." The Hoeven-Corker amendment would add 20,000 border patrol agents, enough to allow putting one agent every 1,000 feet along the U.S. southwest border. The border patrol agents, fencing and security technology plan would have to be in place before anyone under the immigration legislation's "Registered Provisional Immigrant" program would be allowed to apply for legal permanent residency, otherwise known as a green card. Democratic-affiliated Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has been outspokenly critical of the potential economic effects of S.744, arguing that the bill would "allow college students from around the world to take jobs that young Americans would otherwise perform." In response, he drafted a Youth Jobs Plan that would "provide $1.5 billion over two years for states and local communities to help find jobs for more than 400,000 16- to 24-year-olds who were hard hit by the Wall Street-caused recession." That job plan was incorporated into the Hoeven-Corker Amendment under a heading of "TITLE V JOBS FOR YOUTH." Youth Jobs Plan TITLE V The claim that the immigration bill includes a provision granting "free cars, motorcycles or scooters for young people" stems from a very broad, speculative interpretation of one sentence in the jobs plan portion of the Hoeven-Corker Amendment which generally directs how the job plan funds should be used: IN GENERAL. The funds made available under this section shall be used (A) to provide summer employment opportunities for low-income youth, with direct linkages to academic and occupational learning, and may be used to provide supportive services, such as transportation or child care, that is necessary to enable the participation of such youth in the opportunities; and (B) to provide year-round employment opportunities, which may be combined with other activities authorized under section 129 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 17 2854), to low-income youth. As stated, the bill does not contain a specific provision to provide "free cars for young people to help them get to work." It includes a clause allowing that youth job program funds may be used to "provide supportive services, such as transportation" to low-income youth taking part in summer employment opportunities. Whether and how that provision would be applied in practice is purely speculative at this point and could vary widely from place to place, potentially ranging anywhere from arranging carpools and subsidizing bus fare to buying, leasing, or renting motor vehicles to be temporarily utilized in ferrying job program participants to work. But the government isn't going to be buying up cars and turning ownership of them over to young people engaged in summer job programs. Last updated: 26 June 2013
|
[
"income"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://www.dzcar.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Cars-For-Sale-600x200.jpg"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9A07FFF7-B924-4DA2-8F42-04EE2421D5B4",
"https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legislation/immigration/amendments/Hoeven-Corker/ARM13E56.pdf"
],
"sentence": "Youth Jobs Plan that would \"provide $1.5 billion over two years for states and local communities to help find jobs for more than 400,000 16- to 24-year-olds who were hard hit by the Wall Street-caused recession.\" That job plan was incorporated into the Hoeven-Corker Amendment under a heading of \"TITLE V JOBS FOR YOUTH.\""
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/free-rides/
|
Legislation on Immigration Offering Complimentary Vehicles
|
David Mikkelson
|
06/26/2013
|
[
"A 2013 immigration bill provides young people with free cars to transport them to their jobs?"
] |
Claim: A 2013 immigration reform bill provides young people with free cars to transport them to their jobs. Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2013] BREAKING: Immigration bill now includes free cars (at tax payer expense) for young people to help them get to work! LIKE if you agree: The Senate should vote no on this Gang of 8 immigration bill! Call and let them know what you think! (888) 978-3134 Fox News reported that the riders made to the 2013 Immigration bill now in the Senate that Bernie Sanders has added a provision for free cars, motorcycles or scooters for "young people to use as transportation" to jobs. This was reported by Laura Ingraham on Fox and Friends on June 25, 2013. Is there any truth to this report. I can not find a copy of the 1,190 page 2013 immigration bill to read it my self S.744 Hoeven-Corker Amendment "The Hoeven-Corker amendment takes big and important steps on the immigration issue that matters most: border security," Senator Lamar Alexander said. "It would double the number of agents on the southwest border, construct 700 miles of new or upgraded fencing and spend $3.2 billion on new security technology that was perfected in Iraq and Afghanistan." The Hoeven-Corker amendment would add 20,000 border patrol agents, enough to allow putting one agent every 1,000 feet along the U.S. southwest border. The border patrol agents, fencing and security technology plan would have to be in place before anyone under the immigration legislation's "Registered Provisional Immigrant" program would be allowed to apply for legal permanent residency, otherwise known as a green card. Democratic-affiliated Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has been outspokenly critical of the potential economic effects of S.744, arguing that the bill would "allow college students from around the world to take jobs that young Americans would otherwise perform." In response, he drafted a Youth Jobs Plan that would "provide $1.5 billion over two years for states and local communities to help find jobs for more than 400,000 16- to 24-year-olds who were hard hit by the Wall Street-caused recession." That job plan was incorporated into the Hoeven-Corker Amendment under a heading of "TITLE V JOBS FOR YOUTH." Youth Jobs Plan TITLE V The claim that the immigration bill includes a provision granting "free cars, motorcycles or scooters for young people" stems from a very broad, speculative interpretation of one sentence in the jobs plan portion of the Hoeven-Corker Amendment which generally directs how the job plan funds should be used: IN GENERAL. The funds made available under this section shall be used (A) to provide summer employment opportunities for low-income youth, with direct linkages to academic and occupational learning, and may be used to provide supportive services, such as transportation or child care, that is necessary to enable the participation of such youth in the opportunities; and (B) to provide year-round employment opportunities, which may be combined with other activities authorized under section 129 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 17 2854), to low-income youth. As stated, the bill does not contain a specific provision to provide "free cars for young people to help them get to work." It includes a clause allowing that youth job program funds may be used to "provide supportive services, such as transportation" to low-income youth taking part in summer employment opportunities. Whether and how that provision would be applied in practice is purely speculative at this point and could vary widely from place to place, potentially ranging anywhere from arranging carpools and subsidizing bus fare to buying, leasing, or renting motor vehicles to be temporarily utilized in ferrying job program participants to work. But the government isn't going to be buying up cars and turning ownership of them over to young people engaged in summer job programs. Last updated: 26 June 2013
|
[
"income"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://www.dzcar.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Cars-For-Sale-600x200.jpg"
}
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{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/?id=9A07FFF7-B924-4DA2-8F42-04EE2421D5B4",
"https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/legislation/immigration/amendments/Hoeven-Corker/ARM13E56.pdf"
],
"sentence": "Youth Jobs Plan that would \"provide $1.5 billion over two years for states and local communities to help find jobs for more than 400,000 16- to 24-year-olds who were hard hit by the Wall Street-caused recession.\" That job plan was incorporated into the Hoeven-Corker Amendment under a heading of \"TITLE V JOBS FOR YOUTH.\""
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/adele-keto-weight-loss/
|
Did Adele Endorse Keto Weight Loss Gummies on 'Ellen'?
|
Jordan Liles
|
05/20/2022
|
[
"We looked into the origins of an article with the headline, \"Adele Told Us About Her Daily Keto Routine That Melted 87 Pounds In Just Few Weeks!\""
] |
Singer-songwriter Adele did not endorse keto weight loss gummies on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." The claim appeared in an article on the scammy website newsurvey22offer.com. We first looked into the matter in May 2022. It's unclear just how long the article had been around. Adele keto Ellen DeGeneres article newsurvey22offer.com The page appeared to load one of four different fake keto gummies endorsement articles, depending on when we refreshed it. One mentioned Oprah Winfrey, which we already reported on. Another mentioned Adele. The other two showed fake keto gummies endorsements from the cast of the reality television series, "Shark Tank." keto One Oprah Winfrey already reported on Adele other two Shark Tank The article featuring Adele looked to have been purposely designed to trick readers into believing they were reading an Us Weekly story. In reality, the publisher had nothing to do with newsurvey22offer.com. The headline read, "Adele Told Us About Her Daily Keto Routine That Melted 87 Pounds In Just Few Weeks!" Adele Us Weekly Keto The product name mentioned in the body of the article appeared to change depending on either the time the page was refreshed or the location from which we accessed it. For example, the page falsely claimed that Adele had endorsed Keto Start ACV, Gemini Keto, Kwazi Keto Gummies, Slim Mediq Keto Gummies, Trim Life Keto + ACV Gummies, and perhaps other similar products. Adele Within the fake Us Weekly article, Adele supposedly told DeGeneres on her daytime talk show that the secret to her weight loss wasn't diet or exercise, but rather keto gummies. Adele DeGeneres keto However, here's the truth. In November 2021, Women's Health reported that while Adele's weight loss regimen had little to do with what she ate, it had just about everything to do with exercise. She "worked out three times a day" with trainers, often including working with weights, going for hikes, and boxing. Nowhere in the Women's Health article did the word "keto" appear even once. reported weight loss The fake Us Weekly article also included a fake tweet that was never posted to Adele's Twitter account. It read, "If you ain't on Keto, you're missing out! I've been eating burgers, fries, cakes - pretty much everything since I'm supposed to be dieting in January. If you don't believe me, give it a try I promise you won't be disappointed." Twitter The rest of the page falsely claimed that other celebrities also endorsed keto weight loss gummies, including Dr. Oz, Drew Barrymore, Kelly Osbourne, Rachael Ray, and Wendy Lopez. Other similar keto gummies scams made the same false endorsement claims about Melissa McCarthy, Drew Carey, Jennifer Hudson, and the cast of "Shark Tank." Dr. Oz Drew Barrymore Kelly Osbourne Rachael Ray Other similar keto gummies scams Melissa McCarthy Drew Carey Jennifer Hudson Shark Tank In sum, no, Adele never endorsed keto gummies, nor did she ever say they helped her with weight loss. Source: Miller, Korin, and Sarah Felbin. Adele, 33, Deadlifts 170 Pounds On The Regular At The Gym. Womens Health, 15 Nov. 2021, https://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/a30443070/adele-weight-loss-diet/.
|
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"sentence": "Singer-songwriter Adele did not endorse keto weight loss gummies on \"The Ellen DeGeneres Show.\" The claim appeared in an article on the scammy website newsurvey22offer.com. We first looked into the matter in May 2022. It's unclear just how long the article had been around."
},
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"hrefs": [
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"sentence": "The page appeared to load one of four different fake keto gummies endorsement articles, depending on when we refreshed it. One mentioned Oprah Winfrey, which we already reported on. Another mentioned Adele. The other two showed fake keto gummies endorsements from the cast of the reality television series, \"Shark Tank.\""
},
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"hrefs": [
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"sentence": "The article featuring Adele looked to have been purposely designed to trick readers into believing they were reading an Us Weekly story. In reality, the publisher had nothing to do with newsurvey22offer.com. The headline read, \"Adele Told Us About Her Daily Keto Routine That Melted 87 Pounds In Just Few Weeks!\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "The product name mentioned in the body of the article appeared to change depending on either the time the page was refreshed or the location from which we accessed it. For example, the page falsely claimed that Adele had endorsed Keto Start ACV, Gemini Keto, Kwazi Keto Gummies, Slim Mediq Keto Gummies, Trim Life Keto + ACV Gummies, and perhaps other similar products."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/jennifer-aniston-no-makeup/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ellen-degeneres-cash-app/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clarkson-fired-voice/"
],
"sentence": "Within the fake Us Weekly article, Adele supposedly told DeGeneres on her daytime talk show that the secret to her weight loss wasn't diet or exercise, but rather keto gummies."
},
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"sentence": "However, here's the truth. In November 2021, Women's Health reported that while Adele's weight loss regimen had little to do with what she ate, it had just about everything to do with exercise. She \"worked out three times a day\" with trainers, often including working with weights, going for hikes, and boxing. Nowhere in the Women's Health article did the word \"keto\" appear even once."
},
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"sentence": "The fake Us Weekly article also included a fake tweet that was never posted to Adele's Twitter account. It read, \"If you ain't on Keto, you're missing out! I've been eating burgers, fries, cakes - pretty much everything since I'm supposed to be dieting in January. If you don't believe me, give it a try I promise you won't be disappointed.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/mehmet-oz",
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/07/28/lucy-liu-bill-murray-fight/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/is-ozzy-osbourne-on-his-deathbed/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dr-phil-robin-mcgraw-divorce/",
"https://archive.ph/ZFADc",
"https://www.snopes.com/news/2021/05/31/chrissy-metz-weight-loss/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/drew-carey-keto-pills/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/so-you-think-you-know-donald-trump/",
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/shark-tank-cbd-gummies/"
],
"sentence": "The rest of the page falsely claimed that other celebrities also endorsed keto weight loss gummies, including Dr. Oz, Drew Barrymore, Kelly Osbourne, Rachael Ray, and Wendy Lopez. Other similar keto gummies scams made the same false endorsement claims about Melissa McCarthy, Drew Carey, Jennifer Hudson, and the cast of \"Shark Tank.\""
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2011/feb/22/virginia-senate-democratic-caucus/virginia-democrats-say-house-delegates-budget-cuts/
|
The House of Delegates budget bill cuts $50 million from education.
|
Jacob Geiger
|
02/22/2011
|
[] |
Numbers are flying around state Capitol this week as legislators try to hammer out a budget agreement and adjourn their 2011 session on Saturday.The Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-run House of Delegates have sharply different ideas on how dollars should should be spent. Each chamber is trying to win public sentiment for its proposals. In a Feb. 10 press release, the Senate Democratic Caucus said the Senate had introduced a balanced budget restoring funding cuts to education, public safety and health care, while saying the House introduced a budget that cuts $50 million from education, and reduces funding from other core areas.We checked the $50 million claim.Keiana Page, communications director for the Senate Democratic Caucus, said the number comes from a Feb. 17 article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The story indeed said the House budget would cut K-12 spending by $50 million. Thats the roughly the amount the House wants to reduce an education budget recommended by Gov. Bob McDonnell in December.We reviewed the numbers and found the House pared overall public education spending by $50.8 million. But that didnt make the caucus' claim a slam dunk.Almost all of the reduction -- $43.2 million -- stems from lowered estimates of the number of students who will be enrolled in Virginia schools during the coming fiscal year. The remainder of the savings is coming from higher than expected sales tax revenue. When localities reap more money from their portion of the sales tax, the state pays less to support schools.Del. M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights and vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said there are 8,000 to 9,000 fewer students attending Virginia schools than originally projected, with a total enrollment this school year of just over 1.2 million. Cox, a high school teacher, maintains the cuts are technical, not changes to policies.The House plan would hold per-pupil spending roughly flat. The current budget provides state spending of $5,166 per pupil, according to Robert Vaughn, staff director of the Appropriations Committee. The proposed House changes would lead to per-pupil spending of $5,161 next school year. The Senate wants to spend $5,242 per pupil next year.Despite the lower-than-expected student numbers, the Senate bill would increase current spending levels, using the new money mainly for textbooks, English proficiency programs and remedial summer school classes.The House has one other key proposal that would alter education spending. It wants to shift $89.8 million largely invested in instruction to the Virginia Retirement System for teachers pensions. The money would help make up for past shortfalls in retirement funding and lay the groundwork for the higher contributions that will be needed in future budget cycles.The cash would come from $55.4 million in promised payments to 97 localities that lost money last year when the state rejiggered its allocation formula to school systems. The rest of the pension payment comes from $34.4 million currently funding resource teachers in middle schools. Vaughn said the state currently pays for resource teachers in grades K-7, while state law only requires funding those teachers up through fifth grade.Under current rules, state contributions into the pension system are matched by school districts. Vaughn said the House decided not to require matching payments on the $89.8 million because localities had not planned for these payments when building their budgets.House budget writers say that since the money is going towards teacher pensions, its an education expense. But critics argue the pension payment would consume money that could otherwise have gone into classrooms.Jim Regimbal, a former Senate Finance Committee staffer who now runs consulting company Fiscal Analytics, said the extra pension payments mean less on-the-ground spending for teaching kids.To review, the Senate Democratic Caucus says the House of Delegates is pushing a budget that cuts $50 million from education. They are basing this on the overall dollar figures proposed by the governor and largely adopted by the House of Delegates.Much of the reduction in funding is due to student population being lower than expected. Spending on a per-pupil basis would remain relatively constant. But the House budget also removes $55.4 million in education funds that localities could use at their discretion and invests it in teacher pensions. That would likely result in less money going into classrooms, which sounds like a cut to us.We rate the claim True. Correction:This statement was originally attributed to the Democratic Party of Virginia. It was in fact published by the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus.
|
[
"Corrections and Updates",
"Education",
"State Budget",
"Virginia"
] |
[] |
[] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-three-red-banners/
|
Is Biden's Logo a Reference to China's 'Three Red Banners'?
|
Dan Evon
|
10/22/2020
|
[
"Conspiracies are often in the eye of the beholder. "
] |
Voting in the 2020 U.S. Election may be over, but the misinformation keeps on ticking. Never stop fact-checking. Follow our post-election coverage here. here In October 2020, messages started to circulate on social media claiming that the three red stripes on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's logo were a reference to the so-called "three red banners" that outlined the socialist policies of Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China in the 1950s: This is a genuine image of one of the logos the Biden-Harris ticket has used in their campaign as well as a genuine screenshot (to the right) from a Wikipedia page about the three red banners. However, the logic used to connect these two dots Mao described a portion of his socialist policies as "three red banners," therefore, items with three red stripes are about socialism does not hold up under the lightest scrutiny. three red banners For starters, "three red banners" is a reference to an ideological philosophy, not a specific visual design. In other words, China did not have a physical flag representing the three red banners in a similar fashion displayed on Biden's logo. This claim is attempting to connect a textual description of a 1950s policy with a visual representation of the letter "E" in the campaign logo. Here's how QZ described Mao's "three red banners": described The long history of Chinas obsession with numbered policies starts with Mao. The Three Red Bannersthe General Line for socialist construction, the Great Leap Forward and the peoples communeslaid out how Maos socialist policies would transform China. But they are the de facto culprits of the Great Famine, Yang said. The first banner is an ideological slogan that calls on Chinese people to build a socialist state. The Great Leap Forward, initiated by Mao in 1958, aims to transfer China into an industrialized country. And the peoples communes put households together in rural areas where they shared everything from food to farm tools a way to discount individuality and centralize more manpower and resources for agricultural and industrial production. The claim that Biden's logo is a reference to the socialist policies of Mao in China during the 1950s is based solely on the fact that Biden's logo contains three red lines. As the "three red banners" does not refer to any specific visual design, one could connect these socialist policies to any item adorned with three red stripes. By this logic, anybody living in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Ohio, or working for the New York City Fire Department could be labeled a communist as these entities all use flags containing three red stripes. Hawaii Puerto Rico Ohio New York City Fire Department In addition to the logical flaws of this comparison, Mekanism, the ad agency that created Biden's logo, has already explained what this logo is supposed to symbolize. explained Aimee Brodbeck, the company's designer and art director who led the team that created the logo, said that the stripes and the colors of the logo were nods to the American flag. More specifically, Brodbeck explained that the three stripes represent the three branches of the U.S. government. explained "The logo is approachable and strong, just like the Biden name. By incorporating nods to the American flag, the logo is a representation of Biden's investment in America. The 3 stripes represent the branches of government and the strength of unity with Biden. The logo also nods to the familiarity of the Obama "O" logo where 3 stripes are seen. Smith, Lilly. "Experts Weigh in on the Biden-Harris Logo: 'It Could be Scribbled on a Napkin and I'd be Happy."
Fast Company. 12 August 2020. Hofford, Alex. "Charted: Chinas Great Famine, According to Yang Jisheng, a Journalist Who Lived Through It."
QZ. 10 March 2016.
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1LHUym2VgbKBa3k7iYZhkVUXapwrtGNGC"
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"sentence": "Voting in the 2020 U.S. Election may be over, but the misinformation keeps on ticking. Never stop fact-checking. Follow our post-election coverage here."
},
{
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"sentence": "This is a genuine image of one of the logos the Biden-Harris ticket has used in their campaign as well as a genuine screenshot (to the right) from a Wikipedia page about the three red banners. However, the logic used to connect these two dots Mao described a portion of his socialist policies as \"three red banners,\" therefore, items with three red stripes are about socialism does not hold up under the lightest scrutiny."
},
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"hrefs": [
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],
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},
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"sentence": "As the \"three red banners\" does not refer to any specific visual design, one could connect these socialist policies to any item adorned with three red stripes. By this logic, anybody living in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Ohio, or working for the New York City Fire Department could be labeled a communist as these entities all use flags containing three red stripes. "
},
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},
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}
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false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/jun/22/antonio-villaraigosa/does-california-have-6th-largest-economy-world-and/
|
Although California has the sixth largest economy in the world, we also have one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.
|
Chris Nichols
|
06/22/2017
|
[] |
Before announcing his bid for California governor in November 2016,Antonio Villaraigosasaid he went up and down this state on a listening tour. The former mayor of Los Angeles said he witnessed markers of the states economic vitality and also its extreme poverty. What I saw was two Californias, Villaraigosa said at theforum, hosted on June 6, 2017 in San Francisco by the Public Policy Institute of California. Villaraigosa then made a statement that included two bold claims PolitiFact California has examined individually in the past. What people dont realize about California is that although we have the sixth largest economy in world, we have one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, Villaraigosa said at the event. Villaraigosa makes his claim at about the 6:45 minute mark in this video by the Public Policy Institute of California. Well revisit our analysis on those claims below. First, heres some background on Villaraigosa and the 2018 California governors race. Governors race Villaraigosa is amongseveral prominent Democratscompeting in 2018 to succeed Jerry Brown as governor. Others already announced include California TreasurerJohn Chiang; Delaine Eastin, the states former superintendent for public instruction; andGavin Newsom, the states current lieutenant governor. Republican candidates include State AssemblymanTravis Allenof Orange County; John Cox, a venture capitalist from San Diego County and Rosie Grier, a Hall of Fame professional football player. Apollreleased in June 2017 showed a tightening race. Newsom was in the lead among all candidates, with 22 percent support from likely voters. Villaraigosa had 17 percent support, up from his 11 percent three months earlier. As part of ourTracking The Truthseries, PolitiFact California is fact-checking claims in the 2018 governors race. Tracking the Truth: Hear a claim you want fact-checked? Email us at[email protected], tweet us@CAPolitiFactor contact us onFacebook. Weve already checked one of Villaraigosas statements at the June 6, 2017 forum. He made theFalse claimthat California is currently home to one-quarter of the nations 300 poorest cities. He mischaracterized the results of astudy, which relied on data from 2013, when many of the states cities had not yet recovered from the Great Recession. Today, many of those same cities have experienced strong economic improvement. Sixth largest economy in the world? Turning to Villaraigosas bold claim involving the economy and poverty, well start by checking the first part: that California has the sixth largest economy in the world. This is a talking point California leaders love to make on national and international stages. We fact-checked this hypothetical comparison of the states economy against that of nations in July 2016 when State Senate LeaderKevin de Lenmade the same assertion at the Democratic National Convention. We rated itMostly Truebased on Californias 2.4 trillion GDP in 2015, which ranked sixth behind the United States, China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom and slightly above France and Brazil. The rankings came from the Brown Administration, which analyzed figures from the International Monetary Funds World Economic Outlook Database. The claim missed a completely True rating because it ignored Californias sky high cost of living and Silicon Valleys outsized role in the states economic growth, which speaks to Villaraigosas description of unequal economies across the state. In a separate set of rankings, the California Legislative Analysts Office, adjusting for the states high cost of living, reported in 2016 that the states GDP ranking dropped to 11th in the world. That placed it just below France and just above Mexico. The Brown Administration, not including cost of living, recently updated theGDP rankings for 2016. Californias now $2.60 trillion GDP remained in the sixth spot, though it was just a tick behind the United Kingdoms $2.62 trillion economy. Villaraigosas statement is accurate, but needs the same clarification about the states high cost of living. One of the highest poverty rates? The second part of Villaraigosas claim is that California has one of the highest poverty rates. We interpreted this to mean compared with other states in the nation. We know the state has struggled mightily with poverty. As an example, we ratedTruea claim by Republican Assembly Leader Chad Mayes in January that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation when comparing states and considering cost-of-living. At 20.6 percent, Californias poverty rate in 2015 was well above the national average of 15.1 percent, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report that factors in cost-of-living. Floridas 19 percent poverty rate ranked second. Unlike Mayes statement on poverty, however, Villaraigosas claim makes no mention of cost-of-living. Ignoring this factor, California would have the 17th highest poverty rate, not the first, according to the census bureau. Villaraigosas statement needs this key clarification. Our ruling Antonio Villaraigosa recently claimed California has the sixth largest economy in the world and one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. The facts show Villaraigosa was correct on both points. He omitted, however, the key point that Californias high cost-of-living drags down its economic output and accelerates its poverty. The candidate for governors statements would benefit from this additional information. We rate Villaraigosas claim Mostly True. MOSTLY TRUE The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.
|
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},
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"hrefs": [
"http://www.dof.ca.gov/Forecasting/Economics/Indicators/Gross_State_Product/"
],
"sentence": "The Brown Administration, not including cost of living, recently updated theGDP rankings for 2016. Californias now $2.60 trillion GDP remained in the sixth spot, though it was just a tick behind the United Kingdoms $2.62 trillion economy."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.politifact.com/california/statements/2017/jan/20/chad-mayes/true-california-has-nations-highest-poverty-rate-w/"
],
"sentence": "We know the state has struggled mightily with poverty. As an example, we ratedTruea claim by Republican Assembly Leader Chad Mayes in January that California has the highest poverty rate in the nation when comparing states and considering cost-of-living."
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/obama-arrested-in-japan/
|
Was Barack Obama Arrested in a Japanese Drug Bust?
|
Kim LaCapria
|
04/07/2017
|
[
"Rumors that the former U.S. president was arrested in connection with the seizure of massive amounts of cocaine on his yacht are fake news."
] |
In April 2017, rumors appeared on social media that former United States President Barack Obama had been arrested in Japan in connection with large quantities of cocaine purportedly found on his yacht: The arrest rumor appeared to have originated via a 31 March 2017 blog post from Benjamin Fulford (who days earlier had claimed that the Japanese government was trying to kill him) that was further aggregated by other dubious web sites: originated claimed aggregated Former US President Barack Obama, in custody of the US military police, has informed on his drug dealing bosses, according to sources in Japanese military intelligence. As a result of this, an airplane filled with Afghan Heroin and North Korean amphetamines was impounded at Argyle International Airport on St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, the sources say. The money raised from this drug flight was intended to be used to finance the operations of Daesh (formerly known as ISIS), the sources say. This impoundment follows the capture of an Obama linked ship containing 4.2 tons of cocaine, the sources note. At the bottom of the post was a citation referencing a 15 March 2017 post on conspiracy site WhatDoesItMean.com about Barack Obama's supposedly fleeing the scene of a drug bust that took place in the Caribbean on a "fishing vessel named the Lady Michelle" that was linked to the former president: post Obama Flees After Massive Drug Bust Aboard Lady Michelle Vessel In Caribbean An intriguing Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that former President Barack Obama fled Washington D.C. this past Friday (10 March) traveling to New York City, Omaha (Nebraska), San Jose (California) and ending up in Hawaii all occurring within 36 hours while he sought elite allies to defend him, and keeping him ahead of investigators from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the US Department of the Treasury (DoT) seeking to interview him about one of the largest drug busts in American history occurring in the Caribbean aboard a fishing vessel named the Lady Michelle. 4.2 tons of seized cocaine, worth an estimated $125 million, from the President Barack Obama linked fishing vessel named Lady Michelle on 16 February 2017 According to this report, nearly immediately upon taking office as President Donald Trumps Attorney General on 9 February, Jeff Sessions, as head of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), was handed a top secret file by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director James Comey detailing the nearly two-decade long crimes of 12 current and former security and intelligence officers belonging to the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) who for at least 18 years under both the Bush and Obama regimes had smuggled into the United States at least $100 million worth of cocaine. None this was true, as the "Obama drug bust" story originated with the WhatDoesItMean.com is a fake news conspiracy site, described by RationalWiki as follows: WhatDoesItMean.com fake news RationalWiki follows Sorcha Faal is the alleged author of an ongoing series of "reports" published at WhatDoesItMean.com, whose work is of such quality that even other conspiracy nutters don't think much of it. Each report resembles a news story in its style but usually includes a sensational headline barely related to reality and quotes authoritative high-level Russian sources (such as the Russian Federal Security Service) to support its most outrageous claims. Except for the stuff attributed to unverifiable sources, the reports don't contain much original material. They are usually based on various news items from the mainstream media and/or whatever the clogosphere is currently hyperventilating about, with each item shoehorned into the conspiracy narrative the report is trying to establish. The image used to illustrate the WhatDoesItMean article was taken from an earlier news report about a 16 February 2017 U.S. Coast Guard drug bust off the coast of Suriname that had nothing to do with Barack Obama or Japan: report The U.S. Coast Guard busted four men suspected of smuggling more than four tons of cocaine worth $125 million in the Atlantic Ocean. Officials said on Feb. 16 they intercepted a suspicious fishing boat off Paramaribo, Suriname. The 70-foot vessel was allegedly carrying numerous bales of cocaine, the Coast Guard said. Officials seized 4.2 tons of the drugs, worth an estimated $125 million in wholesale value.
|
[
"finance"
] |
[
{
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ygwwxkbSAbCrTjcl7vKkGf_nPGVlJsmp"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=14qg2iWop6wUjEaMuIKpBhuqc7Nu0biSq"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1_5ySoxx1pFx2codcNlU7FPr67CcuRHIs"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/H5lsY",
"https://archive.is/kOiGg",
"https://archive.is/JWThr"
],
"sentence": "The arrest rumor appeared to have originated via a 31 March 2017 blog post from Benjamin Fulford (who days earlier had claimed that the Japanese government was trying to kill him) that was further aggregated by other dubious web sites:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://archive.is/nV7Xo"
],
"sentence": "At the bottom of the post was a citation referencing a 15 March 2017 post on conspiracy site WhatDoesItMean.com about Barack Obama's supposedly fleeing the scene of a drug bust that took place in the Caribbean on a \"fishing vessel named the Lady Michelle\" that was linked to the former president: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/whatdoesitmean-com/",
"https://www.snopes.com/2016/01/14/fake-news-sites/",
"https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Sorcha_Faal",
"https://www.snopes.com/tag/sorcha-faal/"
],
"sentence": "None this was true, as the \"Obama drug bust\" story originated with the WhatDoesItMean.com is a fake news conspiracy site, described by RationalWiki as follows:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/125M-Worth-of-Cocaine-Seized-in-Atlantic-Ocean-4-Arrested-414922333.html"
],
"sentence": "The image used to illustrate the WhatDoesItMean article was taken from an earlier news report about a 16 February 2017 U.S. Coast Guard drug bust off the coast of Suriname that had nothing to do with Barack Obama or Japan:"
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-origins-of-policing-in-the-united-states/
|
The Origins of Policing in the United States
|
Brooke Binkowski
|
09/26/2016
|
[
"Memes claim that modern law enforcement evolved out of slave patrols."
] |
As controversy raged over racially motivated violence and law enforcement policies in the United States, a persistent rumor regarding the origins of 21st-century policing appeared online. It showed up, as such things tend to do, in meme form: But how accurate is this? And where did the concept of police as de facto executors of justice (rather than peacekeepers) originate? Law enforcement has always existed in one form or another. The first constables (from the Roman comes stabuli, or "head of the stables") with duties very similar to today's sheriffs, were around at least since the 9th century, and traveled to the Americas from Europe to supplant the systems that existed there at the time in the 1600s. The Encyclopedia of Police Science delves into the history of constables in the colonies: history In the American colonies the constable was the first law enforcement officer. His duties varied from place to place according to the needs of the people he served. Usually, the constable sealed weights and measures, surveyed land, announced marriages, and executed all warrants. Additionally, he meted out physical punishments and kept the peace. The informal and communal system known as "the Watch" worked (more or less efficiently) on a volunteer basis in the early colonies; there were also private policing systems for hire that functioned on a for-profit basis. As populations grew, so did demands for more functional system of policing towns and cities. Volunteers would often show up to their posts drunk or not at all, and the systems were disorganized or hopelessly corrupt. posts According to Gary Potter, a crime historian at Eastern Kentucky University, a centralized, bureaucratic police system did not emerge until well into the 1800s, but was quickly adopted by cities around the country: Gary Potter It was not until the 1830s that the idea of a centralized municipal police department first emerged in the United States. In 1838, the city of Boston established the first American police force, followed by New York City in 1845, Albany, NY and Chicago in 1851, New Orleans and Cincinnati in 1853, Philadelphia in 1855, and Newark, NJ and Baltimore in 1857 (Harring 1983, Lundman 1980; Lynch 1984). By the 1880s all major U.S. cities had municipal police forces in place. These "modern police" organizations shared similar characteristics: (1) they were publicly supported and bureaucratic in form; (2) police officers were full-time employees, not community volunteers or case-by-case fee retainers; (3) departments had permanent and fixed rules and procedures, and employment as a police officers was continuous; (4) police departments were accountable to a central governmental authority (Lundman 1980). More than a hundred years earlier, in 1704, the colony of Carolina developed the fledgling United States' first slave patrol. The patrol consisted of roving bands of armed white citizens who would stop, question, and punish slaves caught without a permit to travel. They were civil organizations, controlled and maintained by county courts. The way the patrols were organized and maintained provided a later framework for preventive (rather than reactive) community policing, particularly in the South: courts Policing had always been a reactive enterprise, occurring only in response to a specific criminal act. Centralized and bureaucratic police departments, focusing on the alleged crime-producing qualities of the "dangerous classes" began to emphasize preventative crime control. The presence of police, authorized to use force, could stop crime before it started by subjecting everyone to surveillance and observation. The concept of the police patrol as a preventative control mechanism routinized the insertion of police into the normal daily events of everyone's life, a previously unknown and highly feared concept in both England and the United States (Parks 1976). Patrols in the northern U.S. also became useful for breaking up labor strikes before they became too destructive (Marxist political historian Eric Hobsbawm referred to the mechanisms of violence and destruction of property to agitate for better working conditions as "collective bargaining by riot") and these services became increasingly utilized as the country became more populated and conditions simultaneously grew more difficult for the United States' restive economic underclasses. labor strikes Eric Hobsbawm destruction In fact, police duties since the 1800s can be easily traced along the ebb and flow of political pressures as well as social issues: issues In 1822, for example, Charleston, South Carolina, experienced a slave insurrection panic, caused by a supposed plot of slaves and free blacks to seize the city. In response, the State legislature passed the Negro Seamen's Act, requiring free black seamen to remain on board their vessels while in Carolina harbors. If they dared to leave their ships, the police were instructed to arrest them and sell them into slavery unless they were redeemed by the ship's master. Similarly, patrols such as the Mounted Guards (forerunners to what eventually became the Border Patrol) were put in place to maintain minority quotas, among other things: minority quotas Mounted watchmen of the U.S. Immigration Service patrolled the border in an effort to prevent illegal crossings as early as 1904, but their efforts were irregular and undertaken only when resources permitted. The inspectors, usually called Mounted Guards, operated out of El Paso, Texas. Though they never totaled more than seventy-five, they patrolled as far west as California trying to restrict the flow of illegal Chinese immigration. In March 1915, Congress authorized a separate group of Mounted Guards, often referred to as Mounted Inspectors. Most rode on horseback, but a few operated cars and even boats. Although these inspectors had broader arrest authority, they still largely pursued Chinese immigrants trying to avoid the Chinese exclusion laws. Modern law enforcement evolved out of complex brew of a larger population, shifting sociopolitical class boundaries, and other external issues (such as the labor pressures that created an unhappy underclass) and a shift in the way policing was regarded by business owners and the population at large: proactive rather than reactive. However, it is important to note that "the police" do not consist of a homogenous block of the American population, and while the early days of modern-day police forces are undeniable and under-covered facets of its history, the focus and perspective of policing is a complicated and fraught subject. It would be a mistake to assume that police in 2016 are the same as police in the 1870s, and to conclude that the profile of law enforcement in the United States and around the world has not changed throughout its existence. It would also be a mistake to assume that law enforcement cannot or will not be changed again in response to popular pressure, given that its focus has varied dramatically since its inception. Greene, Jack R. (ed.)
The Encyclopedia of Police Science, Third Edition. Routledge: New York. 2007. Harring, Sidney L., and McMullin, Lorraine M. "TheBuffalo Police18721900: Labor Unrest, Political Power and the Creation of the Police Institution."
Crime and Social Justice 4: 5-14. 1975. Kelling, George L. and Moore, Mark H. "The Evolving Strategy of Policing."
National Institute of Justice. November 1988.
Potter, Gary. "The History of Policing in the United States, Parts 1-6."
Eastern Kentucky University, Police Studies Online. July 2013. Williams, Hubert and Murphy, Patrick V. "The Evolving Strategy of Police: A Minority View." National Institute of Justice. January 1990.
|
[
"profit"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1wGGEIDmj8LVlGQyJocvm8dy1WzNIJmdw"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://books.google.com/books?id=HIE_zF1Rv7MC&pg=PA246&dq=%22the+encyclopedia+of+police+science%22+constable&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwixlMSR9qXPAhWDGz4KHfvcARIQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20encyclopedia%20of%20police%20science%22%20constable&f=false"
],
"sentence": "Law enforcement has always existed in one form or another. The first constables (from the Roman comes stabuli, or \"head of the stables\") with duties very similar to today's sheriffs, were around at least since the 9th century, and traveled to the Americas from Europe to supplant the systems that existed there at the time in the 1600s. The Encyclopedia of Police Science delves into the history of constables in the colonies: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.nleomf.org/museum/news/newsletters/online-insider/2012/April-2012/early-days-american-law-enforcement-april-2012.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/"
],
"sentence": "The informal and communal system known as \"the Watch\" worked (more or less efficiently) on a volunteer basis in the early colonies; there were also private policing systems for hire that functioned on a for-profit basis. As populations grew, so did demands for more functional system of policing towns and cities. Volunteers would often show up to their posts drunk or not at all, and the systems were disorganized or hopelessly corrupt. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://justicestudies.eku.edu/people/potter-0"
],
"sentence": "According to Gary Potter, a crime historian at Eastern Kentucky University, a centralized, bureaucratic police system did not emerge until well into the 1800s, but was quickly adopted by cities around the country:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://ncpedia.org/slave-patrols"
],
"sentence": "More than a hundred years earlier, in 1704, the colony of Carolina developed the fledgling United States' first slave patrol. The patrol consisted of roving bands of armed white citizens who would stop, question, and punish slaves caught without a permit to travel. They were civil organizations, controlled and maintained by county courts. The way the patrols were organized and maintained provided a later framework for preventive (rather than reactive) community policing, particularly in the South: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.jstor.org/stable/29765953?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents",
"https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/02/arts/eric-hobsbawm-british-historian-dies-at-95.html?_r=0",
"https://www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-were-the-luddites"
],
"sentence": "Patrols in the northern U.S. also became useful for breaking up labor strikes before they became too destructive (Marxist political historian Eric Hobsbawm referred to the mechanisms of violence and destruction of property to agitate for better working conditions as \"collective bargaining by riot\") and these services became increasingly utilized as the country became more populated and conditions simultaneously grew more difficult for the United States' restive economic underclasses. "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/121019.pdf"
],
"sentence": "In fact, police duties since the 1800s can be easily traced along the ebb and flow of political pressures as well as social issues: "
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/history"
],
"sentence": "Similarly, patrols such as the Mounted Guards (forerunners to what eventually became the Border Patrol) were put in place to maintain minority quotas, among other things: "
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/legal-drinking-age-raised/
|
Has the Legal Drinking Age Been Raised to 23?
|
Dan Evon
|
12/09/2015
|
[
"The legal drinking age has not been raised to 23."
] |
On 9 December 2015, a message claiming that the legal drinking age would be raised to 23 in February 2016 started circulating on Facebook: While the above-displayed Facebook message may appear atfirst glance as if it came from the news network CNN, that is not the case. This Facebook message was created by a prank website that creates links which resemble real news stories. However, when a user clicks on the link they are redirected to apage that informs them that the story was fake: Users are then prompted to share the joke with their friendson Facebook. Similar pranks have previously circulated on the internet, briefly convincing Facebook users that Taco Bell was closingandthat PepsiCo was discontinuing Mountain Dew. closing discontinuing [article-meta]
|
[
"share"
] |
[
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=13jofBoghYh1XhmQk2NFXCt1Y3Kt8bQLL"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=15RyhZJkJaTxgC5ybtJ2hfsVA9VdsugTp"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/2015/06/01/taco-bell-closing/",
"https://www.snopes.com/mountain-dew-discontinued/"
],
"sentence": "Similar pranks have previously circulated on the internet, briefly convincing Facebook users that Taco Bell was closingandthat PepsiCo was discontinuing Mountain Dew."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/30-marines-killed-helicopter/
|
Were 30 Marines Just Killed in a Helicopter Crash?
|
Dan Evon
|
01/27/2020
|
[
"A years-old news story recirculated in the wake of another deadly helicopter crash. "
] |
On Jan. 26, 2020, a helicopter crash in California killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers. As the world reacted to this tragic news, some social media users noted that the outpouring of grief might be slightly misplaced because, they claimed, 30 Marines had also "just" died in a helicopter crash: helicopter crash These social media users were referring to a genuine news story. However, they were mistaken that the helicopter crash that killed 30 Marines and a sailor had occurred "yesterday" or recently in January 2020. That incident actually took place in 2005, in Iraq. Here's a screenshot of the Navy news release about the 2005 helicopter crash: Navy news release Readers may have noticed that this news release was published on Jan. 26, 2005. As the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant happened on the 15th anniversary of the crash that killed 30 Marines, it's easy to see how some people may have misread this date. Moreover, it seems that some news publications published recent stories that didn't clearly state that the military helicopter crash occurred 15 years ago. While the headline for News-Gazette in the screenshot below refers to a "day in history" piece, for example, the headlines from KWKT and KTUU presented the incident as a recent development. KWKT and KTUU have since deleted their stories, and we were unable to find any archived versions of these pages. To sum up: On Jan. 26, 2005, 30 Marines and a sailor were killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq. Fifteen years later, this story recirculated on social media in the wake of another fatal helicopter crash. The text of the original Navy news release appears below: original Navy news release Thirty Marines and one Sailor from the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing of the I Marine Expeditionary Force died Jan. 26 when their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed near Ar Rutbah in the Al Anbar Province while conducting security and stabilization operations. All Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen of the I Marine Expeditionary Force mourn the tragic loss of our brothers in arms. A recovery team is at the crash site, and the cause of the crash is currently under investigation. The names of the deceased are being withheld pending next of kin notification. "While we mourn the loss of these heroes, we will honor their sacrifice by continuing our mission to bring democracy to the people of Iraq," said Marine Lt. Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general, I Marine Expeditionary Force. "To the families of these brave men, our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to you at this most difficult of times." US Navy. "30 Marines, 1 Sailor Die in Helicopter Crash."
26 January 2005. Chappell, Bill. "What We Know: The Helicopter Crash That Killed Kobe Bryant And 8 Others."
NPR. 27 January 2020.
|
[
"loss"
] |
[
{
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"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1-A_8zAyQdYw-zugSdgKcG1cmfWxSWf7V"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1BULQUqgzUiDRG06K8nBbmQHF_CgxaslX"
},
{
"image_caption": null,
"image_src": "https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1RNfTqxccl7BqlXBw2mAkEXnB-g5-CVjb"
}
] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.npr.org/2020/01/27/800100632/what-we-know-the-helicopter-crash-that-killed-kobe-bryant-and-8-others"
],
"sentence": "On Jan. 26, 2020, a helicopter crash in California killed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna, and seven other passengers. As the world reacted to this tragic news, some social media users noted that the outpouring of grief might be slightly misplaced because, they claimed, 30 Marines had also \"just\" died in a helicopter crash:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=16798"
],
"sentence": "Here's a screenshot of the Navy news release about the 2005 helicopter crash:"
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=16798"
],
"sentence": "The text of the original Navy news release appears below:"
}
] |
neutral
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2008/may/02/hillary-clinton/rates-were-a-lot-higher-back-in-the-day/
|
Tax rates were significantly higher in the '40s, the '50s, and the '60s.
|
Angie Drobnic Holan
|
05/02/2008
|
[] |
In a free-wheeling interview on the Fox News Network, Bill O'Reilly and Hillary Clinton mixed it up over gas prices, health care, and taxes. On taxes, Clinton and O'Reilly argued about what tax rates were like when their fathers were working. Clinton: You were growing up on Long Island. I was growing up outside of Chicago. You know, my dad got up every day. He was a small business man. He worked his head off, but he didn't feel like the deck was stacked against him. He thought, OK, I'm going to be treated fairly if I do my part. O'Reilly: Here's where you're wrong. In my neighborhood, Levittown, there was no income distribution at all. There was earning money. And you kept most of it because taxes were really low. Clinton: That is not true. Look at the tax rates in the '40s, the '50s, and the '60s. O'Reilly: For the wealthy they were high, but not for my dad. Clinton: Well, so why don't we go back to what we had in the '50s and the '60s then? Go back to 70 percent... O'Reilly: Because there were no wealthy people then. There were very, very few. Clinton: When President Kennedy made that dramatic announcement he was going to cut the top rate from 90 percent to 70 percent, people stood up and cheered. All I want to do is get back to what worked in the '90s. We wondered who was right in this exchange and what the tax rates were when Clinton and O'Reilly were young. Today, tax rates range from 10 percent for lower incomes to 35 percent for the highest incomes. (See a chart of tax rates over timefrom the Tax Foundation here.) Kennedy urged tax cuts that went into effect in 1964. Prior to that, tax rates started at 20 percent for the lowest bracket and went up to 91 percent for the highest bracket. The rates were similar throughout the 1940s and 1950s. We looked at incomes and tax rates in 1963, then adjusted for inflation and looked at today's tax rates. We found: * A person making $2,500 a year in 1963 was taxed at 22 percent. Today that would be $17,445, taxed at 15 percent. * A person making $5,000 a year in 1963 was taxed at 26 percent. Today that would be $34,890, taxed at 25 percent. * A person making $10,000 a year in 1963 was taxed at 34 percent. Today that would be $69,780, taxed at 25 percent. * A person making $15,000 a year in 1963 was taxed at 47 percent. Today that would be $104,670, taxed at 28 percent. * A person making $25,000 a year in 1963 was taxed at 59 percent. Today that would be $174,450, taxed at 33 percent. The 1963 rates are higher than today's rates. It's true that the tax code is substantially different today, with many credits and rules that didn't exist then. But on the question of income tax rates, we find that Hillary Clinton has her history right. We rate her statement True.
|
[
"National",
"Taxes"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/151.html"
],
"sentence": "Today, tax rates range from 10 percent for lower incomes to 35 percent for the highest incomes. (See a chart of tax rates over timefrom the Tax Foundation here.)"
}
] |
true
| null |
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/unique-tip-automatic-headlights/
|
Is There a Unique Tip for Cars with Automatic Headlights?
|
Jordan Liles
|
03/07/2022
|
[
"We looked for the truth behind online advertisements that claimed there was a unusual or unique tip or trick for cars with automatic headlights."
] |
For at least several years, online advertisements have made the claim that there's an unusual or unique tip or trick for cars with automatic headlights. One ad read: "Unique Trick If Your Car Has Automatic Headlights." online advertisements cars with automatic headlights The first ad. Another said: "An Unusual Tip If Your Car Has Automatic Headlights." The second ad. We also found a tweet where a user poked fun at the strange ads. This one said: "Unique Tip If Your Car Has Automatic Headlights. Seniors Are Ditching Their Auto Insurance and Doing This Instead." tweet However, all of this was fairly misleading. The ads that promised a unique or unusual tip or trick for automatic headlights led to an article on Comparisons.org that listed the state name associated with the reader's IP address. For example, one said: "California Drivers With Automatic Headlights Hit The Jackpot." It began: "California Drivers: If you are currently insured, drive less than 50 miles/day, and live in a qualified zip code you may get an extremely high discount. Additionally, if you have some safety features like automatic headlights you can get even more discounts." article drive less than 50 miles/day The bottom of the page appeared to reveal that Comparisons.org was not based in the U.S. It said: "2022 Comparisons.org. All rights reserved. Azrieli Center, 26 Harokmim St., Holon, Israel." We clicked the ads. On the next page, it appeared to claim that six insurers would give a discount based on having automatic headlights: Ensurance, Nationwide, Allstate, Farmers Insurance, 21st Century Insurance, and Progressive. six insurers Ensurance Nationwide Allstate Farmers Insurance 21st Century Insurance Progressive However, Allstate and Esurance, which is now an Allstate company, do not offer any such discounts. Allstate's enterprise media and public relations spokesperson William Miller told us: "While we do not offer discounts for automatic headlights or daytime running lights, you can find many of the auto discounts we do offer on our website." Meanwhile, the websites for Nationwide, 21st Century Insurance, and Progressive also mentioned no such discounts. Allstate website Nationwide 21st Century Insurance Progressive A spokesperson for Farmers Insurance responded to us by email: "As to your question about whether theres a car insurance discount if drivers have a car with automatic headlights or daytime running lights (DRLs) no such discount exists at Farmers." After we received this email, we looked on the Farmers Insurance website and noticed that at least a few states did offer something for daytime running lights (DRLs), but not for automatic headlights. at least a few states In sum, again, the ads were misleading. Readers who followed through all of the steps on the resulting website did not find an unusual or unique tip or trick for cars with automatic headlights, nor did the car insurance companies listed on the website offer any discounts for the feature. We previously reported on the idea that cars with automatic headlights or daytime running lights might provide car insurance discounts. We found that while a select few insurance companies did appear to offer something, some benefits were limited to specific states. The majority of car insurance companies did not appear to offer any such discount for automatic headlights. reported Curious about how Snopes' writers verify information and craft their stories for public consumption? We've collected some posts that help explain how we do what we do. Happy reading and let us know what else you might be interested in knowing. help explain let us know
|
[
"insurance"
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"sentence": "For at least several years, online advertisements have made the claim that there's an unusual or unique tip or trick for cars with automatic headlights. One ad read: \"Unique Trick If Your Car Has Automatic Headlights.\""
},
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"sentence": " The first ad."
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"sentence": " The second ad."
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],
"sentence": "We also found a tweet where a user poked fun at the strange ads. This one said: \"Unique Tip If Your Car Has Automatic Headlights. Seniors Are Ditching Their Auto Insurance and Doing This Instead.\""
},
{
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"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/50-miles-car-insurance/"
],
"sentence": "The ads that promised a unique or unusual tip or trick for automatic headlights led to an article on Comparisons.org that listed the state name associated with the reader's IP address. For example, one said: \"California Drivers With Automatic Headlights Hit The Jackpot.\" It began: \"California Drivers: If you are currently insured, drive less than 50 miles/day, and live in a qualified zip code you may get an extremely high discount. Additionally, if you have some safety features like automatic headlights you can get even more discounts.\""
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://web.archive.org/web/20220307192137/https://insurance.comparisons.org/save/auto/savings3.php?affiliate_id=1561&sub=MFRB_AUTO_HEADLIGHT&aff_sub2=richouses.com&aff_sub3=Auto_Insurance&aff_sub4=2300442&aff_sub5=~c~5WiSZHkspKRUt3xykKZMcu5P1qQ3taKXGLsfmpomAjfShzuvlQqpOXcvoUlSnB-lSfeGCvHW3OQuJXGDi_BEoH4l2Y5KtB4&postal_code=%7Bpostal_code%7D&phone=%7Bphone%7D&first_name=%7Bfirst_name%7D&last_name=%7Blast_name%7D&transaction_id=102423e9466493e0edd6f8949e235d&tune_event_id=%7Btune_event_id%7D",
"https://www.esurance.com/insurance/car/discounts",
"https://www.nationwide.com/personal/insurance/auto/discounts/",
"https://www.allstate.com/auto-insurance/car-insurance-discounts.aspx",
"https://www.farmers.com/discounts/",
"https://www.21st.com/discounts",
"https://www.progressive.com/auto/discounts/"
],
"sentence": "We clicked the ads. On the next page, it appeared to claim that six insurers would give a discount based on having automatic headlights: Ensurance, Nationwide, Allstate, Farmers Insurance, 21st Century Insurance, and Progressive."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/allstate-island-real/",
"https://www.allstate.com/auto-insurance/car-insurance-discounts.aspx",
"https://www.nationwide.com/personal/insurance/auto/discounts/",
"https://www.21st.com/discounts",
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"sentence": "However, Allstate and Esurance, which is now an Allstate company, do not offer any such discounts. Allstate's enterprise media and public relations spokesperson William Miller told us: \"While we do not offer discounts for automatic headlights or daytime running lights, you can find many of the auto discounts we do offer on our website.\" Meanwhile, the websites for Nationwide, 21st Century Insurance, and Progressive also mentioned no such discounts."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.farmers.com/discounts/"
],
"sentence": "A spokesperson for Farmers Insurance responded to us by email: \"As to your question about whether theres a car insurance discount if drivers have a car with automatic headlights or daytime running lights (DRLs) no such discount exists at Farmers.\" After we received this email, we looked on the Farmers Insurance website and noticed that at least a few states did offer something for daytime running lights (DRLs), but not for automatic headlights."
},
{
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],
"sentence": "We previously reported on the idea that cars with automatic headlights or daytime running lights might provide car insurance discounts. We found that while a select few insurance companies did appear to offer something, some benefits were limited to specific states. The majority of car insurance companies did not appear to offer any such discount for automatic headlights."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://www.snopes.com/collections/snopes-ing-101-fact-checkers/",
"https://www.snopes.com/contact/"
],
"sentence": "Curious about how Snopes' writers verify information and craft their stories for public consumption? We've collected some posts that help explain how we do what we do. Happy reading and let us know what else you might be interested in knowing."
}
] |
false
| null |
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/apr/11/bernie-sanders/sanders-us-multinationals-would-owe-620-billion-ov/
|
The largest U.S. companies would owe $620 billion in U.S. taxes on the cash they store in tax havens.
|
Jon Greenberg
|
04/11/2016
|
[] |
Getting companies to pay more in taxes is one of the pillars of Bernie Sanders plans for America. The extra revenue plays a key role in everything from universal health care, to tuition-free college, to rebuilding the nations aging water mains, bridges and highways. How much does he think is there? The largest U.S. companies would owe $620 billion in U.S. taxes on the cash they store in tax havens, SanderstweetedApril 6, 2016. Thats a fair chunk of change, and we thought wed see if it held up. By the way, theres no single definition of a tax haven. The term covers both profits from overseas subsidiaries and the use of offshore accounts in places like Bermuda. The common thread is money is booked in places with lower taxes than the United States. The Sanders campaign directed us to ajoint studyfrom Citizens for Tax Justice and US PIRG, both left-leaning organizations. Their analysis began with the more than $2.1 trillion that Fortune 500 companies are holding in accumulated profits offshore for tax purposes. When the foreign subsidiary of a U.S. multinational turns a profit, the money is taxed at the rate where the subsidiary is based. Uncle Sam doesnt get a penny until the multinational brings the money home. That gets a little confusing because the money might actually be in the United States, but it isnt on the books of the U.S. parent. In any event, for tax purposes, most of those funds are not formally repatriated or brought back to the United States. The logic is simple: Why pay a higher rate in the United States, formally as high as 35 percent, when you might be paying a fifth that much in a foreign country, such as Ireland? The Citizens for Tax Justice/US PIRG analysts looked atthe 57 corporations that actually told regulators how big their tax bill would be if they brought the money home. These 57 companies would owe $184.4 billion in additional federal taxes, the report said. The analysts made some assumptions and applied the results to the companies that didnt release this information. The total for all Fortune 500 companies combined? They would collectively owe $620 billion in additional federal taxes. We asked independent tax scholars what they thought of that estimate. Some of them said it was in the ballpark. Richard Harvey, a former partner at the accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers and now at Villanova School of Law, said Sanders might actually be underestimating. Harvey pointed to the foreign earnings that multinationals report as indefinitely reinvested. Officially, thetotal is about $2.3 trillion. But Harvey thinks that overlooks a lot of cash. The total unrepatriated foreign earnings would be even higher because companies like Apple and Pfizer do not label all undistributed foreign earnings as indefinitely reinvested, Harvey said. If one assumes that U.S. multinational corporations have approximately $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion of unrepatriated foreign earnings, and the average tax rate on most undistributed foreign earnings is less than 10 percent (in many cases close to 0 percent), then a $620 billion estimate is very reasonable, and may be low. Edward Kleinbard, professor of law at the University of Southern California and a former chief of staff at the U.S. Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, took a different approach, and reached approximately the same conclusion. Kleinbard took theJoint Committee on Taxationsestimate of how much revenue would come from a one-time 14 percent tax on those foreign earnings kept overseas. This is in fact what President Barack Obama has proposed in his latest budget. The net haul from that would be about $195 billion. Using that figure, Kleinbard estimated how much would come in if the rate were 35 percent, rather than 14 percent. You get to $488 billion, he said. Thats not perfect, because of how foreign tax credits (offsets to U.S. taxes) would have to be handled, but its the right ballpark. Thats less than the $620 billion Sanders cited, but as Kleinbard put it, it's a honkin' big number. The banking giantCredit Suisseestimated the total new revenues at $533 billion. Edmund Outslay, professor of taxation at Michigan State University, thinks Sanders overshot the mark. Outslay told PolitiFact that he questions a key assumption in the study behind Sanders number. The study estimates an average tax rate of 6 percent that all Fortune 500 companies are paying overseas today. Because any foreign tax bill is deducted from what a firm owes Washington, the lower the foreign tax rate, the higher the potential revenues for the United States. Outslay thinks 6 percent is unrealistic. Some studies I have seen estimate a foreign tax rate of about 16.5 percent, Outslay said. If this number is more accurate, the total tax to be gained (would be) $550 billion. At 25 percent, the net U.S. tax would only be $320 billion. Outslay himself leans more toward a $300 billion figure. In addition to thinking multinationals are paying a higher rate overseas, he also said in most cases, the foreign earnings are actually invested in bricks and mortar. Those dollars are not cash in the way Sanders talked about this. How the IRS would treat that money is unclear. All this leaves us with a range of estimates of the potential tax revenues, ranging from about $300 billion (Outslay), to $490 billion (Kleinbard), to $550 billion (Credit Suisse), to over $620 billion (Harvey). Our ruling Sanders said that if American multinational corporations had to pay taxes on the profits they made overseas, they would owe $620 billion. This is at the high end of the estimates we collected. Sanders also described the overseas holdings as cash. According to one expert we reached, a lot of that money might be invested in factories and other hard infrastructure and might not be available for tax collections. Still, the mid-range estimate from credible sources is in the $500 billion to $550 billion range. All the numbers cited were relatively high. We rate Sanders estimate Mostly True.
|
[
"National",
"Corporations",
"Taxes"
] |
[] |
[
{
"hrefs": [
"https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/717771426284060673"
],
"sentence": "The largest U.S. companies would owe $620 billion in U.S. taxes on the cash they store in tax havens, SanderstweetedApril 6, 2016."
},
{
"hrefs": [
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],
"sentence": "The Sanders campaign directed us to ajoint studyfrom Citizens for Tax Justice and US PIRG, both left-leaning organizations. Their analysis began with the more than $2.1 trillion that Fortune 500 companies are holding in accumulated profits offshore for tax purposes."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"http://www.auditanalytics.com/blog/untaxed-foreign-earnings-top-2-3-trillion-in-2014/"
],
"sentence": "Richard Harvey, a former partner at the accounting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers and now at Villanova School of Law, said Sanders might actually be underestimating. Harvey pointed to the foreign earnings that multinationals report as indefinitely reinvested. Officially, thetotal is about $2.3 trillion. But Harvey thinks that overlooks a lot of cash."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwiJbAWhwPe_VW00RWpab2NqLTdsREVPcXIwMEZGUmNRM3pn"
],
"sentence": "Kleinbard took theJoint Committee on Taxationsestimate of how much revenue would come from a one-time 14 percent tax on those foreign earnings kept overseas. This is in fact what President Barack Obama has proposed in his latest budget. The net haul from that would be about $195 billion."
},
{
"hrefs": [
"https://doc.research-and-analytics.csfb.com/docView?language=ENG&format=PDF&source_id=em&document_id=1045617491&serialid=jHde13PmaivwZHRANjglDCV3rbEKRE9uz%2bZu3ZXtQu0%3d"
],
"sentence": "The banking giantCredit Suisseestimated the total new revenues at $533 billion."
}
] |
true
| null |
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